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Japan Times
Special Supplements
Jun 17, 2021

Working to achieve SDGs through strong ESG investing

In his book “A Brief History of the Future: A Brave and Controversial Look at the Twenty-First Century” (2006), Jacques Attali predicted two industries would emerge as the most influential of the 21st century — entertainment and insurance.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jan 28, 2021

Geisha-turned-YouTuber Kimono Mom taps into the heart of parenting

The life of a geisha in Japan is often perceived as being shrouded in mystery, the exact opposite of what you'd imagine life is like for a YouTuber. It's a contradiction that “Kimono Mom” knows well.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2016

President Trump: Japanese-Americans, Japanese in U.S. weigh in

People of Japanese ancestry speak up about their impressions of President-elect Donald Trump.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Aug 4, 2012

Atomic bomb survivor credits desire to learn for living 'four lives'

Yuuki Yoshida, 80, divides his lifetime into four different "lives," but he has lived each of them by following one maxim: "Try to learn as if you were to live forever, and live as if you were to die tomorrow."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Sep 13, 2011

The loneliness — or otherwise — of the long-distance foreigner

The Japan Times received a large number of readers' emails in response to Debito Arudou's Just Be Cause column published Aug. 2, headlined "The loneliness of the long-distance foreigner." Here, belatedly, are a selection.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 18, 2008

AIG Japan unit safe for time being

The U.S. Federal Reserve's emergency $85 billion rescue of the U.S. insurer American International Group eased concerns Wednesday that its Japanese unit will survive, at least for the time being.
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2008

FSA slaps 10 insurers over 'nonpayments'

The Financial Services Agency slapped 10 life insurers, including two foreign ones, with business improvement orders Thursday saying their internal controls are insufficient to prevent them from failing to pay benefits to policyholders.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2006

Japan struggles with the right-to-die issue

The revelation in late March that a Toyama Prefecture surgeon shut off the life support of six patients and let them die has raised once again the issue of how to treat the terminally ill.
Japan Times
Features
Oct 23, 2005

Sickness unto death, without despair

One summer morning in 2001, a good friend of mine, Bronson Conrad, rang me at my Manhattan home. After we'd chatted for a while, he broke the news that he had incurable, terminal cancer in his hip bone.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2005

Insurers race to get into medical policies as population ages

The risk of getting sick may soon be more important than the risk of dying, according to the life insurance industry.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2003

AIG seeks 'organic' growth in insurance industry

The tortoise, and not the hare, is more comfortable in the climate of Japan's life insurance sector.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 3, 2002

Tokyo Marine, Nichido Fire integrate into holding firm

Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and Nichido Fire & Marine Insurance Co. integrated their operations Tuesday and established a holding company that will eventually cover the Millea Insurance Group, which comprises three nonlife and one life insurer.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 14, 2001

Country roads take them to new homes

Get away. Away from squeezing yourself into a packed train, making your way in a slow-moving human tide up stairs and through ticket gates. From walking in a crowd like a soldier ant, trotting ahead to avoid cigarette smoke from a man in front, only to breathe in foul diesel fumes at intersections on...
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2000

How dead is dead enough?

The line between life and death has grown increasingly obscure in the United States, the world's most active organ-transplant community, as surgeons grapple with a delicate problem: Organs available for transplant may become less viable if pronouncement of a donor's death is delayed until death is beyond...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Apr 15, 2019

Bear essentials: A forthcoming animated series celebrates Rilakkuma's lackadaisical ethos in all its glory

Few fictional characters in Japan are as laid-back in their overall approach to life as Rilakkuma, which has attracted a loyal following over the years, rising through the ranks to sit alongside such established characters as Hello Kitty and Doraemon.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 31, 2017

New year, new opportunities: What to expect in the Year of the Dog

Faithful, intelligent, warm and full of energy, the dog has long held its place as man's best friend. That's good news as we approach 2018, the Year of the Dog, because, according to the Chinese calendar, the next 12 months will be largely shaped by canine traits.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Mar 1, 2014

Masako Shirasu: woman of the world

"If you use beautiful things every day, you will naturally cultivate an eye for beautiful things without giving it a second thought. In the end, you will be repelled when you encounter the ugly and the fake. If only all Japan would come to see this, how much more joyous our lives would be and how genial...
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 15, 2014

Euthanasia: the dilemma of choice

Euthanasia is an emotionally charged issue for people on both sides of the debate. Proponents of euthanasia argue that a person suffering from terminal illness should be given the freedom to choose how and when they die. Such discourse is given weight by the Japanese term for the practice — anrakushi,...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 2, 2013

Curiosity rover's descent to Mars — the story so far

Nestled below the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory outside Pasadena has a surprisingly low-tech feel. For more than 40 years, space missions to the planets have been controlled from its operations rooms, yet the place is still striking for its bucolic charm. Mule...
Heidrun Holzfeind documents urban and rural scenes, such as two policemen on bicycles nonchalantly rolling down a street, in her video piece "The 49th Year." The footage is presented alongside incarcerated New Left group leader Toshihiko Kamata’s writings about Japan’s highly supervised society in the exhibition "News from K."
CULTURE / Art
Nov 26, 2023

'News From K' captures the oppression of landscape

Letters from prison by New Left group leader Toshihiko Kamata reveal a sense of limbo in Heidrun Holzfeind’s new work.
Tanaka takes part in a signing ceremony for the Japan-Uruguay Investment Agreement with Uruguay's Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Luis Porto in 2015.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Jan 23, 2024

Why positivity is an asset in a career of PR and diplomacy

Keiko Tanaka went from an office at Nissan to the ambassador's residence in Uruguay.
Chojuro Kawarasaki plays Kuranosuke Ooishi in Kenji Mizoguchi’s 1941 film “Genroku Chushingura” (The 47 Ronin). The story, sometimes told with 46 retainers, has fascinated Japanese audiences since first being performed as a puppet play in 1748. 
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Mar 15, 2024

Edo samurai spirit: From the battlefield to the stage

Life under the Tokugawa shogunate wasn't exactly freedom but neither was it constant war. The Japanese instead sated their bloodlust with theater.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 28, 2024

Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.

As with for any single parent, life can present challenges. For those times, you'll need to learn resilience, perseverance and attention to detail.
In his book "It’s Okay Not to Look for the Meaning of Life," Buddhist priest Jikisai Minami sprinkles in surprising declarations such as “Stop taking care of yourself,” “It’s okay not to have friends,” “People can live without hopes and dreams.”
CULTURE / Books
Apr 29, 2024

Buddhist priest grounds new book with practical advice and cheeky declarations

"It’s Okay Not to Look for the Meaning of Life" by Jikisai Minami addresses the ills of modern life by revealing the true nature of suffering.
Japan Times contributor Laura Pollacco (front right) was offered the role of one of her all-time favorite heroines, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Bennet, in the Tokyo International Players’ production of “Pride and Prejudice.”
CULTURE / Stage
May 18, 2024

Local theater in Japan is more than a hobby — it’s a community

For contributor Laura Pollacco, companies such as Tokyo International Players and Sheepdog Theatre offer a home away from home.
Ziya Us Salam (left), an associate editor of The Hindu, an English-language newspaper, prays at home with Shan Mohammad, a hafiz who teaches the Quran to one of his daughters, in Noida, India, just outside Delhi, on Aug. 27, 2023.
WORLD / Society
May 20, 2024

Strangers in their own land: Being Muslim in Modi’s India

The premier's rise to national power in 2014 swept a decades-old Hindu nationalist movement from the margins of Indian politics firmly to the center.
Otowayama stable wrestlers in front of their stable. It may come as a surprise to some, but the use of ring names between wrestlers in the same stable isn’t all that common.­
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jun 12, 2024

Burning questions (and their answers) new fans may have about sumo

The slow month of June is as good a time as any for our columnist to answer some of the fan questions that crop up with regularity.
As childish as Ryokan may have been, human suffering wrung his heart. A portrait of the monk and calligraphy by him are shown here. (Ink on paper; early 19th century; replica before 1970)
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jul 21, 2024

Ryokan and us: 'How wide! How boundless!'

The Edo Period monk could see the world through a child's eyes, maybe even those of a child from our modern era.
A Nvidia chip during the Taipei Computex expo in Taipei on May 29, 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 28, 2024

How a Mumbai drugmaker is helping Putin get Nvidia AI chips

An inconspicuous pharmaceutical company exported 1,111 units of Dell Technologies' most-advanced servers to Russia in April-August of this year.

Longform

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