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CULTURE / Books
Jul 26, 2009

The quirky terrain of an otaku mind

"Otaku" is one of those Japanese words that has no precise equivalent in English. "Geek" translates the knowledgeability as well as the social ineptness of the stereotypical otaku, but not quite his (and, more rarely, her) intense interest in what so-called serious adults regard as trivial pursuits:...
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Jul 25, 2009

Belgian no waffler on love, life in Japan

Pascal Latui, 28, first fell for Yumiko, 36, on a backpacking trip in Japan in June 2006. She was a receptionist at the Tokyo youth hostel where he was staying.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 30, 2009

The slippery slope of shogakko

Although July's stickiness unglues most minds from study, it is at this time of year that mothers in Japan turn their thoughts toward school. Enrolling children in summer cram programs, visiting potential private schools, researching every possible option — all are occupations to fill the barefoot...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2009

At 70, Italian institute truly is an institution

Back in prewar Japan — when there were still titled nobility — it was the duty of the upper class to engage in philanthropic activities, promote art or spread foreign culture here.
EDITORIALS
Jun 21, 2009

In Japan we trust

In a poll commissioned by the Foreign Ministry, a record 80 percent of the American public said Japan was a dependable country. The results of this poll, undertaken by the famed Gallup Organization and released in late May, showed a considerable shift in attitudes toward Japan.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 21, 2009

Tokyo spurned in the 'ultra miracle' of new film's linguistic embrace

On June 8, the evening edition of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported on a fascinating phenomenon — one that may be a harbinger of a broad cultural and social movement in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 20, 2009

Key ingredient in Japanese cuisine found in the mind

It started with a bowl of udon. Elizabeth Andoh, recognized expert on washoku and contributor to Gourmet magazine for over 30 years, cannot really discern a logical path to her success in the Japanese Epicurean kitchen.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 14, 2009

Is a national 'Manga Museum' at last set to get off the ground?

When it was announced in April that ¥11.7 billion had been set aside in 2009's supplementary budget to create a new National Center for Media Arts (NCMA) — a museum for manga, anime, video games and technology art — the news was greeted in the same way that most cultural-policy issues are in Japan....
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jun 3, 2009

Creative Commons fights for new copyright

On April 17, the district court of Stockholm issued its verdict in the copyright infringement case of the torrent tracking Web site The Pirate Bay, whose managers and another associate were accused of facilitating the illegal downloading of music, movie and video-game files. The four defendants were...
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Apr 7, 2009

Kenyan Embassy puts positive spin on charity cause

Impoverished children, war-torn homes, towns ravaged by epidemics, land devastated by floods and droughts — these are some of the most powerful images of Africa, and also the most commonly used to encourage charity donations. But, organizers of a fundraising event for Kenyan children late last month...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 29, 2009

A prime-time news contender, Japanese aesthetics and tales of a reformed assassin

The new television season kicks into high gear this week with TBS's bold experiment "Soryoku Hodo The News" ("Combined Power Information The News") (Mon.-Fri., 5:50 p.m.). Though live news shows are as old as television itself, "The News" marks the first attempt by a Japanese commercial broadcaster to...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Mar 10, 2009

Please teach us how to fit in

Dear Prime Minister Taro Aso,
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 20, 2009

Snow yaks and yetis — an ice man cometh

Fans of Pop Surrealism were no doubt tickled pink to hear of their messiah, painter Mark Ryden, making an appearance in Tokyo for the opening of "The Snow Yak Show" at the Tomio Koyama Gallery. The solo exhibition features eight new works from the masterful painter, each exquisitely detailed in his characteristic...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2009

Pacifist, cultural critic Kato remembered

There are many labels to describe Shuichi Kato, who died Dec. 5 at age 89.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 4, 2009

A nation adrift cries out for new visions fired by anger and sorrow

Every era in the life of a country begs for creators to define it and give it momentum for its society to progress. Politicians, economists and bureaucrats seem to believe that culture rides on the wave of the economy — but the opposite is true. It is on progressive waves of culture that economic achievement...
LIFE
Dec 14, 2008

Stone Age Japan

This story spans 10,000 years, yet presents few recognizable individuals. Here's one:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 25, 2008

An incomprehensible answer for modernity

Check the film listings and you'll find Akira Emoto cast in at least 10 movies playing this autumn. Since winning the Japan Academy Awards prize for supporting actor in 1983 and '97 and for leading actor in '98 — for his role in "Kanzo Sensei (Dr. Liver)" — Emoto has become one of Japan's most well...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 7, 2008

Multiple interpretations of a tale told in many forms

ENVISIONING "THE TALE OF GENJI": Media, Gender, and Cultural Production, edited by Haruo Shirane. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008, 400 pp., 11 color plates, 66 b/w illustrations, $32.50 (paper) "The Tale of Genji," Murasaki Shikibu's long monogatari, upwards of a thousand pages in translation,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 2, 2008

Urawaza — quirky, everyday Japanese tips — head West

Two years ago, a mysterious 20-second video clip triggered some unexpected buzz on the Web site YouTube. In the segment, an ordinary-looking housewife draws an invisible line across the chest of a shirt with her finger. Then she pinches the shirt under the armpit and at the shoulder, does a quick flipping...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2008

Ainu stepping out of social stigma

SAPPORO — For someone who grew up ashamed of her ethnic identity, they are powerful words.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOL SYMPOSIUM
Jun 21, 2008

Long-term success can hamstring a company's ability to adapt to change and ultimately survive

Adaptability is the key to survival of even big, successful companies over time, said professor Charles O'Reilly, a professor at Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 8, 2008

An aura of controversy in the chase for the new

Ever since 1917, when Marcel Duchamp submitted a urinal to the Society of Independent Artists' exhibition, arguing that it was art, anything has become acceptable. Artist Chris Burden shot himself in the arm in a Los Angeles gallery in 1971; Piero Manzoni canned what was allegedly his own feces and sold...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 4, 2008

Hideki Noda: Acting with joy in his soul

Even in today's theater world in Japan, which tends to venerate age, at just 52 Hideki Noda is already a towering, legendary figure.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Apr 20, 2008

Dining out with a box of fine fare

Tasty, healthy and wasting nothing; traditional Japanese cuisine served on a hakozen table distills many of the country's dying cultures.
COMMENTARY
Mar 15, 2008

Still mired in parochialism

LONDON — "No man is an Island, entire of itself; everyman is a piece of the Continent.''
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 11, 2008

Should foreign residents be made to sit Japanese tests?

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 10, 2008

Kurosawa cohort tells illuminating Showa tails

Alongside great artists are those who witness their triumphs and setbacks, recording behind-the-scenes episodes that illuminate the processes of art.
COMMENTARY
Dec 31, 2007

Censorship serves to flag our own limits

LOS ANGELES — It appears that many mainland Chinese moviegoers are traipsing over to Hong Kong in droves to view the uncensored version of Ang Lee's latest blockbuster, "Lust, Caution." With their feet, in effect, they are voting for lust — and as if wishing for official Beijing caution to be gone...
LIFE
Dec 23, 2007

One missionary's 'swamp' is another's 'religion allergy' challenge

"For 20 years I labored in the mission. The one thing I know is that our religion does not take root in this country."

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?