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EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2013

AKB48 and sexual politics

The tearful video from a 20-year-old female pop group member who 'broke the rules' was a disturbing reminder of Japan's troubling gender issues.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Feb 17, 2013

Bringing the love of short films to a local audience

If there was a birthday cake for the Brillia Short Shorts Theater, it would probably be an elegant, minimalist affair — no excessive decorations, nothing too calorific and five slim candles giving off a modest orange glow. One of just four movie theaters in and around Tokyo dedicated to short films,...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2013

Rampant airport insecurity

Under the U.S. notion of airport security, authorities would do better dressing passengers in hospital gowns and putting them to sleep for the flight.
JAPAN / Media
Feb 10, 2013

2,160 Hours of Yasushi Akimoto; AKB48 dramas; CM of the week: U-Can

Some fans can't get enough of AKB48, and NHK understands this, so on Monday it is broadcasting "Mitchaku: Akimoto Yasushi 2,160-jikan" ("Intense Coverage: 2,160 Hours of Yasushi Akimoto"; BS Premium, 9 p.m.), a two-hour special (presumably just the highlights then) in which NHK's cameras follow AKB producer-Svengali...
JAPAN / Media
Feb 9, 2013

Are filmgoers finally rejecting screen violence?

In theaters, the movies might look the same. But perhaps now we see them differently.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 9, 2013

Taro Aso may, for once, have a point

Ever since the Liberal Democratic Party regained power last year, standard-bearer Shinzo Abe has been conspicuously cautious with his public pronouncements, cooling it on the nationalist rhetoric and keeping the bravado to a minimum. Deprived of excitement, the media was delighted by Vice Prime Minister...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 8, 2013

Founder of TIS makes creativity cornerstone of school's curriculum

Patrick Newell, 47, founder of Tokyo International School, calls himself a “learning activist,” a zealot on the frontlines of learning.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 7, 2013

'Kabuki: Theaters during the Edo Period'

Since the Edo Period (1603-1867), kabuki has been an important source of national pride in Japan, and though it has undergone some key changes over the years, it remains a popular form of entertainment.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 1, 2013

'R-18 Bungakusho Vol. 1: Jijojibaku no Watashi'

Sex is universal, but kinks can be local. Japanese S&M, at least the varieties I've seen in films over the years, is less about black leather and fishnet stockings, more about candle wax and artfully elaborate knots designed to display the flesh of the (inevitably female) subject in enticing ways.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 31, 2013

Hidden truths laid bare in the details of realism

With a population of around 35 million, Greater Tokyo is the ultimate "modernist" conurbation; a vast megacity, where something as old-fashioned as realist art might seem out-of-date and out-of-place. Maybe so, but on the metropolis' western and eastern extremities stand two museums that, each in their...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Jan 27, 2013

You read about them here first

Ever since 1897 The Japan Times has reported daily in English on people, places and goings-on in and beyond this country. During those 116 years, our articles have often included information that never made it into the Japanese-language press — as in 1934, when the Society Page carried an interview...
EDITORIALS
Jan 24, 2013

Discovered while still alive

Natsuko Kuroda, 75, the oldest person yet to win the literary Akutagawa Prize, expressed appreciation that jurors discovered her 'while I am alive.'
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jan 24, 2013

South Korean dance show aims for the eyes, not the ears

South Korean entertainment is excelling in a lot of disciplines, and stage performance is one of them. Now a groundbreaking action-drawing show, "Hero," will take its turn trying to impress Japanese audiences.
Japan Times
JAPAN / DAVOS SPECIAL 2013
Jan 23, 2013

Aiming to take Japan's best onto the global stage

Japanese leaders in business, culture, politics and other fields should look abroad and take what Japan can do best to the world, said Yoshito Hori, president of Globis University and managing partner of Globis Capital Partners.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LABOR PAINS
Jan 22, 2013

AKB48: Unionize and take back your lost love lives

They started performing on stages in Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district, and today their ubiquity is unrivaled. The current flavors of the month pepper the TV schedules and covers of weekly magazines all year round. In Tokyo, you can't swing a carrot without hitting a giant poster of one or a bunch...
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 19, 2013

Rumors rife that Sony may unveil next-generation PS4 this summer

Speculation is growing that Sony Corp. plans to release a new version of its PlayStation game console in early summer following a recent remark by senior official Hiroshi Sakamoto during an interview with Chilean website emol.com.
Reader Mail
Jan 13, 2013

Who will care for the elderly?

Regarding Jun Hongo's Jan. 9 article, "Foreign nurse success story has message for Japan: Open up": Why did Japan bother to invite these poorly paid, overworked and under-appreciated nurses from Indonesia and the Philippines to work here.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jan 11, 2013

Kabuki kicks off the new year

Audiences at the Asakusa Kokaido venue in Tokyo have been welcoming 2013 in with some high culture.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jan 11, 2013

Yokocho offers up a bar crawl

'No nightlife in Tokyo? Wrong!" So says the website of the Tokyo Convention and Visitors Bureau and, to prove its point, it is holding a new event, Tokyo Yokocho Week, which commences Jan. 15.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jan 8, 2013

Seven sumo stories to look out for in the year of the snake

1. Baruto — make or break
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 8, 2013

Unneeded farm subsidies off table as U.S. debates budget cuts

FOCUS
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2013

Christianity vs. secularism

Pope Benedict XVI had a busy holiday season, as you might expect, since it is a sacred time for Catholics and other Christians. He set himself the difficult-to- impossible task of trying to put Christ back into Christmas.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 6, 2013

Frederik Schodt: pop culture ambassador to the world

Quick quiz: Who was the first Japanese civilian to be issued a passport?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 2, 2013

'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'

Mr. Antonini, who lived in the house next to ours in Brooklyn, had a rejoinder for all life's ailments. "You think you got problems?" he'd say with a querulous edge to his voice. "Wait till you get to my age, and I'll show you some problems!" At this point Mr. Antonini's son Denny would make his standard...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 30, 2012

This year's highlights and lowlights

Media figures of the year:

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?