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P/SUNNY
Is it a sign of a full-fledged economic recovery or a looming catastrophe in the monetary making? Recent spikes in Japan’s long-term interest rate, represented by the 10-year government bond, have created a stir and roused a deep sense of alarm among investors and ...
Tonkatsu is comfort food, gourmand grub — not a gourmet delicacy. So what are those hearty, unpretentious deep-fried breaded pork cutlets doing in an elegant little bar-style restaurant above one of Ginza’s temples to high-end consumption? Katsuzen has come a long way from its ...
Life in Japan just seems tailor-made for certain foreign residents, who slip into the fabric of this society as smoothly as a hand slides into a glove. American Curtis Patterson, a professional koto player and music teacher, is a case in point. Not only ...
Disgusted by corrupt local leaders, an angry miner picks up a shotgun. A migrant worker returning home looks to armed robbery to escape a life of relentless bleakness. A pretty receptionist at a sauna is driven to the limit when a gangster tries to ...
David Beckham, whose curling free kicks, rugged good looks and celebrity marriage made him one of the most famous athletes in the world, is retiring from soccer. Whether striding on the grass, the red carpet or the fashion catwalks, Beckham transcended his sport and ...
An Aladdin’s Cave of small, distinctive retail spaces, the Laforet building at a main crossroads in trendy Harajuku has been a shopping magnet for young people since it opened in 1978. This year, for instance, more than 3,000 lined up outside awaiting the start ...
One recent sunny afternoon, I set off for a performance of “Tokyo/Olympic” by the city’s Port B theater company. Normally, I rush to a theater, deal with the ticket stuff and finally relax when I sink into an overstuffed red velour seat. But that ...
Over the winter holiday entertainment season, two musical dramas stand out — one especially for children, the other for everyone, but both are tried-and-tested from previous premiere stagings. For children, the EN theater company is at last, after a 10-year interval, presenting “A Stormy ...
Keralino Sandroviich is one of Japan’s leading contemporary dramatists. But this multitalented workaholic 44-year-old (also known as Kazumi Kobayashi) not only writes for, directs and runs the Tokyo-based Nylon 100° company he founded in 1985, he also makes films and plays in a punk ...
Setagaya Public Theatre Dec. 13-16/Dec. 20-23 Performed largely without sets by ghoulishly made-up, near-naked dancers, butoh — which hit an early peak in the 1980s — is one of the few Japanese performing arts recognized the world over. Long the dance form’s leading company, ...
In his 1987 book “Ireland Kiko (Travels in Ireland),” the renowned historical novelist and essayist Ryotaro Shiba (1923-96) observed that “the typical Irish character could easily be dramatized,” and that “Ireland is one of the richest countries for the literary arts, with people whose ...
News in early May this year that Tetsuya Kumakawa had sustained a serious injury on tour in Japan with his K-Ballet Company came as a terrible shock to his legions of fans. Long known the world over as “Teddy” (kuma means “bear” in Japanese), ...
With ever-more dance productions being staged at such mainstream Tokyo venues as Theater Cocoon in Shibuya, Setagaya Public Theater in Sangenjaya and even the New National Theater in Hatsudai, dance has clearly become an integral component of the performance-arts scene here. Saitama Arts Center, ...
Daisuke Tengan is an acclaimed filmmaker, but search for him on the Internet and the first thing you’ll discover is that he’s the son of director Shohei Imamura, who won the Palme d’ Or at the Cannes Film Festival for “Narayamabushiko” in 1983 and ...
In the Japanese theater world, Rinkogun merits a special mention for its concern for socio-political issues and its focus on increasing audiences’ awareness rather than merely eliciting laughter or tears as many other companies are content to do. The troupe’s latest play, “World Trade ...
Just as in the realm of politics, in the arts world — and here, particularly regarding the performing arts — different countries adopt different policies depending on their historical and economic circumstances. The United States, for example, takes a free-market stance on the arts ...
Here’s a three-act play with a difference or three — or four, or more. For starters, “Performing Women” comprises three standalone plays, each about a different Ancient Greek tragic heroine, each under a different director and each linked not just by their common theme ...