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July 01, 2026
 

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Roland Kelts
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Aug 15, 2015
AKB48 turns to an American studio
AKB48’s  commercial success in Japan is often derided as a sign of the culture’s patriarchal infantilization of women, and the girl group’s inability to appeal to Western audiences a sign of Japan’s increasingly isolated ideas about femininity, sexuality and pop music. Put simply: outside of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jul 18, 2015
Project Anime asks the right questions
More than 90,000 attended the 24th annual Anime Expo (AX), North America’s largest Japanese pop culture convention, held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from July 2 to 5. The four-day event featured a concert by idol group Momoiro Clover Z, who were joined onstage by two members of veteran American...
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jun 20, 2015
Can #socialmedia boost music sales in Japan?
Last week, Line Corp.’s, the operators of Japan’s most popular messaging app, launched an in-app music streaming service called Line Music. Japan is the second-largest music market in the world after the United States, but its consumers have so far been global outliers, clinging to physical products...
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
May 16, 2015
Anime oasis of the Midwest flourishes
The 18th annual Anime Central (ACen), North America’s third largest anime convention, is underway this weekend in Rosemont, near Chicago. Last year’s event drew a record 29,000 unique attendees, tallying 81,000 in total over its three full days. Organizers expect to breach those figures again in 2015....
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Apr 18, 2015
At last, Japan gets it
The Japanese entertainment industry is finally growing up, says Shin Unozawa, and he should know. Unozawa joined Bandai Entertainment back in 1981, and serves as chair of the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA), co-hosts of the Tokyo Game Show.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Mar 27, 2015
AnimeJapan 2015 sees the big picture
For most in Japan, April marks the start of the new working year. But for the anime and manga industries, it all begins in March.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Feb 27, 2015
‘The Anime Encyclopedia’ goes full digital
“The Anime Encyclopedia, 3rd Revised Edition: A Century of Japanese Animation” will be released March 3.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jan 30, 2015
In less than a year, Tonko House earns an Oscar nomination
They had plum jobs at one of the best companies in the world. Their successes were the envy of their peers. But last summer, two peak-career professionals quit their lucrative day jobs to found a start-up. With no income or investment, they built their own studio, mostly by hand, and started working...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 13, 2015
Lantis looks to woo a dedicated fan base with anisong tour
Fans breach the language barrier at overseas expos of Japanese pop culture as soon as the music starts. Legions of non-Japanese, most of whose knowledge of the language is limited to basic greetings and exclamations, burst into karaoke-style singalongs, mimicking dance moves and waving glow sticks. This...
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Dec 26, 2014
Sanrio’s ‘Nutcracker’ offers visual experience in 3-D
For anyone raised in the West, the year-end holidays in Japan can be a jarring experience, at least for the uninitiated. Decorated trees, illuminated boulevards and carols in convenience stores coincide with Colonel Sanders statuettes remade into Santa Claus and mini-skirted chorus girls in reindeer...
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Nov 28, 2014
Cool Japan sets its sights on Southeast Asia
A full year and a half has passed since the Japanese government gave its final approval for the Cool Japan Fund — a 20-year, public-private entity aimed at spreading Japan’s cultural appeal overseas — the official soft-power push that some bureaucrats and academics had been advocating for at least...
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Oct 24, 2014
Disney’s ‘Big Hero 6’ animates a bridging of cultures
This week’s Tokyo International Film Festival is hot on animation, featuring screenings of the collected works of Hideaki Anno, creator of the epic franchise, “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” and 3-D shorts directed by Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, producer of “Donkey Kong” and “Super Mario Bros.” But the festival’s...
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Sep 26, 2014
New markets may save Japan’s manga exports
The North American manga business took a beating last decade. After peaking around 2005-06, the lethal storm of oversaturated shelves, a collapsing U.S. financial industry and the bankruptcy of major American bookstore chain, Borders, left publishers and distributors in a panic. Downsizing, restructuring...
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 / CULTURE SMASH
Jul 25, 2014
Anime enjoys summer homes in Los Angeles
For more than two decades, post-production, audio and creative studio Bang Zoom! Entertainment in Burbank, California, has been delivering the anime fix abroad. Founder and CEO Eric P. Sherman talks about how it all began.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jun 13, 2014
Forget Cool Japan — cute is this summer’s hot global export
Summer is always high season for fans of Japanese pop culture. School’s out, weather’s amenable and festivals, conventions and expos shift into top gear in Japan and across the globe.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
May 9, 2014
Manga becomes a major draw at Toronto Comic Arts Festival
The 11th annual Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) kicks off May 10. As its title suggests, it’s less a fan-focused pop convention than a platform for comics and graphic novels as art, and for the artists who create them. It has also emerged as a great friend to manga over the past few years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Apr 11, 2014
Anime industry reunified at expo, satellite events
AnimeJapan 2014, the rebranded and reunified annual industry trade show, exceeded organizers’ expectations last month, hosting 110,000 producers, publishers, journalists, cosplayers and public visitors. What a relief.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Mar 13, 2014
Sebastian Masuda’s mission to take Harajuku art global
New York is not a city one automatically associates with the Japanese concept of kawaii — lovably, irresistibly, dependably cute. But if Sebastian Masuda, the so-called “king of kawaii,” has his way, the mean streets of “Goodfellas” may one day emanate a candy-colored glow.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Feb 13, 2014
The symbiotic relationship between anime and games
Japan excels at making you play. From its flower arrangements to tea ceremonies to karaoke, nothing much happens until you get into the game, and a big part of Japan’s appeal to non-natives is its invitation to engage.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Yen hits 40-year low against the dollar, breaking ¥162 level
Japan's currency broke ¥162 to the dollar on Tuesday in Tokyo.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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