Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
Art Topics
Openings outside Tokyo Oct 2, 2013
'Takamikura and Michodai: Chrysanthemum and Nippon'
by Jordan Sievers
In celebration of the Emperor’s 80th birthday and the 25th anniversary of his reign, replicas of the takamikura (Chrysanthemum throne) and michodai (a curtained platform) are being displayed at Kyoto’s Zohiki Urushi Museum. Created between 1913-1915, these models were made around the same time ...
Openings outside Tokyo Sep 25, 2013
'Art Brut Japonais'
by Jordan Sievers
This exhibition already won high praise at its initial 2010-11 showing in Paris. Art brut, like outsider art, refers to creations by those who typically lack any traditional or extensive artistic training, though it more specifically refers to those using art as some form ...
Openings outside Tokyo Sep 11, 2013
'Hashimoto Kansetsu Retrospective'
by Jordan Sievers and Jordan C. Sievers
In honor of the 130th anniversary of nihonga (Japanese-style painting) artist Kansetsu Hashimoto’s birth, the Hyogo Museum presents around 70 of his most famous works. As a scholar of Chinese culture and history, Hashimoto’s artistic style mirrors that of traditional Chinese folklore, featuring elegantly ...
Openings outside Tokyo Sep 4, 2013
'Reading Cinema, Finding Words: Art after Marcel Broodthaers'
by Marie Omata
Marcel Broodthaers (1924-1976) was a man of many talents — a poet, filmmaker and artist — whose cerebral and witty approach to art often resulted in unusual and amusing works. He used found objects, everyday items, photography and text to create visual puns in ...
Openings outside Tokyo Aug 28, 2013
'Negoro: Efflorescence of Medieval Japanese lacquerware'
by Marie Omata
Negoro lacquerware was originally developed at the Neguro-ji Temple in Wakayama Prefecture, where lacquered utensils were used by priests in daily life. It involved covering a layer of black lacquer with another of vermilion, a technique that spread across Japan after the temple’s craftsmen ...
Openings outside Tokyo Aug 21, 2013
'Exhibition of 92-Year-Old Photojournalist Kikujiro Fukushima'
by Alisa Yamasaki
Kikujiro Fukuyama has been a photojournalist for 67 years and is still active at age 92. He first earned critical acclaim in 1960 for his work that followed the lives of a Hiroshima family for a decade, revealing the lasting effects and consequences of ...
Openings outside Tokyo Aug 21, 2013
'Beauties of Nature: Rimpa, Jakuchu and Japanese Painting'
by Marie Omata
In Japanese, the term “kacho fugetsu” consists of the kanji for “flower,” “bird,” “wind” and “moon,” and it refers to “the beauties of nature” — that ever-popular subject of nihonga (Japanese-style painting). Known as “kacho,” flower-and-bird motifs came to symbolize life and were usually ...
Openings outside Tokyo Aug 14, 2013
'Aichi Triennale 2013'
by Alisa Yamasaki
The theme of this second Aichi Triennale is “Awakening — Where Are We Standing?” and it aims to make us rethink the role of art as Japan continues to recover from the Great East Japan Earthquake and following disasters. Works by various artists from ...
Openings outside Tokyo Aug 14, 2013
'The Hakutoro Collection: The Grace of Ancient Chinese Ceramics'
by Alisa Yamasaki
Art collector Kinji Usato, also known as Hakutoro, shares an expansive selection of Chinese ceramics for this show at The Museum of Oriental Ceramics. Ninety works, spanning 5,000 years of Chinese ceramics from the Neolithic age to the Qing Dynasty, from his personal collection ...
Openings outside Tokyo Jul 31, 2013
'Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan "In-Habit: Project Another Country"'
by Natasha Vik
Husband-and-wife team Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan present “In-Habit,” an installation and multimedia exhibit inspired by the Badjao indigenous people of their native Philippines. Utilizing scaffolding and cardboard boxes to create a small-scale replica shanty town, the Brisbane, Australia-based duo’s work incorporates video and music ...
Openings outside Tokyo Jul 24, 2013
'Hung Yi: Happy Animal Party'
by Alisa Yamasaki
This is the first solo exhibition in Japan of Taiwanese artist Hung Yi, who is known for his colorful sculptures of people and animals. Hung’s work fills three gallery spaces with some of the pieces also on display outdoors. His animated and personified interpretations ...
Openings outside Tokyo Jul 24, 2013
'Soya Asae Exhibition: Sora iro (color of the air)'
by Natasha Vik
An Art Ph.D. graduate of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Asae Soya’s art takes many forms. Originally a painter, her body of work has grown over the years to include installations, video and public art. She plays with color and light ...