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COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 4, 2014

Don't count on bubbles, wage hikes for more Asian growth

Japanese companies should realize the potential danger in relying on the continued expansion of Asian consumer spending, as it appears the region is headed for a period of economic stagnation.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 3, 2014

Japan's solitary ode to ink

Exhibits on display at the Yokohama Tattoo Museum suggest the goverment's view of body ink is out of touch with reality
Japan Times
WORLD
May 2, 2014

Satan, Faust, Walpurga vie for human souls on German 'devil' peak

Pity St. Walpurga, an English nun from Devon. A night of "devil worship" atop a German mountain is not how she would have wanted to be remembered.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 1, 2014

'Labor Day'

There's nothing like an extremely stressful situation to bring people together. Keanu Reeves said something like that in "Speed," and by the end of the movie he had a relationship in the works with Sandra Bullock. By the sequel, though, they had already broken up. Stressful situations are not always...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 30, 2014

To boost economy, recruiting stay-at-home dads

Manabu Tsukagoshi, a Tokyo-based consultant, took a month of paternity leave after his second child was born. That prompted his wife, a homemaker, to get a full-time job in the financial industry.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 30, 2014

Tradition is woven into modern Japanese fashion

Boosted by Japan's remarkable economic growth and the modernization of the country's lifestyle in the latter half of the 20th century, contemporary Japanese fashion has soared to the heights of the global fashion scene while, at the same time, the textile industry related to the kimono has declined....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 30, 2014

'Best Selection 2014'

Since 2012, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum has been holding annual exhibitions in collaboration with selected arts groups and associates in Japan, in order to revitalize artistic activities by exhibiting fresh work from their favorite artists.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 30, 2014

'European Crafts and Design: Art Nouveau, Art Deco'

Art Nouveau and Art Deco were European art design styles that spread in popularity to various regions around the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2014

Populist Hashimoto a true 'yankii'?

In Japanese politics, someone labeled a 'yankii' is something of a populist who disdains cosmopolitanism and intellectual elitism. But does that apply to outspoken Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto?
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 27, 2014

Social media gives new voice to Brazil protesters

When the battered body of a young Brazilian professional dancer, Douglas Rafael da Silva Pereira, was found in the Pavao-Pavaozinho favela in Rio de Janeiro, locals refused to believe the police statement — that his injuries were "compatible with a death caused by a fall."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Apr 27, 2014

Hawaiian XLeague player Alo finds much that's familiar in his adopted land

For most people around the world, football means just what the word suggests: a sport played primarily with the feet in which the ball is rarely touched with the hands.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 27, 2014

Politicians running in place

Today, there's not so much political competition in Japan between the ruling and opposition camps as there is among opposition parties seeking to ally themselves with the ruling camp. Have individual lawmakers become less willing to take risks by speaking up?
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Apr 26, 2014

Spring greening in Koganei

It’s time to bask in sunshine, birdsong, and blossom-filled breezes. Koganei Park, situated at the center of the Tokyo metropolis, looks like the ideal spot for such a “spring-gasm.” The JR Chuo express train whisks me from Yotsuya to Musashi-Koganei in less than 30 minutes, and I alight with glee....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 26, 2014

'Granta' opens a window into Japanese literature

With such a piddling amount of Japanese fiction finding its way into English translation each year, you learn to make the most of what you can get. So when this year's Tokyo International Literary Festival marked the launch of not one, but two compendia of Japan-related writing, it felt like an embarrassment of riches. In addition to the latest issue of 'Monkey Business,' the annual journal edited by veteran translators Motoyuki Shibata and Ted Goossen, the festival welcomed the arrival of a Japan-themed issue of the British quarterly, 'Granta,' released simultaneously in English and Japanese.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 26, 2014

The Sacred Science of Ancient Japan: Lost Chronicles of the Age of the Gods

Every religion or collection of national myths requires a great deal of editing. Some texts are selected as 'official,' others are discarded. A by-product of this is the world of apocrypha, mysterious manuscripts that, it is claimed, contain esoteric insights or divine revelations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 26, 2014

xxxHolic Omnibus 1

This 554 page monster combines the first three volumes of the seinen (young men's) manga 'xxxHolic' by the all-female artist collective known as Clamp, who apparently created this series to tie in with their other works, such as 'Tsubasa' and 'Cardcaptor Sakura' — both of which have characters and plot lines that cross over here.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Apr 26, 2014

Palmer helping NBL players push for progress

Returning to the city where his pro basketball career was launched in 1990, Walter Palmer maintains deep convictions that a players union is a vital element for any league craving for legitimacy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Apr 25, 2014

My little pork industry can't be this cute: 'Pig Farm' and 'Slaughterhouse' smartphone games

Vegetarians may take offense, but the creators of the pig butchering game encourage eaters to give proper thanks for their pork.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 25, 2014

Bill Granger's reciprocal love affair with Tokyo eating

Over the past few years, several American-style pancake joints — Eggs n' Things and Cafe Kaila, for example — have washed up on Tokyo's shores. Now, the tide is going the other direction.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 24, 2014

'Soko Nomi Nite Hikari Kagayaku (The Light Shines Only There)'

Japan's image overseas might have a funhouse aspect, but even many outlanders who live here only get a selective view of the place, since their Japanese colleagues and friends mostly come from the educated, middle-class stratum of society and live more or less stable, law-abiding lives.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Apr 24, 2014

College students' savings habits indicate anxiety about the future

In the last 10 years student savings has increased by 80 percent.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 23, 2014

China won't swallow 'bitter pill' of ceding sovereign rights: military official

China will not "swallow the bitter pill" of ceding its sovereign rights to others, a senior military official told foreign naval leaders Wednesday, as the country takes an increasingly assertive approach to guarding its maritime territory.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 23, 2014

In a world of pretense, are Japanese just more honest about lying?

The net sum of lying may be similar in Japan and America, but in their acceptance of life exigencies, the Japanese may be more realistic, more charitable and forgiving about the role that deception plays in our social relations.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 23, 2014

Satellite images show North Korea nuke test unlikely

North Korea is unlikely to be ready to stage a nuclear test timed to coincide with U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Asia, a respected think tank said on Wednesday, based on its assessment of satellite imagery.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 23, 2014

PUK's children's puppet shows suspend disbelief for all ages

Parents around the capital seeking entertainment options for young children over the next several weeks could do a lot worse than check out Puppet Theater PUK, where old and new stories will come to life in the hands of seasoned puppeteers.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 23, 2014

Best to approach Gursky's photos with a painterly eye

The invention of photography was supposed to bring about the death of painting.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 23, 2014

Ukraine president calls for new offensive in east as crisis deal falters

Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, called Tuesday for government forces to relaunch an offensive against pro-Russian rebels after a local politician from his own party was found dead with signs of torture.

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