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July 12, 2026
 

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DESIGN

Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Dec 30, 2019
Waste not want not in Japanese design
The limitations of recycling and repurposing materials frees the imagination for unusual, amusing and clever design in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / 2019 in Review,2019 in Review
Dec 18, 2019
Future design in Japan: Recycle, upcycle and reinvent
The focus on traditional artisanship is still strong, as is the global obsession with minimalism, but what about sustainability and ethical consumption?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 21, 2019
Maurice Eric Zacher: Designs on Japan
Japanologist and product designer Zacher on Japanese design, gadgets and university scholarships.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Apr 28, 2019
Design winners and favorites
Now that the flurry of activity that surrounds the annual Salone del Mobile has died down, this month’s On: Design takes a look at a few of the interiors fair’s Japanese prizewinning ideas and new product debuts.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Feb 12, 2019
Plastic fantastic: Examining the obsession over Japan’s soft vinyl toys
It’s a cold afternoon in mid-January and, inside a factory operated by Maruyama Toys in a quiet residential area in Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward, Cory Privitera is making sofubi (soft vinyl toys).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 12, 2018
In 2018, art came via many anniversaries in Japan
This year saw a lot of anniversaries in Japan. It was 1868 when Crown Prince Mutsuhito became the Emperor Meiji, the official policy of national isolation ended and the country was set on a course to become a modern industrialized nation-state. This birthday seems like it could have been a great time...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 12, 2018
Shared spaces, locally produced goods and everyday objects
Making physical connections with people, whether via large-scale events and spaces or design concepts, and a continued celebration of traditional crafts, appeared to be a key direction for design in Japan this year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 11, 2018
Designer Linda Polgar gives vintage textiles a new lease of life
Longtime Tokyo resident on choosing fabric, fashion designers and surviving Japanese summer.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 9, 2018
Takaoka crafts a new tourism industry
In the entrance of Nousaku in Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture, a group of schoolchildren skip by and point excitedly at an eclectic display of hundreds of brightly colored objects. Other visitors, meanwhile, look down in wonder toward the concrete floor, where a huge golden silhouette of the Japanese archipelago...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 25, 2018
Issey Miyake finds its Kyoto home
With its tiered roof, latticed exterior and exposed beams, the new Issey Miyake Kyoto flagship is more than just a store; it’s a celebration of one of Kyoto’s best-known traditional structures — the machiya.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Dec 3, 2017
It’s time to stop blocking color
Minimalist interiors have been a growing trend for many years now, primarily dominated by a monochromatic palette of white. But who says we need to abandon color to live a de-cluttered life?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Nov 11, 2017
Light designer creates European ambience
From a young age, Stuttgart-born Megumi Ito always felt “a bit different” from people in her seaside home of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 13, 2017
Reconstructing the Japanese house
After very successful runs in Rome and London, “The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945,” an exhibition of maquettes, photographs, plans and drawings, is now in the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Jul 15, 2017
Designer Yosuke Ushigome finds solutions to culture shock in English and humor
How do you solve a geopolitical problem like Kim Jong Un? Containment? Embargoes? Propaganda? Regime change? Synchronized baseball?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
May 13, 2017
Designer Yuri Suzuki chases his dreams through sound
As a boy in the 1980s, Yuri Suzuki fell under the spell of video games and his father’s record collection. The family home was in bustling Shibuya Ward, near the border with Shinjuku, and the influence of global cultures within its walls was strong.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Dec 10, 2016
DIY — a power tool for distracting kids
My 4-year-old daughter’s eyes light up when she spies something sitting on the work table. Unlike her normal playtime preferences, it is not a rainbow-haired unicorn, felt tip pens or a plastic doll that has caught her attention — it’s an industrial looking electric screwdriver.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Aug 2, 2016
Paul Smith has earned his stripes
Colorful and cluttered, the office bursts with paraphernalia, from stacked bicycles and piles of books on designer chairs to an apple-green iMac, a futuristic record player and a red Snoopy phone on the rosewood desk.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: TECH
Jun 18, 2016
Bright ideas for bookmarks, toys and apps
Kyouei Design’s flashy bookmark
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 7, 2016
‘Toile de Jouy, Printed Textiles from France’
June 14-July 31
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 3, 2016
Exhibition showcases quest to pair patients with novel search for cure
People with obscure, degenerative nerve disorders with no known cures. A biologist exploring the use of fruit flies as an alternative to mice to test drug compounds. A designer who makes his own laser cutter. All of them have collaborated for a unique exhibition that could one day change the way new...
China’s demand for Soviet-style apartments shows limits to revival
Apartments built during a Soviet Union-inspired construction drive in the 1970s and 1980s tend to suffer from poor insulation and outdated plumbing, but they are seeing a revival in interest due to their attractive locations.
Japanese scientists identify neural mechanism that may explain why we dislike people
The aggressive mouse (left) used in the experiment and a mouse defending itself
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm’s collapse
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
Japan’s largest exhibition of women photographers rights a wrong in cultural history
Miwa Yanagi’s “Elevator Girl House” series skewers the superficiality of gender roles through staged images.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
The “Princess Mononoke” adaptation was created under Shochiku’s Super Kabuki initiative, a modern form of kabuki with more technology in staging and open to pop culture collaborations.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.

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