Transport authorities launched a full-fledged investigation Sunday into the derailment of a bullet train on the Akita Shinkansen Line in Daisen, Akita Prefecture, on Saturday afternoon.
It's a dangerous, unpredictable world. Twice in January Chinese warships in the East China Sea challenged Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces patrols in a manner deemed threatening. And on Feb. 12 came North Korea's nuclear test.
Here's an open secret: Japanese men have a bad international reputation on the romance front.
SELLING WOMEN: Prostitution, Markets and the Household in Early Modern Japan, by Amy Stanley. University of California Press, 2012, 282 pp., $49.95 (hardcover) In the vast cultural landscape, Japan fascinates the mainstream with manga and anime, the martial arts, Zen and kimono. Of course, ...
Kenta Maeda shook off worries about his form with five shutout innings as Japan beat China 5-2 in first-round Pool A of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at Fukuoka Dome. Japan improved to 2-0 following a tough win over Brazil in Saturday evening’s ...
French producer Rene Martin is launching a new musical project titled Le Journal Musical de Chopin (The Musical Diary of Chopin) this month in Japan. Renowned for the successful music festival La Folle Journee (Days of Enthusiasm), which has presented Martin’s vision of the ...
The international “Rossini Opera Festival,” which has been held annually in August in Pesaro, Italy, will grace these shores for the first time this month. Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), one of Italy’s greatest composers, penned an astonishing 39 operas in his lifetime. However, many of ...
Nissay Theatre in Yurakucho, Tokyo, will present Leos Janacek’s opera “The Makropulos Case” on Nov. 20, 22 and 24 to mark the venue’s 45th anniversary. “Why Makropulos? Because the story is dramatic though scarcely known,” says Yasuo Niwa, the chief producer of the theater’s ...
A harpsichord performance will be held this weekend at a gallery in Kyoto, using a recently completed instrument with fine painting by Kansai-based artist Satoshi Mabuchi. “It has been more than 30 years since I bought a harpsichord kit in the United States,” recalls ...
Two leading American figures in jazz fusion will give a Tokyo performance in collaboration with one of Japan’s foremost orchestras on Oct. 2 at the Sumida Triphony Hall in Sumida Ward. Guitarist Lee Ritenour (b. 1952) has been active as an instrumental pop musician, ...
Sendai City in Miyagi Prefecture will be transformed into a musical amusement park for three days from Oct. 11 during the third staging of the Sendai Classical Music Festival. The festival is commonly known by the abbreviation Sen-Cla (pronounced sen-ku-ra). The “Sen” part refers ...
With Tokyo Nikikai Opera Theatre, German director Peter Konwitschny will stage “Eugene Onegin” in Tokyo from Sept. 12 to 15. Raised in Leipzig and going on to study in postwar Berlin, the 63-year-old director, a son of the famous conductor Franz Konwitschny, started his ...
Located at the foot of Mount Asama in Nagano Prefecture, Karuizawa — which is one of Japan’s most popular inland resorts — will be the setting from Aug. 16 to 22 of the Karuizawa Arts Festival 2008. Inaugurated last summer, the festival brings together ...
Tickets are now on sale for a very special concert to be staged Oct. 4 at Suntory Hall in Minato Ward, Tokyo. Marking the anniversary of the hall’s opening on Oct. 12, 1986, Suntory Hall Gala Concerts — one of the venue’s most popular ...
Tokyo Symphony Orchestra will perform a concert for children on July 26 at Suntory Hall in Minato Ward, Tokyo, that focuses on contemporary Japanese composers. “It’s rare to present an all-Japanese composers’ program at a concert for children,” says conductor Naoto Otomo, who has ...
