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 Oscar Boyd

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Oscar Boyd
For Oscar Boyd's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 20, 2018
A flag's the prize, the mud's the obstacle in Kashima
Get down and dirty during the assault-course race at the Kashima Gatalympics, just be careful not to get stuck in the mud.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2018
Soundtracking the thrill of the climb in Jennifer Peedom's 'Mountain'
With "Mountain," director Jennifer Peedom has done for the mountaineering film what Marks & Spencer's did for food advertisements years ago: taken the concept and beautified it to such an extent that it provokes a visceral response. Salivating over the movie's visual perfection is the only appropriate reaction.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 24, 2018
Review: Gorillaz at Zepp DiverCity
The most successful moments in Gorillaz' enviable five-studio-album career have always come as eclectic pairings with the greats of the music world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 14, 2018
Gorillaz to premiere new album at Tokyo show
Gorillaz, the self-proclaimed "world's most successful virtual act," will grace Tokyo with a pair of concerts next week that will include the world premiere of new album "The Now Now," which comes out June 29.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 9, 2018
Anthony Bourdain drew endless inspiration from Japan
Anthony Bourdain — who was found dead in his hotel room Friday in France — had a knack for discovering the best of each country he visited over the course of his colorful career, but always seemed to have a special place in his heart for Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 7, 2018
From Kansai to New York: Jazz trumpeter Takuya Kuroda on going back to basics
In the dimly lit Under Deer Lounge in Shibuya, jazz trumpeter Takuya Kuroda conducts an impromptu ensemble with raucous enthusiasm.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 2, 2018
Fantasy island: Collaborative multimedia project in Nagasaki seeks to augment the natural world
A young girl's voice rings through the forest, drawing me further into the darkness. "Koko ni kite," the voice calls again in a whisper from the right, using a Japanese phrase that means "come this way."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 29, 2018
From 'Wallace and Gromit' to 'Isle of Dogs,' cinematographer Tristan Oliver brings film's beloved animated worlds to life
When it comes to stop-motion animation, there are few who have as involved a history as Tristan Oliver. His list of work as a cinematographer and director of photography spans the genre's most successful endeavors: "Wallace and Gromit," "Chicken Run," "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "ParaNorman" and, most recently, "Isle of Dogs," the Wes Anderson-directed, Japan-inspired boy-finds-dog adventure.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 28, 2018
A 10,000-km swim across the Pacific to spotlight pollution? Ben Lecomte ready to jump in
In early June, Ben Lecomte will enter the waters off Choshi Marina Beach in Chiba Prefecture to begin a 10,000-km (5,400-nautical-mile) swim across the Pacific Ocean that seeks to shine a light on ocean pollution and plastic contamination, and put Lecomte into the history books as the first person to swim the Pacific.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 21, 2018
Still eating, still writing: Robbie Swinnerton reflects on 20 years of Tokyo Food File
At 1,000 restaurants in, what keeps this insatiable food writer hungry?
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 30, 2018
A brush with death in the Yatsugatake Mountains
While Tokyo basks in the warmth of early spring, hiking the Yatsugatake Mountain Range is cold, challenging and even life-threatening.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 10, 2018
Jann Mardenborough: Life in the fast lane
Jann Mardenborough's unusual path to professional racing involved a PlayStation and a trip to Japan
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 2, 2018
From Fukuoka to Miyazaki, Kyushu offers year-round surf
With 12,000 kilometers of coastline, Japan's island of Kyushu offers some fantastic opportunities for surfing, as Oscar Boyd discovers in this Point Break-inspired journey around southwest Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 24, 2018
Bringing little-known New York wines to Japan
Running to the west of the center of the city of Fukuoka is the wide, tree-lined boulevard of Keyaki-dori. An upmarket part of town, spots on the street rarely come up for renewal; once a shop has its prized location, it clings to it for all it is worth. So it is a pleasant surprise to find fresh noren curtains and a regalia of iwai hana (celebration flowers) outside a newly opened store.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 9, 2018
Twenty years on from the Olympics, Nagano is still the home of Japan's winter sports
Nagano Prefecture's bountiful snow continues to be the stuff of ski and snowboarding legend, with classic Olympic resorts such as Hakuba Happo-one, Nozawa Onsen and Shiga Kogen.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 3, 2018
Kakigoya: Oyster huts home to Fukuoka Prefecture's winter treat
Kakigoya are a winter phenomenon of Fukuoka Prefecture, temporary restaurants that usually spring up at some point in November and last to the end of the oyster season in March. The vast majority of the huts are located on the long, sandy coastline of the Itoshima Peninsula, out to the west of the city of Fukuoka.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 22, 2017
Reenact history at Yakage's fabled daimyo festival
A small town in Okayama Prefecture is seeking to reestablish its relevance.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 29, 2017
Akizuki: Romantic scenes meet 'Star Wars' lore in picturesque samurai town
The sakura trees that line the main boulevard in Akizuki are far from blooming. That moment is still half a year away, when the trees along the avenue flower to become one of Fukuoka Prefecture's best spots for cherry blossoms.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 16, 2017
Fukuoka street stall offers a du jour taste of Europe
Every evening at around 5:30 p.m. in Fukuoka, a curious transformation takes place along the city's main boulevards. Out of secluded parking lots and closed-off garages, wooden food carts emerge, pulled through the streets by their owners to selected locations across the city.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 5, 2017
Fukuoka bar is a veritable temple of whiskey with over 3,000 bottles
If not for a long-lost article extolling the virtues of Wild Turkey in the late 1980s, Yu Sumiyoshi might never have discovered whiskey. But a well-placed feature caught the 19-year-old Yu's attention and, after receiving his monthly salary, he headed to the city of Fukuoka's notorious Oyafukodori to find a bar that would serve him the mysterious liquor.

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces