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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Dec 6, 2017

In Japan, rarefied manners abound but courtesy is less common

Japanese manners are often remarked upon with awe and wonder by visitors, but you seldom hear a word about Japanese courtesy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Nov 29, 2017

The consummation of cool is a funny business for comedian Ike Nwala

Turn on the TV in Japan and you're likely to see a black face from time to time. Rarely will it be in a drama, but on game shows, variety and comedy shows, even some commercials. I wouldn't say we're commonplace, but we're out there. And, honestly, I used to dread every instance. Still do, actually,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / A MATTER OF HEALTH
Nov 29, 2017

Japanese firm uses VR simulations to offer a glimpse into the world of dementia

On a moderately crowded train, I've just woken up after dozing off, but I can't remember where I am or where I'm going. Apart from the noise of the moving train, it's quiet, and the other passengers are half asleep, fiddling with their phones or spacing out.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Nov 18, 2017

Takashi Tamai: A never-ending search for the unpredictable

Anthropologist Takeshi Tamami has always had something of an itch for Africa.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Nov 13, 2017

Hundreds take to Hollywood streets to join #MeToo march against sexual abuse

Hundreds of people marched in the heart of Hollywood on Sunday to support victims of sexual assault and harassment, inspired by a social media campaign that has portrayed such abuse as a pervasive feature of American life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 7, 2017

Hiroshi Sugimoto: The illusion of architecture

The renowned artist made a name for himself by capturing time in a photograph. Now he attempts to do the same with an art complex in Odawara ...
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 2, 2017

Moscow reveals cables sent to USSR by famed British double agent Kim Philby

A new exhibition in Moscow has made public for the first time secret documents that British double agent Kim Philby sent to his Soviet handlers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 28, 2017

Festival/Tokyo director Sachio Ichimura looks to a new generation

At the end of his speech in July announcing details of this year's Festival/Tokyo running from Sept. 30 to Nov. 12 mainly at venues around Ikebukuro, its director, Sachio Ichimura, dropped a bombshell.
EDITORIALS
Sep 21, 2017

Farewell, Cassini

The Cassini-Huygens space probe, whose 20 year mission ended last Friday, highlighted what multinational collaboration and cooperation can achieve.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 17, 2017

Dancing to the tune of humanity

Penniless and subsisting on only water for three weeks, Tokyo street-dweller Tokuchika Nishi thought he had come to the end of his life.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Sep 16, 2017

Documentary filmmaker Megumi Sasaki learns to live in the moment in New York

For a long time Megumi Sasaki felt that something did not quite fit.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 1, 2017

Iriomote: Remote island is home to a unique state of mind

Approaching the house of 80-year-old Akiko Ishigaki, a three-legged dog rises to signal our arrival.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Aug 13, 2017

Astroscale exec to boldly clean where no one has cleaned before

Entrepreneur Nobu Okada has set off on a mission never before undertaken in the annals of human history — cleaning up Earth's space junk.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / The critics who shaped modern Japan
Aug 5, 2017

Junichiro Tanizaki: Speaking to the light from the shadows

In 1933, when Junichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965) published his short but landmark essay "In Praise of Shadows," it could hardly be seen as anything other than a riposte to the "enlightening" agenda of the great cultural critic Fukuzawa Yukichi of the preceding Meiji Era (1868-1912).
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 3, 2017

In battle of beliefs, Nigeria targets Boko Haram's top brass

It was a case of instant captivation when Shagari first heard Boko Haram's founder deliver a jihadi sermon a decade ago.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Jul 23, 2017

Filling the void: Disseminating 'blackness' in Japan

I decided it was time to find out about the true state of scholarship in Japan pertaining to Africans and the African diaspora, and the people behind it.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Jul 22, 2017

Yasuhiko Tsuchida: Bringing a hint of Japan to Venetian glass art

On a sweltering summer day in Venice, the temperature in Yasuhiko Tsuchida's glass-making atelier feels at least 10 degrees hotter than it is outside. Men roast their faces against groaning furnaces, shirts drenched with sweat, pulling clumps of luminous molten glass from the fire as the glass artist...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jul 19, 2017

Views from Osaka: How worried are you about the possibility of attack by North Korea?

People in Kansai's commercial capital were asked if they feel concerned about the prospect of missile attacks by North Korea on Japan — and whether there are more important worries in their lives right now.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jul 9, 2017

Tokyo filling the shoes of European artisans

While Yohei Fukuda was learning the art of shoemaking in London in the early 2000s he applied to work at John Lobb, one of the oldest and most prestigious footwear firms in the world. He was offered a position, but was asked if he would accept payment in shoes — not money. Somewhat taken aback, Fukuda...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 9, 2017

Thank you, Jean Pearce, for helping us get things done in Japan

If the U.S. had Ann Landers and Dear Abby, and Britain had Marge Proops, then Japan had Jean Pearce — someone who transcended the title of 'columnist' and became a media icon for generations of readers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jul 5, 2017

Japanese TV is making some progress in writing broader female roles

One of the best things to come out of the rise of streaming websites overseas has been an increase in productions that have featured great roles for women. This year alone we've seen some phenomenal acting from Elisabeth Moss on "The Handmaid's Tale" and powerful ensembles on Netflix's "Orange is the...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 1, 2017

80 years on, mystery of U.S. aviatrix Amelia Earhart's disappearance over the Pacific remains unresolved

On June 28, 1933, Nellie Simmons Meier sat at her desk and cast an expert eye over the imprint before her, searching for telltale signs much as she had done since she first started such readings as a young girl.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Jun 24, 2017

Nobuko Kiyomiya: Judging a bookbinder in France by her covers

Kiyomiya is keeping alive a way of thinking about books that may be finding itself under threat in our world of Kindles.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 24, 2017

The politics of religious hatemongering in India

The irresistible urge to mix politics and religion usually comes at the expense of secularism, tolerance and vulnerable minorities. We saw this recently in Asia with extremist Islamic groups spewing anti-Chinese hate speech to defeat the incumbent governor of Jakarta, the ebbing tide of secularism in...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 17, 2017

Living through the golden years has lost its sheen

A man in his 80s suffering mild dementia (the story is courtesy of Shukan Gendai magazine) is cared for by his wife, also in her 80s. She's exhausted. Caregiving drains the prime of life, let alone the end of it.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2017

Imprisoned Japanese Red Army founder Shigenobu holds out hope for revolution

The imprisoned founder of the Japanese Red Army admits her efforts to bring revolution to Japan in the 1970s and '80s ended in failure but she remains optimistic that public protest can check government moves to alter the pacifist Constitution.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Apr 29, 2017

Masako Nemoto-Deacon: Bringing experience abroad to the workplace

It was love that drew Masako Nemoto-Deacon to her current home, London, but she believes that leaving Japan had been inevitable.

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