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DRIZZLE/RAIN
Farmers in the city of Tamura, Fukushima Prefecture, have begun planting rice in a district once designated a no-go zone because of radioactive fallout ejected by the disaster-hit Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Recently I was asked to write a blurb for a new liquid plant-nutrient. As soon as I saw the name of the product, 早根早起 （Hayane Hayaoki), I smiled at this example of linguistic creativity.
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 ...
Denmark’s Emmelie de Forest won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night with her ethno-inspired flute and drum tune “Only Teardrops,” despite tough competition from spectacular stage shows by performers from Azerbaijan and Ukraine. Juries and television viewers across Europe awarded the barefoot, ...
One team’s quest for a first title has ended. The other team’s fight will continue next season. The Yokohama B-Corsairs outplayed the Rizing Fukuoka in Sunday’s bj-league championship game, controlling the tempo for larger stretches and making enough timely baskets to fill an instructional ...
Printmaker Yozo Hamaguchi (1909-2000) is best known for his ground-breaking work in colored mezzotints. His predominant use of soft but dark coloring, which gave the mezzotints a peaceful and serene quality, differentiated his work from other print artists, and led to the global recognition ...
After its cancelation two years ago due to the Great East Japan Earthquake, the annual “Hina Matsuri Dolls from the Mitsui Family Collection” returns this year to showcase a number of Girls Day Festival ornamental dolls. The highlight of the show is a complete ...
A self-described “photograffeur,” French artist JR’s artwork is based on flyposting giant photographic images in public spaces to offer a form of social commentary. In “Portrait of a Generation” (2006), he brought attention to the community in Montfermeil, France, by flyposting portraits of teens ...
Located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute is known in the United States for its wide range of European masterpieces dating from the Renaissance to the late 19th century. Besides its famous collection of French Impressionist paintings, it houses all ...
Since the Edo Period (1603-1867), kabuki has been an important source of national pride in Japan, and though it has undergone some key changes over the years, it remains a popular form of entertainment. Curated to celebrate this April’s reopening of Tokyo’s Kabuki-za theater, ...
Greek mythology is full of exciting stories of immense bravery and heroic characters, making it an ideal source of subject matter for artists. The ancient Greek vase painter Euphronios, for example, tended to depict mythological scenes, one of which — “Krater of Antaeus” a ...
Ukiyo-e “pictures of the Floating World” have traditionally included paintings and woodblock prints of landscapes, folk tales, kabuki actors and beautiful women. This exhibition focuses on women during the period following the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1868. Under the Meiji government, the ...
After years of prosperity following World War I, the U.S. economy began to rapidly decline before the stock-market crash in 1929 triggered the Great Depression. Edward Steichen (1879-1973), who was working as a fashion photographer at the time, was nevertheless determined to focus on ...
Wang Xizhi (303-361) is remembered for his major influence on Chinese calligraphic style. After his death, his works continued to be revered by emperors in China, including Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, who publicly proclaimed a fascination with the calligrapher. Taizong acquired many ...
Robert Capa (born Endre Ernö Friedman) was a photojournalist known for his documentation of the brutal horrors of war. He often risked his life by taking action shots on the frontline, but he also focused on ordinary locals affected by the instabilities of war. ...
The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 left residents of Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture with no option but to live in isolated temporary shelters as they wrestled with the uncertainty of their future. To help lift their spirits, architect Toyo Ito proposed building a ...
The National Art Center’s “Artist File” is an annual project, which began in 2008 with the aim of introducing the latest trends in Japan’s art industry. It looks for diversity by deliberately avoiding any specific theme for artists to work with and by accepting ...