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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 24, 2010

Korean artist gets Fukuoka cultural award

Hwang Byung Ki, a native of Seoul and master of the kayagum (a traditional Korean 12-string zither), was awarded the Grand Prize at this year's Fukuoka Asian Cultural Prizes on Sept. 16. Hwang — who aims to to appeal to both Asian and international audiences by composing music with contemporary sounds...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2010

Universities looking to go global

Fostering global human resources seems all the rage these days and several Japanese universities are jumping in, opening their doors to foreign students who aren't proficient in Japanese in a bid to snatch top-class talent from around the world.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 19, 2010

A life lived for others

Sixty-five years after the Allied victory over Japan in the Pacific War, Paul Glynn chronicles the life of his brother and fellow member of the Order of the Rising Sun, Father Tony Glynn.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Sep 18, 2010

Tokyo cafe entrepreneurs bring more to the table

Some cafe entrepreneurs are looking beyond the set menu of java and jazz and bringing more to the table.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 18, 2010

The pot of gold and the expat rainbow

Life as a foreign resident has its trials. Some problems are giant-size, such as issues with communication, while others are more mundane, like how to deal with bugs. Which in Japan can also be giant-size.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Sep 12, 2010

Father, son team up to lead rebuilding Broncos

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. — Fathers and sons have worked together on countless sports teams since games began. And now a new variation of this story begins in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 12, 2010

Travel through time on a trip to Otaru

The Hokkaido port of Otaru is less than an hour by train from downtown Sapporo. Same neighborhood, different world.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Sep 7, 2010

Don't blame JET for Japan's poor English

The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme, touted as the world's largest cultural exchange scheme, has brought thousands of non-Japanese into the country to teach at local boards of education. These days, with many government programs being told to justify their existence, a debate is raging over whether...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Sep 5, 2010

Masumi Kuwata: Pitching for change

Masumi Kuwata has spent most of his life in the spotlight of stardom and publicity.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 3, 2010

Korean artist Kim Siyeon opens house on personal struggle

For her first solo exhibition in Tokyo, Seoul-based artist Kim Siyeon brings her home to Gallery Foil in the form of photographs of installations that she created inside her house. Though she is known as an installation artist, the delicate nature of Kim's work and its location, which is an important...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 31, 2010

Does Japan's affair with tuna mean loving it to extinction?

Japan is known as the biggest consumer of tuna. Be it raw for sushi or sashimi or fried, broiled or canned, tuna is an important element of the food culture.
EDITORIALS
Aug 29, 2010

The annexation of Korea

On Aug. 29, 100 years ago, the treaty annexing Korea to Japan was promulgated, a week after its signing. It was not a treaty between equal partners. The 1905 Korea-Japan Convention had already made Korea a protectorate of Japan. Under the annexation treaty, the Korean emperor handed sovereign power over...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 29, 2010

How Japan embraced the advent of cinema

Japanese cinema was different from the very start. In the days of the silent movie, recitators called benshi, took it upon themselves not only to interpret the action, but to add their own vocal and acting embellishments as self-appointed supra-dramatists.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2010

Tattoo as art on human canvases

The human body becomes a canvas in the hands of tattoo artist Horiyoshi III. Each dot, each line is carefully engraved, until gradually it becomes a colorful masterpiece.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 14, 2010

Detroiter puts golf on his English, boosts students' lie

Detroit-born Bob White has been in love with golf since he picked up one of his father's clubs at the age of 8. There were no kids' size clubs in the late 1950s, he recalls. You just did the best you could with what you had.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2010

Kan apologizes for colonial rule of Korea

Prime Minister Naoto Kan issued a statement Tuesday apologizing to South Korea for Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 8, 2010

A warm embrace for ruff justice

Some years ago, a Belgian woman named An van Dienderen wondered why so many Japanese tourists visited her hometown of Antwerp, and particularly its cathedral. She learned that they wanted to see the place where the boy Nello and his faithful dog Patrasche died in the story "A Dog of Flanders." This thin...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 3, 2010

Dying to work: Japan Inc.'s foreign trainees

"The Industrial Trainees and Technical Interns program often fuels demand for exploitative cheap labor under conditions that constitute violations of the right to physical and mental health, physical integrity, freedom of expression and movement of foreign trainees and interns, and that in some cases...
COMMENTARY
Aug 2, 2010

Go past Koizumi's reforms to restore the Meiji spirit

LONDON — "Japan has lost its place in world, no longer serious economic power."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 31, 2010

Ogijima, man-tree island of art

One of the greatest opportunities to visit the Seto Inland Sea is from now through Oct. 31. During this time, the Setouchi International Art Festival beckons you to discover up to six islands in Kagawa Prefecture and one in Okayama Prefecture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 30, 2010

Bringing samurai spirit and business acumen to kabuki

On July 1, 2009, Kenzaburo Mogi, 72, a former vice chairman of the soy sauce manufacturing giant Kikkoman Corporation, was appointed to direct the Japan Arts Council, which covers all traditional performing arts of Japan, including noh, kabuki and bunraku (puppet theater).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 30, 2010

Making 'BioArt' a cultural practice

At this year's Society for Social Studies Conference at the University of Tokyo, Aug. 25-29, there will be a session on "BioArt," which begs the question: What would that be?
Reader Mail
Jul 29, 2010

The way to enrich communication

The anonymous author of the July 22 letter, "Rakuten may be asking for trouble," fears a loss of culture because of Rakuten President Hiroshi Mikitani's decision to make English the company's official language by 2012. As a citizen of a country where English is very often used as a business language...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 24, 2010

Seattle pair put sake on local map

Japan abounds with foreigners attracted by its cultural opportunities, who live in the country and eventually make a livelihood by specializing in attributes the country has to offer. Scattered across the world, their counterparts reside in towns in Europe or America, those who, after spending time in...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 23, 2010

Yokohama gets jazzed up with Harlem Nights

Feel like getting in a New York state of mind? You might not have to travel too far because next week Yokohama will add a little slice of the Big Apple to its environs.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Jul 11, 2010

Hill ready to make impact with Apache

Bob Hill is eager to begin the next chapter in his long, accomplished career as a basketball coach. And he's smart enough to know that some of his biggest adjustments will take place off the court.
COMMENTARY
Jul 7, 2010

The price of living longer

The British coalition government has announced that it will set from 2016 the qualifying age for old-age pensions for men at 66 instead of 65. Women have hitherto received old-age pensions at 60, but the qualifying age will be brought into line with that for men through a speedier timetable than hitherto...

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