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Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
May 30, 2015

Sayoko Yamaguchi, an enigma to the end

You may not know the name, but there is a good chance you know the face. As Clara Bow, Greta Garbo and Twiggy were iconic of their times, Sayoko Yamaguchi was everywhere in the 1970s. Even if you weren't a dedicated follower of fashion, it would have been difficult to avoid her cool gaze, which appeared...
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2015

Aiming for more than medals

The Sports Agency, due to be created in October, needs to do much more than push up Japan's medal count at the Tokyo Olympics.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 29, 2015

Shōjin ryōri chefs offer vegetarian cooking classes in English

I had to do a double take when I arrived for my lesson with Tokyo Cook, a company offering Japanese cooking classes in English that launched in March. Although the website mentions that the kitchen studio is "hidden inside the newly opened restaurant Sougo" — the less-formal sibling of Daigo, Daisuke...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 28, 2015

Shoko reclaims her spot on the stage

Shoko Nakamura embarked on a challenging journey when she began retraining for ballet performances just one month after giving birth to her son, Joel, in 2011. The dancer, who goes by just her first name when performing, says the physical pain involved in getting back into shape often reduced her to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 28, 2015

Taicoclub gets bigger with new stages

Taicoclub, the electronic-music event that unofficially marks the beginning of Japan's music festival season, is expanding this year to include a stage sponsored by Red Bull Music Academy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
May 28, 2015

Early summer shifts have merit but experts see overtime, family disruption risks

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is hoping to kick-start a summer of love by shifting work hours forward in order to free up time in the evenings for families to spend together.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 28, 2015

High-tech toilets targeted to reel in tourists ahead of Olympics

Japan's high-tech toilets are nothing new but their growing popularity has prompted the government to use them as a tool to promote tourism and sell the technology abroad.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 25, 2015

Overseas interest in relocation campaign surprises Kagoshima village

A little hamlet in Kagoshima Prefecture with a population of just 372 people has been taken by surprise after a sudden rise in interest about its immigration program.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 25, 2015

UNESCO faces Japan's legacy of forced labor in heritage bid

News earlier this month that a UNESCO advisory panel had recommended putting Japanese sites from the Meiji industrial revolution on the World Heritage list excited the public, especially residents near the sites who campaigned for the honor.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 25, 2015

Takata is the real safety hazard, not its air bags

The Takata debacle is a microcosm of all that's wrong with Japan's insular corporate culture.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
May 25, 2015

George Washington basketball team planning 2016 tour of Japan

The George Washington University men's basketball team is planning to tour Japan next summer, the school's athletic director, Patrick Nero, said in an interview with The Japan Times in Tokyo on Monday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 25, 2015

In North Korea, men call the shots, women make the money

North Korea is a militarized, male-dominated society, but it is women who are making the money as the insular nation allows an unofficial market-based economy to take shape.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 25, 2015

China launches crackdown on terrorist gangs in western Xinjiang province

China has cracked down on 181 "terror gangs" in its restive far western region of Xinjiang, which has suffered a string of violent attacks, state media reported Monday.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
May 24, 2015

Boise St. tight end Huff relishing time in Japan with Hosei

As a boy, Boise State University tight end Holden Huff grew up watching Japanese anime such as Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon and Digimon, though back then he had no idea they were from the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 23, 2015

The changing face of Tokyo's 'red-light' district

"How would I describe Kabukicho? Frankly, I'm not sure," popular author Hirokatsu Azuma was quoted as saying in the now-defunct monthly Gendai magazine back in January 1999. "If you say it's a scary place, you could be right; and if you say it's a place where you can have fun, well, that's right too."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 23, 2015

The 'Daughters of the Samurai' who changed the face of Meiji Era Japan

Tsuda College, occupying a leafy campus in the western suburbs of Tokyo, is a private college where female students are educated in languages and the liberal arts. In one corner of the site, overshadowed by the stately trees that surround it, lies the final resting place of Umeko Tsuda, an early pioneer...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
May 23, 2015

Ahmed Mohamed Elmardi: 'Today is today, but work for tomorrow'

Sudanese artist on patience, determination and depicting Ray Charles on TV.
EDITORIALS
May 23, 2015

Rakuten forges ahead in English

E-commerce giant Rakuten has managed to do what the educational system apparently can't — get Japanese people to speak English competently.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
May 22, 2015

Silver Star join trend by welcoming in foreign players

Reaping the benefits of having a former NCAA quarterback is becoming a trend in the X League.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 22, 2015

The dog days of cooking

Here's a recipe for ambiguity: Cooking with dog. Could it literally mean, cooking a dog? How about cooking for canines? Or, is it some weird code for cooking fetishes somewhere on the deep Web? Lucky for us (and the dogs), "Cooking with Dog" is a YouTube show featuring a Japanese housewife, known only...
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2015

China's Cold War nostalgia

China's MIRV warhead deployment is meant to emphasize that it intends to become a genuine global power alongside the U.S.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 21, 2015

The must-see list is long at Short Shorts film fest

When it comes to getting a movie fix these days, more people opt for their computer screens than venturing outside to a theater. Hollywood has countered this trend with a slew of 3-D blockbusters and cinematic largesse, but how does the short film fare?
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 20, 2015

Japan aquariums vote to stop using dolphins from Taiji

The Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums announced Wednesday that it will ban its members from buying dolphins caught off the town of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, amid protests from activists and pressure from a global industry body to stop the practice.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 20, 2015

Know the way of the sword, know thyself: a kendo primer

With Tokyo poised to host the world championships for the first time since the inaugural competition in 1970, here's all you need to know to get the most out of the bouts.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2015

Judge: Clinton's State Department emails must be released on rolling basis

Hillary Rodham Clinton's State Department emails must be made public on a rolling basis instead of waiting for a mass release in January, a federal judge ruled, rejecting a government proposal for releasing about 55,000 pages of the correspondence early next year.

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