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Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 29, 2017

Things you need to know about 'mono'

The Japanese word for 'thing' has some quite surprising qualities.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 30, 2020

‘All the Things We Never Said’: Life is bleak, so find a friend to lean on

Yuya Ishii draws some raw performances from his cast in a low-budget, self-produced drama about alienation and unraveling relationships.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 5, 2019

Buoys, fisheries and aquaculture join the internet of things

Combining technology and data, the 'internet of things' matches supply and demand, increasing the chances of unwanted fish being returned to the sea alive and making seafood more sustainable.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2017

Mayor Soichiro Takashima envisions Fukuoka as a living lab for internet of things

Assessing damage caused by natural disasters with just a glance at a monitor screen. Controlling water levels and knowing the best time to fertilize crops without actually visiting your farm. Checking the whereabouts of your son or daughter who is returning from school by using location-based services....
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 9, 2016

After cyberattacks, internet of things wrestles with making smart devices safer

Recent cyberattacks harnessing everyday devices such as cameras, video recorders, printers, routers and speakers are a wake-up call to the hidden dangers of the "internet of things (IoT)."
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 22, 2023

Things get warmer with Xi; Johnny’s get the cold shoulder

While Japan and China look to ease tensions, NHK makes things tense with a Johnny’s-less “Kohaku” announcement.
Koenji-based dance troupe Tengu-ren performs at an Awa odori event in Tokyo's Kagurazaka neighborhood a month before the Koenji Awa Odori.
CULTURE / Longform
Aug 26, 2023

The party returns to Koenji

While the COVID-19 pandemic put a temporary pause to one of Tokyo’s biggest festivals, its dancers never stopped practicing their steps.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and members of the Liberal Democratic Party take a group photo at the party's headquarters in Tokyo during the Oct. 27 Lower House elections.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 30, 2025

Adjusting to the new normal in Japanese politics

The upheaval of the past year has forced a fundamental rethinking of how political watchers must observe things in Tokyo
Tourists drive rental go-karts while dressed up as game characters through the streets of Shibuya and other areas of Tokyo in December 2018.
COMMENTARY
Sep 6, 2023

A 10-year tourist boom and all I got was this lousy 'Mario Kart'

Like cockroaches in a nuclear apocalypse, seemingly nothing can destroy the "Mario Karts": not legal action, not the government and not even the pandemic.
A group of high schoolers promoting self-liberation from social media and technology meets in New York in December 2022. Young people around the world are switching their smartphones for “dumbphones.”
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2024

How switching from a smart to a flip phone saved me

To stop the endless doomscrolling, some people are turning the clock back and switching to "dumbphones."
South Africa flyhalf Handre Pollard (left) is tackled by England's Dan Cole (center) and George Martin during their Rugby World Cup semifinal in Paris on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Oct 23, 2023

Springboks have work to do ahead of RWC final against All Blacks

This year's Rugby World Cup final will be a rematch of the 1995 title game between South Africa and New Zealand.
Helping your child through their first experience with a school bully can be a difficult situation to navigate — doubly so if you're trying to do so as a non-Japanese resident in Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 30, 2024

What’s a mother to do when your non-Japanese child is bullied in school?

The school experience in conformist Japan can be difficult for students who don't share things like skin color and language in common with their fellow classmates.
The danger of overreaction and misinformation in the digital age is real, and authorities must provide clear explanations to prevent tragedies while also addressing legitimate concerns about drones.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2024

How to make America's drone panic so very much worse

The weak and ineffective response of government authorities should serve as a lesson in exactly how not to handle such incidents in the digital age.
With Donald Trump's second term as U.S. president, Japan faces a new era in its relationship with the United States, requiring a shift from values-based diplomacy to a transactional approach.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 28, 2025

New era for U.S.-Japan depends on adapting to Trump’s America

The next four years will be more consequential and transactional for leaders in Tokyo as the Trump administration puts America first.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri celebrates after winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Apr 21, 2025

Oscar Piastri plans to do more winning after rising to top of F1 standings

The last Australian to lead the championship was Mark Webber, who is now the 24-year-old Piastri's manager, at Red Bull in 2010.
A Japanese monk rings the bell at his temple. The bell is rung 108 times on New Year's Eve, a way to cleanse ourselves of the worldly desires.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 29, 2023

The year’s end provides us a chance to consider the passage of time

There are plenty of Japanese words that express the passage of time, whether it's a matter of years or the blink of an eye.
One survey revealed that 68% of recruiters admit to appearance-based hiring and 96% say interviews are influenced by visual impressions, which is why many employment experts advise job hunters to invest significantly in their appearance.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 4, 2024

Why do I need a photo on my resume to apply for a job in Japan?

It is time to build a recruitment system in Japan that rewards people’s talents, irrespective of their looks
Bristol's Ilona Maher poses for selfies with fans after a match in Bristol, Britain, on Jan. 5.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 16, 2025

Ilona Maher urges rugby to do more to grow game ahead of Women's Rugby World Cup

Maher urged rugby to break free from its self-imposed shackles.
Toshiya Ikehata (center) helps prepare rice balls at a community kitchen in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 7. Ikehata runs a fine-dining restaurant in the city, which was among the hardest-hit areas in the Noto Peninsula earthquake.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2024

Shattered lives, unbroken spirits: Chefs step up to serve Noto communities

Fine-dining chefs rise to the challenge of feeding disaster victims in the hardest-hit areas of Ishikawa Prefecture.
Donald Trump’s skepticism of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty should push Japan to rethink its defense posture, increase military spending, expand arms exports and even consider the nuclear question instead of relying on outdated postwar norms.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2025

Use the bogeyman to confront Japan’s defense taboos

Donald Trump’s criticism of the U.S. security treaty with Japan is the perfect cover that Tokyo needs to confront outdated attitudes about defense.
U.S. President Richard Nixon in the Oval Office of the White House in June 1972
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 19, 2023

Nixon's 1953 trip to Okinawa and its lasting impact

Nixon’s trip to Okinawa 70 years ago this month planted seeds for his agreeing to its reversion when he became the U.S. president.
The challenge for African governments and communities is how to harness this wave of youthful talent — with all their innovation, resilience and determination — rather than lose them to developed economies.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2024

Africa must act to stem its youth brain drain

African governments must harness youthful talent or risk losing it to developed economies.
Shibuya's local government has mounted a campaign to dissuade revelers from visiting the neighborhood for Halloween celebrations and has banned drinking in the streets.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 30, 2023

Shibuya wants to cancel Halloween. That's a mistake.

This year, Shibuya isn't dressing up for Halloween. The neighborhood is turning revelers away, ignoring its role as a youth culture hub.
The Philippines is countering Chinese aggression with a strategy of exposing coercive actions through media, embedding journalists with its military and leveraging visual evidence to gain domestic and international support.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2024

Philippines uses the media spotlight to fight back against China

Manila is promoting “assertive transparency” to shape the media landscape, putting Beijing on the defensive.
Palestinians carry bags of flour they grabbed from an aid truck in mid February near an Israeli checkpoint as Gaza residents face crisis levels of hunger amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2024

Getting more aid to Gaza shouldn’t be this difficult

Adding avoidable deaths through hunger and disease in Gaza to an already high fatality toll is good for no one but extremists.
A self-proclaimed lover of great cocktails, YouTuber Chris Broad says his new Shibuya watering hole is more a place to get yourself a solid drink than it is anything related to his social media career.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 15, 2024

Chris Broad's new bar puts cocktails first, YouTube second

Elements of Lost hint at Broad's prolific content creation career, but it also wants to thrive on its merits as a place to find a decent drink.
Tiger Woods speak at The Genesis Invitational in San Diego, on Feb. 16.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Mar 6, 2025

Tiger Woods says 'heart not into practicing right now'

With the Masters looming five weeks away, it may prove challenging for the 15-time major champion to be ready for Augusta.
Eddie Jones, who coached Australia at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, has been linked with a return to Japan.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 13, 2023

Eddie Jones expects to land new job by January

Jones has been heavily linked with a return to Japan.
Pages from a new Otaku Dictionary catalog the lexicons of Japan’s various subcultures.
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 30, 2023

A problematic otaku dictionary and the Japanese approach to sitting

An “Otaku Dictionary” has Japan’s subcultures upset at an attempt to define them.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.