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D.H. Rosen
For D.H. Rosen's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 23, 2016
Tokyo hotel gets into bed with local artists
When building a new hotel, designers would normally consider the artwork displayed on the walls as a finishing touch. But for BnA Hotel Koenji, which just opened in Tokyo's Koenji neighborhood, the artwork definitely comes first.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 19, 2016
Akiyama remodels the canon of clay
Artist Yo Akiyama has never been one to play by the rules. As a young student in the ceramics program at Kyoto City University of the Arts (Kyoto Geidai) in the mid-1970s, he quickly earned a reputation as a troublemaker, never content to accept his teacher's lessons at face value.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 13, 2015
Pow! Wow! to pack a punch in Tokyo
Inspiration comes in many forms: It could be a piece of artwork that changes your vision of the world, or it could be a phone call from a friend that spawns an international art phenomenon.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 15, 2015
Miki Saito steps out of the inky shadows
Some artworks on first look hit you like a ton of bricks — with bold colors and striking realism. Others take time to get to know, offering hidden treasures that are revealed to the viewer over time.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 23, 2011
Place your bid to help Japan
When the world bears witness to tragedies on the scale of Japan's recent disaster, it affects everyone, and it is natural to feel powerless. Many find themselves asking the question: "What could I possibly do to help?" While for most the answer is not at once apparent, for Japanese American ceramic artist Ayumi Horie, her response was both decided and immediate.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 28, 2011
There's always art behind design
For some, life-changing moments involve a traumatic experience or a piercing epiphany. For others, something as simple as a teapot can elicit transformation.
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 5, 2010
Flamenco now dancing to a very different beat
Once a year, Hiroki Sato leaves behind the bustle of Tokyo to return to the hills of Andalusia, Spain, the place where flamenco was born. He can barely walk the streets for a minute before someone calls his name, and in a village where flamenco courses through the very veins of the community, impromptu dancing in the streets is more salutation than ceremony. A world-renowned flamenco dancer, Sato feels completely at home in this place so distant from Japan in ways both geographical and cultural but his transformation did not happen overnight.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 25, 2010
Keeping an eye on new ceramics
Places of worship take many forms, but they all share a common atmosphere. There's a certain quietude that puts visitors at ease and a sense of other-worldliness achieved, in part, through the careful placement of precious objects on raised platforms. Kim Riyoo's ceramic installation, "Ceramics as New Exoticism," now on display at Ginza's INAX Galleria Ceramica, has these attributes, but the subject matter is one that many would consider less than holy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 23, 2010
Molding the way for new silverwork design
Raising, chasing, casting, forging, reticulation, repousse . . . even the terms that describe metalworking can be daunting to the novice, while the processes themselves prove metal to be one of the most difficult materials to tame. But what if you had a malleable metal substance that would take shape right in your hands without any training or tools? Enter "silver clay."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2010
Delving deep beyond the merely decorative
In a vast room with white walls and wooden floors, a lone man crouches in the corner holding a spouted container that releases tiny white crystals onto the floor in a carefully controlled flow. Making sure not to disturb the meticulously crafted lines around him, he works steadily and with great resolve. Onlookers watch in silent awe as he adds one line after another to an intricate and flawless maze that spans the entire breadth of the room. Like drawings made in the sand, the work that unfolds is a painstaking exercise in the ephemeral. After all, this particular work of art is made of salt, and come April, all of it will be swept away.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 29, 2010
Creativity flourishes in 'No Man's Land'
Known for its quaint cafes and high-end high rises, the upscale neighborhood of Hiroo is home to many of Tokyo's local and ex-pat illuminati, as well as to several foreign embassies. The area is pristine, even by Tokyo standards, and it is this refined backdrop that makes arriving at the French embassy that much more shocking. What's that on the outer walls? Could it be . . . graffiti?!
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 14, 2009
Breaking all the rules in ceramics
For many people, the term "ceramic art" conjures up the image of functional ware on a dinner table: cups and bowls filled with food and drink, or perhaps ornate European platters or wabi-sabi Japanese teapots. To others, it may mean terra-cotta figurines or simply sculpture that uses clay as its primary material. But for veteran clay-artist Kosho Ito, "ceramic art" is both a calling to which he has dedicated his entire life and a restrictive label that he refuses to embrace.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 8, 2009
Issey Miyake's "U-Tsu-Wa" filled with character and inspiration
In Japanese, the word utsuwa literally means "vessel" or "container," but it can also be used to describe a person's character. Someone said to have a "large utsuwa" ("utsuwa ga ookii") is a person of high caliber or someone with tremendous capacity or generosity. When celebrated Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake conceived the "U-Tsu-Wa" exhibition, on display now through May 10 in Tokyo at Roppongi Midtown's 21_21 Design Sight, he undoubtedly had both meanings of the word in mind.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 10, 2009
A series of solo shows filed together as one
The term "group show" usually conjures an image of multiple meetings, shared spaces, collaborative installations and a common theme to tie it all together. "Artist File 2009," a group show at The National Art Center Tokyo (NACT) till May 5, has none of these things. But this is not a typical group of artists, and the NACT is not your typical art space.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 30, 2009
Who says an art work must exist?
Like precious gems, Aiko Miyanaga's crystalline sculptures reflect light and shine with a brilliance that beguiles the viewer. But while diamonds are forever, Miyanaga's carefully crafted forms are not long for this world. In fact, some of her pieces are gone before her exhibitions even come to a close.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 16, 2008
'Kunst Oktoberfest'
Central Tokyo
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 26, 2008
How Carlo Zauli changed the course of contemporary Japanese ceramics
Change can be one of the most difficult words for traditional craftsmen to hear.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 14, 2007
Culture observed by an art of glass
All of us go through life with our own set of personal "filters" — emotional baggage and cultural biases that color the way we see the world. This is the theme of the exhibition "Culture Filters."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 29, 2007
"Kenjiro Kitade: Kitade Art"
hpgrp Gallery, Omotesando Closes on Dec. 9
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 2, 2007
DanDans meets Coco Chanel
Artists' lives are seldom easy, but the reality they face in Japan can be particularly daunting.

Longform

A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world