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 Aug 7, 2013
The beauty of 'man'-kind
by Yoko Haruhara
While the ukiyo-e woodblock prints depicting beautiful young Japanese women of the Edo Period (1603-1867) are world-renowned, an equally worthy genre and common theme tends to get overlooked: that of handsome men. The imaginative exhibition “Handsome Boys and Good-looking Men of Edo,” currently on ...
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 ...
Art Jun 13, 2013
The collector who saw the fine print
by Yoko Haruhara
The Nezu Museum is currently showing “Ceramics and Ukiyo-e Masterpieces from the Hagi Uragami Museum,” an exhibition of outstanding artworks collected over the years by the entrepreneur Toshiro Uragami, who donated them to the Hagi Uragami Museum in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1996. How did ...
Openings outside Tokyo Jun 13, 2013
'Edo's Four Seasons: Seasonal Events and Scenes of Daily Life in Ukiyo-e'
by Marie Omata
During the Edo Period (1603-1867), celebrating the characteristics of the four seasons was a popular past time, and it involved hosting traditional events that people still enjoy today. These include hanami (cherry-blossom viewing) in the spring, the Tanabata star festival in summer, tsukimi (moon ...
Reader Mail Mar 2, 2008
Fear of foreigners holds Japan back
Regarding the Feb. 27 article (from Sentaku magazine) “Wanted: world’s best minds“: The writer evidently believes that Japan is largely unable to attract the best young minds from abroad for studies and employment because politicians and bureaucrats have been unwilling to institute the necessary ...