Search - culture

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2009

'Anime,' 'manga' grab spotlight at major exhibition

At the Japan Media Arts Festival, prepare to jet into the sky like Superman and dance with speakers blasting at your hips, as the nation's largest showcase of cutting-edge "anime," "manga" and high-tech arts gets more interactive.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2009

'20-seiki Shonen Dai-2-sho: Saigo no Kibo'

Movies based on popular long-running manga commonly cram in too much, from story lines to characters. This confuses nonfans, while often failing to satisfy fans, who complain about omissions — though the original comic may have run for thousands of pages in dozens of volumes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 6, 2009

Simple beauty

Fashion photographer Aram Dikiciyan recognizes that his work is hard to define. "I can't really decide if I'm a fashion photographer or an artist," he explains over coffee in Tokyo's fashionable Omotesando district.
MULTIMEDIA
Feb 6, 2009

Simple beauty

Fashion photographer Aram Dikiciyan recognizes that his work is hard to define. "I can't really decide if I'm a fashion photographer or an artist," he explains over coffee in Tokyo's fashionable Omotesando district.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 6, 2009

Primary approach adds up for GO!GO!7188

"Last year we toured Japan with bands such as Mongol800, and while we were messing around with the other bands on stage, we came to rediscover how much fun it is to just make a noise," says Akiko Noma, better known as Akko, bassist with off-kilter rock band GO!GO!7188.
Reader Mail
Feb 5, 2009

Caregiving comes from the heart

Regarding the Jan. 30 article "Indonesian caregivers start work at nursing homes": I am a caregiver myself, having taken the "level 2" lessons. I have two grown boys, live with my husband, and have lived in Japan for more than 20 years. I have never learned the language, but can read hiragana and write...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2009

Murakami's sentence suspended

The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday upheld fund manager Yoshiaki Murakami's two-year prison term for insider trading but suspended it for three years, calling the original ruling too harsh.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 3, 2009

What would the locals do?

In Japan, paper advertisements hang from the ceilings of train cars. In how many other countries would that be a viable advertising option? Certainly not in my hometown of Melbourne. Back in Australia, the majority of those ads would not survive any given Saturday night.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Feb 3, 2009

2channel: the bullies' forum

Bullying in Japan is a big problem. The victims have limited recourse. Too often they are told to suck it up and self-reflect. Or if they fight back, they get criticized for lashing out. It's a destructive dynamic, causing much misery and many a suicide.
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Feb 3, 2009

Yokohama Chinatown lions roar in new year

With the beating of drums, the clang of cymbals and the popping of firecrackers, Yokohama's Chinatown welcomed in the new year, with festivities reaching a peak on Chinese New Year's, Jan. 26.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 3, 2009

In an ideal world, where would you choose to retire?

ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Feb 1, 2009

Mucking about with horses

In Britain when I was a lad in the 1940s and '50s, horses were still a common sight in the streets. Although horse-drawn carriages had pretty well vanished except for those used for ceremonial purposes, delivery wagons ladened with milk, coal and beer were commonly pulled by horses.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2009

Pros and cons of the euro at 10

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The beginning of 2009 will long be remembered for terrible economic news and controversial economic policy in virtually every country. It also marks the 10th anniversary of the euro, the common currency further knitting together several hundred million Europeans in their economic...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 31, 2009

Five Arrows lose Leach for season

The Takamatsu Five Arrows will vie for the franchise's first championship without one of their most vital players, center George Leach.
EDITORIALS
Jan 30, 2009

Mr. Aso outlines goals

In a policy address before the Diet on Wednesday, Prime Minister Taro Aso, as expected, gave priority to helping the nation tide over the current economic crisis. Correctly observing that all of the world is simultaneously entering an unprecedented recession and that Japan cannot escape it, he noted...
COMMENTARY
Jan 29, 2009

Pakistan key to Afghan war

U.S. President Barack Obama is right to talk about "the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan" and the need to evolve an integrated U.S. strategy toward these two closely tied countries. But even as he has embarked on some major steps, his evolving strategy does not suggest a meaningful...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2009

NHK to launch global 24-hour news channel

NHK will launch Japan's first 24-hour international broadcasting service on Feb. 2.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 27, 2009

No brown bagging it for students

Safe, healthy, tasty. That's the goal of "kyushoku" (school lunches) that are distributed nationwide.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 27, 2009

Half, bi or double? One family's trouble

It may not matter for inanimate objects, incapable of altering their own sweet smell, but for humans a name becomes part of our identity. My voice rises slightly as I warm to my argument: It may not be a tangible part of a person, like a hand or foot, but what others call us — and how we name ourselves...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2009

Sarkozy's Western banner

PARIS — From the Caucasus in August 2008 to the Middle East in January 2009, is France under President Nicolas Sarkozy attempting to incarnate what might be called "the West by default," making maximum use of the window of opportunity opened by America's presidential transition?
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 25, 2009

Soft power beckons as time comes for academia to act sustainably

As I am for the most part an optimist, it seems only right to kick off 2009 with an upbeat column and, as an educator, one area I believe offers great promise is education.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2009

Broth in translation

Although she was born in 1977 (in Atlanta, Georgia), Brittany Murphy is a show-business veteran who grew up fast.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2009

Broth in translation

Although she was born in 1977 (in Atlanta, Georgia), Brittany Murphy is a show-business veteran who grew up fast.
Reader Mail
Jan 22, 2009

Insulting depiction of foreigners

What a load of hot air! I have lived in Japan for over 10 years and have greatly enjoyed the (bathhouses) and many other benefits of living in a safe modern society. Gregory Clark However, it is also a racist and xenophobic society and to paint non-Japanese as having an allergy against discrimination...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 22, 2009

Decades as Tokyo's tower of girl power

In any panoramic photograph of Shibuya's always busy crossing, a structure likely positioned prominently in the background will be the part-wedge-shaped, part-cylindrical Shibuya 109 building. The teen district of Shibuya is continually in flux, with trends and stores coming and going by the week, but...

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