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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 4, 2014

Glasgow's Chvrches score a hit with debvt albvm

Scratch beneath the surface just a little and Chvrches' electro-pop becomes something of real substance. The Glasgow trio's songs, which recall that genre's golden era in the 1980s reimagined through meticulously modern production, initially appear throwaway in the truest sense but later reveal themselves...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Feb 3, 2014

The housing conundrum: To own or not to own

The population is not increasing and there's a shrinking pool of potential buyers for the home you bought 20 years ago, or 10 years ago, or even yesterday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2014

Ministry official knocks down barriers to overseas study

The success of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's effort to internationalize Japan might depend on a young entrepreneur who runs his own educational business.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Feb 1, 2014

Japan: Why kill whales off Antarctica?

The Japanese whaling fleet — this year just a factory ship, three catchers and what is being called a "surveillance" vessel — left Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture in secret on Dec. 9, 2013 bound for the Southern Ocean and its annual hunt that will keep it away from home through March.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 1, 2014

Can local voices derail the Super Shinzo Express?

Voters in Nago, northern Okinawa Island, threw down the gauntlet on Jan. 19 when they reelected as mayor the incumbent, Susumu Inamine, a staunch opponent of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from the congested city of Ginowan in the south to the Henoko...
EDITORIALS
Feb 1, 2014

Defend dolphins, not a 'tradition'

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's argument that the force of tradition justifies the herding, capturing and slaughtering of dolphins is a flimsy one. It is an inhumane practice that should be stopped.
EDITORIALS
Feb 1, 2014

Harassment for acting like a dad

According to a Japanese trade union survey, more than one in every 10 working men have either been barred from taking childcare leave or harassed for even applying.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 31, 2014

Tokyo gubernatorial candidates speak on Olympics, nuclear power, disasters

Candidates running in the Feb. 9 Tokyo gubernatorial election are making the rounds of the capital, trying to reach out to as many voters as possible.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 30, 2014

'The Wolf of Wall Street'

I'm working on a screenplay which, as they say in the industry, is "inspired by true events". It's about an actor — let's call him Leo — who at a very early stage in his career co-stars with his idol — let's call him Bobby — who's the most intense and driven actor of his generation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 29, 2014

What's the worth of words?

By popular demand, Shizuoka Performing Arts Center is set to stage a revival of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," its sell-out 2011 production adapted by contemporary theater paragon Hideki Noda and directed by its own artistic diector, Satoshi Miyagi.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 28, 2014

Ten years on, Hyperdub finds that it pays to be weird

Most journalists hope to get a few decent quotes from an interview. Steve Goodman ended up getting a record label.
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Jan 28, 2014

Music scene loses a legend after Plastics' member Masahide Sakuma dies

On Jan. 16, 2014, the musician and producer Masahide Sakuma died after losing his battle with cancer. He was 61.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 28, 2014

Slovak Trio hopes to foster ties with Japan through a pair of classical concerts

The armed forces isn't a typical place to form a band, but that's exactly where the latest combination of the Slovak Trio first met.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 28, 2014

New dawn breaking over Japan

Writing from Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says it is not twilight, but a new dawn, that is breaking over Japan, thanks to his administration's overcoming the notion that certain reforms could never be carried out.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2014

As games loom, barriers for foreign workers show cracks

Japan's barriers to foreign labor are showing signs of cracking as preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics threaten to exacerbate the worst shortage of construction workers in almost 20 years.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 25, 2014

Baye McNeil: 'Always endeavor to do ... what you love to do'

Do what you have to do if you truly have to do it, of course, but always endeavor to be yourself and do what you love to do. That way, you'll come to the realization sooner that the life you're living is actually the product of your actions and decisions, and you'll be much less likely to waste a precious moment of it.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 24, 2014

Splitter expected to be 'money pitch' for Tanaka in the majors

Now that the New York Yankees have agreed to part with a whopping $175 million in order to fit Masahiro Tanaka for pinstripes, baseball fans and observers will spend the next several years trying to figure out if "Ma-kun" was worth the hefty price tag.
Japan Times
JAPAN / DAVOS SPECIAL 2014
Jan 23, 2014

YGL program inspires, educates

Oisix Inc. President Kohey Takashima's ambition has transformed his online food retail startup into the leading player in the industry in just over a decade, but his nomination as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum has awoken in him another mission: to contribute to society.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 22, 2014

Encounters with the modern that both frustrated and inspired Japanese artists

When Japanese audiences turn their attention to modern art they tend to favor the 'original' works from the West, while foreign viewers all too often find Japan's foray into oil painting too similar to the Western model.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Jan 21, 2014

New book gets to the soul of Japanese home cooking

Like the Denver Broncos, the Nikkei stock index and "Gravity" director Alfonso Cuarón, Japanese food is on a hot streak. Here at home, the revival of interest in classic regional fare known as B-kyū gourmet (B-level cuisine) has spread to supermarket shelves and fast-food menus around the country....
COMMENTARY
Jan 19, 2014

Criminal envoy or rogue state?

If Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade's alleged offenses in New York City were criminally outside the norm, Washington should have worked with India to file charges in the U.S. or in India. If Delhi proved noncooperative, Khobragade could have been expelled persona non grata.
COMMUNITY
Jan 19, 2014

Team-teaching rules can lead to confusing situations

At present, Japanese labor law restricts foreign native English-speaking teachers, referred to as ALTs (assistant language teachers) from team-teaching with Japanese classroom teachers. Students get the short end of the stick, as team teaching is considered a highly effective foreign-language teaching...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 18, 2014

Exploring the realm of Lewchew

When I told the Japanese woman with whom I'd struck up a conversation in central Tokyo's very handy Haneda airport that I was flying to Lewchew, she looked puzzled.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2014

How U.S. won — and lost— the war on poverty

In reality, Americans both won and lost the War on Poverty launched 50 years ago this month. This is an ambiguous truth that the acrimonious U.S. political culture has trouble accepting.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2014

Villagers transforming Asian cities

The election of engineer Arvind Kejriwal as the new chief minister of the urbanized Delhi region adds an Indian dimension to the worldwide phenomenon of political newcomers challenging entrenched elites.
COMMENTARY
Jan 16, 2014

Thai protesters see last chance to save interests

The fact that a member of Thailand's royal family — a daughter of the king — has gotten caught up in politics would seem to guarantee that the current political strife will go on for some time.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
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