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The consumption tax increase next April will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people's financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the impact of the hike, experts say.
Every parent is all too familiar with The Tantrum. The screaming, the flailing arms, the angry head butting — and the timing (normally in the most inconvenient public place possible).
International events undermine Japan's democracy. Shame on the International Olympic Committee for being a party to it.
Tucked away behind the main museums in Ueno, the Tokyo University Art Museum may not be on most people’s radar, but it is definitely one of the city’s top museums in terms of curatorial quality. Whenever I go there, I am always delighted by ...
Francisco Liriano showed up at PNC Park on Tuesday afternoon in a suit with his suitcase packed for a trip St. Louis. The message reverberated through the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse. After 21 years away from the playoffs, it was time for the best story ...
“Miwa has carried on being a true monster (kaibutsu), whereas many amazingly talented freaks have gone back to looking and behaving normally after enjoying a brief boom in popularity,” said dramatist Hideki Noda at a press conference last month for “Miwa,” his play based on the real-life 78-year-old chanson singer, ...
The Tokyo-based noh group Sohnokai is offering five pairs of tickets to its noh and kyogen show on Sept. 23. Two ...
“I have rarely seen a great production of any Chekhov play in Japan. Sometimes, I’ve even wanted to ask how ...
Though she’s moved from elegant arabesques to doing the washing up, former prima ballerina Tamiyo Kusakari is stealing the show in “Ani Kaeru (The Older Brother Returns),” a kitchen-sink drama playing every night through Sept. 1 at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre in Ikebukuro. For renowned ...
Yasuhiro Kawana, 52, exchanged high fives with American pop icon Cyndi Lauper when “Kinky Boots,” a Broadway show he co-produced, was declared the winner of this year’s Tony Award for Best Musical. “It was like a blue sky appeared on the ceiling” of Radio ...
Koki Mitani is Japan’s top comedy writer, having written a number of stage plays, TV dramas and films. He also loves working with puppets, and has put together a serialized puppet drama for public broadcaster NHK. Despite a love of puppets, however, it was ...
Hanbei’s manjū (traditional Japanese cake) store, near the Tenjin Shrine forest in Osaka’s Sonezaki district, is suffering because its location has become a mecca for suicidal couples influenced by Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s “Sonezaki Shinju” play One day, Hanbei sees a young couple and decides to ...
“Ashiya Doman Ouchi Kagami” (“Mirror of the Imperial Court during the time of Ashiya Doman”) depicts the rivalry between two Heian Period characters Abe no Yasuna and Ashiya Doman. It was created as a bunraku by Takeda Izumo in Osaka in October 1734, but ...
For the first time in three years, one of the world’s most esteemed ballet companies is bringing its talent to one of the world’s most appreciative audiences, as part of a tour that explores the parameters of dance. Britain’s Royal Ballet will present its ...
“Matthew and I are very excited to see how Japanese audiences react — but I think everyone is absolutely going to love this show,” English dancer Richard Winsor said at a Tokyo press conference held in May to preview next week’s season of Matthew ...
The sound of the temple bell of “Yashagaike (Demon Pond)” will ring for the first time at the New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNTT) — but it’s the bell’s silence that will reverberate for the characters of this new Japanese-language opera. The story of “Yashagaike” ...
“The Yellow Raincoat Squad’ is charming and engaging. This is another one of those productions that defies description but is a must-see for all ages,” wrote Catherine Lamm in The British Theatre Guide in August, 2009. Lamm was reviewing one of Japan’s best-kept theatrical ...
As summer approaches with the misty other-worldliness of Japan’s rainy season, Tokyo’s K-Ballet graces the stage in June with a revival of the hauntingly romantic masterpiece “Giselle.” Six different ballerinas will perform the lead role as the production synthesizes K-Ballet’s changing image from a ...
Claude Regy says the team at the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC) threw him the “best birthday party ever” when he arrived in Japan just days after the actual May 1 occasion. The 90-year-old French director is hoping for an even better birthday gift, ...
Sitting in an interview room at the Bunkamura cultural complex in Tokyo's Shibuya district, María Pagés leans forward, smiles and tells me: "Flamenco is my language."