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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 22, 2015

Ukraine's young actress in a coded world without sound

Yana Novikova is a 21-year-old Ukranian actress who was born deaf. She is one of the leads in "The Tribe," a near-silent film starring a cast of deaf actors who communicate only through sign and body language. There are no subtitles.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 19, 2015

Israel's neglected Holocaust survivors deserve better

The Israeli government virtually ignores the nation's Holocaust survivors, a quarter of whom live in poverty.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 18, 2015

State of the reunion: Evaluating the Hague pact's success

As most parents know, there is nothing quite so life changing as having children. Imagine the pain a parent feels, then, if their children are taken from them. Now imagine the shock a parent feels if the person who abducted their children was their own spouse, a trusted partner who fled the country and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 28, 2015

The messy, lonesome worlds of Risa Wataya

In 2003, two young female authors won the Akutagawa Prize — arguably the most important literary prize in Japan. One winner was 21-year-old Hitomi Kanehara for her novel "Snakes and Earrings" ("Hebi ni Piasu"); the other was Risa Wataya, who was only 19 at the time — the youngest winner of the prize...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 25, 2015

Jean-Marc Vallee's interlocking tales of heartbreak and lovesickness

It can be hard to find a movie with soul, but "Cafe de Flore" may have too much. This 2011 film by Quebecois filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallee tells an ambitious multilayered story that explores love and the idea of soulmates across two eras and cities.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 21, 2015

Mizuo Peck: 'Stay curious and never stop learning'

'Night at the Museum' star Mizuo Peck on parades, whiskey shots and Robin Williams
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 19, 2015

Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley and Graham Moore reflect on the complexities of Alan Turing

The story of Alan Turing and his role in breaking the Nazis' Enigma code in World War II has been told many times. But never has Britain's lauded mathematician been reincarnated as such a socially offensive, harsh and humorless character.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 14, 2015

Failing to rebuild communities in Tohoku

The NHK travel program "Tsurube no Kazoku ni Kampai" ("Tsurube Toasts Families") recently aired a two-parter about the town of Watari in Miyagi Prefecture, which was devastated in the March 11, 2011, tsunami. In the series, rakugo storyteller Shofukutei Tsurube and a celebrity guest visit small towns...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 26, 2015

Gruff Rhys follows ancestor's path on 'American Interior'

For his fourth solo album, "American Interior," Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys went the extra mile. Or more accurately, the extra 1,800 miles.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 14, 2015

The three-cornered world of Glenn Gould and Natsume Soseki

Two years after it was published, a copy of Natsume Soseki's novella 'The Three-Cornered World' was placed in the hands of one of the world's most celebrated pianists, Glenn Gould.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jan 31, 2015

For All My Walking

Poet Taneda Santoka (1882-1940) cut a pitiful, tragic figure. His mother's suicide when he was 11 seems to have unhinged him for life. After a failed marriage and a failed sake-brewing enterprise he took to drink and hit the road. Someone took pity on him and brought him to a Zen temple, where he studied...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 29, 2015

Scott delivers epic tale with 'Exodus'

While promoting his new film "Exodus: Gods and Kings," Christian Bale referred to his character, Moses, as "likely schizophrenic" and "one of the most barbaric individuals that I ever read about in my life."
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2015

Chinese buy up overseas real estate

What do New York's most famous hotel, the Lloyd's of London building and the headquarters of the U.K.'s top law firm have in common? They are all owned by Chinese insurers.
Reader Mail
Jan 14, 2015

Politics and women overseas

The Dec. 14 national election was personally significant for me because, for the first time in my life, I voted. A bittersweet experience it was. I happened to be on a short-term sabbatical in Japan when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for the snap election. During the weeks leading up to it, I collected...
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 13, 2015

S. Korea nuclear hack ups aging reactor risks

The hacking of South Korea's nuclear operator means the country's second-oldest reactor may be shut permanently due to safety concerns, said several nuclear watchdog commissioners, raising the risk that other aging reactors may also be closed.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Jan 7, 2015

Egyptian sumo star Osunaarashi focuses on wrestling his way to the top

Osunaarashi's win against two yokozuna at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament last July generated a lot of excitement and boosted the Egyptian's hopes that with the victory, he was one step closer to attaining the professional sport's highest rank.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 1, 2015

Son of God: 'There is little to no poetic license taken here'

Just in time to be too late for Christmas is "Son of God," Hollywood's latest attempt to reboot the Jesus franchise. Director Christopher Spencer tries to give a more family-friendly version of the life of Jesus than the torture-porn brutality of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2014

Texas license plate challenges sensitive people

The legal skirmish over a Texas license platet implicates a burgeoning new entitlement in the U.S.: the right to pass through life without encountering any disagreeable thought.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 27, 2014

Mishima: sliced from the shackles of time

Henry Scott Stokes, Yukio Mishima's first biographer, once told me that the thing he most remembered about the writer was his exquisite manners — one of those telling details that lend a touch of authenticity to the work of those who knew Mishima personally. Because biographies are such intensely personal...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 24, 2014

Top 10 films of 2014: in search of originality

The longer you go on watching and writing about film, the more you start to feel like one of those jaded vampires in Jim Jarmusch's "Only Lovers Left Alive." It's as though art's power to surprise and amaze you is nowhere near what it was when you were fresh to it. "Gone Girl" and "Interstellar" were...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 8, 2014

Economics of 'memento mori'

The primary role of taxes — the redistribution of money for social security and welfare purposes — has been neglected, hidden by the more pressing need to reduce debt.
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Nov 27, 2014

Censorship distortion of 'comfort women'

When Toho Studios wanted to turn 'The Life of an Alluring Woman' into a film, U.S. censors stepped in multiple times to demand script revisions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 26, 2014

Monica Z: 'Shaky rise of Sweden's best-loved chanteuse'

Swedish jazz singer Monica Zetterlund was her country's best-loved chanteuse, but she wanted more. And the one thing that gave her a chance at global stardom? She could sing in English without a European accent.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Nov 22, 2014

Konami's winning take on 'the beautiful game'

Soccer, more than any other sport, is the world's game. Played by millions, it is unquestionably the most popular sport on the planet.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 20, 2014

Rosetta poised to probe comet as lander sleeps

As the first probe ever to be stationed on a comet hibernates, attention is turning to the Rosetta orbiter, which is still buzzing around the space snowball.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Nov 15, 2014

Laughter the best medicine for humanity

What a comical species we are. The proof? Laughter. We laugh. At what? Why?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 12, 2014

Tatsumi: Godfather of alternative manga is reborn on film

Manga artist Yoshihiro Tatsumi has always enjoyed a certain level of fame in his home country, where he's known as the originator of gekiga, a hard-boiled style of manga from the 1960s-'70s. Overseas, however, it's only since 2009 that his reputation has risen meteorically, after an English-language...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 12, 2014

Boyhood: 'Never has the passage of time on screen seemed so real or poignant'

The only reason I hesitate to give Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" five stars is that you will be expecting a masterpiece. And a "masterpiece" these days is all too often a film that is trying very hard for that status, weighted with its own self-importance. (Dare I cite "There Will be Blood" or "The Tree...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 29, 2014

The antichrist, melancholia and nymphomania according to Lars von Trier

Depression is damn near impossible to understand for those not suffering from it. They'll say, "Cheer up, pull yourself together, look at all the blessings in your life," as if someone caught in a downpour will feel cheered by the fact that the sun will come out tomorrow. But what if the rain doesn't...

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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