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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 30, 2017

Basking in afterglow of solid sophomore album, Suchmos reflects on a stellar year

Picking one highlight from 2017 proves a tough task for Suchmos vocalist Yosuke Kasai. The past 11 months have been good for him and his six-member band. They've gone from a Jamiroquai-inspired outfit playing late-night sets at small Shinjuku venues to a national phenomenon, their music moving tens of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 28, 2017

The beginning, end and rebirth of sculpture

The subtitle given to the retrospective of the 60-year career of Osaka-based Michio Fukuoka is oxymoronic: "A Sculptor Who No Longer Sculpts." He used to, but became frustrated and filled with doubt about creativity and so he made sculpture anyway, often about "doing nothing."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 24, 2017

Staying on top of winter in Japan with snowshoes

Among snowshoeing's chief pleasures is the ability to walk across fresh powdery snow without sinking, often surrounded by complete silence — something one has to experience to appreciate.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 24, 2017

Seoul surgeon: Wounded North Korean defector 'nice guy' who has nightmares about repatriation

North Korea's latest defector, a young soldier known only by his family name Oh, is a quiet, pleasant man who has nightmares about being returned to the North, his surgeon said on Thursday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Nov 22, 2017

Amid protests, Brazil set to impose total ban on abortions, including for rape victims

More pregnant women could die in Brazil if it passes a law banning all abortions on Tuesday, including in cases of rape or when the mother's life is in danger, critics said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 20, 2017

Airbus faces high hurdles over stalled A380 Emirates deal, including call to keep program going 10 years

A preliminary deal to sell 36 A380s to Emirates blew up in an Airbus hospitality chalet moments before the Gulf carrier was expected to shower $30 billion on the plane maker and its U.S. rival Boeing at the start of last week's Dubai Airshow.
Japan Times
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Nov 19, 2017

Harumafuji incident highlights sumo's inherent problems

The Harumafuji scandal continues to morph almost daily and at the time of writing appears to be evolving into a pitched battle between stablemaster Takanohana and the Japan Sumo Association.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Nov 19, 2017

You're living in Japan — so now for something completely different

In a way, foreign residents who gravitate toward a third culture are simply following in a fine Japanese tradition.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 18, 2017

Going electric: Celebrating Japan's powerful e-bikes

With electric bikes accounting for nearly 6 in 10 bicycles manufactured nationwide last year, the future looks especially bright.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 18, 2017

'Red Roofs and Other Stories': Tales of restlessness by Junichiro Tanizaki

Junichiro Tanizaki is best known for his novels, "Naomi" and "The Makioka Sisters," and is widely considered one of Japan's greatest writers of modern literature. This collection of his early stories "Red Roofs & Other Stories," published between 1917 and 1926, begins with a novella-like story that alludes...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Nov 11, 2017

Light designer creates European ambience

From a young age, Stuttgart-born Megumi Ito always felt "a bit different" from people in her seaside home of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Nov 11, 2017

Hiroyuki Shimizu: Tasty tips from a mobile deep-fried chicken cook

Tokyo street vendor on flexibility, lines for food and missing underwear.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 7, 2017

A 2010 play by Hideki Noda gets wry extra twists of English humor in 'One Green Bottle'

"One Green Bottle" is a new-ish work co-written by the renowned Japanese dramatist Hideki Noda and Will Sharpe, who shot to fame in Britain in 2016 with the comedy series "Flowers," which he wrote, directed and also starred in.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Nov 4, 2017

'Blue Bamboo: Japanese Tales of Fantasy': Between the fantasy and reality of Osamu Dazai

Osamu Dazai packs wry humor and warm humanity into seven short stories, as his collection, "Blue Bamboo," inventively blurs the line between fantasy and reality.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 29, 2017

Tadao Ando: When every single building is a passion project

A few simple lines on paper — that's all it was. But there was something extremely alluring about it that intrigued Tadao Ando.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 27, 2017

Northern exposure: Discovering silence in Okinawa

Learning to relax beyond Nago in the southern archipelago.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Oct 25, 2017

Bicultural families in Japan take the educational road less traveled

Parents of international children share their diverse stories from inside and outside Japan's state school system.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Oct 21, 2017

Cultural disorientation is dancer Yumi Umiumare's artistic drive

At a certain level, the act of resettling overseas unsettles the idea of home itself. It ruptures the narrative of belonging that we construct through attachments to people and places. For the immigrant, home is no longer an immutable fact, but a space between memory and desire — always elsewhere....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse,Japan Pulse
Oct 21, 2017

Commercials reflect a subtle shift in traditional parenting roles

A series of TV commercials aimed at parents in recent months has sparked intense online debate over traditional family values and the reality of modern life.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 20, 2017

The wisdom of Tanzan Ishibashi

Japan might be a very different country today if Prime Minister Tanzan Ishibahi hadn't handed the reins of power over to Nobusuke Kishi after just 65 days in office.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2017

Hurricanes' unnatural toll

The world spends far more on post-disaster aid and reconstruction than it does on mitigation even though the latter would save many lives and is far more cost-effective.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League
Oct 18, 2017

Levanga chief Takehiko Orimo striving to juggle responsibilities

There is probably nobody else in Japan who devotes themselves to basketball as much as Takehiko Orimo, who, at age 47, is still a competitive player and also serves as president of the Levanga Hokkaido.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 16, 2017

Japan Inc. scandals build case for corporate reform

Another big scandal is rocking corporate Japan. This time it's Kobe Steel Ltd., a major producer, which has confessed to faking data on the quality of its materials. Everything from bullet trains to cars to U.S.-made airliners could be affected. It's doubtful that the scandal will wreak lasting damage...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Oct 13, 2017

Memories of war have had profound effect on Meschery

Third in a three-part series
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Taking the Lead
Oct 1, 2017

Online research firm aims to break Japanese mold with global market quest

Market analysts say Japanese internet firms rarely succeed overseas, and there haven't been many who have proven them wrong so far.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 1, 2017

Japan's demographic sweet spot

Japan will emerge as the only advanced economy that achieves the ultimate goal sought by policymakers — a new middle class.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 28, 2017

Japan's flops turning bond market stars amid hunt for higher yields

Japan's yield-hungry investors are helping turn companies that were once bond-market pariahs into stars.

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