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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 27, 2014

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes to show a feminine side at Punkspring

Punk rock's best-known cover band, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, will be previewing material from their upcoming "Are We Not Men? We Are Diva!" album at this weekend's Punkspring festival.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 27, 2014

Finding Japan's hidden punk scenes in their natural environments

Finding music in Japan can be a nightmare, and the live-music scene in particular is notoriously difficult to penetrate. Tucked away in the basements and upper floors of anonymous buildings, often in seedy parts of town, where the neighbors will be less likely to raise complaints against noise and loitering,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2014

Government plans to cut number of elderly kept alive on feeding tubes

For the first time, Japan is trying to hold down the number of bedridden elderly people kept alive by feeding tubes.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 25, 2014

Yamatoism is coming back

Although 'Abenomics' is at a standstill and its eventual success uncertain, the prime minister rushes to push a right-leaning agenda against the advice of close associates.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 25, 2014

Babymetal aren't the latest chapter in the 'wacky Japan' story

The British are mad, aren't they? That Kate Bush with her crazy gyrating around a cello in the video for "Babushka," that daft loon Robbie Williams with his funky skeleton costume, those kerrr-azy Tellytubbies with their wacky dance routines — what is it about the British that makes them so totally...
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 23, 2014

Germans finally start poking fun at the Fuhrer

If Hitler were alive today, would he become a standup comic? Incredible though that may sound to anyone who lived through World War II, that is the scenario sketched out in "Look Who's Back," a satirical novel by Timur Vermes, which topped the best-seller lists in Germany after its publication in 2012...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2014

Nuclear peril should galvanize Asian leadership

This week leaders from around the world gather in the Netherlands at the third Nuclear Security Summit to discuss and agree on actions that should be taken to reduce nuclear risks in Asia and elsewhere.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2014

In defense of traditional Indian masculinity

A male Indian novelist chips away at the simplistic picture of the gender wars in India, whose men, according to a OECD survey, spend just 19 minutes a day on 'routine housework.'
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Mar 23, 2014

Hiroshima International School and Think Global School students mix it up in Multiculturalism 101

With the weak economy resulting in fewer families coming to Japan, international schools here are exploring new ways to attract students.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Mar 22, 2014

Football camp chief thinks outside box

As a player, Tomotsuna Inoue wasn't able to fulfill his wish to reach the NFL. But his dream continues, now as someone who presents a chance for Japanese youngsters to achieve that big goal.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 22, 2014

The Art Lover's Guide to Japanese Museums

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 22, 2014

Okinawa redux: Democracy and an alliance at risk

U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy made a meet-and-greet trip to Okinawa last month, an opportunity to gauge the lay of the land and listen to some of the stakeholders in the longstanding controversies over plans to reduce America's military footprint in the prefecture.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Mar 21, 2014

Have once-welcoming Urawa Reds matches changed that much?

Some responses to Debito Arudou's March 13 Just Be Cause column, 'J. League and media must show red card to racism.'
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2014

Nuclear-tipped pursuit of an old Eurasian fantasy

Russia's political elites seem far from willing to undertake a makeover in the image of the West. Indeed, their cultural attempt at self-definition compels them to close alliances with China and other Asian countries.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / NET NEWS WATCH
Mar 20, 2014

Did Japan's hallowed cherry trees actually originate in South Korea?

Did Japan’s hallowed cherry trees actually originate South Korea?
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 20, 2014

All aboard Chiba Prefecture's Lab Train

The easternmost point of the Kanto region in Chiba Prefecture offers panoramic views of the coastline with rugged towering cliffs that resemble those of Dover — one of England's most recognizable landmarks. It's a place that many visit to watch Japan's first winter sunrise.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2014

Tokyo to put up more multi-language signs for Olympics

Tokyo and the central government launched on Wednesday a public-private council to come up with ways to put up more multiple-language signs for the 2020 Olympics.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 17, 2014

Impoverished Haiti manufacturing its own Android tablet

Better known for producing poverty and political mayhem, the Western Hemisphere's least developed country has made a surprising entry into the high-tech world with its own Android tablet.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 15, 2014

Historical ifs and weathers or not

To suggest that history is shaped by chance weather events and climatic variation doesn't lend it quite the same gravitas as if it were wrought by great leaders. It certainly isn't as inspirational. But such processes can be just as important — and the weather can sometimes foil even the best-laid...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Mar 14, 2014

Dahl still drawing on the joys and absurdities of expat life

For over 20 years, Roger Dahl has been making Japan Times readers laugh — and think — with his Opinion Page political cartoons and “Zero Gravity” comic strip, which pokes gentle fun at the foreign experience in this country.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 14, 2014

Symbolic Crimea vital to Putin legacy

When Russian President Vladimir Putin flew into the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol in Crimea last year, he made a pilgrimage to several sites associated with Russia's tumultuous history.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 14, 2014

Will Putin's Crimea gamble backfire?

Although Russia could acquire Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin might not be able to keep Ukraine in Moscow's economic orbit. The crisis might have accelerated Ukraine's reorientation westward.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 13, 2014

Ueno Park to welcome springtime with a song

The cherry trees of Ueno Park are inspirational in full bloom. Come early spring and Tokyoites head to the area early to snag spots beneath the pink blossoms, which inspire romance, revelry and perhaps more than a few visionary ideas.
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Mar 12, 2014

Osaka's Bell takes pride in winning mindset, work ethic

The Japan Times features periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. D'Andre Bell of the Osaka Evessa is the subject of this week's profile.
Reader Mail
Mar 12, 2014

Expansionism allied with racism

Regarding Paul de Vries' March 6 letter, "The crimes of an imperial power": De Vries' attempt to dissociate Japan and Germany during World War II is based on a less-than-complete understanding of Adolf Hitler's war, which was a unified, flagrantly imperialist-expansionist push, exactly as Japan's venture...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 12, 2014

Taihen actors put bodies on the line

Observing rehearsals by the physical-theater company Taihen for their upcoming "Over the Rainbow" show at ABC Hall in Osaka was in many ways a free-jazz experience.

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