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Ryoko M. Nakamura
For Ryoko M. Nakamura's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 13, 2009
Bando Tamasaburo revives tradition of men playing women in China
"The Japanese Mei Lanfang" is what they call Bando Tamasaburo V in the Chinese media, perhaps the highest compliment the actor could wish for. The most accomplished nandan of the 20th century — the Chinese equivalent of a Japanese onnagata, a male who plays female roles — Mei Lanfang was celebrated for his sensitive interpretation of the beautiful young girl Du Liniang in the Kunqu opera "The Peony Pavilion," a role played by Tamasaburo in a production currently showing in Suzhou in China's Jiangsu Province.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 13, 2005
Vision of a 'superflat' future
NEW YORK -- Murakami-mania hit New York last week as the "Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture" exhibition at the Japan Society opened to much media fanfare.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Jul 6, 2003
The straight shooter
Nobuyoshi Araki was born in Tokyo in 1940 and was given his first camera by his father in junior high. He studied photography and film at Chiba University and went into commercial photography soon after graduating. Four decades and over 250 photo publications later, the 63-year-old artist stands a long way from his start as a cameraman for the advertising titan Dentsu. While he no longer has to distribute his art by himself (at Dentsu, he indiscriminately mailed his Xeroxed photo books to strangers), he still retains his gift for self-promotion.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 29, 2002
Hideki Togi out to gagaku your world
He is the man responsible for bringing gagaku back into the Japanese lexicon. He is to gagaku (classical Japanese court music) what Ayumi Hamasaki is to J-Pop. Since Hideki Togi left the Imperial Household Agency in 1996, armed with his hichiriki, black leather pants and cool charm, he has been on a self-proclaimed mission to "communicate this indescribable buzz -- the cosmic truth -- of gagaku" to the nation. Two Japan Record Awards and nine albums later, the nation has been seduced.
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 6, 2002
Yukio Ninagawa: visionary player on the world's stage
Internationally acclaimed theater director Yukio Ninagawa has staged countless plays in Japan, elsewhere in Asia, and in the United States and Europe.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores