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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 9, 2023

Don’t pay people to leave Tokyo. Make more Tokyos.

Trying to arrest rural depopulation, Japan wants people to quit Tokyo, its greatest metropolis. How about creating new ones instead?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 24, 2022

Japan’s banks break with Wall Street by embracing hybrid work

The nation's three largest lenders said they are allowing more flexibility, eschewing a minimum number of office days per week, as experienced elsewhere.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / Longform
May 21, 2022

The enduring influence of mingei design

What began as a folk art around 100 years ago has gradually worked its way into the fabric of everyday life in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 30, 2021

For some of Japan's lonely workers, COVID-19 brings a homecoming

Workers assigned to far-flung locations are seeing their employers bringing them back to their homes and families.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Apr 29, 2021

Right to disconnect gains ground as pandemic brings work home

Ireland introduced a legal right for employees to not respond to emails, telephone calls or other messages during nonwork hours from April 1.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 9, 2021

Life in David Chang’s kitchen isn’t always peachy

David Chang's memoir, “Eat a Peach,” offers an engaging and personal, albeit disjointed, look into the American celebrity chef's career and the tumultuous culinary world.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2020

A $7 billion bet Japanese workers return to office life

Investment in commercial real estate in Tokyo has surged this year, contrasting with declines in New York and Paris.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 28, 2020

Twillo: Fairy tale yatai bar hits the streets of Tokyo after midnight

Running a traveling bar might seem like an avant-garde answer to the coronavirus, but owner Shotaro Kamijo is in the business for a different reason.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 22, 2020

Japan’s office worker struggles to adjust to a 'new normal'

It's tough to sing the company song at daily morning meetings wearing a mask.
BUSINESS
Jun 25, 2020

Japanese investors favoring firms that let people work from home

Being good employers and business partners may ultimately pay off with sustainable returns in the long term, the investors believe.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 23, 2019

Corey Mah: Fashioning a new life in Tokyo

From retro video games to avant-garde Comme des Garcons' fashion, moving to Japan became a calling for Corey Mah.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 27, 2018

Japan's public policy is killing rural entrepreneurship

While big-ticket tourism projects in Japan thrive, those involved in smaller-scale projects can feel starved of government support.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 7, 2017

'Kotan Chronicles: Selected Poems 1928-1943': Translating poetry about the Ainu and frontier life in Hokkaido

Poetry can be a vital record of the past. Anarchist and poet Genzo Sarashina (1904-1985) was the son of first-generation Japanese settlers in Hokkaido. Later he became an expert on Ainu culture, working tirelessly to conserve the language, fables and songs of Japan's indigenous peoples and publishing...
CULTURE / Books
May 27, 2017

'Record of a Night Too Brief': Hiromi Kawakami uncoils life's mysteries with an exploration of dreams

When I met the popular author Hiromi Kawakami in London recently, I asked her thoughts about the great authors of Japan's literary past. Did she, for example, enjoy the novels of Meiji Era (1868-1912) great Natsume Soseki?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 9, 2017

Keeping up with the Joneses, Edo style

The Edo Period (1603-1868) is renowned for the flourishing of material culture — a time when major advances and innovations in Japanese folk crafts and design were prized by the burgeoning commoner class of Edo (present-day Tokyo) and Osaka.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 28, 2017

Labor reform panel adopts final report calling for overtime caps

A government labor reform panel adopted a final report Tuesday calling for revised labor laws capping overtime at 100 hours a month and improving conditions for nonregular workers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 16, 2016

Salvador Dali: a life less ordinary

The early literary surrealists of the mid-1920s were skeptical of any visual possibility. Their aim — to fuse art with life, reality and dreams — was to be realized through the immediacy of writing. Painting, by contrast, was a laborious, indirect expression mediated by style and technique. Andre...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Jan 2, 2016

The little things in life

Now that the season of extravagance is over, it's time to kick back and enjoy some of the little things in life.
Despite a range of backgrounds and culinary traditions, food served as the ultimate lingua franca for chefs touring Nagano Prefecture.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 1, 2024

Putting mountainous Nagano on a plate

Nagano’s natural bounty became the star attraction as chefs from Europe, Southeast Asia and Oceania showed off their chops with local ingredients.
Koichi Katsumata is the first chef to receive a Michelin star in Japan for an 'assiette dessert' (dessert course) restaurant
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 8, 2024

Welcome to Yama, Japan’s first Michelin-starred dessert restaurant

“We don’t just serve food — we serve memories, stories and a sense of place,” says chef Koichi Katsumata.
Shohei Ohtani's prowress on the diamond translated into an outsized influence on Japan's consumer trends this year.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 13, 2024

The year that Shohei Ohtani achieved 'yokozuna' status … in the market

To qualify as a genuine "hitto" (hit), a product or service must harness some new concept or technology in a manner that significantly impacts the marketplace.
Despite ongoing struggles, 2024 had plenty of bright spots for Japan's sake industry.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 15, 2024

Glass half full: Japan’s sake industry celebrates a brighter 2024

Despite a general decline in consumption, new openings and greater awareness gave Japan’s sake lovers reason to cheers this year.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (second from the left) making a statement at a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 24, 2024

Japan eyes regional revitalization and economic growth

A basic concept for the promotion of regional revitalization was drawn up to promote economic growth and address the issue of overcrowding in Tokyo.
Tonoike Sake Brewery has been gearing their brewery toward tourism since the late 1980s, attempting to lure tourists to the town of Mashiko.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 3, 2025

Traveling for sake's sake: The emergence of brewery tourism in Japan

While sake consumption has declined in Japan, breweries across the nation are taking advantage of a rise in overseas interest to promote themselves as tourist destinations.

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake