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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 7, 2013

Don't worry: Team Abe is tackling the nuclear crisis at Fukushima

Even if the public remains overwhelmingly skeptical about nuclear safety in general, and anxious in particular about the impact of the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on the environment, there is reassuring news that we can now rest easy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2013

Experts uncertain about Tokyo bid

As the weekend vote looms by the International Olympic Committee to decide the city that will host the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, experts in Japan say the three candidates are neck and neck amid lingering worries about the radioactive water leaking from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 3, 2013

Google crunches data on munching snacks in the office

Last year Google had an M&M problem. So, as it does with most dilemmas, the Internet giant put its data wizards into action.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 2, 2013

Five myths about the U.S. millennial generation

The millennial generation is not as developmentally stunted as older generations make them out to be.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 31, 2013

Remarkable story of the independence, dedication of Isamu Noguchi's mother

Like many people, I like soft light and use lampshades of Japanese paper from the successful Akari series designed by the American sculptor Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988), certainly the artist's greatest influence on individual lives, especially at home. Some of his own upbringing is described in this book,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2013

The Powers behind American Pop Art

Brash, bold and unabashedly low-brow, much of Pop Art took inspiration from the imagery of popular culture to forge what many consider to be the preeminent art form of the mid-20th century.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Aug 24, 2013

Only in Japan could a sword be 'life-giving'

Few countries have broken with their past as sharply as Japan did. That was the price it paid for modernity.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 23, 2013

Was Fellers friend of Japan or master manipulator?

A Nagoya University professor is working on a book about the life of the late U.S. Brig. Gen. Bonner Fellers, who played a major role in absolving Emperor Hirohito (known posthumously as Emperor Showa) of responsibility for Japan’s wartime aggression across Asia.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 21, 2013

Spreading the word through manga

Videos of anime conventions in America greet visitors to Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art at this summer's "The Power of Manga — Osamu Tezuka and Shotaro Ishinomori" exhibition. Looped footage of attendants in cosplay at the Los Angeles Anime Expo and other similar events play, while a "prologue"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 21, 2013

Britain's 'YBA' have moved on, but they still inspire

In Ben Wheatley's recent film "A Field in England," a group of deserting soldiers fleeing the 17th-century English Civil War escape through a field of mushrooms, only to be captured by an alchemist and descend into a nightmare of both body and mind — all against the backdrop of the English countryside....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Aug 19, 2013

Mitaka pair find flexibility key in navigating values

Almost 33 years since their first encounter in 1980, Bill Achilles, who hails from Geneva, New York, and his wife, Michiko, from Tokyo say they share more or less the same values — by merging Japanese and American cultures.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 15, 2013

Dōmo arigatō, giant robotto

My name is Matt, and I have a problem: I'm a grown man who thinks way too much about giant robots.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 15, 2013

Japanese musicians to present their spin on samba at Brazilian festival

Tokyo's Yoyogi Park is known for its various cultural festivals and one of the most popular is its Brazilian one. This weekend, though, people in Yokohama will get their chance to samba.
Reader Mail
Aug 7, 2013

Keeping dolphins and whales

Regarding Rob Gilhooly's July 26 article, "Japan bucks trend: Captive dolphin biz big": I cannot agree with the opinion of Sakae Hemmi of the Elsa Nature Conservancy that the reduction of dolphins in captivity is the international trend. This trend is a current fashion of Western culture only. We must...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / OUR MAN IN TOKYO
Aug 5, 2013

Young Ethiopia envoy brings new ideas, energy

Ethiopian Ambassador Markos Tekle Rike, 34, says he has always felt a special connection between his country and Japan, although he did not have any personal interest in this country before he arrived here 2½ years ago.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2013

The new cultural counter-revolution in China

The Chinese Communist Party's promotion these days of Confucianism and Western classical music illustrates the profound transformation this country has made again.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 3, 2013

Closet traditionalists still populate a supposedly single moms' world

Every day some 370,000 babies are born worldwide. Of those born on July 22, 2013, 369,999 went unnoticed outside their immediate circles. The exception was a royal prince, third in line to the British throne. His first photos show him blissfully unaware of the vast excitement he was causing. He'll come...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2013

Obsessing over inequality threatens capitalism

It's wrong to see income gains at the top as proof of U.S. capitalism's ingrained wickedness, or to forget that clumsy intervention might affect everybody else's income.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2013

Panel plans strategy for overseas Japanese language education

Experts discussing ways to increase the number of Japanese language learners overseas propose promoting 'Cool Japan' pop culture and online services to provide more opportunities for speaking the language.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2013

A prince's push for workplace equality

Prince William's decision to take two weeks of job-protected, paid statutory paternity leave represents bold support for workplace equality between men and women.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jul 29, 2013

Prove you're Japanese: when being bicultural can be a burden

Japanese are Japanese and foreigners are foreigners, and never the twain shall meet? In many aspects of daily life in this country, there is one way for the Japanese and another for the rest of us. Like it or not, that's just how it is. At least foreigners know where we stand.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jul 29, 2013

There is more to my son than the fact he's a 'half'

For foreign residents, having a child in Japan can be a daunting prospect. Going to the hospital and trying to figure out what the doctor is saying in complex Japanese medical terms is just one of myriad trials.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jul 29, 2013

Architecture and art of a Setouchi summer

In 1988, Soichiro Fukutake, then president and representative director of Fukutake Publishing (now Benesse Corporation), approached architect Tadao Ando and told him that he wanted to create a 'utopia' in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2013

Taking stock of Burma, Japan and 'pivot to Asia'

Hope and change remain alive in Burma even as serious concerns continue about human rights violations and growing internal religious and ethnic tensions.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 27, 2013

At home on the Maasai Mara range

Asuka Takita has a passion for Africa and its wildlife that took root during her childhood in Singapore and flourished in the soils of Kenya during her third year of university.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WEEK 3
Jul 20, 2013

On the trail of bear hunters' heritage

Takashi Yoshikawa is no easy man to figure out. Trim and well tanned, the 63-year-old owns a small ryokan (traditional inn) nestled in the foothills of the beautiful Shirakami Mountains which straddle 130,000 hectares of Aomori and Akita prefectures, and whose 17,000 hectares of beech forests were listed...
Reader Mail
Jul 20, 2013

'Cool Japan' meme a nonstarter

The Chubu Connection article published in The Japan Times on July 12, titled "Students dealt real-life problems to broaden outlook," describes Tatsuo Hirase, head of the business promotion office of the Chubu branch of Mitsui and Co., leading a two-day marketing seminar at Aichi Prefectural University....
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Jul 19, 2013

Does U.S. agency's new office represent the workplace of the future?

The U.S. agency that manages nearly 35 million sq. meters of federal office space is moving back to its newly renovated headquarters in central Washington, where its employees are finding that their personal real estate footprint has been radically altered.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EMBASSY AVENUE
Jul 19, 2013

Milan Expo 2015 welcomes Japan's participation

On July 18, the Embassy of Italy held a signing ceremony for Japan's participation in the next scheduled Universal Exposition, which will be held in Milan in 2015.

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