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COMMENTARY
Mar 8, 2014

A student's responsibility for education

It's good that Japan is open to improving its system of education, but it may want to consider the disadvantages of the American approach that practically exempts students of responsibility for their education.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 7, 2014

Job market set to overheat with labor shortage

Kazufumi Yamamoto is having such a hard time finding waiters and sushi chefs to fill jobs at Ganko Food Service Co. that he's going to boost wages for the first time in more than a decade.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 6, 2014

All-genre focus is the key to Art Fair Tokyo's success

It is difficult to criticize Art Fair Tokyo, the commercial art fair that celebrates its ninth edition at Tokyo International Forum in Yurakucho this weekend. Truth be told, it's a wonder that the event has reached nine editions at all, what with the inherent fickleness of the art market and Japan's...
EDITORIALS
Mar 5, 2014

Much more than mere vandalism

Although most of more than 300 copies of 'Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl' and other Holocaust-related publications recently discovered vandalized in Tokyo and Yokohama libraries have been replaced, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department should leave no stone unturned in its effort to find those responsible for the acts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 5, 2014

'Field Reflection'

For this show, "field" is not simply a geographical space; here it refers to a delicate composition of nature, weather and people.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 3, 2014

Loved abroad, hated at home: The art of Japanese tattooing

The perception gap between international views of irezumi and those of Japanese people dates back more than 150 years, to when foreigners first laid eyes on Japanese tattoos. Since that time, however, Japanese tattooists have influenced their foreign counterparts in remarkable ways — and sometimes vice-versa.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 3, 2014

Tokyo: What's the story behind your tattoo?

Some foreign residents spill the stories behind their ink.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2014

Underwater gold rush spurs fears of ocean calamity

This is the last frontier: the ocean floor, 4,000 meters beneath the waters of the central Pacific, where mining companies are now exploring for the rich deposits of ores needed to keep industry humming and smartphones switched on.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Mar 1, 2014

Masako Shirasu: woman of the world

"If you use beautiful things every day, you will naturally cultivate an eye for beautiful things without giving it a second thought. In the end, you will be repelled when you encounter the ugly and the fake. If only all Japan would come to see this, how much more joyous our lives would be and how genial...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2014

Doraemon, the robot cat, gets your tongue

An earless blue robotic cat, one pocket bulging with gadgets from the future and a lifelong fear of mice: Who is he? Japan roars the answer — but English readers may be stumped. Because, even though he's a government-appointed "cultural ambassador" and a familiar face in more than 30 countries, with...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2014

Mechademia 8. Tezuka Osamu: Manga Life

"Mechademia" is an annual journal that gathers academic writing on manga, anime and games as well as on a broad range of activities related to popular culture in Japan, such as cosplay. In the eighth and most recent volume, however, the essays zero in on the so-called godfather of manga, Osamu Tezuka....
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 1, 2014

Visit Japan's ancient past in urban Kyushu

Back in the late 1970s, the city planners of Karatsu, a fishing community on the northern coast of Kyushu, decided to build a new road. This provided a rare opportunity for local archaeologists. Seizing the chance to burrow with abandon in the densely developed region, they established a dig and began...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 28, 2014

Line built its empire with surprising speed

How do you create a ¥1.5 trillion company in an industry that gives its primary product away?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2014

'Lovelace'

"Lovelace" is a film that comes bifurcated, with a big red line down the middle separating its two acts into "The Dream" and "The Bummer."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 26, 2014

'Playmaking'

For children, going to a museum to look at art can seem boring, which is why "Playmaking" takes an interactive approach to attract a young audience.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2014

How we lose our marbles — and get them back

A remark by American actor George Clooney has reignited the debate over whether removing the Parthenon Marbles (aka Elgin Marbles) from the British Museum and returning them to their ancient home in Athens would be the right thing to do.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 25, 2014

In defiance of U.N., Iraq 'inks deal to buy arms' from Iran

Iran has signed a deal to sell Iraq arms and ammunition worth $195 million, according to documents seen by Reuters — a move that will break a U.N. embargo on weapons sales by Tehran.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Feb 23, 2014

'Warring States' turmoil alive and well

Japanese historians date the Warring States Period roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century. But when it comes to Kansai politics, modern observers could be forgiven for thinking the ancient feuds and jealous rivalries of the regional lords are not yet over.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 23, 2014

Keep calm before carrying on when speaking Japanese

In Haruki Murakami's 1985 novel "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World," one of the two protagonists is a coolheaded data agent working for the monolithic "System" that protects the world from "Semiotec" data thieves. He takes on a job that's a little too dangerous and finds himself confronted...
COMMENTARY
Feb 20, 2014

Legacy of carnage and ruin

This is probably, but not certainly, the year that sees the end to the United States' three-decades-long effort to establish permanent American strategic bases in the Muslim Middle East and in Muslim Asia.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Feb 20, 2014

'Kantai Collection': Social game of warships sets course for big money

Casual online games based on military themes and with a kawaii (cute) twist are currently a surprise hit in Japan. Is this related to the recent rightward tilt in national politics, or just part of Japan's creative desire to "cutify" everything.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2014

'The refusal of time' is worth every minute

The former Rissei Elementary School site, nowadays an occasional cultural events center, was earlier home to the Kyoto Dento, the electric company whose technology helped industrialist Katsutaro Inabata to demonstrate the Lumière Brothers' cinématographe camera in 1897 — Japan's first experience...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2014

'You Reach Out — Right Now — for Something: Questioning the Concept of Fashion'

Though fashion is often dismissed as just trends in clothing, it has always had a close relationship with art — whether it has been depicted within art, is influenced by it or is considered as artwork itself. Based on magazine editor Nakako Hayashi's 2011 book "Expanded Fashion," this exhibition explores...
EDITORIALS
Feb 19, 2014

Data highlights fragility of recovery

The uptick in Japanese consumer spending in the fourth quarter of 2013 should be regarded as a result of the rush to make purchases before the consumption tax rises from 5 to 8 percent, beginning in April, rather than as an optimistic sign of economic recovery.

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