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Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 4, 2011

Get a sample of Japanese arts

The Japanese arts of noh and kabuki are popular with tourists from all over, and Kamigata Traditional Entertainment Night was created to make productions easier to comprehend with its all-English program of traditional theater.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 1, 2011

Ganbatte and gaman stifle debate, hinder recovery

Nuclear debate discouraged Re: "Japan needs less ganbatte, more genuine action" by Debito Arudou (Just Be Cause, Oct. 4):
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 29, 2011

Longtime Kyoto resident relishes Irish music scene

Jay Gregg, a resident of Kyoto since 1980, starts each day with a "bowl of matcha and a few tunes." The music drifts through his living space, across his Kano School art collection, and brings back memories of his banjo-strumming university days at Colorado State.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 22, 2011

Briton aims to restore poets' peak to former glory

Nineteen university students and civic-minded Kyoto residents squat on a mountain pass on a cloudless afternoon in early October as a tall British poet, Stephen Gill, 58, reads from a collection of haiku.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 20, 2011

Rediscovering the neglected master of Japan's avant-garde

The fickle hand of artistic fate is seen not so much in whom it plucks from the depths of obscurity, but in how high those chosen are raised up. A case in point is the multidisciplinary avant-garde artist Hideo Sugita, better known by his alias Ei Q (1911-60).
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 14, 2011

Where have all the gyaru gone?

When model Nozomi Sasaki stepped out onto the catwalk at last month's Tokyo Girls Collection (TGC) fashion event, a wave of sighs rippled through the 30,000 mostly young girls in attendance. Sasaki is one of the most popular models in Japan right now, and her presence was essential at this year's fest,...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 5, 2011

Social media urban legends

The ever-expanding universe of social-media technologies — including video-sharing, mobile phones, and networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter that allow individuals to share and connect — is as ubiquitous as it is misunderstood. Apostles hail its power to oust dictators and bring us together;...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 23, 2011

Mexican drummers play Japanese sounds

The award-winning Tambuco Percussion Ensemble will perform next month at Toppan Hall in Tokyo while in the capital to receive an award from the Japan Foundation.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 23, 2011

Tea ceremonies give a taste of old-style charm

While chaseki (tea ceremony) has been, since the Edo Period, a time to respect the manners and spirits behind all elements of the activity, it sometimes seems intimidating for beginners because of its formalities. Tokyo Culture Creation Project has tried to demystify the tea ceremony and invite people,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Sep 20, 2011

Juvenile issues bring couple together

Vincent Marx, 47, from the U.S. state of Washington, and his wife Emiko, a Tokyo native, first met at a juvenile detention center in Seattle in 1992.
Reader Mail
Sep 18, 2011

Muslim prayer for peace

Ten years since the war against terrorism was launched, the world is still suffering the regrettable loss of innocent lives in many countries. Many who supported the war in Iraq and Afghanistan later became disillusioned with the reasons for the war. Peace is still far away. It is unfortunate that the...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2011

'Top Gun' blazed a trail for war propaganda

Americans are souring on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The military budget is under siege as Congress looks for spending to cut. And the army is reporting record suicide rates among soldiers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 3, 2011

American trumpeter makes his horn sing in Kansai clubs

On a Sunday in early August, American trumpeter James Barrett led his band through a set featuring rhythmic jazz and world music beats as part of the Saiin Music Festival in western Kyoto.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 2, 2011

From the need to know to the need to share

At a time when government seems unable to address our most pressing problems, we are about to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with rare evidence that Washington can work.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 1, 2011

Sachiko Hara makes her mark in Germany

Tokyo-born Sachiko Hara, 46, was the apple of her ordinary, working-parents' eye. She was encouraged to get a degree in German studies from the prestigious Sophia University, and after that it seemed some sort of high-flying career was hers for the taking.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2011

Nuclear reform will be uphill slog

In a bid to restore public confidence, the government has unveiled plans to reform the nuclear regulatory agency, separating it from the ministry in charge of promoting atomic power.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 30, 2011

K-pop striking chord with the young

Korean pop groups began gaining popularity and media exposure in Japan last year, singing and dancing on TV shows and appearing in commercials.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2011

Foreign embassies give kids taste of many cultures at Tokyo event

Children tried their hand at Thai vegetable carving and practiced Indian yoga at an intercultural event put on by foreign embassies Sunday in Tokyo.
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2011

One-land, two-country solution

Territorial problems between countries are sources of permanent tension and conflict. In the past, wars and military victories were considered the main tools for solving such problems. Although the probability of applying such tools these days has essentially decreased, we still hear about military drills...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 25, 2011

Japanese brothers who championed Korean ceramics

In ancient times, Japanese arts and crafts were greatly influenced by the introduction of techniques and aesthetics from Korea and China. In particular, Japan owes the development of its ceramics to the skilled craftsmen brought over from Korea at the end of 16th century, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2011

Tyranny of the quest for shortcuts

It is said that Americans have a genius for simplification. Gradually, however, the quest for it has become a global trend, one that continues to conquer new territories, just as blue jeans once did.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 21, 2011

Modernity on the move

Movement is central to modernity. Baudelaire's flaneur, a walker drifting through city streets, "a perfect idler, ... a passionate observer," who is a part of the urban throng even as he remains apart from it, is paradigmatic.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 21, 2011

Coming of age in Kamakura

When I first went to Kamakura I was 16 and full of wonder and anger and curiosity; a coiled hope poised at the edge of experience.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 18, 2011

Passing through Kohei Nawa's tactile rooms of the senses

The lecture theatre is brimful of bright-eyed people listening to a lecture by Kohei Nawa — an artist considered by many to be at the forefront of contemporary art in Japan. The public lecture offers insight into the design and production process of the often complex and intricate work on display in...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 14, 2011

Japan through the eyes of Richie

VIEWED SIDEWAYS: Writings on Culture and Style on Contemporary Japan, by Donald Richie. Stonebridge Press, 2011, 264 pp., $16.95 (paper)
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 14, 2011

Shimi time is party time for Okinawans alive and not

How would you like to spend a fun Sunday partying on a grave surrounded by hundreds of other tombs in a huge cemetery? Well, if you happen to be in Okinawa in April, shortly after the vernal equinox, you'll find thousands of families doing just that in high-spirited family outings at the festival time...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Aug 14, 2011

Film mines rich seams of history

Hiroko Kumagai will never forget the day in 1998 when she first stepped inside the red-brick building at the entrance to the closed and shuttered Miyahara shaft in the Miike coal mine in Omuta, Fukuoka Prefecture.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2011

Japan Times not just wartime mouthpiece

Many journalism scholars have long viewed The Japan Times as a mouthpiece for the Imperial government's wartime propaganda.

Longform

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