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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / Japan Pulse
Oct 31, 2012

Tokyo Designers Week 2012

Let's all say Hello to new design at Tokyo Designers Week.
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 28, 2012

Sexy's back for womenswear

For what seems like an eternity, kawaii (cute) fashion has ruled the Japanese womenswear roost, and at times it's looked as if we would never see a return to edgy, chic styles.
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Oct 21, 2012

The colonial exposition, Japan branded 'aggressor nation,' Cuban missile crisis, Black Monday stock market crash

Despite rainy weather yesterday, the Colonial Exposition at Ueno [in central Tokyo] was visited by an enormous number of people, who thronged in and about the building to enjoy the queer objects.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Oct 9, 2012

Parco puts the spotlight on Shibuya's evolving youth culture

Department store Parco is aiming to fill the vacuum created by the rapidly declining gyaru (gal) culture that used to define the Shibuya area of Tokyo. By taking aspects of the otaku (geek) culture of Akihabara and re-imagining them through art and fashion in the context of a popular shopping district,...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 3, 2012

Nippon Ishin no Kai: Local but with national outlook

After months of preparation, Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's new political party, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party), was formally inaugurated at a mid-September gathering that drew more than 3,000 supporters.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Sep 30, 2012

Casting around for the past on Fish-basket Slope

Hoping to find traces of the fishing village that was Edo (present-day Tokyo) before the first Tokugawa Shogun chose the site for his new political capital in the early 1600s, I head to Gyoranzaka (Fish-basket Slope) in the city's central Mita district.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 27, 2012

NHK uses carrot and stick approach to get your money

NHK finds new way to get paid, but there's also a new way to avoid paying.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 19, 2012

Nursery rhymes that fly high with sound and color

JAPANESE NURSERY RHYMES: Carp Streamers, Falling Rain, and other Traditional Favorites, by Danielle Wright and illustrated by Helen Acraman. Tuttle Publishing, 2012, 32 pp., $16.95 (hardcover) With its many onomatopoeic words, the Japanese language booms and trills, echoing with musical lingo. Usually...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 12, 2012

Diving into Ise-Shima's ancient womanly traditions

The hut of the pearl divers is more modern than I'd expected. Here, in the village of Osatsu along the craggy coast of the Ise-Shima region in Mie Prefecture, the small concrete building named Hachimankamado blends in with its 21st-century surroundings. But inside the hut the traditions are age-old,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jul 28, 2012

Small lives changed through the power of a photo

For over five years now, The Japan Times has run a weekly photo box featuring a cat or dog in need of a home, as well as success stories of animals that have been adopted.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 1, 2012

Another tax drama; murder mystery at the archery club; CM of the week: Delicare

Nippon TV obviously thinks we're not sick of taxes yet because this week they launch a new drama series called "Tokkan" (Wed., 10 p.m.), an abbreviation of tokubetsu kokuzei chōshūkan, or "special national tax collection officer."
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 22, 2012

Model train buff brings out his toys for everyone

The term Shangri-La was coined by British author James Hilton in his novel "Lost Horizon," referring to a mythical paradise in the Himalayas. Nobutaro Hara, however, found his utopia on a railway line.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 31, 2012

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu "Pamyu Pamyu Revolution"

It's fitting that the leadup to Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's debut album has focused heavily on her image. She's a fashion blogger and model now pursuing music, her clothes grabbing as much attention as her songs. Her savviest move was releasing three bonkers music videos over the past year featuring stuff like...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 24, 2012

Wi-Fi, Facebook and all that jazz

Fumito Fukuchi, owner and proprietor of Kissa Sakaiki jazz cafe in Tokyo's central Yotsuya neighborhood, grins as he puts the finishing touches to an online schedule.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
May 15, 2012

Olympus fiasco was 'lost opportunity'

Waku Miller, a resident of Tokyo for over 30 years and a veteran translator who recently served as a spokesman for Michael C. Woodford — former president and CEO of Olympus Corp. — said he found it odd how indifferent major Japanese shareholders were even after a massive loss coverup by the camera...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
May 8, 2012

Issey Miyake's innovations beat the Brits to win the Design Museum of London fashion award

Colloquially called "The Oscars of Design," the Design Museum of London Design Awards are prestigious accolades given in six categories to the most innovative and inspiring designs of the year — and this year's top honors in the fashion category went to Japan's own Issey Miyake and his team of boundary-pushing...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 29, 2012

Erika Sawajiri is an "Evil Woman"; controversial DaVinci paintings; CM of the week: Lotte Ghana

She's back, and badder than ever! Actually, before her monumental fall from grace, actress Erika Sawajiri rose to fame on her innocent image and ability to weep on cue. But after dissing her own film at a press conference she became poison.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 19, 2012

"Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramic Art Exhibition"

Even though the quality of Hikonobu Ise's collection of Chinese ceramics has been highly acclaimed internationally, the majority of his acquisitions have never before been shown to the public.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 19, 2012

"Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramic Art Exhibition"

Even though the quality of Hikonobu Ise's collection of Chinese ceramics has been highly acclaimed internationally, the majority of his acquisitions have never before been shown to the public.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 29, 2012

The precious qualities of today's art jewelry

"The difference between art jewelry and a painting or a sculpture is that jewelry is closer to the heart — literally. Because you can wear it, it's actually even more intimate and personal than other artwork."
CULTURE / Art
Mar 29, 2012

The precious qualities of today's art jewelry

"The difference between art jewelry and a painting or a sculpture is that jewelry is closer to the heart — literally. Because you can wear it, it's actually even more intimate and personal than other artwork."
CULTURE / Art
Mar 22, 2012

Photographing history: pioneers of technique

A good retrospective presents an artist's full career, challenges our preconceptions and encourages us to rethink his or her work and contributions. Two new exhibitions at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography do just that, shedding new light on two very different photographers: Felice Beato...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 22, 2012

Photographing history: pioneers of technique

A good retrospective presents an artist's full career, challenges our preconceptions and encourages us to rethink his or her work and contributions. Two new exhibitions at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography do just that, shedding new light on two very different photographers: Felice Beato...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 11, 2012

Fear of conforming effects a perspective on sex

TOWARD DUSK AND OTHER STORIES, by Yoshiyuki Junnosuke, translated by Andrew Clare, introduction by James Dorsey. Kurodahan Press, 2011, 219 pp., ¥1600 (paperback). When the house in which Junnosuke Yoshiyuki grew up burned down, Lawrence Rogers tells us, "he fled the flames with only his Debussy records...
COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2012

Blood donations critically below par in China

Every year, blood transfusions save millions of lives, but still millions of patients needing transfusion do not have access to safe blood because of insufficient donations. Among the countries suffering this problem is China, where insufficient amounts of donated blood continue being a problem despite...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 4, 2012

Stories inspired by Japan's March 11 disasters

Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction (Anthology of Japan Teen Stories), edited by Holly Thompson. Stone Bridge Press, 2012, 384 pp. , $14.95. Holly Thompson, a Kanagawa-based novelist, worked alongside other volunteers in the months after the March 11, 2011, tragedy, shoveling tsunami sludge, clearing away...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 25, 2012

Multilingual ex-professor pours all his energy into translation, writing

Curled up in his German grandfather's library, the young Charles De Wolf looked up from the pages of Goethe to dream of the cobblestoned streets of Europe.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 10, 2012

Sweet somethings

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it