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CULTURE / Music
Apr 8, 2001

Jesus Christ superstars

"We're Napalm Death and we're from Birmingham, England," vocalist Barney tells Shibuya's Club Quattro.
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2001

The limits of public opinion

LONDON -- Speaking to the House of Commons on Nov. 11, 1947, Winston Churchill said, "No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
COMMUNITY
Feb 18, 2001

Forest flamenco and snake salsa

Ana Maria Cristina starts her classes at the Asahi Culture Center in Shinjuku with stretches, bends, dynamic shakes of the upper torso and even punchier wiggles of the hips. She then demonstrates how to produce a voice from deep inside, as if reaching into her very soul. Japanese students have trouble...
COMMENTARY
Feb 3, 2001

Is Asian democracy at risk?

Is democracy in trouble in Asia? From the removal of an elected president by less than constitutional means in the Philippines to an attempt to remove another sitting president in Taiwan to questions concerning the eligibility of the presumptive prime minister in Thailand to a near-coup by the ruling...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2000

Do the Japanese have a sense of humor?

A Jewish peddler boldly visits the house of a rich nobleman. The place is Rome and the time, well, about 2,000 years ago, plus or minus a few decades here or there.
COMMUNITY
Oct 16, 2000

Tasty seeds have hidden health benefits

Sprinkled on hamburger buns, bagels and cooked vegetables, sesame seeds add extra zest with their nutty flavor. Recent research has found, however, that there is much more to the humble sesame seed than just its good taste.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 19, 2000

Poetry that brings countries together

THE WEATHER IN JAPAN, by Michael Longley. Jonathan Cape, 2000, 70 pp., 8 British pounds. HAY, by Paul MULDOON. Faber & Faber, 140 pp., 7.99 British pounds. A SMELL OF FISH, by Matthew Sweeney. Jonathan Cape, 2000, 64 pp., 8 British pounds. Irland and Japan: two countries at the far extremities of the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2000

Swastikas under the onion domes

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia It is a muggy Wednesday afternoon in the nation's largest Pacific seaport, and as people meander home, a handful of men and boys position themselves around the central square, an asphalt plaza decorated with a monument to the communist revolutionaries who conquered the Far East.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jun 10, 2000

The pure and silent voices of Shino

Shino pottery, so pure and calm, has since its birth in the late 16th century tugged at the heartstrings of the Japanese. A Shino chawan (tea bowl) figured prominently in Yasunari Kawabata's masterpiece novel, "A Thousand Cranes." There is a divine presence in the best of Shino wares. When one gazes...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 28, 2000

The marvelous paradox of Ise

ISE -- JAPAN'S ISE SHRINES: Ancient but New, by Svend Hvass. Holte: Aristo Press, 146 pp., profusely illustrated, 6,000 yen. Ise holds one of the most important Shinto shrines in Japan. Enshrining the ancestral gods of the Imperial family, it has a long and varied political career. Such was its power...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2000

Beijing resorts to rattling its saber again

In Washington, politicians and pundits alike are debating how to understand and react to the white paper released on Feb. 21 by Beijing. And even in China, there seems to be some discussion on how to interpret the verbal missile lobbed at the United States, Taiwan and Japan.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 24, 2000

The go-mi system of sake tasting

Describing and conveying the flavor of sake has always been problematic. How does one explain a gustatory experience in words alone? It certainly isn't easy. And, as sake flavor profiles become more complex and subtle, it is bound to become even more difficult.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2000

Voting on Taiwan's future

Taiwan's presidential campaign is moving toward the final stretch. It is being fought among three top contenders: Vice President Lien Chan of the Nationalist Party, Chen Shui-pien of the Democratic Progressive Party and James Soong, an independent. The second free, direct presidential election on March...
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Nov 24, 1999

A mountainous garden undertaking for all

Rikugien in Tokyo is the last in this series on gardens built in old Edo (modern Tokyo) by daimyo under the Tokugawa military government (bakufu) between 1603 and 1868.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 1999

BT touts venture as 'family of alliances'

British Telecommunications PLC's recent agreement on capital participation in Japan Telecom Co. is part of its strategy to form a "family of alliances" that will help it become the most successful carrier in the global market, BT chief executive Sir Peter Bonfield said Wednesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 1999

NTT Communications sets 100 billion yen sales target

NTT Communications Corp., a new international and long-distance telecommunications carrier, will try to achieve annual sales of 100 billion yen by fiscal 2001, President Masanobu Suzuki announced Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 31, 1998

Obuchi ushers in New Year with vows to lift economy

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi welcomed the New Year by restating his determination to spark positive economic growth in the next fiscal year, calling for smooth Diet passage of the fiscal 1999 budget bill that he says will help achieve that goal.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Jun 11, 2023

Manchester City is Europe’s champion, a title years and billions in the making

City is now only the second English team — and one of only a select handful of clubs across Europe — to have completed a domestic and European treble, soccer’s final challenge.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jun 7, 2023

Sumo's 'flat circle' keeps turning as upstarts replace iconic veterans

As Tochinoshin, Ichinojo, and Ishiura exit the stage, new talents are rising to take their places.
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Jun 6, 2023

Minilateralism: U.S. looks to small groupings to tackle shared security concerns

The roles of AUKUS and the Quad have grown wider, while bolstered cooperation between Washington, Tokyo and Seoul is just taking shape.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 15, 2023

10 ways GPT-4 is impressive but still flawed

Although it’s an awfully good test taker, the system — from San Francisco startup OpenAI — is not on the verge of matching human intelligence.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 23, 2023

How Europe ditched Russian fossil fuels with spectacular speed

The transition has been painful, with Europeans getting hit by a roughly $1 trillion energy bill last year, only cushioned by government subsidies.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 16, 2023

Bird flu spreads to new countries, threatening nonstop 'war' on poultry

Experts and farmers on four continents said the prevalence of the virus in the wild signals that record outbreaks will not abate soon.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Jul 5, 2023

Would you spend the night in a coffin … for art?

Want to know what it’s like to spend the night in a coffin? Culture critic Thu-Huong Ha joins us to discuss her night in artist Marina Abramovic’s nightmare-inducing Dream House.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 23, 2023

Eradicate breast cancer? The hunt for a vaccine looks promising

Women in the future may soon be able to get a series of shots that teach their immune systems how to quash breast cancer before it becomes a problem.
Japan Times
Finland report 2023
Jan 18, 2023

Empowering innovation

Bridges: How does Inkron, the industry leader in printed optical inks, reflect the strong ties between Finland and Japan?
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
May 9, 2020

U.S. rearms to nullify China's missile supremacy in the western Pacific

A long-term struggle between the Beijing and Washington is at a turning point, with the United States rolling out new weapons and strategy in a bid to close a wide missile gap with China.
A child visits the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 6.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 30, 2023

Concerns raised over the 'dangerous' ideology shaping AI debate

Long-termism, and linked ideologies like transhumanism and effective altruism, holds huge sway in universities and throughout the tech sector.
Pages from a new Otaku Dictionary catalog the lexicons of Japan’s various subcultures.
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 30, 2023

A problematic otaku dictionary and the Japanese approach to sitting

An “Otaku Dictionary” has Japan’s subcultures upset at an attempt to define them.
Orphans and children separated from their parents in Kadugli gather to eat boiled leaves at a camp within the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North controlled area in Boram County, Sudan, on June 22, 2024.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 4, 2025

Millions of malnourished children face lifelong health woes

Famines and other food crises can leave an entire generation with physical and cognitive deficits, experts warn.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.