Search - culture

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 2, 2013

My Awesome Japan Adventure

Targeting children, but interesting enough for adults, this fictitious illustrated journal is written by "Dan," an American boy on a four-month homestay with a family in Japan. His entries consist of typical culture shock and observations — from Japanese shoe etiquette and family bath routines to food...
EDITORIALS
Nov 2, 2013

Washoku as a cultural heritage

Coming this December, traditional Japanese cuisine, 'washoku,' is likely to be designated an Intangible Cultural Heritage if the voting by UNESCO goes as expected.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 2, 2013

Japan and Korea slide down gender-index ranking

The Swiss-based nonprofit World Economic Forum recently released its Gender Gap Report for 2013, in which Japan ranked 105 out of 136 countries — a plunge of 25 places from its ranking when the report was inaugurated in 2006. South Korea rates even worse, coming in at 111 in 2013, down from 92nd place...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Nov 1, 2013

Writer, translator, yoga instructor finds inspiration in 'the voices that history silences'

Leza Lowitz has shared the worlds of kamikaze pilots and their last letters to their families, published lesbian writings by contemporary Japanese poets, specifically sought out Ainu writers, and journeyed into the mind of Japan's foremost modernist poet, Nobuo Ayukawa.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 31, 2013

Festival/Tokyo pushes a return to storytelling

In 2009, when Festival/Tokyo took over from the annual Tokyo International Arts Festival, it burst forth with the slogan "Towards a New Real" and the resolve to stamp the city's name on the global arts map.
Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2013

Coexist under any circumstances

The Oct. 28/29 editorial of "Pushing for nuclear disarmament" prompted me to share some thoughts on the abolition of nuclear weapons. Needless to say, it is good news that Japan has signed a United Nations statement calling for the nonuse of nuclear weapons "under any circumstances."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 26, 2013

Branding Japan: Not always onward and upward

Branding is not an exact science. Take for example the recent campaign by Fukushima Industries to launch a new consumer-friendly corporate mascot.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2013

Brain drain taking toll on India, China

Disillusionment with India's seemingly ineradicable corruption and inefficiency has resulted in a brain drain abroad. A similar quest for more congenial climes affects China's privileged classes.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Oct 20, 2013

Wildlife victory: shark fin falls from favor in China

Once a rare delicacy served to honored guests, shark fin soup had become so popular among China's fast-growing elite in recent years that it was pushing some shark species close to extinction.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 19, 2013

Abe ought to show a red card to hate speech now

Last week I ended this column by noting that Myanmar (also known as Burma) can ill afford bigotry and intolerance. Neither can Japan. The outpouring here of hate speech targeting ethnic Korean residents is a disturbing development even if it is not representative. And certainly, it is encouraging that...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Oct 16, 2013

The wonderful world of Japanese law: Yōkoso to endless discovery

Having kindly published my intermittent ramblings on Japanese law and the occasional other subject over the years, The Japan Times has seen fit to give me a monthly column.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 13, 2013

Straitjacket Japan could use more brawling billionaires to lead the way

Japan is being treated to a juicy spectacle as two of its richest and most innovative entrepreneurs brawl in public over Internet market share and visions for the future. But what's most important about the fight between Masayoshi Son and Hiroshi Mikitani is the example it's setting.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Oct 4, 2013

Beatlemania: 'The screamers' and other tales of fandom

The first time Scottish concert promoter Andi Lothian booked the Beatles, in the frozen January of 1963, only 15 people showed up. The next time he brought them north of the border, to Glasgow Odeon on Oct. 5, they had scored a No. 1 album and three No. 1 singles, and it was as if a hurricane had blown...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2013

Double the trouble, twice the joy for Japan's hafu

Until about 10 years ago, the standard Japanese image of kids of mixed blood was that they were 1) gorgeous, 2) rich and 3) able to live in Japan with none of the kinks and hang out at Azabu clubs when they were 13. In high school, my girlfriends scorned their own Japanese heritage. The common reply...
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Oct 2, 2013

True tradition would be preferable to an 'Idolympics' in 2020

Ten-thousand Kumamons doing an elaborate Busby Berkeley-style dance routine to Kyu Sakamoto's international 1963 hit "Sukiyaki"? A 100-meter Hatsune Miku towering over the stadium while 80,000 spectators crane their necks for a glimpse up her skirt? Newly elected Prime Minister Pamyu Pamyu speeding up...
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2013

Acquittal of JR West presidents

The acquittal of three ex-presidents of JR West in the 2005 Amagasaki train derailment that killed 107 people does not absolve the corporate culture thought to have led to the accident.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2013

The 'why' of violence against women

Cultural attitudes regarding rape must change if we are to create a safer future for the next generation of women and girls.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / OUR MAN IN TOKYO
Sep 30, 2013

Beninese ambassador brings TV star power to diplomacy

Beninese Ambassador Zomahoun Rufin says — half-jokingly — his dream is “to become the next Japanese prime minister.”
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 30, 2013

India's plan for 'women-only' spaces welcomed, criticized

In the months since a gruesome gang rape riveted India, a "women-only" culture has been on the rise, with Indians increasingly seeking out women-only buses, cabs, travel groups and hotel floors.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 29, 2013

Good morning Miss Kita-Senju, konbanwa Japan

Perhaps there comes a day in many a man's life when he squints and says to himself something like this: 「まずいなぁ、もう少し度の強いメガネがあったら良かった。この距離だと、あの方が女装している北野武さんなのか、ミス・インターナショナルなのか、分からないや」("Mazui...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Sep 24, 2013

Producer gets deep inside the otaku heart

Masaaki Katabami is a content producer working in Tokyo. Besides producing manga and mascot design for clients, Katabami publishes Burgeon, a biannual free manga magazine aimed at a female otaku (geek) readership. Available at Tokyo's Comiket (Comic Market fair), the magazine is in its sixth year. In...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 21, 2013

Crossing the Himalayas through memory to Ladakh

I'm in a small van careering along a rough and narrow road beside a rushing river with brightly painted temples along its banks and craggy peaks towering overhead. We're traveling in the prescribed Indian fashion — drive as fast as you can and hope for the best or, better still, pray.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 19, 2013

Syrian crisis exposes Obama's frayed ties with U.S. military

The Syrian crisis over the past few weeks has thrust President Barack Obama into a role in which at times he has seemed uneasy: that of commander in chief.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2013

This glorious English language that is open to all

The multinational Man Booker shortlist shows 'outsiders' are the new normal. It's time to celebrate the unruly English tongue.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2013

Successful Olympic bid thrusts Tokyo into spotlight, fencing star says

For Olympic fencer Yuki Ota, Tokyo's successful bid for the 2020 Summer Games and Paralympics was like winning the gold medal he's always wanted.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 14, 2013

Rescuing gadgets from the golden age of 'Made in Japan'

Piles of old electronic gadgetry, most of it out of order, clutter Junichi Matsuzaki's "studio" on the first floor of an aging public apartment building in Adachi Ward in northeastern Tokyo. To visitors the outdated technology may look like junk, but to the 53-year-old self-proclaimed consumer electronics...

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat