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Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 13, 2018

Eternal saints: The art of self-preservation

Examining the extreme ritual behind the monks who spent years turning themselves into mummies while they were alive
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Apr 25, 2018

A primer on navigating your ID landscape

A number of changes to Japanese ID registration systems have been implemented in recent years, some of them for everyone in Japan and others pertinent only to foreign nationals. The ins and outs can be a bit confusing, particularly for those who have been used to living under the old systems for many...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB Preview
Mar 29, 2018

Carp look to remain on throne as Central League rivals prepare to mount challenge

The following is the second of a two-part NPB preview concluding with the 2018 Central League.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 12, 2018

What now for economic integration in the Asia-Pacific?

However the U.S. under the Trump administration acts, the member nations need to calmly move forward on initiatives to ensure the implementation of the TPP 11.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 10, 2018

Artisan Junichi Mitsubori presents his new art of wagashi

A rapt audience watches in silence as a delicate confection in the shape of a flower blooms in the experienced hands of a wagashi master. Junichi Mitsubori, a third-generation wagashi (Japanese dessert) artisan hailing from Yokosuka City, Kanagawa, does not embellish his movements as he crafts the sugary...
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Nov 26, 2017

In pitching 2025 Expo bid, Osaka must sell itself over Paris, and Africa may hold the key

Imagine you're in Osaka in 2025. After arriving, you're welcomed by people on the streets, where you stop by a takoyaki vendor for a quick octopus dumpling snack before heading out to see the sights. Walking around Osaka, you'll feel safe in the presence of police officers offering snappy salutes and...
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Nov 8, 2017

Competition heats up as Japan prepares for top-class tests

National team manager Vahid Halilhodzic demanded strong friendly opposition to help prepare Japan for next summer's World Cup, and this coming week's two fixtures certainly fit the bill.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 13, 2017

Reconstructing the Japanese house

After very successful runs in Rome and London, "The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945," an exhibition of maquettes, photographs, plans and drawings, is now in the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 8, 2017

Ginza's new noh theater seeks to break down cultural barriers

The Kanze Noh Theater reopened in April in Ginza Six, a new upscale shopping complex in central Tokyo that seeks to attract domestic and foreign audiences to a wide range of the country's traditional performing arts.
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...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / INVENTING THE TASTE OF JAPAN
Feb 17, 2017

Crab sticks: imitating the genuine article since 1974

The California roll is responsible for popularizing the consumption of sushi in North America.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Sep 17, 2016

Emoji: The evolution of emoticons

The ideograms that were once eyed with skepticism have transformed into a universally accepted part of daily communication.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 14, 2016

Quest for a moral compass

The Cultural Revolution tore China's social fabric and transformed the society into a dog-eat-dog world, the vestiges of which are still felt today.
Japan Times
LIFE / G7 Ise-Shima Summit Special
May 25, 2016

Modern take on traditional medicine

"The practice of medicine is an art, based on science."
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 19, 2016

A coast guard-maintained peace in the East China Sea

A new form of geopolitics is emerging with regard to the Senkaku Islands.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 29, 2016

Joining Japanese words together to reveal the true nature of things

Once you understand how the pieces fit together, you can magically turn verbs into nouns and vice versa, expanding your Japanese vocabulary by leaps and bounds.
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Oct 26, 2015

Thinking about the difference between 'omou' and 'kangaeru'

Introduce the two verbs u304au3082u3046 and u304bu3093u304cu3048u308b, which mean 'to think.'
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 16, 2015

In an about face, JCP says it would support Japan-U.S. military pact in some scenarios

The Japanese Communist Party, which has long regarded the United States as its sworn enemy, has made what appears to be a historic change of its policy stance — at least for now.
EDITORIALS
Oct 6, 2015

Legislation Bureau misconduct

The Cabinet Legislation Bureau's failure to keep records of its internal discussions leading up to the Abe administration's reinterpretation of Article 9 only deepens suspicions about the legal legitimacy of the Cabinet decision and the subsequent security legislation.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 27, 2015

Can art bring people back to Japan's depopulated islands?

I've seen island revitalization projects come and go, but the idea of an NPO riding on the coattails of a successful art trend in the area strikes me as having some promise.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2015

A parliamentary democracy needs a viable opposition

By entrenching the British Conservative Party in government, Jeremy Corbyn's election as leader of the Labour Party is a threat to the health of parliamentary democracy in Britain.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2015

Europe's new geography

Only by repairing its balance sheet through fundamental economic and monetary reforms can the EU possibly ameliorate the continent's other problems.
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Jun 15, 2015

Use -tara to herald the expected and the unexpected

Today we introduce the proper use of 'X (verb in ta form) u3089u3001Y (= phrase).
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 6, 2015

War and peace on Okinawa's Iejima Island

Beside their coastlines, there are other insistent geographical features that identify islands. In Okinawa, there is the great escarpment of Tindahanata on Yonaguni-jima Island, while Ishigaki Island has the strangely occult form of Mount Maapee, shaped like a sorcerer's hat.
SOCCER / J. League / 2015 J. LEAGUE PREVIEW
Mar 5, 2015

Vissel eyeing J. League upset

The following is the first of a two-part preview for the upcoming J. League season. Team-by-team previews of the nine lowest-ranking teams competing in the first division are listed.
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jan 3, 2015

Talking tanuki — or whatever you call them

After deer, easily the most commonly seen wild mammals up here in the Kurohime hills where I live, and in northern Nagano Prefecture in general, are the furry, short-legged burrowing creatures called tanuki in Japanese.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Aug 12, 2014

Power struggle on Baghdad streets as Iraq nominates new leader

Iraq's president named a new prime minister to end Nouri al-Maliki's eight-year rule on Monday, but the veteran leader refused to go after deploying militias and special forces on the streets, creating a dangerous political showdown in Baghdad.
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Jul 14, 2014

Mata kutsushita-ga nugippanashi!

Today, we will introduce the expression X(verb)u3063u3071u306au3057, comparing the expression X(verb)u307eu307e.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jun 29, 2014

Comic books champion debate on Fukushima disaster

Farmers in Fukushima try to convince skeptical visitors that their crops are safe from radiation. Blood trickles from the nose of a reporter who visits the area.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.