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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Apr 30, 2017

Political risk scares away Japanese investors in French bonds

Japanese investors, traditionally among France's most loyal lenders, are not yet convinced that French political risks have faded and are staying away from buying the country's bonds.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Apr 29, 2017

Power politics: Japan's most popular political platforms

Looking back at some of the political platforms that have been heavily endorsed by voters over the past century in a bid to predict where the country might be headed under the 'third generation' of postwar Japanese.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Apr 29, 2017

Professional cyclist Mayuko Hagiwara: 'Challenge yourself as much as possible'

Wiggle High5 rider on determination and the power of teamwork.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 27, 2017

All Shizuoka's a stage for SPAC's theater festival

At a recent news conference, Satoshi Miyagi, the artistic director of Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC), gave notice of an imminent invasion — by girigirijin.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 25, 2017

When high achievement is a pyrrhic victory

The results of tests of international competition have long been the sole basis for ranking a country's schools, but these tests fail to provide a complete picture.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 22, 2017

In shadow of Chinese development, Philippines seeks upgrade for patriots living on remote isle

If the Filipinos on the remote South China Sea island of Thitu had binoculars, they might just be envious of how their neighbors on the next island live.
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
Apr 10, 2017

1 in 4 Japanese remain unmarried until age 50

Nearly 1 in 4 men and 1 in 7 women had remained unmarried, in a sign that people in Japan are increasingly hesitant to tie the knot.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Apr 10, 2017

Robotics whiz envisions prosthetic limbs for all

A high school teacher in a black coat enters the classroom. "Good morning," he says to the students before starting his lecture, with his right hand busily scribbling something on a blackboard and his left holding a physics textbook.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 7, 2017

Of hidden Christians and electric cars on the Goto Islands

I was promised that my journey to Fukue — the largest of the Goto Islands west of Kyushu — would be an uneventful one. My berth, a simple bunk with a matt screen for privacy, was comfortable, and the gentle rocking of the ferry as it crossed the Genkai Sea, combined with a midnight departure, sent...
EDITORIALS
Apr 3, 2017

Lifting Fukushima evacuation orders

Government decisions alone will not return evacuees' lives to a state of normalcy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 28, 2017

The tortured artist is not just a cliche

Sai Hashizume's latest exhibition of precision realist painting, "This Isn't Happiness," is about updating some of the masters of Western art history. In her five new works, she deals prominently with the surrealist Rene Magritte and Vincent Van Gogh. She also adopts the ominous chiaroscuro of 17th-century...
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 27, 2017

China to review murder sentence in loan shark killing case following public outcry

China's top prosecutor will review a controversial sentence in which a man was jailed for life after killing a loan shark who had sexually assaulted his mother, in a case that has again ignited public anger over police incompetence.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Mar 26, 2017

Overtime deal marks total capitulation by labor

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, long the champion of labor law deregulation, last year announced it was time to place a legally binding upper limit on overtime hours.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Mar 24, 2017

Entrepreneurs use their diseases as springboard for business success

Despite calls for diversity in the workplace and "work-style reforms" being debated in the government, Japan has yet to come up with a way to fully utilize the talent of all who wish to work, especially those with rare and incurable diseases.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 22, 2017

Shinobu Yaguchi can make sparks fly, even off the grid

When I met Shinobu Yaguchi at a Chicago sushi restaurant on March 1, I made my usual mistake with well-known directors: mention that I had interviewed him before. He, understandably, blanked, since the interview was 20 years ago for his 1997 indie comedy "My Secret Cache" ("Himitsu no Hanazono")
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 21, 2017

To be or not to be ... so it seems

John Caird is widely known as the co-director with fellow Englishman Trevor Nunn of "Les Miserables," which opened in the West End 1985 and is still playing there in the longest-ever London run for a musical.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 25, 2017

Is Abe attempting to fuse the church and state?

It was morning in the land of the gods. "The mountains and the waters serve our sovereign," wrote a seventh-century poet. "And she (Empress Jito), a goddess, is out on her pleasure-barge upon the foaming rapids."
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Feb 25, 2017

Naoto Fukasawa: Between craft and design

Naoto Fukasawa is probably best known internationally for his designs for Muji, in particular for the wall-mounted CD player he created in 1999, which was featured in Gary Hustwit's popular 2009 documentary "Objectified." Now he remains a creative adviser for Muji, while still designing interiors, lighting...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 22, 2017

Kanji Furutachi: Reacting to Japan's film industry

Over the years I've heard many complaints about the bad acting in Japanese films, from the hammy emoting of over-indulged veterans to the amateurish turns of "idols" cast more for their agency connections than any perceptible talent. I've added to this chorus of negativity, but I've also noticed that...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2017

Japan's buckling health care system at a crossroads

U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to repeal “Obamacare” has left many people here wondering: How does Japan compare?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Feb 19, 2017

For African-American ‘idol’ Amina du Jean, difference is a double-edged sword

Amina du Jean been in Japan for only 2u00bd years, but in that time has become a bona fide idol, joined a J-idol group and even branched off into a bit of gravure (bikini) modeling.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 18, 2017

'Homecomings: The Belated Return of Japan's Lost Soldiers': Portraits of lives transformed by war

It's staggering to think that, at the end of the Pacific War, almost 7 million Japanese servicemen and civilians were awaiting repatriation in various parts of Asia.
SOCCER
Feb 17, 2017

Inter Milan teams up with SHIN9, Inc. to improve health longevity

Italian soccer club Inter Milan has agreed to finalize a partnership with SHIN9, Inc., which runs acupuncture and moxibustion (traditional Chinese medicine therapy) and osteopathic clinics in Japan, to jointly work to develop a health care program, the two organizations announced on Friday in Tokyo....
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 11, 2017

Akitas in Japan give a dog a good name

The breed is a fiercely loyal animal that has attracted growing interest from dog lovers in recent years
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 21, 2017

The triumphant second coming of Endo's 'Silence'

Martin Scorsese's adaptation of "Silence," Shusaku Endo's tale of Catholic missionaries suffering brutal repression in 17th-century Japan, has met with mixed reviews. Some have found it ponderously overlong and, for those unfamiliar with Japanese history, baffling in context. It is, in fact, not a minute...

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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