Luke Wainwright - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

Meta

Luke Wainwright

For Luke Wainwright's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF

Sep 10, 2010

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel

Jul 27, 2003

So much to soak up in Yamagata

OK, let me put this out there: Yamagata-ken, just like any sensible prefecture in Japan, loves tourists. But you get the feeling that Yamagata Prefecture Tourist Division tries a little harder to promote its treasures. They even occasionally invite journalists up for a spin around the countryside.

CULTURE / Music

Jan 1, 2003

Mash it up, tear it up

The battle over music copyrights continued to rage this year. To combat the song pirates, the record industry unveiled copy-proof CDs and AudioGalaxy, one of the biggest music file-sharing networks in the post-Napster era, was shut down. It was a heavy blow, but MP3 hounds just regrouped and shared elsewhere. Meanwhile, U.S. legislators sent a chill through the thriving Internet radio scene by introducing a bill that would require Web-casters, both large and small, to pay hefty royalties.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jan 30, 2002

In the land of ubiquitous cell phones, it's hard not to eavesdrop on the chatterboxes around you. Scanner, aka Robin Rimbaud, a British sound artist, has taken technology-abetted voyeurism to another level. Dubbed a "telephone terrorist," he rose to notoriety in the late '90s by filtering "found" cell-phone snippets into his darkly ominous electronic soundscapes. It was William S. Burroughs meets William Gibson. (Privacy advocates should be reassured that, by altering the voices through speed and pitch, Scanner rendered the callers anonymous.)

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

May 2, 2001

Arrested Development

The name of Arrested Development could have become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Bringing intelligent life to the hip-hop scene in 1992 with its debut, "Three Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of . . . ," this Atlanta-based unit deftly detoured around gangsta rap's dead end while keeping the messages relevant. Four years, two Grammys and two albums later, the life of Arrested Development came to an abrupt halt. Some said it had fallen victim to record-label mergers; others placed the blame on the controlling tendencies of AD's outspoken leader, Speech. Most agreed, though, this was a sad development.

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

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.

For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on

By Lance Henderstein

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports