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.
Openings in Tokyo Sep 4, 2013
'Special Exhibition: Momoyama Ceramic Masterpieces — Shino, Ki-seto, Seto-guro and Oribe Wares'
by Marie Omata
The ceramics in this exhibition date to the late-Momoyama Period (1573-1615) and all hail from the Mino Province in modern-day Gifu Prefecture. Four kinds of Mino ceramic ware became representative of the Momoyama Period — Shino (thick white glaze with red marks), Ki-Seto (yellow ...
Art Jul 17, 2013
Japan's population of ghouls keeps coming back to haunt us
by C.B. Liddell
Caught up in the rush of modernity, it is sometimes easy to forget just what a unique and unusual country Japan is. An exhibition such as “Yokai: Demons, Folklore Creatures and GeGeGe no Kitaro” serves to remind us, by peeling back the surface of ...
Openings in Tokyo Jul 3, 2013
'Yokai: Demons, Folklore Creatures and GeGeGe no Kitaro'
by Alisa Yamasaki
In collaboration with broadcasters NHK, the Mitsui Memorial Museum continues its annual summer exhibition series with an exploration of the history of the ghosts and demons of Japanese folklore: the yokai. Through an extensive collection of noh masks, handscrolls, ukiyo-e (woodblock prints) and more, ...
Global-related Mar 6, 2011
Minding the tensions over changes in China
by Garry Jacobs and Heizo Takenaka
The closing decade of the 20th century offered a crystal ball for anyone peering into the future of the Asia-Pacific region. Japan’s economy, once the region’s leader, was “lost” after its asset bubble burst, whereas China overcame the economic stagnation that followed the Tiananmen ...