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COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2012

Let grassroots exchange inspire reconstruction

Korean youth culture is all the rage in Southeast Asia. In January, the leading Indonesian newspaper Kompas published a front-page article on Korean culture titled: "Korean Pop Culture Launches Itself on the World."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 9, 2010

To realize its cultural potential, Japan must celebrate its strengths

Europe received a cultural shock of major proportions during the last quarter of the 19th century. The exquisite shikisai kankaku (sense of color), the startling spatial and compositional elements and the sublime craftsmanship of the Japanese arts took the continent by storm. Many well-known collectors...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Sep 2, 2007

Danjuro Ichikawa: Destined to act wild

When Danjuro Ichikawa stomps around the stage in flamboyant costumes, his face painted in red-and-white makeup and his voice virtually bellowing, it is kabuki in its rawest, most dramatic form. This actor and his ancestors through 11 previous generations have been wreaking havoc in the elegant world...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2006

International role of NPOs

All over the world, culture is being pushed to the sidelines. I am not referring here to commercialized, globalized culture produced purely for entertainment. By "culture," I mean the provision of culture as a public good, such as through foreign-language education, intellectual exchange or groundbreaking...
Japan Times
JAPAN / WORLD FORUM ON SPORT AND CULTURE
Oct 19, 2016

An excellent opportunity to kick-start industry growth

The Japanese sports industry now has a great opportunity to become a growing industry.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 9, 2006

Who out there cares about 'Cool Japan'?

These days the government is jumping on the bandwagon. The Foreign Ministry is singing in tune. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has hopped on, with a conductor's baton in his hand and a spring in his step that you don't even see when he's ascending the stairs to pay his public-private respects at Yasukuni...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 6, 2004

Otaku proud of it

I wouldn't be offended if someone called me an otaku," says Koichi Nakayasu, ". . . because I am."
CULTURE / Books
Mar 20, 2000

Built on a foundation of fear

THE SHOGUN'S PAINTED CULTURE: Fear and Creativity in the Japanese States -- 1760-1829, by Timon Screech. London: Reaktion Books, 2000, 312 pp., with 33 color plates and 111 b/w photos, 19.95 British pounds. The argument of this prodigiously detailed study is that Japan as we now know it did not exist...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Nov 13, 2022

Todd Silverstein: ‘Startups are challenging but Naro is like several startups put together’

An experienced producer, Todd Silverstein finds a way to bring the aspects of Japan that he finds most inspiring to your living room.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 2, 2016

Upon re-entry back home after expat life, brace yourself for turbulence

Survey of Japanese returnees suggests two divergent emotional journeys for those heading back home after a stretch abroad.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 20, 2011

Japanese arts course opens door to English speakers

There is a small slither of land in Tokyo's Kita-Aoyama district that is wedged between the rolling grounds of the grand, neo-Baroque-style Akasaka Palace state guesthouse and the equally expansive, tree-lined grounds of the granite-constructed Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery. Given the nature of the...
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2007

Ambassadors manga and anime

Walk into any bookstore around the world and you will find a new, large section for one of Japan's best-known representatives -- manga. Likewise, in DVD stores, drama, comedy and action have been pushed aside for Japanese anime. All around the world, people of all ages are pouring over translations of...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 6, 2005

Say 'cheese' and snap out of such fanciful thinking

Foreign-ministers-in-waiting don't drop clangers for nothing. When the then Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Taro Aso spoke last month at the newly-opened Kyushu National Museum in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture, he fully expected his clanger to resound and reverberate when it hit the ground....
Features
Apr 17, 2005

It's time Japan jumped on its cultural bandwagon

The Japanese have never regarded their culture as universal.
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2000

Koreans welcome 'cultural invasion'

SEOUL -- The Japanese are coming -- but this time they're being welcomed with open arms.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Aug 3, 2022

As borders slowly reopen, a familiar question returns: Why did you come to Japan?

After years of delays, new arrivals to Japan talk about what stopped them from giving up on their dream of coming here.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jan 23, 2019

What #MeToo? Dealmaking in escort bars thrives in corporate East Asia, including Japan

In Tokyo's Ginza, Seoul's Gangnam and Beijing's Chaoyang financial district, a familiar scene plays out almost every night of the work week. As dusk falls, businessmen flock to karaoke and hostess clubs to close deals and build relationships in the liquor-lubricated intimacy of young women.
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
JAPAN / WORLD FORUM ON SPORT AND CULTURE
Oct 19, 2016

Forum demonstrates strong commitment

It is splendid to see the start of the World Forum on Sport and Culture. This event will kick off a series of activities, such as the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo, to promote culture, and also serve as a strong declaration of our commitment, inside and outside of Japan, to invigorate the country...
Tourists leave Ittoqqortoormiit, Denmark, after visiting the village on Aug. 20.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Oct 4, 2023

Inuit hunters blame cruise ships as narwhal disappear

While some view Arctic tourism as a means to reinvigorate the community, others worry it could destroy the last surviving Inuit hunting societies.
A Hello Kitty balloon is paraded down 6th Ave during the 91st Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City in November 2017.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 24, 2023

Soft power and Japan's role in a complex world

While hard power zeroes in on what can be physically controlled such as an empire by force, soft power is an empire by invitation.
Akina Shu has visited around 50 countries as a speaker and ambassador on the digital nomad lifestyle since 2020.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Nov 27, 2023

Japan is enticing for digital nomads, but visa hurdles remain

While the country does not offer a digital nomad visa, the government is working on introducing one sometime in 2024.
Unfortunately for Japan, the demographic cliff is approaching and the government will need more than minor course adjustments to fix its Self-Defense Forces' recruitment woes.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 26, 2024

Cosmetic changes won’t fix the SDF’s recruitment problem

Facing demographic decline, Japan explores innovative solutions to boost recruitment in the Self-Defense Forces.
Naoko Motooka began hunting 10 years ago. Her hobby is one way Hokkaido hopes to curb a current boom in the deer population.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 15, 2024

Hunting in Hokkaido; Taylor Swift comes to Tokyo

You probably don’t think of guns when you think of Japan, but Hokkaido’s hunters do.
Virgilio Martinez (left) and Santiago Fernandez, head chef at Tokyo's Maz, are finding massive success bringing elevated Latin American cuisine to Japanese diners.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 18, 2024

At two-starred Maz, ‘the experience extends beyond the meal’

“We see Maz as a kind of ‘culture house’ for Latin America in Japan,” says head chef Santiago Fernandez.
Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkin,” once the victim of high waves that dragged it into the sea, sits at the end of a pier on the south side of Naoshima.
PODCAST / deep dive
Jun 6, 2024

The sweaty pleasure of Japan’s inconvenient art

This week, writer Thu-Huong Ha is our tour guide into the world of Japan’s inconvenient art movement.
The beauty of 'kaiseki' (Japanese haute cuisine), chef Shinichiro Takagi says, is that it represents the best elements of Japan's culinary traditional all working in tandem.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 18, 2024

Shinichiro Takagi sees a way forward for fine dining in Japan

The two-Michelin-starred chef sees two ways forward for fine dining in Japan: fostering domestic talent and adapting to international diners.
A cardboard cutout of the Monkey King character, or Sun Wukong, from the Chinese action role-playing game Black Myth: Wukong is displayed on the day of its launch in Beijing on Aug. 20.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 27, 2024

Black myth, Black samurai and gaming nationalism

While China has to date enjoyed success in mobile and PC gaming, those lucrative sectors carry relatively little prestige. That makes Wukong’s breakout a landmark event.
Gary Perlman has developed a kabuki adaptation of “Madame Butterfly” that he hopes will be performed 100 years from now.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Nov 7, 2024

Gary Perlman: ‘Kabuki is pure entertainment … the characters and themes are universal’

In adapting "Madame Butterfly" for kabuki, the man behind the production hopes to reframe the tale with stronger female characters.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?