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April 14, 2026
 

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Kris Kosaka

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Kris Kosaka
Kris Kosaka, a resident of Japan since 1996, contributes regularly to The Japan Times. She is a lecturer at Meiji Gakuin University in the Faculty of International Studies.
The title of "What am I, a Deer?" is based on a short film by Isabella Rossellini's series of short films about mating rituals.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 12, 2026
¡®What am I, a Deer?¡¯ searches to understand the self and others
Japanese-to-English translator Polly Barton has published nonfiction before. "What am I, a Deer?" is her debut novel.
Company Grande¡¯s inaugural performance, ¡°The Rite of Spring,¡± took place Feb. 7 at Saitama Arts Theater.
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 8, 2026
100 ways to belong: The radical inclusivity of Company Grande
Company Grande includes members from all ages, walks of life and abilities, showing the stage can also be an arena for amateurs, persons with disabilities and the elderly.
Though Okinawa accounts for only 0.6% of Japan¡¯s total land, it hosts 70.3% of exclusive-use U.S. military bases.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Mar 2, 2026
Recentering Okinawa, one story at a time
Through conferences, films and publications, international scholars and journalists are building bridges with Okinawan communities and amplifying the voices of local residents.
The winners of the 70th Kunio Kishida Prize for Playwriting are Sho Hasumi (left) with ¡°Romance¡± and Emi Oishi with ¡°Drool Ferris Wheel.¡±
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 26, 2026
Kishida Prize crowns wordsmiths in the theater world
The 70th iteration of the annual Kunio Kishida Prize for Playwriting announces two winners.
Nakamura Takanosuke performs as an "onnagata," the term for male kabuki actors who portray women, in "The Wisteria Maiden."
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 24, 2026
After ¡®Kokuho¡¯: Nakamura Takanosuke to take kabuki¡¯s ¡®onnagata¡¯ tradition to Europe
Following renewed interest, a young actor offers overseas audiences a rare look behind the scenes.
Composer Jung Jaeil began his career when he was a middle school student and has since become one of South Korea¡¯s most sought-after film scorers.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 18, 2026
Jung Jaeil composed for ¡®Squid Game.¡¯ Now, he steps on the stage as himself.
The South Korean composer returns to live music and is set to stop by Tokyo for a show with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Jose Imai grew up in Ibaraki Prefecture and founded Alberto, a poker parlor and creative space, in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, in 2025.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 23, 2026
Jose Imai: ¡®Poker and business are about numbers, intuition and emotions¡¯
A mixed-race business owner with roots in Japan and the Dominican Republic makes space for community and creativity on the Shonan Coast.
Separated into seven cantos, the 108 poems in "Borderlines" span over 15 years and blur the boundary between poetry and memoir.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 18, 2026
'Borderlines': A cacophony of dramatic personae unfolds a life of memories through 108 poems
With elements of both poetry and memoir, ¡°Borderlines: An Astral Experience in Poems¡± by Alan Botsford, straddles the boundaries of genre.
¡°Jackson Alone¡± follows four mixed-race, queer young men as they navigate the fallout after a revenge porn video surfaces at the titular character¡¯s place of work.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 7, 2026
Part seedy, part satire, all bite: ¡®Jackson Alone¡¯ tackles issues others rarely touch
The dark satire novella ¡°Jackson Alone¡± is the first book by Akutagawa Prize-winning author Jose Ando to be translated into English.
Across genres, performing arts this year were collaborating, experimenting and touring the world.
CULTURE / Stage / 2025 IN REVIEW
Dec 19, 2025
Tradition, remixed: A year on Japan¡¯s stages
From kabuki¡¯s newfound fans to experimental theater¡¯s widening scope, Japan¡¯s performing arts scene spent 2025 reaching outward.
Japanese literature in translation abroad has only grown in popularity with every year, resulting in a wide variety of titles available in English, from cozy fiction to crime and horror.
CULTURE / Books / 2025 IN REVIEW
Dec 14, 2025
In 2025, Japanese literature took a turn for the weird
As expected, women writers raked in successes and cozy cat fiction kept its popularity, with two big surprises from male authors ¡ª Uketsu and Osamu Dazai.
In a rare meeting of ballet and butoh dance ¡ª a first for K-Ballet Opto ¡ª butoh company Dairakudakan and its founder, Akaji Maro, will dance alongside ballet dancers.
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 29, 2025
A rare dance trinity: Ballet, butoh and kabuki share the stage
In the uncertain realm between life and death dwell mystical creatures ¡ª tengu demons, yš­kai folklore monsters and spirits of the dead. It¡¯s these shadows that choreographer and director Kaiji Moriyama explores in K-Ballet Opto¡¯s ¡°A Dance Remembered in Tohno,¡± premiering Dec. 26 at Tatemono...
Aya Ogawa, Japanese American playwright and performer based in New York, is bringing her award-winning ¡°The Nosebleed¡± to Japan for the first time.
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 20, 2025
Theater beyond borders: Eriko Ogawa's tenure at the NNTT has a global vision
Over the last decade, Eriko Ogawa has worked to expand the international connections of the New National Theatre, Tokyo.
¡°Sweet Mambo¡± is still performed by seven of the nine dancers who originally danced at the 2008 premiere.
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 16, 2025
Pina Bausch¡¯s 2008 masterpiece to be performed in Japan by the original cast
Tanztheater Wuppertal returns to Japan with "Sweet Mambo" long-awaited performances in Kyoto and Saitama.
Kabuki has been trying for years to attract a new generation of fans. One way to do this has been to adapt manga and anime franchises, such as ¡°Naruto,¡± for the stage.?
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 3, 2025
The summer kabuki came roaring back
A hit film and shifting demographics are drawing new audiences to kabuki, sparking hopes for a revitalized future.
Osamu Dazai struggled with depression and addiction, themes that were also central to his writing.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 22, 2025
Why Japan¡¯s most melancholic writer speaks to today¡¯s youth
Osamu Dazai's works are enjoying a new boom of retranslations and readers 80 years after they were first published.
¡°Swallows¡± examines the intersections of class and reproductive issues with a focus on its protagonist who is talked into becoming a surrogate for a wealthy couple.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 5, 2025
¡®Swallows' untangles the murky ethics of selling motherhood
¡°Swallows¡± examines the intersections of class and reproductive issues with a focus on its protagonist who is talked into becoming a surrogate for a wealthy couple.
Jesse Kirkwood is part of a vibrant field of translators who have nurtured what might be called a ¡°post-Murakami era of Japanese literature and translation,¡± one book at a time.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 29, 2025
Jesse Kirkwood: ¡®Languages are entire cultural universes with all sorts of baggage¡¯
The Japanese-English literary translator reflects on catching the recent wave of ¡°post-Murakami¡± fiction and how he balances reading for work versus pleasure.
In what is billed as the first major production in English of Hisashi Inoue's "The Face of Jizo,¡± the Japanese play will have performances at the Seymour Centre in Sydney both in English and in Japanese.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 22, 2025
'The Face of Jizo': Hisashi Inoue's play staged in Sydney commemorates WWII victims
Billed as the first major English-language production of the play, "The Face of Jizo" also increases the variety of roles for Japanese actors in Australia.
Sung in Japanese, German and Ukrainian, ¡°Natasha¡± is a multilingual opera with a multinational cast. Belgian soprano Ilse Eerens will originate the titular role, with Japanese mezzo-soprano Hiroka Yamashita as Arato and German baritone Christian Miedl as their trickster guide.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 9, 2025
¡®Natasha¡¯ distills global zeitgeist on the opera stage
An original work commissioned by the New National Theatre, Tokyo, ¡°Natasha¡± is a multilingual opera with a multinational cast from Japan, Germany and Belgium.
Jehovah's Witnesses followers sue Japanese government
According to court records, the plaintiffs include the Japanese branch of Jehovah's Witnesses in Ebina, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Debt-laden Japan should review spending on gender equality, survey finds
A woman holds a handheld fan bearing the image of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's wedding photo, during an election campaign event in Tokyo on Feb. 7.
Japanese researchers look at 800-year-old books and trees for signs of extreme solar events
A drawing of Fujiwara no Teika, known as a courtier, <i>waka</i> poet and scholar of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods
Japan freezes visa applications for foreign restaurant workers
Filipinos with specified skills qualifications learn how to prepare fish for sushi in Tokyo in 2022.
At Ueno Station, ¡®Freedom¡¯ restored
¡°Freedom,¡± a mural in JR Ueno Station, created in 1951, has been repaired three times, most recently in 2025.
Where Tokyo goes to sweat and soak
As Tokyo&#039;s public bathhouses age, many are embracing more contemporary aesthetics to stay relevant for a younger class of customer.
At Ueno Station, ¡®Freedom¡¯ restored
¡°Freedom,¡± a mural in JR Ueno Station, created in 1951, has been repaired three times, most recently in 2025.
Inside Iizukatei, a 200-year-old home turned boutique hotel in Tochigi
Recognized as a tangible cultural property in 2003, the former residence of the Iizuka family is now a boutique hotel in Nakagawa, Tochigi Prefecture.
Tokyo¡¯s sake calendar is filled to the brim
The recently concluded Sake Park invited younger brewers to make sake more approachable for attendees in their 20s and 30s.
Japan¡¯s tighter immigration controls yielding results
An immigration control passport stamp issued in Japan. A surge in arrivals from overseas has coincided with a tightening of immigration controls under a government initiative aimed at reducing overstayers.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Projects like the BuddhaBot aim to re-create dialogue once lost to time, raising questions about whether AI can extend the teachings of Buddha or merely simulate them.
Can AI replace a priest? Japan¡¯s temples and shrines are testing the limits.
By Alex K.T. Martin

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