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Reader Mail
Jan 31, 2008

Justice minister's cultural brains

David McNeill's Jan. 27 article, "Justice minister talks in death-penalty riddles," cites a clunky and faulty translation of an interview with Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama. However one may disagree with Hatoyama's civilization theories, his arguments are clear. According to the interview, as published...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jan 20, 2008

Savor the sensation of being a 'princess'

My handsome butler, resplendent in his smart black waistcoat and bow tie, greets me at the door. "Hello princess," he softly intones as he manfully leads me to a rose-strewn alcove.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jan 20, 2008

Hitting hairdressing's highs the flat-top way

Wielding a hair dryer in one hand, a comb in the other, and with another comb held between his teeth, hairdresser Hideki Sato, 34, tackles the jet-black locks of a male model.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 6, 2008

Politicians, dogs and bowels mix it up in our annual media awards

Media Personality of the Year: Hideo Higashikokubaru.
EDITORIALS
Dec 31, 2007

The falsity of 2007

The kanji for the Japanese word "nise," meaning fake or false, has been chosen by the Kyoto-based Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation as the kanji that most appropriately defines domestic events in 2007. Unveiled at Kiyomizu Temple in the ancient capital, the choice underscores flawed ways of thinking...
LIFE
Dec 23, 2007

One missionary's 'swamp' is another's 'religion allergy' challenge

"For 20 years I labored in the mission. The one thing I know is that our religion does not take root in this country."
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 27, 2007

Feeling designs

'Design is not just about making something, it is about designing the feelings of the person who uses it," says Tokujin Yoshioka, sitting in his Daikanyama studio among magazine-laden shelves and prototypes in various stages of development.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 1, 2007

Skin goes only so deep

Nothing has changed since Aristotle noted a couple of thousand years ago that "it is not possible without considerable disgust to look upon the blood, flesh and similar parts of which the human body is constructed." Much here in "Skin of/in Contemporary Art," at the National Museum of Art, Osaka, until...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2007

New robot can give facial massages

With steely arms sprouting cables and wires, the WAO-1 robot looks nothing like a relaxation device.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 6, 2007

Jumping mullets, it's the season for fire prevention!

Ahh, autumn on Shiraishi Island when I wake up to quacking ducks paddling around in the port in front of my house waiting for me to open the Duck Cafe.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 20, 2007

Butoh flowers of life and decay

There is a muscular eloquence to Junichi Kakizaki's constructions. He describes himself as a floral artist — not an ikebana (flower arrangement) master — and has won awards for his interpretation of the traditional Japanese art form. He considers his works to be contemporary art — either installations...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 14, 2007

Got the Biwa blues

This is the second part of a two-part story on a trip to Lake Biwa and its environs in Shiga Prefecture.
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 12, 2007

Japan's Paradise Lived

It's a strange world we're about to enter.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 29, 2007

Details from the British Museum

Japanese Art in Detail, by John Reeve. British Museum Press, 2005, 144 pp., £14.99 (cloth) FLOATING WORLD: JAPAN IN THE EDO PERIOD, by John Reeve. British Museum Press, 2006, 96 pp., £9.99 (cloth)
Reader Mail
Jul 4, 2007

'Creator' assumed in the past

Regarding Peter Milward's June 24 letter, "Cute description of creation": Milward clearly rates himself alongside the "true scientists" in history as opposed to ordinary scientists such as Richard Dawkins, who "merely looks at what he sees and verifies it in the material universe." There are objections...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 14, 2007

More international by the year

The title of the 52nd Venice Biennale, "Think with the senses, feel with the mind," has an almost paradoxical twist. But in the context of the international art scene it is a strong statement — some would even call it controversial.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 12, 2007

Media scream 'yellow peril'

Days after the broken body of British teacher Lindsay Hawker was discovered in a fourth-floor flat in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, when the media feeding frenzy was at its most intense, a newspaper editor called me from London.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Jun 1, 2007

To infinity and beyond

At the southern end of Edogawa Ward, Kasai Rinkai Koen Seaside Park dips its toes in the Pacific Ocean. From there, it's possible to see Tokyo Disney Resort across the water in Urayasu.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 31, 2007

Photography now

The borderline between photojournalism and travel photography is hard to define.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 30, 2007

Sex, morals and DNA

It wouldn't be surprising to see a message along the following lines on an Internet dating site: "SJF, 26, wants to meet kind, generous, romantic, honest man."
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 29, 2007

Japan's love affairs with sex

Michael Hoffman delves deep into the carnal history of these islands from the Age of the Gods to the lovelands and soaplands of today
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 22, 2007

The man behind the woman

AN AMERICAN DIARY OF A JAPANESE GIRL, by Yone Noguchi, with an introduction by Laura E. Franey, an afterword by Edward Marx and illustrations by Genjiro Yeto. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2007, 202 pp., $23.95 (paper) Yonejiro Noguchi (1875-1947) adopted the pen name of Yone when he left Japan...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 13, 2007

'Koishikute'

Okinawa and the other Ryukyu islands are to the rest of Japan somewhat like what Hawaii is to the mainland United States. Both are sun 'n' surf destinations for the multitudes, with local cultures that are perceived as exotically different, but not threateningly so. The natives speak your language, use...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Mar 27, 2007

Masahiro Murata

Masahiro Murata, 35, is a hair and makeup artist whose salon, MaQueen, just behind the Kabuki-za theater in Ginza, is a sanctuary for both his loyal clients and staff. Murata loves people, and especially beauty in them, which he believes manifests itself in the way one treats others. As one of Japan's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 15, 2007

Baba Zula: from the belly of the beats

Underground music maniacs, the real hardcore otaku (obsessed fans), have long raved about the Turkish psychedelic music of the 1960s and '70s -- crazy reverb-drenched, twangy-guitar tracks that sounded like The Ventures if they'd been a belly-dancer backing band with a taste for hashish and quarter-tone...
MORE SPORTS
Mar 4, 2007

Arakawa accepts FSAJ Award

She's been dubbed "Cool Beauty" by the Japanese press. Her composure on the ice is equally stunning.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 14, 2007

Bullet train straight to the heart of Japan

Shinkansen: From Bullet Train to Symbol of Modern Japan, by Christopher P. Hood. Oxford: Routledge, 2006, 266 pp., $125 (cloth). The needle-nosed bullet train racing past the base of Mount Fuji is one of the most enduring images of Japan, a postcard mix of high-tech and traditional beauty. This retains...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 17, 2006

It's horses for courses if there's a few bucks to be made

Whenever the media covers some story about an animal that has been rescued or neglected there are always dozens of people willing to adopt it.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 11, 2006

The overrated and the underrated

Several months ago I devoted a column to aspects of Japanese life that I felt received too much or too little attention in the eyes of foreign visitors.

Longform

Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokudō in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
Japan’s ‘children’s cafeterias’ are booming — but is that a good thing?