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James Earl Jones in the Broadway revival of "Gore Vidal’s The Best Man” at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater in New York in March 2012. Jones, once a stuttering farm child who became a voice of rolling thunder as one of America’s most versatile actors in a stage, film and television career that plumbed race relations, Shakespeare’s rhapsodic tragedies and the faceless menace of Darth Vader, died on Monday at his home in Dutchess County, New York. He was 93.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 10, 2024

James Earl Jones, actor whose voice could menace or melt, dies at 93

He gave life to characters like Darth Vader in “Star Wars” and Mufasa in “The Lion King,” and went on to collect Tonys, Golden Globes, Emmys and an honorary Oscar.
The Tokyo Ballet’s 60th anniversary program includes Maurice Bejart’s famous shorts, such as “Bolero.”
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 13, 2024

The Tokyo Ballet marks year of rebirth with tributes to history and innovation

Long-time collaborator Bejart Ballet Lausanne brings masterworks to Japan for The Tokyo Ballet's 60th anniversary celebrations.
American Kara Harris is on the verge of attaining a high-level certification in the world of kimono — and may possibly be the first Black woman to do so.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / Black Eye
Sep 16, 2024

‘The people I’d seen in kimono didn’t have as much melanin as I do’

A student of Kara Harris says the kimono instructor knows how to expertly fit the traditional garment to bodies with more curves than the stereotypical Japanese frame.
Elderly people rest at a park in Fuyang in eastern China's Anhui province on Friday.  China said the same day that it would gradually raise its statutory retirement age, as the country grapples with a looming demographic crisis and an older population.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 14, 2024

China’s first retirement age hike since 1978 triggers discontent

The move could stem a decline in the labor force but risks angering workers already wrestling with a slowing economy.
The team behind "Shogun" sought out the advice of Kyoto-based historian Frederik Cryns for the hit TV series.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 15, 2024

'Groundbreaking' realism key to 'Shogun' success

The cast of the hit TV show learned how to walk without swinging their arms and rise from a seated position without crouching first.
Former tennis player Andre Agassi (right) presents the U.S. Open trophy to Jannik Sinner in Flushing Meadows, New York, on Sept. 8.
TENNIS
Sep 17, 2024

The key to Agassi’s reentry: Don’t be too busy, and don’t be too bored

One minute, the former player was in the tennis wilderness in Nevada. The next, he was at the Australian Open.
The World Trade Center's South Tower (left) and the North Tower burn after al-Qaida terrorists flew hijacked airliners into the buildings in New York City on
Sept. 11, 2001. Nearly 3,000 people died in the incident, including 24 Japanese nationals. 

REUTERS
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 18, 2024

The forgotten impact of 9/11 on Japan

Though an ocean away, 9/11 was a wake up call to the Japanese people that the 21st century would not be an era of everlasting peace.
The Shenzhen Japanese School in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 20, 2024

Xi’s nationalism faces a reckoning after the murder of a Japanese boy

The Chinese government is now grappling with online hatred spilling over into real-life violence.
Criminal justice advocates said they hope U.S. President Joe Biden will grant more clemency requests before his term ends on Jan. 20.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 22, 2024

As sun sets on Biden's term, some inmates pin their hopes on clemency

Since Biden took office in 2021, the White House has pardoned 25 people and commuted sentences for 131 people, according to Justice Department data.
Relatives and friends attend a memorial ceremony for the Kutz family at the Gan-Yavne cemetery in the southern Israeli town of Beer Tuvia on Sept. 5.
WORLD
Sep 23, 2024

Kibbutz visit stirs grim memories of Israeli family slain on Oct. 7

In Kfar Aza, a kibbutz of 800 people, some 64 people were killed and 18 kidnapped by Palestinian militants and taken to the Gaza Strip.
Satish Sethi
COMMUNITY / The Big Questions
Sep 24, 2024

Emirates works to fly better, cleaner and smarter

Born in New Delhi, he joined Emirates in 2001 where he developed an international career until becoming Emirates’ country manager for Japan in 2021
Iwao Hakamata in March 2023 in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. Hakamata was convicted in 1968 over the fatal stabbings of a couple and their children two years earlier. He has pleaded his innocence throughout his trial, maintaining that his confession was coerced.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 25, 2024

In Japan, the road to exoneration takes decades

Defense lawyers’ extremely limited access to evidence and prosecutors’ right to appeal a court order for a retrial result in a long, drawn-out process.
A small-time online hustler (Masaki Suda) moves to the countryside after a big score but soon finds his enemies closing in in “Cloud.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2024

‘Cloud’: Dangers of the internet deliver full-throttle action

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's masterful psychological thriller features the director's signature creepy vibe as well as blazing guns and falling bodies.
Helping your child through their first experience with a school bully can be a difficult situation to navigate — doubly so if you're trying to do so as a non-Japanese resident in Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 30, 2024

What’s a mother to do when your non-Japanese child is bullied in school?

The school experience in conformist Japan can be difficult for students who don't share things like skin color and language in common with their fellow classmates.
Adriana Torres performs her monologue during the closing of a stand-up comedy workshop at the El Buen Pastor women's prison in Asuncion.
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 29, 2024

Comedy offers new routine for women prisoners in Paraguay

Inmates took part in a two-month workshop run by the Corazon Libre NGO, which uses comedy to help convicts prepare for life on the outside.
Masayoshi Fujita moved to a quiet mountain village in Hyogo Prefecture after 13 years of living in Berlin, the hub of uber cool. His homecoming inspired his latest album, “Migratory.”
CULTURE / Music
Sep 29, 2024

Masayoshi Fujita’s ‘Migratory’ is an ode to nature and nurture

The musician’s new environmental music album, created after his return to Japan after 13 years in Berlin, represents more than a physical homecoming.
A nuclear accident that took place on Sept. 30 makes the front page of The Japan Times on Oct. 1, 1999.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Oct 1, 2024

Japan Times 1999: Nuclear accident hits critical mass

A second incident 25 years ago at the Tokai Nuclear Power Plant in Ibaraki Prefecture that exposes workers to radiation causes concern and challenges.
Visitors play Super Mario on a giant video game console during a media preview of the new Nintendo Museum, located inside a renovated old factory, in the city of Uji in Kyoto Prefecture, on Sept. 24.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 2, 2024

From cards to consoles: Nintendo opens its first museum

The museum is part of Nintendo's efforts to broaden its brand that include the release of a Super Mario animated movie last year.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2024

Masamitsu Yoshioka, last Pearl Harbor bombardier, dies at 106

"I’m ashamed that I’m the only one who survived and lived such a long life,” Yoshioka said in an interview last year.
A protest against the Taliban’s decision to cancel the return of high school-aged girls to school in Kabul in 2022. Women and girls are banned from education in Afghanistan beyond the sixth grade.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 4, 2024

Japan shouldn’t work with the Taliban, not even to build schools

Japan's development aid to Afghanistan strengthens the Taliban. Instead, Tokyo should support those, like exiled Afghans, who defend democracy and human rights.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar looks on during an anti-Israel rally in Gaza City on Oct. 1, 2022.
WORLD
Oct 5, 2024

Hunted yet unrepentant: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar remains committed to Israel's destruction

For Sinwar, architect of the cross-border raids a year ago, armed struggle with Israel remains the only way to force the creation of a Palestinian nation.
Damaged homes in Dekle Beach, Florida, after Hurricane Helene roared through the region last month
WORLD
Oct 6, 2024

Florida faces new storm threat as region reels from Helene

Tropical Storm Milton, with winds of 40 miles per hour, is forecast to build into at least a Category 3 hurricane.
Lakers guard LeBron James defends Suns guard Bradley Beal during a preseason contest in Palm Desert, California, on Sunday.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Oct 7, 2024

Lakers father-son duo LeBron and Bronny James play together in preseason contest

LeBron James admitted there were moments on the court that felt surreal.
Han Kang is the first South Korean author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 10, 2024

South Korean author Han Kang wins Nobel Prize in literature

Han is the first Asian woman and the first writer from South Korea to receive the award.
“The Cats of Gokogu Shrine” centers on a local shrine in Ushimado’s Honmachi district, which has become home to a colony of street cats.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2024

Kazuhiro Soda embraces the wisdom of street cats

The filmmaker turns his camera closer to home in his new documentary, “The Cats of Gokogu Shrine,” and brings a community into focus.
A Starlink satellite communication system installed on the training ship Kashima of the Maritime Self-Defense Force for test operations at the Harumi Pier in Tokyo on May 15.
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2024

Japan's MSDF eyeing Starlink for better internet connectivity at sea

Hoping to create an environment where MSDF members can freely use the internet while at sea, the MSDF plans to introduce the Starlink service on its vessels.
A young man waits for customers, while selling national flags and patriotic memorabilia in Karachi in August.
WORLD / Society
Oct 15, 2024

Pakistan 'vigilantes' behind rise in online blasphemy cases

Cases of online blasphemy — a crime that carries the death penalty in the country — have exploded in recent years, with arrests turning lives upside down.
Rohingya refugee children look on from their shelter at a refugee camp, in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on Sept. 28.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 15, 2024

Stateless speak up as world misses its #Ibelong deadline

They are often deprived of the most basic rights, exposing them to exploitation, destitution and detention.
Nearly two-thirds of parents of Australian teenagers reported concerns about their children's social media use, according to a 2024 survey by youth service ReachOut.
WORLD / Society
Oct 16, 2024

Australia's planned social media ban raises teen isolation fears

For teenagers from migrant, LGBTQIA+ and other minority backgrounds, an age block could cut off access to essential social support.
A gravely ill man (Arata Iura) starts to question if it’s worth sacrificing the life of his clone in order to save his own in Sayaka Kai’s “Adabana.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 17, 2024

‘Adabana’: Existential sci-fi will have you seeing double

Sayaka Kai’s drama set in a world where a privileged elite extend their lives by keeping clones in reserve is imbued with literal and figurative darkness.

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