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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 18, 2014

Babymetal "Babymetal"

It's not surprising that Babymetal has gone viral. The trio, bringing the seemingly disparate worlds of idol pop and heavy metal together, is a visually striking project perfect for the "weird Japan" fans on the Internet.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Mar 14, 2014

Dahl still drawing on the joys and absurdities of expat life

For over 20 years, Roger Dahl has been making Japan Times readers laugh — and think — with his Opinion Page political cartoons and “Zero Gravity” comic strip, which pokes gentle fun at the foreign experience in this country.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 12, 2014

'Edo Kaleidoscope: Sarasa, Bidoro, Oranda'

"Edo Kaleidoscope" presents a collection of imported luxury goods from the Edo Period (1603-1867), ranging from Indian chintz to Dutch porcelain. Such goods were exotic to the Japanese and largely imported via Nagasaki by the Dutch East Indian Company. To the aristocracy who could afford them, the goods...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 11, 2014

NYC fans of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu share 'zest for life'

Two hours before the doors even opened, the line outside New York's Best Buy Theater snaked around several streets in the middle of Times Square. Fans lined up early for pop star Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's second-ever New York concert, the finale to her recent North American tour.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2014

'Ethical' gold mines tried in South America

Tucked between two desert ridges in southern Peru, Relave looks like any of the hundreds of ramshackle mining towns that blight the landscape in the world's sixth-largest gold exporter.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 10, 2014

Government's new scheme to bolster social security is still hopeless

The welfare ministry plans to spend u00a55.3 billion to 'increase' collections of national pension premiums.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 8, 2014

Photos found after the tsunami leave a mark

Family photographs are essentially a collection of memories, snapshots of happiness frozen in time. As treasured as these printed images may be to the individuals captured in them, they are no match for the destructive power of the tsunami that swept away town after town along the Tohoku coast on March...
EDITORIALS
Mar 7, 2014

Don't reopen old wounds

If the Abe administration tries to weaken or scrap the 1993 'Kono statement,' the perception is likely to strengthen in the international community that it is bent on whitewashing Japan's wartime behavior and, even today, lacks respect for the honor and dignity of women.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Mar 7, 2014

Era of personal genomic medicine dawns at last

When President Bill Clinton announced in 2000 that Craig Venter and Dr. Francis Collins of the National Human Genome Research Institute had succeeded in mapping the human genome, he solemnly declared that the discovery would "revolutionize" the treatment of virtually all human diseases.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 5, 2014

'The Closed Small Space, Cosmos: Painting of an Indoor Scene'

Whether focusing on the stage, salons or the dinner table, artists have always found something fascinating to depict while indoors. To many of them, being inside merely opens up different and new universes to depict.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 5, 2014

Centre Pompidou picks the fruits of its curatorial success

Fruits of Passion' displays contemporary works that were acquired during the last decade by the Musu00e9e National d'Art Moderne (MNAM), Centre Pompidou. The exhibition begins, though, with the final threads of modernism.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2014

Tips for electing a leader with common sense

One way voters perhaps can eliminate a presidential candidate from consideration is to look at his or her watch. If it costs more than $500, they should find someone else to vote for, someone whose interests extend beyond personal enrichment.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Mar 3, 2014

Old-school bookmarks, modern notice boards and perfectly designed kitchenware

Glasses that just might bounce
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 3, 2014

When it comes to public space, Atelier Bow Wow barks up the right tree

Atelier Bow Wow uses the framework of art exhibitions to encourage public social interaction in what it calls 'micro public spaces.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Mar 2, 2014

Composer Shibuya tests limits of music

One November evening in Paris, Theatre du Chatelet was packed with people who came to see the French premiere of a new opera by a Japanese composer.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Mar 1, 2014

Masako Shirasu: woman of the world

"If you use beautiful things every day, you will naturally cultivate an eye for beautiful things without giving it a second thought. In the end, you will be repelled when you encounter the ugly and the fake. If only all Japan would come to see this, how much more joyous our lives would be and how genial...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 1, 2014

Visit Japan's ancient past in urban Kyushu

Back in the late 1970s, the city planners of Karatsu, a fishing community on the northern coast of Kyushu, decided to build a new road. This provided a rare opportunity for local archaeologists. Seizing the chance to burrow with abandon in the densely developed region, they established a dig and began...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Feb 27, 2014

What we can learn from cats and dogs

Chikao Muratani is a veterinarian and owner of Anima Animal Hospital in Tokyo's Chuo Ward. Having worked in the United States for years, Dr. Muratani is fully bilingual and his spotless and beautifully designed clinic is known as a neighborhood hangout. People with pets are encouraged to pop by weekly...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 26, 2014

Flying high, but not quite buzzing

I have vivid childhood memories of two circuses: Ringling Brothers and Shrine. The latter was a delightfully shabby affair held in an old auditorium where audiences sat on concrete bleachers that were occasionally adorned with tacky plastic chairs. There were lots of animals, and the holding areas outside...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 26, 2014

'Fascinating Japanese Woodcut Prints'

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Yokohama Museum of Art is holding an exhibition of around 220 works selected from its 1,600-strong collection of ukiyo-e (woodcut prints)
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Feb 25, 2014

Sobakiri Karani: The noodle shop you wouldn't suspect

The only clue that this is a soba shop is from the inscription on the noren curtain, but even that I didn't notice until leaving. That's not to say while passing by you don't slow down and look inside in wonder. I had pegged it as a hipster joint; there was an expensive fixed-wheel bicycle chained up...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 23, 2014

Keep calm before carrying on when speaking Japanese

In Haruki Murakami's 1985 novel "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World," one of the two protagonists is a coolheaded data agent working for the monolithic "System" that protects the world from "Semiotec" data thieves. He takes on a job that's a little too dangerous and finds himself confronted...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 23, 2014

Computers 'to top humans by 2029'

Computers will be cleverer than humans by 2029, according to Ray Kurzweil, Google's director of engineering.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 22, 2014

Arisugawa-no-Miya's no mere people's park

Tokyo's weather in February is unpredictable, so when the day I have set aside for exploring features a record-breaking blizzard, I'm not surprised. So, bundled up like Everest conqueror Edmund Hillary, I exit Hiroo Station in Minato Ward to find the air feathered with swirling flakes and the streets...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2014

'The Marvelous Real: Contemporary Spanish and Latin American Art from The MUSAC Collection'

Realism usually refers to attempts to represent subjects in a precise and truthful manner. However, here, the "realism" of Spanish art is not about technique — it's about artists finding the best way to portray what they see as "real."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2014

'Flying Expressions from the New Collection'

This exhibition focuses on the different forms of artistic expression of Maki Yamashita (1890-1973), Ryonosuke Shimomura (1923-1998) and Jun Tsukawaki (1952-), whose works were acquired by the Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya City, in 2012.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 18, 2014

AKB48 "Tsugi no Ashiato"

No Japanese music group has been more interesting these past two years than AKB48, but "interesting" doesn't always mean "good." Several of the 89-members-and-growing outfit's most notable moments have been ugly (the Minami Minegishi head-shaving scandal tops that list), but the idol group has also made...

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.