Stuart Munro - The Japan Times

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Stuart Munro

For Stuart Munro's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Mar 21, 2013

Enjoy an art night out in Roppongi

Spring finally returns and with the change of weather comes a flurry of activity in and around Tokyo, as this year's Roppongi Art Night is welcomed back. Running from 10 a.m. on March 23 until 6 p.m. the next day, the festival hosts a diverse collection of new and established artists, some showing for the very first time, and some participating from abroad.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Mar 14, 2013

On the ubiquity of great design

Originally made as a program broadcast on NHK's education channel, "Design Ah!" — led by graphic designer Taku Satoh, Interactive designer and artist Yugo Nakamura, and musician Keigo Oyamada — has gone one step further to become an interactive exhibition. Taking the films and sounds of the television show as a source of inspiration, an array of artists have gone on to explore the theme of "design mind." "Design Ah!" brings together designers and the public, realizing that theme and making sense of the world through playful observation.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Feb 7, 2013

Infectious artwork that spreads ideas

"On Mosquitoes Human and Other Animals" is the work of artist Beatriz Inglessis in collaboration with three other people: philosopher Suzanne McCullagh, education specialist Renee Jackson and gallery curator Shai Ohayon. The latest show at The Container gallery in Nakameguro, it's the result of months of correspondence and conversation between all involved, who meandered through topics as varied as education, cultural politics, disaster relief and the parasitic relationship between disparate organisms.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Jan 3, 2013

Old art building faces a new 'Junction' in life

In Yanaka, a 10-minute walk from Nippori Station in Tokyo, a new art center is being constructed in the shell of a 50-year-old house that had been the atelier and residence of students from Tokyo Art University since 2004. Like many buildings of its age, it suffered considerable damage during the Great East Japan Earthquake, and its owner had consigned its fate to simple demolition.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Dec 6, 2012

Surprisingly familiar photography

How do you continually surprise and shock when your work has become so familiar? What can you say with a photograph that hasn't been said before? Will making things bigger make them better? These questions niggle at the back of the mind while visiting Shinoyama Kishin's current show. "The people by Kishin" at Tokyo Opera City Gallery is one person's constantly re-adjusting view of Japan that succeeds in being as confounding as it is at times unexpected.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Dec 6, 2012

In the details of our landscapes sits a panorama of mankind

In Johnny Hardstaff's short film "Transmission," a group of astronauts training to visit a distant planet are interviewed. Filmed as a viral promotion for Ridley Scott's recent film "Prometheus," "Transmission" acts as an introduction to the characters of Scott's universe, rich in both story and visual detail. Made as a recorded message to be transmitted into outer space, the film is interspersed with images of Baroque furniture, Japanese glass chairs, Constable paintings and other culturally diverse earthly artifacts.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Nov 29, 2012

Ikko Tanaka's designs live on

The idea of a retrospective makes me nervous. Simply put, it often signals the end of something. So in the case of a designer's show, a retrospective feels like a parting shot, final note or a bid farewell. Not what you want if your motivation is continuous relevance.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Nov 1, 2012

Capturing life's ebb and flow

Alejandro Chaskielberg is an Argentinean photojournalist who visits places most of us only read about. His current show at Gallery 916 in the Takeshiba district of Tokyo's Minato Ward, brings together two photographic series, one from his time in Argentina and the other from Kenya.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Oct 11, 2012

Taking a nostalgic train of thought

Train travel inspires nostalgia. There's no escaping it. It conjures up memories of childhood — playing beside the rail track at the bottom of the garden or with a miniature railway at home. However, politics and societal change have influenced and produced more controversial images of rail travel — images of restless kids huddled together with a handful of gravel between them and a catapult aimed at trains passing by. This more challenging imagery has gone on to influence a world of cinema, literature and art.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Sep 20, 2012

Code and function in a world of altered reality

Hideki Nakazawa originally studied medicine graduating from the Medical School of Chiba University to work as an ophthalmologist until, in 1990, he decided to work with computer graphics as an illustrator. His experience of art during university and his shift to illustration saw him explore representation with repetition and geometry, taking cues from the early Dada-ists, such as Kurt Schwitters.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Sep 6, 2012

Time to put Masayoshi Sukita in the limelight

In the late 1970s, England was in the grips of a recession. Endless trade-union strikes led to power cuts, a "three-day" working week and streets engulfed in uncollected rubbish. What transpired was a massive cultural shift, with history and politics colliding with a youth movement that would go on to aggressively shape the country.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Aug 23, 2012

Art director Hideki Nakajima throws down the gauntlet of design

In Hiroshima the sun is setting on a large retrospective exhibition by one of Japan's leading graphic designers, who for the past 20 years has been working at the edge of his discipline, carving out a unique niche for himself within a very prescribed industry.

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Students ‘study abroad’ on island of Suo Oshima

Students ‘study abroad’ on island of Suo Oshima

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