Search - culture

 
 
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 15, 2014

Japan's 21st-century tsunami stones

A familiar sight along Tohoku's Sanriku coastline are the tsunami stones erected by past generations that alert residents to the high-water mark of previous tsunami and the perils of building any closer to the sea.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 15, 2014

Eels face the slippery slope to extinction

Last week I was crossing the River Thames on the way to work in London, and I happened to see a cormorant emerge from the water with a thrashing eel in its mouth. The bird juggled the fish, skillfully managing to position it so it could swallow the wriggling animal headfirst.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 15, 2014

Hall of Famer Winfield impressed by Otani's versatility

When Dave Winfield was drafted by the San Diego Padres in 1973, it was as a pitcher. When he entered the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001, it was because of his career as a batter and outfielder. He briefly played both positions in college, and when he looks at the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters' Shohei Otani...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 13, 2014

Film fest fans can get a fix at any number of events this month

The Tokyo International Film Festival may be finished, but movie buffs still have a lot of choices for festivals this month.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 13, 2014

Singing to quite a different tune

In the sense that "The Sound of Music" is not considered a reliable source for lessons about Nazism or that "My Fair Lady" is a profound analysis of class struggle, musicals do not generally spring to mind when considering the great achievements of French cinema. However, the National Film Center exhibition...
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Nov 13, 2014

Women face hasty surgery, dirty clinics in Indian sterilization drive

The scene in the gloomy room where 83 women were sterilized last weekend is repeated routinely at makeshift contraception clinics across India: bloodstained sheets that aren't changed between patients, and hasty two-minute surgeries.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 12, 2014

Inside the kingdom of Kodo

As world leaders in the performing art of Japanese drumming, Kodo state on their website that their mission is: "To explore the limitless possibilities of the traditional Japanese drum, the taiko (aka wadaiko), and to forge new directions for this vibrant living art form."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2014

Girl Scouts who posed for Yokohama statue reunited 52 years later

By the shore of Yamashita Park in Yokohama, the city where Japanese and American culture intersect, there stands a statue of three girls. Two are shaking hands while their other hands are raised to their heads to show respect, and a third girl stands beside them.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2014

China flouts efforts to protect world's wildlife

It would be nice to believe China's rhetoric that it cooperates with other countries in protecting wildlife. Yet, for two decades at least, Chinese consumer demand has been directly linked to the precipitous decline of wildlife populations around the globe.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / SYMPOSIUM ON EUROZONE
Nov 11, 2014

Europe, Japan face similar problems

Europe and Japan may want to learn from each other when it comes to dealing with mounting government debt, opportunities for the Japanese food industry, whether Japan and Britain should strengthen their ties in trade and consumption tax increases.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2014

None for the road: Japan finally takes a sober look at alcohol abuse

With its cultural affinity toward drinking, Japan has long looked the other way when it comes to the negative aspects of alcohol, particularly addiction. But that is changing.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 8, 2014

Media culture is the driving force behind a lack of critical car-safety stories

Last month, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism released the results of tests to evaluate automatic braking functions that some automobile manufacturers now offer. The purpose of the tests, according to a report in the Asahi Shimbun, was to "provide consumers with a set of references...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 8, 2014

Finding Murakami in his own weird worlds

Consider this hypothetical conundrum: Haruki Murakami is (finally) awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, but what does the author have to say for himself on Japanese television?
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2014

Redefining the concept of business confidence

Amid the constant stream of security and data breaches and allegations of financial manipulation, American business leaders are feeling the type of public disdain and lack of trust once reserved for politicians.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Nov 5, 2014

Let's ensure no happy returns to Japan for this vile 'dating coach'

After bragging on a YouTube video about degrading assaults on women in Tokyo, Blanc says he's coming back.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 4, 2014

Chinese Communist Party's great leap backward

Chinese President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign was supposed to signify a shift toward a more transparent system based on the rule of law, but the officials who have been purged so far have been Xi's political adversaries. Xi appears to be pulling China backward politically.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 4, 2014

Ebola crisis highlights China's philanthropic shortfall

China has contributed over $120 million to fight the spread of the Ebola virus, but its billionaire tycoons — it has more than anywhere outside the United States — have, publicly at least, donated little to the cause, underscoring an immature culture of philanthropy in the world's second-biggest...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / IEC GENERAL MEETING IN TOKYO
Nov 4, 2014

Government supporting global standardization efforts

The government considers the standardization of technology a very important contribution that Japanese companies can make to the world because of their high technologies in many areas, including environmental technology, an industry ministry official said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / IEC GENERAL MEETING IN TOKYO
Nov 4, 2014

Overview of the Tokyo General Meeting

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is holding its 78th General Meeting from Nov. 4 to 15 at the Tokyo International Forum. This is the first General Meeting to be held in Japan in 15 years. As it is being held the same year Junji Nomura was named IEC president, expectations are mounting...
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2014

Does being gay make Tim Cook a better boss?

Strange as it may seem in 2014, Apple's Tim Cook is the first chief executive of a Fortune 500 company to come out in public about being gay. Members of this exclusive club are still unsure whether that's wise.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2014

Friendly backer of jihadists

Tiny Qatar, the world's richest country in per capita terms, has leveraged its natural gas wealth to emerge as a leading backer of Islamist causes.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Nov 2, 2014

Crowdfunding leader wants others' dreams to come true

Bill Gates, the late Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg all hit the big time by persevering for years in the pursuit of their dreams. They continue to be an inspiration to entrepreneurs the world over who dream of one day growing their own companies into the next Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc. or Facebook Inc.,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Nov 2, 2014

Children of Japanese 'war brides' tell tales of racism, hardship and perseverance

The sons and daughters of American servicemen and their Japanese wives recall the tales their parents told them about adjusting to life in the U.S. in the postwar years.
WORLD / Society
Oct 31, 2014

'I'm Proud to Be Gay,' Apple CEO Tim Cook

Throughout my professional life, I've tried to maintain a basic level of privacy. I come from humble roots, and I don't seek to draw attention to myself. Apple is already one of the most closely watched companies in the world, and I like keeping the focus on our products and the incredible things our...
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Oct 30, 2014

In France, kebabs get wrapped up in identity politics

In a country whose national identity is so closely connected to its cuisine, France's hard right has seized on a growing appetite for kebabs as proof of cultural Islamization.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 30, 2014

Looking back to 1964 as Japan envisions 2020

"In Yedo, nothing is so common as to hear the citizens lament the times that have only just come to an end." So ran one editorial of "The Far East," an English-language periodical published in Japan in the 1870s.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2014

Tepco may ask U.S. utility to inspect Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant

Tokyo Electric Power Co. is considering asking a U.S. utility to verify safety at its idled Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant, a senior foreign adviser to the beleaguered utility has said.

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