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.
Stage Jul 10, 2013
The human kindness of a foxy woman
by Rei Sasaguchi
“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 ...
National May 30, 2013
Grandma, 95, still making confetti for Kanamaruza's spring kabuki
Takuko Yamamoto, 95, has helped liven up spring kabuki performances in the town of Kotohira, Kagawa Prefecture, for nearly 30 years by making boxes of confetti to be thrown over the heads of performers during pre-opening parades every year. Yamamoto was also responsible for ...
National Apr 2, 2013
Refurbished Kabukiza theater reopens in Tokyo's Ginza district
Tokyo's Kabukiza theater, the spiritual home of Japan's 410-year-old performing art, reopened Tuesday after a three-year hiatus following extensive renovation work.
Stage Mar 29, 2013
Revamped Kabukiza theater aims to charm a new audience
by Tomoko Otake
The Kabukiza is back — with big ambitions and aspirations to make the nation’s classical theatrical entertainment more attractive to a 21st-century audience. The reopened kabuki theater — now reconstructed for the fifth time — in the upscale shopping-entertainment district of Ginza, will roll ...
Stage Mar 21, 2013
A lovesick nun, magic sandals and a vengeful ghost
by Rei Sasaguchi
“Sumidagawa Hana no Goshozome” (“The Sumida River Adorned with Cherry Blossoms”) by Tsuruya Namboku IV (1755-1829), now showing at the National Theater of Japan, was written to be a blockbuster. It was created for the Ichimura-za theater in Edo in 1814, when kabuki was ...
Stage Mar 21, 2013
Where cherry blossoms fall: Love, betrayal and tragedy at the Sumida River
by Rei Sasaguchi
The play begins with Matsuwaka (Nakamura Hayato, 19) of the Kyoto-based Yoshida family. He is disguised as Yorikuni of the Otomo family, who is the fiance to princess Sakurahime (Nakamura Kotaro, 19) of the Iruma family. Sakurahime is also the younger sister of Matsukawa’s ...
Reference | FYI Mar 19, 2013
Ginza stage set for Kabukiza's fifth coming
by Jun Hongo
The venerable Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo’s Ginza district reopens April 2 after three years of renovations and the addition of a 29-floor attached office tower. A key venue for kabuki and other performances since 1889, the theater will retain its original ornate Japanese facade. ...
National Feb 27, 2013
New Kabukiza theater, tower completed in Tokyo
A ceremony was held Tuesday to celebrate the completion of the new Kabukiza theater and an adjacent office building called Kabukiza Tower in the Higashiginza district of central Tokyo. Those present at the event on the top floor of the 29-story Kabukiza Tower included ...
National Feb 22, 2013
Living National Treasure keeps kabuki alive
by Jacques Lhuillery and Kyoko Hasegawa
Bando Tamasaburo has dedicated his life to the intimate study of women; the way they walk, the way they move, the way they hold their hands. And he is good at it. So good that France on Tuesday bestowed on Tamasaburo the Commander of ...
National Feb 5, 2013
Kabuki patriarch Danjuro dies at 66
Leading kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro XII, popular for his grand and expansive style of acting, dies of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital.
National Dec 28, 2012
Mourners bid farewell to Kabuki master Kanzaburo
Mourners gathered Thursday at a Tokyo temple to bid farewell to Nakamura Kanzaburo, the late kabuki master whose talent as an actor and producer helped broaden the popularity of the traditional Japanese performing art. The funeral for Kanzaburo, who died Dec. 5 at age ...
Stage Dec 29, 2011
Kabuki returns to its Asakusa home for special New Year's performances
by Rei Sasaguchi
As kabuki fans will already know, for more than 30 years, the Kokaido (public hall) in Asakusa has celebrated the Tokyo district’s history as a thriving entertainment area by reviving the Edo Period (1603-1867) tradition of New Year’s special kabuki performances. These shows have ...