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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 25, 2011

'Reluctant' musician blows success his way with horn

Over half his lifetime ago, reluctant horn player Jonathan Hammill, at 15, slumped in the back seat of the family car. Sweaty and bored on a family trip to his grandparents' house in Florida, Hammill watched as his mother impulsively popped in a tape his music teacher had given him as encouragement at...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Feb 21, 2010

Singing the praises of sparrows

In a rush of small wings, a fluttering, chirruping, congregation of familiar birds — Eurasian tree sparrows — descended on the bush in front of me. They chattered noisily among themselves, each shifting its position almost constantly as if unsure whether it had the right to be on any given perch....
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2005

More travel information

Vladivostok is most easily accessible by plane from Niigata, which is served two or three times weekly by Air Vladivostok. Flights also depart twice a week from Toyama and Kansai International.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Apr 17, 2005

'Man Friday' recalls time in line at Japan's first record expo

With the 2005 World Expo Aichi in full swing until September in Nagoya, it may come as a surprise to some that Japan's first world exposition was to have taken place as long ago as in 1912. But that was cancelled due to the death of Emperor Meiji. Another one, to have run in conjunction with Tokyo's...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 26, 2004

Mapping out a metropolis

TOKYO CITY ATLAS: A Bilingual Guide, supervised by Atsushi Umeda. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2004, 124 pp., 2,205 yen (paper). Here is the third revised, updated edition of the handiest of all Tokyo atlas guides. Since the 2001 edition came out, there has been, as always, an amount of change in this...
COMMUNITY
Oct 11, 2002

Fill a pressing need for foreign men

The hunt is on for foreign men to contribute their experiences to a unique, innovative, humorous, and much-needed guide for gaijin guys in Japan.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 6, 2021

Paralympic Games put spotlight on Japan’s tech for disabled

When the Tokyo Paralympic Games came to a close on Sunday, many athletes had managed to get to the finish line, some with medals, thanks to technology from Japan's largest firms.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 15, 2018

Nihonryori RyuGin: New address for a Tokyo classic

Even in Tokyo, a city that relentlessly reinvents itself, change never comes easy, no matter how celebrated a restaurant may be. The bigger the name, the greater the expectations, and few have larger reputations than Nihonryori RyuGin.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Deep Dive
Jul 26, 2018

Sushi's balancing act: Tradition versus adaptation

For leading food critic Masuhiro Yamamoto, sushi is part food, part theater, a dining experience unique among Japanese culinary traditions. From the closed-off tuna auctions of Tsukiji to the chefs who meticulously craft morsels of fish for loyal customers, each player has a role to play in this carefully...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Dec 31, 2017

Lessons about Japan's school catchment areas

A neighbor recently asked us to sign a petition requesting that the local education committee keep a certain elementary school open. Due to falling enrollment, students who attended the school would be transferred to a different one in the near future.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 20, 2014

Glimpses of Lafcadio Hearn's Matsue

The Matsue-bound train I boarded at Okayama Station was pointedly named Yakumo, a reference to its destination's best-known former resident: Greek-Irish writer Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), whose adopted Japanese name was Yakumo Koizumi.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 5, 2013

Dai Tamesue: Japan's 'samurai hurdler' keeps rising to new challenges

Though word-class track athlete Dai Tamesue may have hung up his spikes, he has plenty of insights to share on how sports can play a bigger role in society.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jan 9, 2011

Are Japan's fish lovers eating tuna to extinction?

Pick up a newspaper in Japan these days and you'll almost always find a story in it about the state of bluefin tuna somewhere in the world.
LIFE / Travel
May 17, 2009

Do's and don'ts when you hitch in the backside of Japan

Backpack: check. Thumbs: check. Sense of adventure: check.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Oct 3, 2008

Special California dinner

Special California dinner Hiro Sone, an award-wining Japanese chef based in California, will be preparing a special dinner Oct. 9 and 10 at his California restaurant, Silverado, in Ginza, Tokyo.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jul 19, 2000

Nabatean nights of the living dead

"It was truly a strange spectacle -- a city filled with tombs. One would be inclined to think that the former population had no employment which was not connected with death, and that they had all been surprised by death during the performance of some funeral amenities."
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Mar 3, 1999

Belize offers cay to a good vacation

Belize City (population 60,000) sucks. Crack addicts, muggers, deranged loafers, unprovoked verbal abuse of the anti-whitey variety. A spoonful of water from its rancid canals, if strategically distributed, would wipe out the People's Republic of China. Belize City's got the lot.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants 2021
Dec 19, 2021

A focus on crab and other Hokuriku specialties makes dining at Kataori a sublime experience

All the best chefs search out the finest ingredients, but Takuya Kataori takes this quest to the ultimate extreme.
OLYMPICS
Jul 19, 2021

The many faces of Tokyo 2020’s charm offensive

Despite a lack of visitors and spectators at this year's Olympics, an army of volunteers aims to do their best and make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / Nikko Special
Nov 21, 2019

30 hours of wonder: Shrines, temples and hot springs

The city of Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture is one of the brightest lights in the Japanese sightseeing firmament, which is apt, given that its name literally translates to "sunshine." With some amazing attractions from World Heritage sites dating back to the eighth century to picturesque hiking trails and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Jul 22, 2017

Kiji: Innovation and tradition in 'okonomiyaki'

As everyone in Osaka and every guidebook about the city will tell you, okonomiyaki, that pancake-like Japanese dish, is this city's soul food. It's comfort food, fit for every man, woman and child. Some might argue the same for takoyaki, octopus batter balls, but that is another discussion for another...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 7, 2015

Cheers to Hirosaki's latest use of its apples

If you ask someone about Aomori Prefecture, it is likely that the subject of apples would pop up in conversation sooner or later. The city of Hirosaki boasts the title of holding the highest apple crop yields in Japan, producing 160,000 tons of apples per year, and being home to more than 6,000 orchards...
OLYMPICS / OLYMPIC NOTEBOOK
Feb 21, 2015

Tokyo Dome a worthy option for basketball

One of the key selling points of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bid was its compact plan, which called for 85 percent of the venues to be within 8 km of the Olympic Village.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 9, 2012

Promoted sides seek to make mark against J. League powers

The following is the first of a two-part preview for the upcoming J. League season. Team-by-team previews of the nine lowest-ranked teams competing in the first division are listed.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 2, 2010

Myojinshita Kandagawa Honten: Beating the heat with classic unagi

The Great Heat has returned, blanketing the city, sapping our energy and, worse yet, stifling all appetite for food. There's only one solution for lifting that summer lethargy — at least if you hold with local lore: It's time to feast on that supreme summer specialty, unagi eel.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 24, 2007

Love you and you're green

It seems that when Amami-Oshima, an island in southern Kagoshima Prefecture, was created, there was just one color left on the palette: green.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 30, 2006

On the road to . . .

"Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, . . . Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages . . . ''
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 3, 2003

Chic eats for the months ahead

It's prognostication time again and, just like Janus (after whom this month is, after all, named), the Food File likes to look ahead by surveying all that lies behind.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jun 2, 1999

Among the ruins of the Mayan Paris

You wouldn't have wanted to watch a ball game at the close of the season in the ancient Mayan city of Copan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 13, 2023

Losing and finding my cool in Gwangju

Located in a city imbued with a fighting spirit, art festival Gwangju Biennale 2023 provides a backdrop for contemplation about action, strength and inner calm.

Longform

The sun shines from behind a waving Philippine flag at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
Eighty years after the Battle of Manila, old foes forge new ties