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CULTURE / Music
Aug 27, 2015

Guitarist Inoran gets personal on 'Beautiful Now'

Kiyonobu Inoue, more commonly known as Inoran, is a very busy man. Aside from his day job, in which he plays to sold out arenas as a guitarist for rock band Luna Sea, he juggles being a producer, playing in a handful of other projects and managing a solo career. He admits life wasn't always this hectic,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 19, 2015

Animated antidotes to Pixar-Disney eye candy

Children's animated films, like just about everything else these days, are mostly created by a couple of mega-corporations. Some days it seems like the only animations out there are digitally rendered, hyperactive "Pix-ney" flicks filled with pop-culture wisecracks and supported by a $100 million budget....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 12, 2015

Hell is a claustrophobic submarine in 'Black Sea'

Sometimes a bit of breathless claustrophobia is just the thing to combat a scorching-hot summer (you know, fight panic with panic), and what could be better for that than a submarine thriller?
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Aug 8, 2015

Tokyo's cool beasts of fashion

Monstrously cute dining in Harajuku
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 8, 2015

Memories of those marked by nuclear war

August, 2015. This is a month of great testimonials: outpourings of guilt, grief, consternation, remorse, atonement and, for those whose ends are not served by an honest reckoning of the past, evasion.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 4, 2015

Art nouveau's jewels in the crown

As Parisians of the late 19th century reveled in the heady optimism of economic prosperity and enjoyed the innovations spurred by the ongoing Industrial Revolution, Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress and muse of the time, became enamored by two trendsetters: Rene Lalique, then a jewelry maker,...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Aug 1, 2015

Wine joins whisky in Japan's 'Napa Valley'

The small town of Yoichi in Hokkaido has become famous recently as the setting for much of an NHK TV series titled "Massan" that was screened every day, Monday to Saturday, from September 2014 to March this year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 1, 2015

New translation of the world's oldest novel

'The Tale of Genji," written by Murasaki Shikibu around 1,000 A.D., is regarded by many as the world's first novel and is arguably the most influential work of Japanese literature ever written, inspiring countless other works of drama, fiction and fine art.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2015

The dangerous rise of Buddhist chauvinism

Buddhist chauvinism now threatens the democratic process in both Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 29, 2015

Toothy terror: Dinosaurs like T. rex had unique serrated teeth

If you want to know the secret behind the success of Tyrannosaurus rex and its meat-eating dinosaur cousins, look no further than their teeth.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Jul 28, 2015

Heavyweight brawlers have been replaced by stick-and-move specialists

Want a blueprint for the modern heavyweight boxing champion?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 23, 2015

Noel Gallagher brings his High Flying Birds back to Fuji Rock and where the 'mania' began

It doesn't take much to set Noel Gallagher off. We are sat in a backstage portacabin at London's peculiarly ragbag Clapham Calling festival, and I've just mentioned to the former Oasis songwriter that "Chasing Yesterday," the second solo album under his High Flying Birds banner, is the U.K.'s fastest...
WORLD
Jul 21, 2015

Islamic State cracks down on Internet use in Syrian stronghold: monitor

Islamic State militants raided Internet cafes in their Syrian stronghold city of Raqqa after ordering a ban on wireless networks that can be used by private homes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said Monday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 18, 2015

Underneath the 'Orientalist' kimono

Is it "racist" for non-Japanese to wear kimono? That question has been fiercely debated since protesters entered Boston's Museum of Fine Arts in late June to decry an exhibition encouraging visitors to try on a red uchikake kimono in front of a 1876 painting by Claude Monet of his wife wearing a similar...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2015

As Tokyo shrinks, Olympics may be last blast

Half a century ago, the Tokyo Olympics ushered in a golden age for Japan's capital, as industrial prowess made it the largest urban complex in history. Now the games are returning to mark the end of that growth.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 7, 2015

'Fashion Illustrator: Morimoto Miyuki Exhibition'

July 3-Sept. 27
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2015

Failure of new U.S. weapons systems may be more than science fiction

There is a belief that the U.S. and China will never go to war because they are economically interdependent. But a closer look at history should worry everyone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 5, 2015

City pop revival is literally a trend in name only

City pop is the latest trend to hit Japan's indie-music scene. Well, not the musical style, just the words.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jul 1, 2015

Public schooling is a two-way street

Earlier this year, a reader wrote to The Japan Times in response to an education feature on schooling options for the children of non-Japanese parents. The reader wanted to know more, but the earlier feature was unfortunately curtailed by space.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2015

Noah takes inspiration from Hokkaido on 'Sivutie'

The way Ayuko Kurasaki, who creates music as Noah, describes her childhood home of Chitose in Hokkaido is so lovely that I'm surprised it isn't being used in tourism ads.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 15, 2015

Jeb Bush runs from Romney's ghost as he readies U.S. presidential bid Monday

When Republican Jeb Bush gathered donors in Miami for an April retreat, it was clear he planned a less-scripted, more-inclusive U.S. presidential campaign bearing little resemblance to that of the unsuccessful 2012 nominee Mitt Romney.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 9, 2015

The ornate history of embroidery

"Transcendent Artful Embroidery II" at the Kobe Fashion Museum is a cross-cultural look at the perfections of needle craft across several centuries. It gets underway with a section on garments of Indian nobles and Chinese court dresses of the 19-20th centuries and then segues into Japanese aesthetic...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2015

Erdogan the conqueror

For Turkey's weakened democratic institutions to survive, and for it to remain delicately balanced between East and West, the Kurds and their new friends need to do well in Sunday's elections.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Jun 5, 2015

Flashy FIFA's fast fall from great game to great shame borders on the farcical

In less than a week, the public face of FIFA has gone from something resembling an old-style Communist Party rally, with a defiant Sepp Blatter fronting ranks of flag-bearing youths, to what looks more like a scene from "Reservoir Dogs."
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 4, 2015

'Pyonghattan': Unofficial economy brews up bling for North Korea's growing middle class

Nail salons, massage parlors, cafes and other signs of consumerism were unheard of in rigidly controlled North Korea just a few years ago, but they are slowly emerging in one of the world's last bastions of Cold War socialism.
BASEBALL / MLB / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Jun 2, 2015

Revived Mets ignite renewed attention in ballclub

Sitting in the dugout of a New York Mets foe before a recent contest, MAS overheard an intriguing comment.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2015

Tayyipism strikes a chord with Turkish voters

President Recep Erdogan's new Turkey is more religious, more conservative, more rooted in the Middle East and less bound to the West.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 23, 2015

The 'Daughters of the Samurai' who changed the face of Meiji Era Japan

Tsuda College, occupying a leafy campus in the western suburbs of Tokyo, is a private college where female students are educated in languages and the liberal arts. In one corner of the site, overshadowed by the stately trees that surround it, lies the final resting place of Umeko Tsuda, an early pioneer...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 13, 2015

Terry Gilliam back on form with 'The Zero Theorem'

Terry Gilliam's "The Zero Theorem," like most of his films, focuses on the all-too-thin line between sanity and insanity, reality and delusion. Its steampunk-meets-cyberpunk visual style is a wonderful jumble that's reminiscent of his much loved "Brazil," with touches like a computer mainframe that looks...

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake