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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 25, 2012

It's not all about the mid-life crisis

Finding the solution to a difficult problem lies in asking the right questions. On the afternoon of Sept. 1, in a stylish office building in Aoyama, a gathering of Japanese life coaches practiced this Socratic skill in groups of four. It was a role-playing exercise, in which one person played the role...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
May 1, 2016

Enjoy your life in Japan, for the moments

After more than 30 years of studying Japan, I've learned to appreciate one thing people here do well: living in the moment.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF
Jul 9, 2010

Science exhibition / 'Sensor in the Life'

Sony ExploraScience
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 1, 2005

Past the pain and language barriers

Even for a sumo wrestler, Kaido Hoovelson looks big. The 20-year-old Estonian, who goes by the ring name of "Baruto," stands 197-cm tall, making him one of sumo's tallest wrestlers.
Established in December 2021 in the middle of the pandemic-fuelled gaming craze, Sega Sapporo Studio is remarkable for growing amid a recent slump in the industry.
LIFE / Digital
Feb 17, 2024

Sega developers say new Sapporo studios lead to better lives

Aside from quality-of-life benefits that come from living outside a major metropolis, Sapporo also has a history of game development.
Any mix of the above foods that fit your dietary needs and preferences will make for filling and nutritious meals during an emergency.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 9, 2024

Don’t let the next quake catch you (or your stomach) off guard

There’s a hidden threat in the days of limited power and bare grocery store shelves that follow a natural disaster: nutritional deficiencies.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba receives fruit from tangerine farmers of Shizuoka Prefecture in Tokyo on Jan. 22. The government's new regional revitalization plan focuses on convincing younger workers to choose a career and life somewhere other than a major urban center such as Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 18, 2025

Can Ishiba's 'joyful Japan' policy revitalize the nation's rural regions?

The prime minister may be taking cues from the mistakes of past efforts, but ultimately, even the best rural revitalization plan is tough to realize in practice.
In Sakaiminato, Tottori Prefecture, an entire street is dedicated to Japanese spirits, monsters and ghouls — a sign that the overall region is rich in spine-tingling tourist draws.
LIFE / Travel
Feb 22, 2025

Shimane and Tottori to bewitch tourists with supernatural charms

The two prefectures are leaning on spooky folklore to draw more travelers.
As Japan’s borders opened back up and tourists eager to document their long-awaited trips to the country streamed back in, 2023 saw a handful of prominent content creators stir up trouble with local residents to grab attention online.
LIFE / Digital / 2023 in Review
Dec 29, 2023

Social media binged on bad behavior in 2023

Mischief makers like Johnny Somali and "sushi terrorism" instigators gained attention online amid a deluge of Japan-related content this year.
Releasing on March 20, Assassin's Creed Shadows excels in atmosphere and open-world gameplay but falls short of narrative expectations.
LIFE / Digital
Mar 19, 2025

Assassin’s Creed Shadows puts samurai style over substance

Ubisoft’s latest game is a gorgeous jaunt through feudal Japan entirely unworthy of the controversy surrounding it.
Tour guide and history buff Rory Dent left his job at a U.K.-based tour operator to move to Japan and start his own business.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Jun 30, 2024

Guiding Japan through the challenges of overtourism

With the number of overseas tourists breaking records, guides and tour operators are seeing their businesses flourish.
Japan has a long history of parasol use, and there's no time like the present to see if they can help you get a bit of heat relief.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Boiling Point
Jul 6, 2024

Parasols are an age-old solution to today’s crippling heat

By Japan’s Edo Period (1603-1868), bamboo and waterproofed paper ‘kasa’ (umbrellas) and ‘higasa’ (parasols) were everyday tools and props in kabuki plays.
Chef Hironori Fujii moved his restaurant, Oryouri Fujii, to the Iwase district of Toyama City in 2019, finding the ideal setting in its historic surroundings.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Aug 4, 2024

Oryouri Fujii: High-end Japanese cuisine in a picture-perfect Toyama setting

Chef Hironori Fujii will serve according to the seasons: ‘ayu’ (sweetfish) and ‘nodoguro’ (blackthroat perch) in summer; snow crab and yellowtail in winter.
Moved by an experience with a local hunter, Shota Sasaki has since focused on elevating the image of game meat in Japan.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Aug 11, 2024

Elezo Esprit: A visceral celebration of Hokkaido’s wild game

Game meat specialist Elezo Esprit has hunters on staff who are directed to ensure the animals they supply arrive at the butchery within an hour of being killed.
The central Hokkaido city of Asahikawa made headlines this year when one of its suburbs was named as the best place to live in Japan — a ranking earned in part due to the community's many outstanding restaurants and cafes.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 28, 2024

How Hokkaido quietly became a culinary treasure trove in 2024

Food trucks, morsels with cutesy cues from nature and more helped Japan’s northernmost island have a stellar year.
Tokoro Ruins Museum Director Yuuki Nakamura says that 'most Japanese people don’t know' the history of the Okhotsk culture, but he and others are betting that travelers might be intrigued enough to visit and find out more.
LIFE / Travel
Feb 22, 2025

Bear skulls and pit dwellings: Hokkaido aims to sell ancient history

The Okhostk culture thrived in northern Hokkaido from the fifth to ninth centuries and may have provided the Ainu with some of their best-known rituals.
The Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art is just one of many hidden art and architectural gems across the Kagawa coast.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 15, 2025

‘Resorts for the spirit’: Touring Kagawa’s art and architecture

The seaside cities of Takamatsu and Marugame are home to a heritage of beauty, from the monolithic to the modern.
Lighting fireworks on Myeongpa Beach, where families can camp near the DMZ border, in Goseong-gun, South Korea, on July 30, 2022. ​In recent years, northern counties of South Korea have become unlikely tourist destinations, attracting people drawn to the history of the DMZ.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 27, 2023

Life along the Korean DMZ, 70 years after the fighting ended

After nearly eight decades of living separated across the tightly sealed border​, many South Koreans see reunification as a distant dream.
If you've ever dined on fresh fish, either within Japan or anywhere else in the world, there's a healthy chance it was processed via ikejime, a Japanese technique for preserving freshness in line-caught fish.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 30, 2023

How the world got hooked on ikejime-caught fish

Roughly rendered in English as “locking in life,” this technique delivers a quick death to ensure freshness.
Kyoji’s Ma_do Fragments Wall Art collection of stainless steel frames, designed by Katsuyama Motonori, features off-cuts and other objects selected from Kyoji’s collaborating craftspeople.
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 18, 2023

Off-the-wall designs to spruce up your home or office

On: Design looks at some products that can bring new life to bare walls.
Beet carpaccio served with fresh cream and caviar, the signature dish of three-Michelin-star chef Mauro Colagreco, features at Cycle, his much-anticipated new restaurant in Otemachi.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 9, 2023

Tokyo dining finally kicked the pandemic blues in 2023

The further we got into 2023, the more it really started to feel like COVID-19 had finally dissipated like a malodorous mist.
Final Fantasy VII Rebith, the second installment in the modern remastering of the 1997 classic scheduled for a Feb. 29 release, leads the slate of Japan-made games this year.
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON: GAMES
Jan 13, 2024

Final Fantasy and Tekken kick-start exciting year for gamers

Many upcoming titles are legacy franchises with recognizable faces that have withstood the ebb and flow of gaming popularity.
In August 2019, Toru Takamatsu became the youngest master sommelier in history at just 24 years old.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 21, 2024

Japan’s first master sommelier dreams of Hokkaido wine glory

Why would a master sommelier go from Michelin-starred restaurants to the hands-on life of an apprentice winemaker in Hokkaido?
As they enter the workforce, the young employees who grew up texting one another have their own rules for communicating.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 2, 2024

Fear of a full stop? Young Japanese say drop the period in your texts.

In addition to "maruhara," or "period harassment," younger employees want to cut down on the unnecessary emails that are a part of work culture.
In 2023, Bryan Eastlake (left) began a three-year contract with the local Takahama tourism association to write, post photos and otherwise promote the small town in northern Kyoto Prefecture to a wider audience.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
May 20, 2024

The new vanguard of rural revitalization efforts in Japan

Currently, the Regional Revitalization Corps has around 200 foreign residents working in different industries around the country.
A couple looks out onto the Fukuoka nightscape. Due to its distance from Tokyo and its close proximity to South Korea and China, professor Tomoya Mori believes that Fukuoka is one of the few metropolitan regions of Japan that will see some form of growth in the decades to come.
JAPAN / Society / Perspectives
May 20, 2024

Why half of Japan's cities are at risk of disappearing in 100 years

Professor Tomoya Mori believes depopulation will alter the urban landscape of Japan in an unexpected way.
Kamekichi Fujiwara has been making 'New York-style' pizza in Tokyo's Kichijoji neighborhood since 1967.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2024

At Tony’s Pizza, ‘New York style’ is a state of mind

In 1967, Kamekichi Fujiwara made his first pizza layered with Dutch edam, mozzarella from Germany and Danish Maribo — and it’s what Tony’s Pizza still serves today.
Few in Japan may be more passionate about the 'onigiri' (rice ball) than Yumiko Ukon, owner of an onigiri specialty shop in Tokyo's Otsuka neighborhood.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 8, 2024

‘When I die, I would like to come back as a rice ball’

There’s no denying the cultural significance of the ‘onigiri’ (rice ball). But there comes a point where an onigiri is surely just an onigiri.
The Nintendo Museum opens to the public on Oct. 2, but unlike the company's all-ages games, the new attraction may be geared more toward older rather than younger gamers.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 25, 2024

A first look inside the new Nintendo Museum

Set to open on Oct. 2, the gaming giant's newest foray into real-world experiences shows flashes of the same creativity that made the company what it is today.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan