Search - culture

 
 
The Brave Blossoms leave the pitch after their loss to Argentina at the Rugby World Cup in Nantes, France, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Oct 9, 2023

Japan shows heart in bittersweet finale at Rugby World Cup

Japan's hopes at the Rugby World Cup were dashed in a thrilling match against Argentina.
Afghanistan finished fifth in its Asian qualifying group for the 2022 FIFA World Cup before failing to reach the 2023 Asian Cup.
SOCCER
Oct 11, 2023

'We're not monsters,' says Afghanistan coach ahead of WC qualifiers

Coach Abdullah Al-Mutairi is targeting a berth in the 2027 Asian Cup.
Alma Zadic, Austria's justice minister, during an interview in Vienna on Sept. 26
WORLD / Politics
Oct 11, 2023

In Europe's politics, disinformation and hate pose growing threat

Austrian Justice Minister Alma Zadic believes public institutions simply don’t have the resources to match the output of bad actors.
Shogi player Sota Fujii holds a card that says "eight titles," in the city of Kyoto on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 12, 2023

Sota Fujii becomes first player to win all eight major shogi titles

The 21-year-old took the Oza crown, having won Game 4 to finish the best-of-five match against 31-year-old Takuya Nagase.
A struggling novelist (Rie Miyazawa) wrestles with life’s bigger questions after taking a job at a care facility for people with severe disabilities in “The Moon.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2023

‘The Moon’: Provocative drama bites off more than it can chew

Yuya Ishii’s film courts controversy with a fictionalized retelling of a real-life knife attack at a care facility for people with mental disabilities.
Singer-songwriter Aina The End (center) plays a young woman who strives to overcome her hardscrabble life and become an indie musician in “Kyrie.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2023

'Kyrie': Musical melodrama celebrates youth

Shunji Iwai's film about indie musicians and female friendships may have an overstuffed plot, but it also has a visual energy unique to the director.
A woman hands out pamphlets outside a voting center in central Sydney on Oct. 3. A coming referendum will decide whether to recognize Indigenous Australians in the Constitution.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2023

Australia’s First Nations vote is coming down to love against war

Australia was founded as a federation in 1901 without formal recognition of the continent’s Indigenous peoples.
Naoya Hatakeyama’s “Rikuzen Takata 2011-2023” is a display of hundreds of color contact prints of his hometown, Rikuzen Takata, Iwate Prefecture. The images show the shifting landscape of a place that was heavily affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 13, 2023

Tokyo Biennale 2023 seeks healing through art

The contemporary art festival creates safe spaces for its artists and their works by embracing a “we accept anything” maxim.
A 19-year-old girl plagued with strange visions sets out with her younger brother to uncover the truth about her perfect family in Banana Yoshimoto’s “The Premonition.”
CULTURE / Books
Oct 14, 2023

Banana Yoshimoto’s new book is a sickly sweet fantasy

In “The Premonition,” the characters exist in a dream-like state of sweetness and steer clear of examining complex questions.
Over 20% of actors, stunt performers, voice actors and announcers in Japan said between October and December last year that they had experienced sexual harassment, according to a government white paper released on Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 13, 2023

Over 20% of actors in Japan say they've been sexually harassed

Over 20% of actors, stunt performers, voice actors and announcers in Japan said between October and December last year that they had experienced sexual harassment, a government white paper showed Friday.
A gender-equality supporter protests against discrimination at an event held in Tokyo for International Women's Day in March 2021
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 13, 2023

Japan’s gender gap has never been wider. Can Kishida close it?

The government emphasizes the need to improve gender equality, but correcting Japan's dismal record requires a nuanced approach.
Dariush Mehrjui attends the commemoration ceremony of the 20th Great Celebration of Iranian Cinema in August 2018
CULTURE
Oct 15, 2023

Prominent Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui stabbed to death

The 83-year-old filmmaker was indelibly associated with the Iranian new wave of cinema, having made "The Cow" in 1969, one of the movement's first films.
The late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, is depicted on a leaflet marking the first anniversary of his death in September 2012
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 16, 2023

Japan's media has to account for its failures, too

The Unification Church is set to be dissolved and Johnny & Associates is undergoing structural reforms. What role did the media play, or not play?
Australia had the chance to embrace reconciliation with its First Nations peoples in the Voice referendum. Voters chose division instead.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 17, 2023

Ignorance sank Australia’s Indigenous Voice referendum

Australia had the choice to embrace reconciliation with its First Nations peoples. Misinformation, dirty politics and apathy prevailed instead.
Elon Musk, owner of the X social media platform and carmaker Tesla, attends the opening ceremony of a new Tesla factory in Gruenheide, Germany, in March 2022.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 18, 2023

X unveils ‘Not a Bot’ paid program and new Japan feature

The new “Not A Bot” subscription method is Elon Musk’s latest way of nudging users toward paying for the platform.
A young man (Yuki Kura, left) who isn’t well-versed in wooing attempts to strike up a relationship with a convenience store clerk (Haruka Imou) he has a crush on in “How to Find a Lover.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 19, 2023

‘How to Find a Lover’: Quirky rom-com is deeper than it seems

Koji Maeda keeps the film’s tone fun and offbeat while not shying away from the emotional wounds of its lead characters.
Busan International Film Festival host Song Kang-ho presents the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award to veteran Hong Kong star Chow Yun-fat at the 2023 edition of the Asian film festival.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 18, 2023

Film fans flock to Busan festival despite scandal

Busan International Film Festival remains a prestige Asian movie event amid internal strife and budget cuts.
Without the World Games, the Sumo World Championships remain amateur sumo's top-level international competition.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Oct 18, 2023

Sumo's Olympic dream requires fresh approach

A new variant of the sport wouldn't replace the professional or amateur versions, but would instead create a new path to participation and fandom.
The pronoun you choose when referring to yourself can give off a definite vibe, so be careful in your choice.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 20, 2023

Which pronoun should I take?

Depending on the situation, you may need to use two or three different pronouns for yourself when speaking Japanese.
Japan-based DJ and broadcaster Peter Barakan invites artists from around the world to perform at his two-day roots music festival, Peter Barakan’s Live Magic!.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 19, 2023

Peter Barakan’s Live Magic! festival celebrates 10th edition

The two-day roots music festival in Tokyo features sounds from around the world with acts such as Minyo Crusaders, Jon Cleary and Oreka TX.
A festivalgoer walks along the water near Kyotophonie’s Beach Stage. Despite rain on the second day of the festival, attendees and musicians maintained a lively atmosphere until the nighttime finale.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 21, 2023

An intimate bazaar of music and magic at Kyotophonie

The biannual music festival brought soulful sounds to Amanohashidate, a sandbar famed for having one of Japan’s three most beautiful views.
Japan’s crime thriller genre owes a lot to Kido Okamoto and Taro Hirai, who is better known by his pen name of Edogawa Ranpo
CULTURE / Books
Oct 22, 2023

Japanese thrillers and crime mysteries to curl up with this fall

As the nights grow colder, pick up a recommended read in crime fiction and dive deep into this unique intersection of art and entertainment.
People demonstrate against the government on Nov. 5, 2022, after nearly 160 people died in a crowd crush in Seoul's Itaewon district on Halloween that year.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 21, 2023

Little punishment or change after South Korea’s Halloween calamity

Families of the 159 people crushed to death last year say the government has never acknowledged its mistakes or accepted responsibility.
Scarred by the wildfire but still sprouting new leaves, the 150-year-old banyan tree, which for some has become a symbol hope and resilience, in the center of Lahaina, island of Maui in Hawaii, on Aug. 11.
WORLD
Oct 22, 2023

For Maui future, native Hawaiians push for honoring its past

The history of Lahaina is complicated, intertwined with the painful loss of land and sovereignty for Native Hawaiians.
Soccer star Christiano Ronaldo (center) and FIFa President Gianni Infantino (right) welcome Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (left) during the announcement of the Esports World Cup in Riyadh on Monday.
MORE SPORTS / esports
Oct 24, 2023

Saudi gamer prince announces Esports World Cup

Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in the sector since the 38-year-old became first in line to the throne six years ago.
Gamers compete during the Electronic Entertainment Expo E3 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in 2017.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 24, 2023

Twitch and YouTube curb big-money deals for gaming superstars

For years, the leading livestreaming sites have competed for top gaming talent to bolster their services.
Environmental activists on the sidelines of the New Global Financial Pact Summit in Paris on June 23
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 24, 2023

Countries deadlocked on 'loss and damage' as climate summit nears

Developing and developed countries at odds over fund's eligibility and who will oversee it.
Sawai Pharmaceutical president Motohiko Kimura (left) and chair Mitsuo Sawai apologize at a news conference in the city of Osaka on Monday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 24, 2023

Sawai joins list of drugmakers known for manufacturing misconduct

The company had been fraudulently using capsules with new, replaced outer shells for post-approval quality testing, in place of ones it should have used.
Munakata Shiko's "Oshira-sama: The Flying Silkworm Deities" (1968)
CULTURE / Art
Oct 26, 2023

Major retrospective traces hero's journey of 'Japan's van Gogh'

An exhibition of Shiko Munakata's works shows evidence of a charismatic character and a career that reflects Japan's changing relationship with the West.
A concierge-in-training (Natsumi Kawaida) learns the ins and outs of working at an upscale department store in “The Concierge.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 26, 2023

‘The Concierge’: Frivolous fun with vintage charm

Yoshimi Itazu’s anime set in a department store for animal clientele offers a glittering experience with fluid animation and a vivid color palette.

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