Search - culture

 
 
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 16, 2014

Pacifico Yokohama gets dolled up for its Hinamatsuri-display exhibition

Who says dolls are just for kids? Pacifico Yokohama's exhibition of traditional Japanese display dolls — the largest of its kind — is to be enjoyed by everyone.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jan 15, 2014

No refuge from booze in Tokyo, paradise for alcoholics in denial

Many of us foreigners living here know deep down that we and many of our friends are at least mild alcoholics, masking each other's addictions, and the allure of alcohol is not an easy monkey to get of your back. It's difficult in any city, though living in Tokyo provides it's own unique set of problems.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2014

Shimomura announces plans to launch Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizing panel

Tokyo and Japan will launch an organizing committee on Jan. 24 to start preparations for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, education minister Hakubun Shimomura said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2014

Abe should end Yasukuni visits

Ever since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Yasukuni Shrine last month, a former British ambassador to Japan has been trying to guess what Abe's motives for such an act could have been.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jan 13, 2014

The avant-garde of old and new, plus a quick reminder that the 'real' sales are nigh

In November last year, Issey Miyake opened an extra-large Omotesando shop called "Reality Lab," which features his more experimental lines all under one roof. These include 132 5., a wearable line of origami-folded clothing cut from fabric derived from recycled PET bottles, and IN-EI, a line of pleated...
EDITORIALS
Jan 12, 2014

Teaching or brainwashing?

An education ministry council has approved the new standard for screening school textbooks after holding just two sessions. Such haste is deplorable as it suggests that the government seeks to impose particular views on children.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 12, 2014

No lack of ideas on a course of action for English education

Last week's Learning Curve column, "English fluency hopes rest on an education overhaul," looked at the persistent mismatch between the education ministry's stated goals and the actual outcomes of English language education in Japan.
COMMENTARY
Jan 12, 2014

Stories that enable us to make sense of our lives

How are we to make sense of ourselves and the world if not by reading stories? For isn't this how we've talked to ourselves — soothed, stimulated and improved ourselves — for thousands of years?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jan 12, 2014

'Tiger mom' author stokes controversy with latest trope

Almost exactly three years ago, the Wall Street Journal published an excerpt from a book that remains its most commented article of all time. Under the fiery title, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior," Yale law professor Amy Chua set out a manifesto for motherhood in proudly recounting her ironfisted...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 11, 2014

The return of Godzilla, the king of kaiju

'Godzilla' first appeared in cinemas across the country in November 1954 but its story line was heavily influenced by an incident eight months earlier at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 11, 2014

Richard Dawson: 'Pull your fingers out'

A billion hungry souls lacking your misplaced sense of entitlement want your job for a quarter of the pay.
LIFE
Jan 11, 2014

King of the monsters has universal appeal

Kouhei Nomura published a glossary titled 'The Godzilla Encyclopedia' in 2004 after six months of dedicated research. He delivers his verdict on why the king of the monsters is so popular worldwide.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2014

Japan urged to embrace U.S.-style think tanks

Right before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet approved the nation's new long-term National Security Strategy in mid-December, the independent think tank Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation, composed of prominent Japanese and American scholars, compiled its own approach.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jan 8, 2014

Restore the shuttered-up New Year's of yore

First of all, I would like to wish a happy new year to all the readers of Labor Pains. While labor news has generally been a gloomy topic of late, it is my hope that this year will bring brighter things for me to write about.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 8, 2014

Shimomura Kanzan kept nihonga clean and cool

Art can sometimes play a balancing or compensatory role in society, giving voice to neglected or superseded aspects of a culture. For example, the neo-feudalist ethos of Pre-Raphaelitism and the pastoralism of Impressionism developed against a backdrop of increasing urbanization and materialism. This...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 8, 2014

'Jakuchu's Adorability and Shoen's Beauty: Kawaii in Japanese Art'

Appreciation in Japanese culture of that particular form of attractiveness now known as kawaii (cute) can be traced back in literature to the 10th-century collection of musings known as "Makura no Soshi" ("The Pillow Book"), in which author Sei Shonagan fetes the "beauty" of small children and sparrow...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / NOTEBOOK
Jan 7, 2014

'Washoku' in Florence; JTA's whale shark jets

EVENTS
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2014

How South Korea rides out emerging-markets turmoil

With seven of every 10 high school graduates attending a university, there is a surplus of educated people in South Korea. Estimates are that 40 percent of college graduates are redundant.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2014

Obama's Asian 'pivot' went flying off like a divot

Even in Washington-centric Washington, President Barack Obama gets the award for having the worst year in Asia. His 'pivot to Asia' looked more like a divot.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 5, 2014

English fluency hopes rest on an education overhaul

Ringing in 2014, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has a dream: One nation that will actively re-engage with the global marketplace.
EDITORIALS
Jan 2, 2014

Gusty head winds in 2014

2014 promises to be a year of gusty head winds for world leaders. In Japan, the pre-eminent question is whether Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will continue to rein in his most conservative instincts and focus on economic issues.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / NEW YEAR SPECIAL
Jan 1, 2014

History overshadows present and future Japan-China relations

Can Japan and China find a way to reduce the risk of conflict, and prevent continuing hostilities that could last decades? Can they peacefully coexist in the new era when they are both great powers?
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 30, 2013

U.S. Army seeks bigger Pacific role

Approaching from the Hawaii coast, the mosquito-shaped helicopter buzzed around the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie twice before swooping toward the landing pad. The U.S. Navy crew on the deck crouched, the helmeted faces betraying more than routine concern as the aircraft, flown by a pilot who...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2013

Deciphering Kim's actions

The day is fast approaching when Kim Jong Un and his clan will have to take responsibility for the country's dire condition, and it may come soon after his aunt dies.

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