Lucy Birmingham - The Japan Times

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Lucy Birmingham

For Lucy Birmingham's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

LIFE / Lifestyle

Jul 9, 2017

The sheer poetry of the world's first English-language 'karuta' game

Classical Japanese poetry on playing cards — in English? It seems like an odd mix. But when you add tales of love and betrayal and brilliant translation, you get a heart-thumping card game like no other.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Feb 18, 2011

G-tokyo art fair hopes for another triumph

Although Tokyo is a major world city, its contemporary art scene lacks the allure of its peers. Japanese interest in contemporary art is growing, though, as evidenced by the record 50,000 visitors at last year's Art Fair Tokyo. However, sales remained at the 2009 level, a fraction of what big art fairs abroad rake in.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Sep 24, 2010

The 'plucky pioneer' of photojournalism

At 96, Tsuneko Sasamoto, Japan's first female photojournalist, remains a remarkable force of energy, creativity and inspiration. Dubbed a "plucky pioneer" and "the Annie Liebovitz of her day," Sasamoto has photographed some of Japan's greatest personalities and historical moments during her 70-year career. Though widely published in Japan, she is a hidden gem for international audiences.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Aug 13, 2010

Contemporary art helps revive a city

For theater, dance and art fans in Japan, an unprecedented gourmet selection of performances and exhibitions — the inaugural Aichi Triennale 2010 — will kick off in Nagoya on Aug. 21, running until Oct. 31. Promoting cutting-edge and cross-genre concepts with an emphasis on performance-based works, the triennale has invited a surprisingly large number of artists, many of whom are internationally recognized. Several well-known international curators were also involved in making the selections. With the blessing of Aichi Governor Masaaki Kanda, an art enthusiast, 70 percent of the funding has come from the prefecture — a much needed boost for Japan's flagging arts support.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Aug 6, 2010

Setouchi: the art of island hopping

Japan's Seto Inland Sea, known for its breathtaking vistas and art-filled island of Naoshima, is the site for the inaugural Setouchi International Art Festival until October 31. Also titled as a "100-Day Art and Sea Adventure," about 78 Japanese and internationally recognized artists and art groups are showing a cornucopia of contemporary artworks on seven islands — Naoshima, Teshima, Megijima, Ogijima, Shodoshima, Oshima, Inujima — and the port areas of Takamatsu (on Shikoku Island) and Uno (on Honshu, near Okayama).

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Apr 2, 2010

Who will bring home the Bacon this year?

Francis Bacon will be participating in Art Fair Tokyo again this year — in spirit. No, not the renowned 16th-century British philosopher, or the famed Irish-born 20th-century figurative painter. But Francis Bacon, the kosher vegetarian, Budapest-born Irish Wolfhound, whose budding career as Tokyo's most prominent furry art celebrity was sadly short-lived after his passing in 2008. His manager and beloved owner Joni Waka, universally known as "Johnnie Walker," director of the art foundation A.R.T., created the juried Bacon Prize in the canine's name to honor and support a specially selected artist.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF

Feb 5, 2010

'Water, fire, earth'

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Nov 27, 2009

The Italian art of making wine and painting

Imagine the colors of a vast Tuscan vineyard drenched in a September sun — emerald green leaves, gnarled brown vines, deep purple grapes, shale earth, azure sky — an artist's inspiration for both palette and palate. For renowned Italian artist Sandro Chia, 63, these Tuscan colors, soaked into the ancient stories of the land, feed the roots of his life and work.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Sep 4, 2009

Still photography: a new art market

Tokyo probably has more photo fans than any megalopolis on the planet, but strangely there's never been an international photography art fair here — until now. Tokyo Photo 2009, running Sept. 4-6, offers still photography artworks for sale from 12 Japan-based galleries, four from the United States and one from Hong Kong. Over 100 artists are represented, including world-famous figures like Edward Weston, Annie Leibovitz and Helmut Newton, as well as celebrated Japanese photographers such as Hiroshi Sugimoto. A fine selection of works by up-and-coming Japanese photographers such as Noriko Yamaguchi, Taisuke Koyama and Nao Tsuda are also available. And unlike most art fairs, there is a photography exhibition. Titled "Photo America," the show is organized by the Museum of Photographic Arts (MoPA) in San Diego and features about 50 American works, encompassing iconic and important historical images never before seen in Japan.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Aug 21, 2009

A dream venue for new artists

"I'm still a housewife so its amazing that an amateur can do something like this," says DanDans founder and organizer Kazuko Aso, now presenting the contemporary art cooperative's fifth exhibition titled "A Midsummer Dream" until Aug. 30 at Chinzan-so in Mejiro, Tokyo. "Maybe it's because I have such enthusiasm for the artists and financially I didn't want to gain anything for myself. Maybe this is why it's been successful."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Aug 7, 2009

Art triennial helps revitalize rural Niigata

Visiting Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2009 is a strange and wonderful journey. A satoyama (mountain homeland) adventure replete with rice paddies brimming with bright green shoots, refurbished abandoned houses and closed-down elementary schools, it features 370 contemporary artworks by little-known and international art-world stars.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Jul 31, 2009

Mimi Gates brings Seattle Art Museum's Asian collection back home

When Mimi Gates moved to Seattle in 1994 to be director of the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), it was the museum's superb Asian collection that had lured her away from the Yale University Art Gallery after 19 years working there, 12 as curator and seven as director). At Yale, she had championed Oriental art within both the museum and community, backed by her doctorate from the university in Chinese art history. Marrying Bill Gates Sr. (father of Microsoft founder Bill Gates) in 1996 was, she says, "something unexpected and quite wonderful."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Jul 17, 2009

A cool show at Shiseido with the Helsinki School

Finland may seem like a cold, distant land better known for Nokia and reindeer than photography and art. But the Helsinki School, an art cooperative formed about 15 years ago, is heating up the international photography and video art world. Showing in Asia for the first time, the Helsinki School's photography exhibition at Shiseido Gallery in Ginza till Aug. 9 is wowing viewers with works by four female members.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

May 15, 2009

Gauguin: 'I shall never do anything better'

Was he just a "Sunday painter" who abandoned his wife and five children for a bohemian life in a distant island paradise — where he died of syphilis and poverty in the arms of a teenage mistress?

CULTURE / Art

May 1, 2009

Collecting the lost pieces of a soul

"My life is not simple," says a beaming Yishay Garbasz while flashing a cute V-sign pose for my camera. As a child of Nazi Holocaust survivors, Garbasz has endured a life seeped in trauma, so the blissful persona on show seems incongruous at best. But for the 38-year-old Berlin-based British- Israeli photographer with two ongoing Tokyo exhibitions, a recent book release and successful transformative surgery last year, life is finally feeling very good.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Feb 6, 2009

'Anime,' 'manga' grab spotlight at major exhibition

At the Japan Media Arts Festival, prepare to jet into the sky like Superman and dance with speakers blasting at your hips, as the nation's largest showcase of cutting-edge "anime," "manga" and high-tech arts gets more interactive.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Jun 12, 2008

Actor Nomura brings noh to new audiences

If you've ever napped through a noh performance, you're not alone. But this 600-year-old Japanese theatrical genre is being updated to make it more of a 21st-century entertainment than a Japanophile's endurance test.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Apr 10, 2008

Moving pictures

When its video "One Week of Artwork" received 1 million hits on YouTube in one week, art collective Rinpa Eshidan quickly learned the meaning of the word "viral."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Mar 13, 2008

An exciting liquid dance

Called the "Queen of German Dance Theater," Pina Bausch is one of the most influential avant-garde figures of our time. She is returning to Tokyo this month with her Tanztheater Wuppertal dance company for their 11th tour since 1986.

CULTURE / Art

Mar 6, 2008

"Tokyo Performing Arts Market 2008"

Yebisu Garden Place, The Garden Hall and other locations in Tokyo

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.

The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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