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Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 20, 2013

Murky backstory of 'Gatsby'

What is it about 'The Great Gatsby'? The dark star of F. Scott Fitzgerald's unquiet masterpiece draws writers, critics and filmmakers into its force field, drives them a little mad, and hurls them back into the darkness. The book and its author add up to a mystery whose fascination never fades.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Jul 19, 2013

That's me in the picture: how 'selfies' became a global craze

It starts with a certain angle: A smartphone tilted at 45 degrees just above your eyeline is generally deemed the most forgiving. Then a light source: the flattering beam of a backlit window or a bursting supernova of flash reflected in a bathroom mirror, as preparations are under way for a night out....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / A TASTE OF HOME
Jul 18, 2013

A delicious Caribbean vacation for your taste buds

"There are no palm trees. It looks like a typical Caribbean restaurant. Like home, not the beach," says Petra Laptiste, a Canadian of Caribbean descent, describing her favorite Caribbean restaurant in Tokyo, JamRock (1-21-15 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; 03-3478-2364; www.jamrockcafeonline.com).
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jul 18, 2013

Yokohama's title defense already in serious trouble

It's been nearly two months since the Yokohama B-Corsairs were crowned champions in their second season. It was a marvelous achievement.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jul 18, 2013

Ruffino wine dinner at Shangri-La

On July 26, the Shangri-La Hotel, Tokyo will hold a special gala dinner featuring Ruffino's exclusive wines at the hotel's Italian restaurant, Piacere.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 18, 2013

All of Okinawa is a stage for Kijimuna Festa

Parents who have tried to take their children on museum outings might recognize what a formidable challenge it can be to get them excited about traditional arts. Kijimuna Festa, a theater festival in Okinawa for children and young adults, was founded with this issue in mind.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 18, 2013

China seen usurping U.S. hegemony

People around the globe believe that China will inevitably replace the United States as the world's leading superpower, but that doesn't mean they like the prospect, according to a new study on global attitudes.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 18, 2013

Extra Down syndrome gene silenced

Scientists silenced the extra copy of a chromosome that causes Down syndrome in laboratory stem cells, offering the first evidence that it may be possible to correct the genes responsible for the disorder.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 17, 2013

Japan's population of ghouls keeps coming back to haunt us

Caught up in the rush of modernity, it is sometimes easy to forget just what a unique and unusual country Japan is. An exhibition such as "Yokai: Demons, Folklore Creatures and GeGeGe no Kitaro" serves to remind us, by peeling back the surface of everyday life and showing us the "collective subconsciousness"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 17, 2013

'The Mediterranean World: The Collections from the Louvre'

In a special exhibition, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum is showcasing masterpieces of Mediterranean art from all eight curatorial departments of the Louvre. Some 200 works from the collection of the world-famous museum in Paris will be on display, including items from ancient Greece and Rome, spanning...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2013

Federal trial of Zimmerman is not a good idea

The trouble with bringng federal charges against recently acquitted George Zimmerman is that another failed prosecution might make race relations in America worse.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2013

Pluralism Japan's answer: immigration expert

Japan's leaders need to confront the reality of the rapidly thinning labor force and acknowledge that a more ethnically pluralistic society can help ward off the looming demographic crisis, a British expert on immigration policy says.
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Jul 16, 2013

Japanese adults spend crazy money on cellphone games

Over the last decade, people's behavior during their daily train ride has completely changed. In the past, Japanese were known to be avid readers of paperbacks (bunko) and manga magazines, and would do so even on Tokyo's notoriously crowded trains. Now, however, it is rare to spot someone on the train...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 16, 2013

Returning to Egypt's preferable state of tyranny

Former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi knows neither Thomas Jefferson's advice that "great innovations should not be forced on slender majorities" nor the description of Martin Van Buren as a politician who "rowed to his object with muffled oars." Having won just 52 percent of the vote, Morsi pursued...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2013

The Internet can be a lifesaver for suicidal teens

An anti-bullying team has developed a revolutionary website that offers professional and informal support to 11- to 17-year-olds who are having suicidal thoughts.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 15, 2013

Russian activist pays high price for actions

After three men in this heavily polluted city west of Yekaterinburg beat Stepan Chernogubov unconscious, fracturing his skull and knocking out three teeth, criminal investigators took him, still bleeding, to a police station where they questioned him for four hours and then threatened to bring charges...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 13, 2013

Gender bending in Japan

Do our genitals define us? Increasingly, they do not. Is sexuality more complicated than male/female? Increasingly, it is.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 13, 2013

Hot weather's cold comfort for eels

In March this year, I spent a week in Taiwan as a guest of the Taiwan Fisheries Agency. My hosts had laid on a relentless daily schedule that took in a complete circuit of the island nation, visiting nearly all the major commercial fishing ports, including Taitung on the Pacific Ocean, Tainan and Kaosiung...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 13, 2013

Effects will become more obvious as Japan's climate changes

Residents of Japan's big cities, and of Tokyo in particular, are well aware of the heat-island effect — especially now with the onset of summer.
EDITORIALS
Jul 13, 2013

More people studying Japanese

The number of students learning Japanese worldwide rose 9 percent inn 2012 from 2009, indicating an underlying interest in a country that some call listless.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 13, 2013

Water issues around Asia; the world of solo karaoke; CM of the Week: Recruit

Monday is Marine Day, a national holiday, and as has been its tradition for a decade, Nippon TV will air a 90-minute afternoon special about sustainability hosted by Osaka-based announcer Seiji Miyane. "Nippon no Shoku no Mirai" ("The Future of Food in Japan," 2:55 p.m.) attempts to project the future...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jul 12, 2013

Students dealt real-life problems to broaden outlook

The School of Foreign Studies at Aichi Prefectural University in the city of Nagakute invited Tatsuo Hirase, the head of the business promotion office at the Chubu branch of Mitsui & Co., to hold a special two-day marketing session in June.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 12, 2013

Cerberus needs cooperation of Mizuho for next Seibu tack: Gomi

Cerberus Capital Management LP, the biggest shareholder of Seibu Holdings Inc., should approach Mizuho Financial Group Inc. to help it narrow its differences with the hotel operator, said Hirofumi Gomi, a former candidate for the Seibu board.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 11, 2013

What not to do at a nomihodai

One of the first phrases you should learn when you set foot in Japan, before all the trivial stuff like "excuse me" and "where's the hospital?," is "nomihōdai." The holy grail of budget boozing, it's an all-you-can-drink offer, provided in many Japanese clubs and bars, for a fixed price and period of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 11, 2013

Nishio takes apparel approach to art

Yoshinari Nishio is one of the winners of the "Life by Media" competition at Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) and is currently displaying his project, "Pubrobe," there until Sept. 1. It's an atypical piece, a station where people lend and borrow clothes for free.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 10, 2013

Gregor Schneider: temporary structures that resist conformity

Seemingly out of nowhere, German artist Gregor Schneider exhibits major work at the recently opened TOLOT/heuristic Shinonome complex. His solo show brings together "It's All Rheydt" (Kolkata, 2011) and photography from his largest undertaking, "Haus u r," a house in his hometown of Rheydt that, since...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 10, 2013

C86 sound jangles on in the Japanese indie scene

If pop culture is primarily about escapism, one of the enduring mysteries of the music world must surely be how the sounds of cold, wet afternoons in mid-1980s Manchester came to capture the imaginations of artists around the world. From the sunny shores of California to the icy hillsides of Finland,...
Reader Mail
Jul 10, 2013

Abnormal way to run a workday

I don't get the whole working overtime thing that the Japanese have going. The June 25 article "Unpaid overtime excesses hit young" and Keisuke Akita's July 7 letter, "The dreams of young workers," don't teach me anything except that people are mules.

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