Raju Thakrar - The Japan Times

LIFE / WEEK 3

Nov 18, 2007

Imagine an oblong balloon that's longer than a Boeing 747 jumbo jet and has a small glass bowl of a passenger compartment dangling precariously from its underbelly. Despite the slogan "Fly with me" emblazoned along its length, the Zeppelin NT didn't look like the most reassuring vehicle in which to entrust your life thousands of feet above terra firma. But this was work.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Nov 9, 2007

Sowing seeds of organic action

Farmers from all over Japan will assemble in Shiba Park in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Nov. 11 to join the Earth & Peace Festival — an event that will appeal to fans of organic veggies everywhere.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Nov 2, 2007

All plays are not equal

At around 100 pages long, "Animal Farm" is a sliver of a publication. But what the book lacks in length, it makes up for in content. For the International Theatre Company London's (ITCL) 29th Japan Tour, the troupe will perform a stage adaptation of this satirical classic.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Oct 19, 2007

Ikebana comes together with music in Kyoto

Visit Kyoto by train and the first thing you will encounter will be Kyoto Station, an immense structure that was criticized by many of the city's inhabitants when it was completed as the antipathy of what the Japan's cultural capital stands for.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Oct 5, 2007

All eyes on Indian film

As part of celebrations commemorating Japan-India Friendship Year 2007, the National Film Center in Tokyo will hold an Indian Film Festival from Oct. 9 to Nov. 16 that will highlight the rising star of Bollywood and make clear that links with modern India include not only a burgeoning economy, spicy cuisine and a huge IT industry.

LIFE / Language

Sep 23, 2007

Linguists gutted by body-talk blight

Imagine a nation of people who no longer know where their center lies. That's what Japan has become in recent decades.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Sep 7, 2007

Town breaks record with fire in the sky

Japan's fireworks displays are known the world over for their dynamism. Japanese people have enjoyed hanabi, as they are known here, since the Edo Period (1603-1868). Displays can be found all over the nation, but none match the one that caps the Katakai Matsuri on Sept. 9 and 10 at Ojiya City, Niigata Prefecture.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP

Sep 2, 2007

Danjuro Ichikawa: Destined to act wild

When Danjuro Ichikawa stomps around the stage in flamboyant costumes, his face painted in red-and-white makeup and his voice virtually bellowing, it is kabuki in its rawest, most dramatic form. This actor and his ancestors through 11 previous generations have been wreaking havoc in the elegant world of what has been one of Japan's main traditional theatrical forms for the last 300 years.

CULTURE / Stage

Aug 23, 2007

Behind the mask

Noh is Japan's most inscrutable performing art. A tremendous influence on kabuki and bunraku puppet theater, it is a household name across the nation, yet relatively few Japanese have ever been to a show. Culture vultures marvel at the elaborate costumes and the esoteric, chantlike music; the plays are loaded with gripping stories about life and death, ghosts and demons; but the snail-like pace of the actors' movements leave most of us bored. And as for what is being said on stage, the language is so ancient that it is as foreign to most Japanese as James Joyce is to English-speakers.

LIFE / WEEK 3

Aug 19, 2007

Mere death needn't be a barrier to enjoying a nice cup of tea with the deceased

'Tick, tock, tick, tock," goes the clock of human life. Living with regrets is one of the hardest things to do. What if your dad died and you hadn't had that last cup of tea with him? Not much you can do about that — or so you might think.

LIFE / WEEK 3

Jun 17, 2007

Playing the 'hooligan'

An explosive, shrill cry flies out of nowhere, filling the entire auditorium: "Matte imashita (I've been waiting for that)!"

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

May 11, 2007

Karuizawa tour offers luscious nature

Remember the last time that you heard birds singing over the din of the city's hustle and bustle? With most of us living in Japan's densely built-up areas, perhaps the closest you're likely to get to hear a chirping sound is upon entering a train station or department store where CDs meant to relax customers are played over the PA.

LIFE

Apr 22, 2007

Japanese warm to real curries and more

It's happening all over the country: Gourmands are ripping apart freshly baked naan bread and using it to mop up fiery-colored curries containing wicked concoctions of true Indian spices. Yes, authentic Indian food is now widely available all over Japan.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Apr 13, 2007

Kyoto style comes to Edo

Traditional Japanese dance forms are steeped in rules that often equal the number of dance moves that they consist of. But Kamigata-mai is different, as will be demonstrated at a free performance to be given on April 28 at Fukagawa Edo Museum's Small Theater.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Mar 23, 2007

World Toy Museum brings out the otaku in you

The World Toy Museum, situated in the resort town of Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, is currently holding an exhibition on model trains, "Amazing Model Train Exhibition 2007," that will appeal to iron-horse enthusiasts young and old. The exhibition runs through June 18 (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.).

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Mar 16, 2007

Kabuki exposed

'Kabuki for Everyone" at the National Theatre of Japan in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, on March 28 will be a rare opportunity to discover the subtleties of this traditional art form in English. Experienced onnagata (female role) actor Ichimura Manjuro established "Kabuki for Everybody," and has led these introductory performances that have been given over 20 times in 17 countries worldwide. This month's performance is the first to be conducted in English in Japan.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Mar 9, 2007

'Crying dragons' part of Yamanashi temple tour

Interested in Buddhist temples? Then sign up to a 2-hour tour -- in English -- given by the Yamanashi Interpreter and Guide Society (YIGS) of Zenko-ji Temple in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, on March 11. Kofu is 90 minutes by Limited Express from Shinjuku Station.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP

Jan 7, 2007

Yoshiharu Habu: Japan's king of the board

Yoshiharu Habu shocked the shogi (Japanese chess) world when, on Feb. 14, 1996, at the age of 25, he won his 7th title to become the only person in the history of the ancient board game to simultaneously possess all seven titles -- Meijin, Ryuo, Kio, Oza, Kisei, Oi and Osho.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives

Jan 7, 2007

Shogi: basics of the game

The board used in shogi is a grid of nine squares by nine squares. Each player starts with 20 wedge-shaped pieces, called koma, on which the name of the piece is inscribed in kanji (Chinese characters).

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Sep 21, 2003

The role of politics and religion in the history of art

DISCOVERING THE ARTS OF JAPAN: A historical overview, by Tsuneko S. Sadao and Stephanie Wada. Kodansha International, 2003, 284 pp., 3,000 yen (cloth). According to this new publication from Kodansha International, "The insular culture of Japan can best be understood as a process whereby successive waves of imported ideas and artifacts were assimilated and synthesized into a new interpretation." This wonderfully laid out book by Tsuneko S. Sadao and Stephanie Wada follows these waves methodically, and in a way that helps the reader work out for himself how the various art forms of Japan developed.

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