Search - culture

 
 
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Nov 8, 2014

Smartphone app CocoPPa takes a custom approach to overseas sales

Although very few smartphone apps made in Japan have managed to take the world by storm, one that has is CocoPPa. Made by Japanese company United, Inc., the app allows users to customize the design of not only their smartphone wallpaper but also the icons for the other apps on their phone.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2014

Commercial rockets go boom like NASA's

There's no risk-free way to launch 5,000 pounds of food, science experiments and equipment to the International Space Station. As Orbital Sciences found out last week, some ways are far more dangerous than others.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Oct 26, 2014

The world still needs to learn Japanese

For the attention of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren):
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2014

Kenny G runs afoul of Xi's artist crackdown

Chinese President Xi Jinping has launched a Maoist campaign against art and artists whom he judges as having 'negative social impact.' Saxman Kenny G, who is super popular in China, ran afoul of the authorities this week when he tweeted images of himself visiting protesters in Hong Kong.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Oct 23, 2014

Marunouchi welcomes new eatery; Zen spirit meets French cuisine; prime aged beef

Marunouchi welcomes new eatery
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 16, 2014

Kyoto's top treasures, all under one roof

Kyoto is at its most brilliant and beautiful in autumn, with its World Heritage scenery colored in red and golden leaves. This year, it's also a time when visitors have the rare opportunity to learn about the essence of Kyoto culture at the Kyoto National Museum.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 10, 2014

Singers enchant audience with opera, folk songs

Japanese baritone Haruhisa Handa, also the chairman of the International Foundation for Arts and Culture (IFAC), invited fellow opera singers to the New National Theatre, Tokyo, on Monday to entertain an audience of about 900.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 27, 2014

Hyperbole over Asahi affair tarnishes brand Japan

The Asahi Shimbun has been apologetic of late after it confessed to journalistic wrongdoing in several articles.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 20, 2014

Lafcadio Hearn: 'Japanese Thru and Tru'

A small cage was opened at Lafcadio Hearn's funeral, setting birds into the air, the soul of the deceased presumably taking flight with them. His coffin was draped in chrysanthemums and fragrant olive, adorned by a laurel wreath. Seven Buddhist priests read the sutras at Kobudera (now Jishoin Enyuji...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 18, 2014

Blum & Poe gets closer to its artists

Some people just can't help liking Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2014

Mayor of Kyoto has big plans for tourism

For Kyoto to continue growing as a tourism-oriented city, it must take steps that combine landscape planning with services, the mayor says.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Sep 11, 2014

Tokyo City View gets dolled up for Barbie, Blythe and more

Japan is well-known for its dolls, producing edgy urban vinyl, cute soft toys, manga figurines and even therapy dolls for lonely senior citizens. This "Doll Culture Exhibition" at Tokyo's Roppongi Hills' Tokyo City View observation deck, however, looks at old-school fashion dolls, which should make quite...
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 8, 2014

Two sculpted female figures unearthed in Greek excavation site

Archaeologists have unearthed two sculpted female figures, known as caryatids, as they slowly make their way into an ancient tomb recently discovered in Greece's northeast, the country's culture ministry said on Sunday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Sep 6, 2014

A tale of two parks, and their preservation

As I sit in my study here in Kurohime in the hills of northern Nagano Prefecture, through the window I can see 2,053-meter Mount Kurohime, a dormant volcano that's forested to the top.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Aug 31, 2014

Rebel entrepreneur turns job market on its head

Yujun Wakashin seeks to present an alternative lifestyle that he hopes will serve as a wake-up call for dropouts, shut-ins and underutilized hopefuls such as high school girls.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Aug 22, 2014

Haruki Murakami's Cool Japan

I was in New York last week to host a launch event for the English translation of Haruki Murakami's latest novel, "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage." My good friend and Murakami translator Ted Goossen, professor at York University in Toronto, joined me, as did pianist Eunbi Kim, whose...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 21, 2014

Sukiyaki Meets the World ... and the world gets to meet Toyama

In June of 1963, Kyu Sakamoto's "Ue wo Muite Aruko" — better known as "Sukiyaki" overseas — became Japan's first, and only, No. 1 hit single in the United States.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 16, 2014

Gomez earning his stripes with Tigers

Mauro Gomez probably couldn't believe his luck when he saw the pitch Chris Seddon threw him.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2014

New academy targets future sports leaders, offering unique touch of Japan

With six years to go before Tokyo hosts the 2020 Olympics, the government has fired the starting pistol on efforts to boost global cooperation in sports.
Japan Times
Places
Aug 1, 2014

Along the Shonan Bay shore, all you do is beach, beach, beach, all day long

Every year in July and August, wooden beach huts (umi no ie) pop up along the shores of Shonan Bay in Kanagawa Prefecture. Here is a list of some of the events taking place at a few of the most popular umi no ie in Hayama, Kamakura and Zushi in August.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 19, 2014

Lost Tokyo ... rediscovered

People who have lived in the capital for more than a few years generally claim to know Tokyo pretty well. We discover a forgotten side to the city that suggests they may not know it quite as well as they think.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 10, 2014

Cost of passive power struggles

The chairman of the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation recalls how the failure of the navy minister to express a truthful personal opinion within a group closed the window on Japanese doves' hopes of averting war months before the Pearl Harbor attack.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 9, 2014

'Blast!' comes marching back with a '' from its Tokyo drummer

"It was my hugely fortunate destiny to come across 'Blast!' and, as I am 39 this year, I would like to perform it with a heartfelt '39' message [because, in Japanese, three is san and nine is kyu, which is phonetically 'thank you']," Tokyo-born percussionist, composer and performing director Naoki Ishikawa...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 14, 2014

Ghostly footprints of the 'modern girl' along Kamakura's coastline

There's a scene in Junichiro Tanizaki's serialized novel "Naomi" (originally titled "A Fool's Love") from 1924 where the besotted protagonist, Joji, watches his wife, Naomi — part Lolita, part Madame Bovary, all trouble — through the pine trees. Having just emerged from a seaside villa, she is sashaying...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 7, 2014

Kengo Kuma: 'a product of place'

Renowned architect's new book, 'My Place,' reflects an awareness of humanity's close affinity to the world around us.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 6, 2014

Top General Motors executives spared in internal report on safety failure

General Motors Co. on Thursday issued a report detailing how for 11 years it turned a blind eye to an ignition-switch problem that has been linked to at least 13 deaths but it largely pinned the blame on incompetent lower-level employees, leaving top brass untouched.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jun 1, 2014

56 schools across Japan aim to nurture 'Super Global' leaders

The Super Global High Schools project, a key part of the Japanese government's plan to reverse two decades of economic decline and growing insularity among the young, tasks 56 schools with creating a new generation of global leaders.

Longform

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