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 | CERAMIC SCENE Apr 5, 2007
The rewards of hardship
by Robert Yellin
One of Japan’s most influential 20th-century ceramic artists, Mineo Okabe, was relatively unknown — and certainly under-appreciated — during his lifetime. Today, though, potters take great inspiration from, and collectors go gaga over, the bold new forms and styles he created. It’s often said ...
Art | CERAMIC SCENE Dec 7, 2006
New forms of old traditions at the Japan Society
by Robert Yellin
Over the past several years there have been quite a few exhibitions of Japanese ceramics overseas, but “Contemporary Clay/Japanese Ceramics for the New Century,” which is now at the Japan Society Gallery in New York, is the most brilliant by far. The bulk of ...
Art | CERAMIC SCENE Aug 24, 2006
Crafting the tea demon in Hagi
by Robert Yellin
Psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), in his theory of self-actualization, said, “If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.” At 96 years old, the grand potter of Hagi, Miwa ...
Art | CERAMIC SCENE Dec 22, 2005
Looking back on 10 years of yakimono
by Robert Yellin
In the 10 years since this column started, much has changed in the worldwide perception of yakimono, Japanese ceramic art. I’m talking about in the contemporary realm, not antiques. The deep and wide world of contemporary Japanese ceramic art is as varied as there ...
Art | CERAMIC SCENE Sep 29, 2005
Raku's hand-held universes and the unseen pots of Kamoda
by Robert Yellin
The phrase “contemplation of the everyday object as a mystical resource” graces the back of a catalog from the 1998 Raku exhibition that toured Europe. I say it over and over in my mind like a mantra, challenging myself to be aware of the ...
Art | CERAMIC SCENE Aug 31, 2005
Porcelain horizons, modern monoliths
by Robert Yellin
There are works of art that, maybe only once in our lifetime, may define an era and capture life’s boundless spirit with a beauty that both moves the heart and deepens the experience of existence. A few years back at the inaugural exhibition of ...
Art | CERAMIC SCENE Jul 27, 2005
Liberating Japan's world of ceramics
by Robert Yellin
In the ceramic world of early 20th-century Kyoto, Chinese ceramics, not Kyo-yaki (Kyoto-style pottery) were the rage of the day, and any potter worth a spin on the wheel strove to emulate them. In form and color, the ability to perfectly copy an ancient ...
Art | CERAMIC SCENE Jun 29, 2005
Hidden gems in clay
by Robert Yellin
Any new publication on Japanese ceramic art in English is a welcome addition to the few books on the subject. Like “Masterpieces of Modern Japanese Pottery from the Gisela Freudenberg Collection” currently showing in Frankfurt, Germany, many of these publications coincide with exhibitions and ...
Art | CERAMIC SCENE May 18, 2005
Spectacular diversity of clay
by Robert Yellin
As noted in this column last month, Japanese ceramic art is finding a wider audience overseas. Many collectors search out the great potters of the past, such as Shoji Hamada (1894-1978) or Kanjiro Kawai (1890-1966), while more savvy collectors are looking to find out ...
Art | CERAMIC SCENE Apr 20, 2005
The Koreans who potted in Kyushu
by Robert Yellin
Japan has long been fascinated with outside influences, and voraciously absorbs them in order to create something totally unique. This can be found in almost all aspects of Japanese industry and culture — and it is nowhere more apparent than in the pottery born ...
Art | CERAMIC SCENE Mar 30, 2005
Asia week sees debut show of a famous celadon potter
by Robert Yellin
New Asian art becomes the talk of the town each spring — not just in Tokyo or Beijing — but in New York City where its annual Asia Week is now in full sway. Exhibitions abound in the Big Apple with some of the ...
Art | CERAMIC SCENE Feb 16, 2005
Former prime minister's pride of pots
by Robert Yellin
“On a sunny day I go to the fields, and, when it rains, I read. Simple enough, isn’t it?” Sounds like the words of a cute obachan out in the countryside, but these are the words of former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa who now ...