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Japan Times
JAPAN / AT A GLANCE
Jan 5, 2014

Bustling Shinjuku, the inn district that never sleeps

Tokyo's Shinjuku district never goes to sleep.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 4, 2014

Kitsuki's double visions of delight

The guesthouse I was staying at in Kitsuki was named after the owner, a tough but warm-hearted example of Kyushu womanhood, someone who had learnt to stand her own ground on an island known for its almost theatrical levels of machismo.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 4, 2014

An Encouragement of Learning

Yukichi Fukuzawa, who appears on every Japanese ¥10,000 note, wrote "An Encouragement of Learning" as a collection of essays while completing his masterpiece, "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization" (1875). The essays highlight the basic tenets of his fundamental philosophical beliefs — freedom,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2014

Cross-generational relations add to HIV cases

Studies show that the greater the age difference between sexual partners, the more frequent is the practice of unsafe sexual behavior that can lead to HIV infection.
CULTURE
Jan 1, 2014

Lucky food, charming decorations and visiting deities: welcoming the new year with history and tradition

Wearing kimono, getting together with family and friends, and not working for the first three days of a new year. Shogatsu, or New Year's, is when Japanese generally work less than the rest of the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 31, 2013

Tokyo prepares to get schooled in the art of beats

Although the major spectacle looming on Tokyo's horizon is undoubtedly the 2020 Olympics, there is one event this year that will be eagerly anticipated by anyone who spends longer on their gym playlist than their workout: The Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) is set to take place here in October.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 29, 2013

Hungry animals, people use 'Levy walk'

Imagine you are a member of a hunter-gatherer tribe living in a remote part of the sprawling African plains, and your stomach is growling. How do you search for something to eat?
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 28, 2013

In memoriam: Those we lost in 2013

2013 saw the loss of a number of personalities who stood at the top of their respective fields. As the year quietly draws to a close, we reflect on those we lost, their contribution to the world and their ongoing legacy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 27, 2013

Researcher sees digital maps as key to understanding, alleviating crises

'Maps put into pictures what policymakers traditionally see in numbers,' says Elise Montiel-Welti, a researcher at Doshisha University who produces digital maps to explain global crises. 'They also put us in perspective: We can see how small we are in the face of huge disasters or conflicts.'
COMMENTARY
Dec 27, 2013

Extremists threatening Libya

Sunday's suicide bomb attack in Libya hat killed 13 soldiers should be a signal that the world can no longer afford to stand aside as this oil-rich nation of 6 million people appears to slide into chaos.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 25, 2013

Best of the West tops this year's major shows

Japan occupies an odd niche in the art world. Its own indigenous artistic traditions are balanced against an almost fanboy fascination with certain aspects of the canon of Western art, while there is an often half-hearted attempt to stay plugged into the global contemporary art scene with its various...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 21, 2013

Hot times in the realm of Mount Aso

I used to think that only Mount Fuji was massive enough to have its own weather patterns, but 1,592-meter Mount Aso in Kyushu proved me wrong.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 18, 2013

'Hokusai from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston'

Hokusai Katsushika (1760-1849), one of Japan's best-known Edo Period ukiyo-e (woodblock print) artists, has garnered admiration from across the world for more than a century. His prints are still sought after by collectors and he was the only Japanese to be selected by Life Magazine to be included in...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 18, 2013

Sanrio said to violate children's privacy

Iron Man, Captain America and Spider-Man greet visitors to Disney's MarvelKids.com website, but parents may be surprised to learn that these superheroes may also open the door to tools that track their children's activities across the Web, according to federal complaints to be filed Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 2013

The best Japanese albums of 2013: Yosi Horikawa, 'Vapor'

Few albums this year rewarded repeat listens as generously as Yosi Horikawa's "Vapor." The Chiba-based producer makes fecund, wide-eyed electronica constructed from manipulated field recordings, percussion, ethnic chants and slightly new-age keyboards. If that sounds awful on paper, it's intoxicating...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 2013

The best Japanese albums of 2013: Sapphire Slows, 'Allegoria'

If there's one thing I've taken out of 2013, it's that the kids are alright. Perhaps as a result of growing up Internet savvy, with easy access to decades of music and countless genres at their fingertips, Japan's young artists have spent the year pasting together aural collages that gleefully defy categorization....
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Dec 17, 2013

Looking at 2013's Japanese social-media scene

In the Japanese social-networking scene, Facebook still isn't dominating the way it does in the United States and many other countries. There are several other networks in Japan, both old and new, that occupy unique positions, though 2013 was an unusually quiet year, with no big takeovers among social-networking...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 2013

The best Japanese albums of 2013: Church of Misery, ‘Thy Kingdom Scum’

This year, the Ozzy Osbourne-fronted Black Sabbath released its first studio album since 1978, and while it was a fine album, I think they may have been "out-Sabbathed" by Japan's very own doom-metal band, Church Of Misery, who released its fourth album, "Thy Kingdom Scum," in June.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2013

In search of Himalayan Yetis and global citizens

The educated 'global citizen' is like the Himalayan Yeti: a figment of the imaginations of a few, not a living member of the political fauna of the world. It isn't something we should try to create.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Dec 12, 2013

A crafty idea for gift shopping

It is likely that at least once in our lifetimes we will receive a mundane or unsuitable Christmas gift. But at some point, we've also probably been the worst gift giver ourselves. The nearer Christmas gets, the more we panic and the more a helping hand is needed in the search for that ideal present....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 12, 2013

'La Migliore Offerta'

"La Migliore Offerta" ("The Best Offer") was a showcase piece at Tokyo International Film Festival, and as such it's a bit showy. But with Giuseppe Tornatore (of "Cinema Paradiso") at the helm and starring Geoffrey Rush (whose roles include the Marquis de Sade and King George's vocal coach), a dose of...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 10, 2013

Guitarist takes from the piano for new sound

One of the most interesting questions guitarist Juan Manuel Cañizares has been asked by a Japanese fan had to do with his fingernails.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Dec 9, 2013

December offers Tokyo style and makeup shows, plus even more new high-end stores

Fashionably made up with Shiseido
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2013

Can JAL deliver the iced goods for Japan Post?

Japan Post has begun delivering refrigerated parcels overseas through an exclusive deal with Japan Airlines, but the future of the tie-up remains murky due to JAL's limited cargo services and intensifying competition with rival delivery firms.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 7, 2013

Re-examining Yasujiro Ozu on film

Yasujiro Ozu once had a reputation for making films only other Japanese could understand.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 7, 2013

The Frontier Within: Essays by Kobo Abe

Kobo Abe was one of Japan's greatest postwar authors, with his works of science fiction and existential plays on alienation and absurdity drawing comparisons with European writers such as Franz Kafka and Alberto Moravia. However, he also wrote theoretical criticism that merged literary and philosophical...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 7, 2013

Tales from on the trail of Okinawa's rail

Thirty-one years ago I set off on a quest to look for a species so rare that it seemed as mythical as a Phoenix. Not only was it almost unknown, but also the Okinawa Rail had only recently been discovered. It was, as reporters like to say, a species new to science. Nothing was known about its numbers,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2013

Shin-Okubo, window on a sad regional rift

The crowds at Tokyo's Koreatown have been replaced by a small but strident group of anti-Korean protesters who are turning it into a barometer of Japan-Korea relations.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 1, 2013

Guardian is targeted over Snowden leaks

Living in self-imposed exile in Russia, former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden may be safely out of reach of the Western powers. But dismayed by the continued airing of trans-Atlantic intelligence, British authorities are taking full aim at a messenger shedding light on his secret...

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.