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BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 5, 2015

Ishikawa comes up with interesting team name

When the bj-league's 11th season begins in the fall, the new Ishikawa Prefecture-based team will have one of the most unique names in all of pro sports — in Asia and beyond.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 5, 2015

Kazuhiro Goshima: The sheer amount of information in 4K ‘exceeds’ reality

Japanese artist Kazuhiro Goshima discusses film, movies and everything in between:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 4, 2015

20,000 Days on Earth: 'Nick Cave beside a fireplace talking about his childhood'

Once upon a time — say, around 1982, when he was strung out on heroin and singing as though a Ridley Scott-style alien had just burst through his chest — it was hard to imagine Nick Cave sitting in front of a fireplace talking quietly about his childhood with a chin-stroking interviewer. Like Iggy...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Feb 4, 2015

At age 50, seeing the writing on the wall

At half a century old, I only look forward — to see how much time is left before my clock runs out.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 4, 2015

Malakhov brings borscht to ballet

"In my free time when I'm not taking classes or conducting rehearsals, I like to go to theaters and museums — or just go shopping and visit different parts of the city," Vladimir Malakhov, The Tokyo Ballet's new artistic adviser explained during our recent Japan Times interview.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 4, 2015

Ending aggression in East Asia

Japan's postwar reconciliation efforts have borne abundant fruit that must be cherished and protected by the Abe government.
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2015

Israel ramps up Asia trade ties as government urges shift from EU amid anti-Semitism

Israeli companies are increasingly turning to Asia to capture a boom in demand for their technology, as the government urges them to diversify export markets in response to Europe's rising anti-Semitism and potential trade sanctions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE HIGH GROUNDS
Feb 3, 2015

Blue Bottle Coffee offers a fresher brew

Whether by accident of fate or surfeit of real estate, Tokyo's Kiyosumi-Shirakawa neighborhood is turning into one of the most caffeinated corners of the capital. Already home to artisan roasters, including The Cream of the Crop and Arise Coffee, this district of galleries, parks and low-rise housing...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 2, 2015

Death sentence upheld for Akihabara rampage killer

The Supreme Court finalizes the death penalty of Tomohiro Kato for the vehicular homicide and stabbing spree that left seven people dead and 10 injured on the streets of Tokyo's Akihabara neighborhood in 2008.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2015

Welfare state rises as exceptionalism declines

America's national character will have to be changed if progressives are going to implement their agenda to increase the size of the entitlement state.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 2, 2015

Japan's political satire offers comic wordplay — but rarely any offense

The tragic murders at the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo touched off worldwide debate about what forms of satire in the public sphere are appropriate, and under what conditions.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 2, 2015

Hair-care industry has anxious consumers coming and going

An underground health movement says over-shampooing leads to hair loss.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 2, 2015

South Korean children navigate rocky road to K-pop stardom

Nine-year-old Kim Si-yoon has no time to throw tantrums.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jan 30, 2015

In less than a year, Tonko House earns an Oscar nomination

They had plum jobs at one of the best companies in the world. Their successes were the envy of their peers. But last summer, two peak-career professionals quit their lucrative day jobs to found a start-up. With no income or investment, they built their own studio, mostly by hand, and started working...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 29, 2015

Scott delivers epic tale with 'Exodus'

While promoting his new film "Exodus: Gods and Kings," Christian Bale referred to his character, Moses, as "likely schizophrenic" and "one of the most barbaric individuals that I ever read about in my life."
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jan 28, 2015

Kawabuchi to help lead task force charged with solving Japan's basketball impasse

FIBA, basketball's world governing body, on Wednesday announced the formation of a task force to lay a new foundation for the sport in Japan, and former J. League chairman Saburo Kawabuchi was appointed co-chairman.
EDITORIALS
Jan 28, 2015

Doubts over labor deregulation

Will the Abe adminstration's move to lift work-hour regulations for certain employees exacerbate the chronic problem of long corporate working hours?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 28, 2015

Condors dancers share double bill with rising star

Ryohei Kondo, who founded the popular male dance troupe Condors in 1996, is always brimfull of innovative ideas — even when they're garbed in traditional clothing.
Japan Times
Places
Jan 28, 2015

Tokyo's menagerie of pet cafes

Japan's animal cafes fill a very important niche, as many people, especially in urban areas, live in cramped apartments with strict no-pets policies. The pet cafe allows them to connect with the domesticated animal kingdom for the price of a cup of tea. Cat cafes got the ball rolling (after the first cat cafe landed in Osaka in 2004) and over the years that's expanded to a menagerie that includes rabbits, birds, goats and even penguins. Here is a selection of pet cafes in Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2015

Washington suffers from a tolerance problem

For the next two years, the chances are good that the U.S. government will be almost completely paralyzed.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jan 27, 2015

In South Korea, women's careers take back seat to caring for kids

Ahn Ji-sun was looking forward to going back to work after she had given birth to her second child. But she had no one to baby-sit the kids.
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 26, 2015

Sex slave wrangling misses human picture

When a dispute arises between the South Korea and Japan, such as the 'comfort women' controversy, the South Koreans who most fiercely criticize Japan are 'liberals' while the Japanese who criticize South Korea are 'conservative rightists.'
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 26, 2015

Where's the milk? School lunches no longer sacred cows

The cost of a school lunch is now higher than the average salaryman's lunch.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 26, 2015

From laundry detergent to foreign tourism: The heavyweights of consumption in 2014

Toward the end of every year, the media, advertising agencies, think tanks and other organizations look back on the "hit products" whose successes helped define consumer preferences over the previous 12 months.
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Jan 26, 2015

I wanna rock 'n' roll all night, and be kawaii, ev-er-y day

The Momoiro Clover Z + Kiss collaboration transcends generations, styles and sense.
EDITORIALS
Jan 25, 2015

NHK must maintain independence

NHK has announced a three-year budget plan that includes strengthening its overseas services. But has Japan's national broadcaster figured out yet whether it exists as a news organziation or as a propaganda arm of the government?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 24, 2015

Amid French crisis, Japan frets over virgins

Still in its infancy, the new year has already spawned a theme: diversity. Is it possible? Is it desirable? Is there any common ground, besides mutual, irreconcilable loathing, between those who declare "I am Charlie" and those who riposte "I am Mohammad"?
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2015

New heir to Saudi throne is said to be relatively liberal outsider

Saudi Arabia's new Crown Prince Muqrin represents the biggest break from the kingdom's tradition of any of his predecessors in the role — both because of his lowly maternal birth and his foreign education.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2015

Erdogan's reinvention of Turkey isn't funny

As Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reminds Turkey of its roots through cosplay, the continued purging of judicial institutions as well as the jailing and intimidation of journalists in that country make the debates in France over free speech look quaint by comparison.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 23, 2015

Japan, Korea scholars join hands on history in fence-mending bid

Researchers in Japan and South Korea are working together to file a joint request to get historic materials documenting the Korean missions to Japan placed in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register to help improve the strained diplomatic relationship.

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