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May 02, 2024
 

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Chiho Iuchi

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Chiho Iuchi
Chiho Iuchi is a writer covering classical music scenes in Japan. She has also been serving as a staff editor at The Japan Times mainly in charge of national day special supplements, in collaboration with more than 100 embassies in Japan, which has (hopefully) broadened her perspectives on music.
For Chiho Iuchi's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 5, 2019
The man bringing classical music to millions through La Folle Journee returns to Tokyo
Instead of explaining the essence of classical music in words, French music producer Rene Martin chooses a piece from an enormous number of musical samples stored in his smartphone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 9, 2018
Etsko Tazaki creates her own legacy at the piano keys
If you were a musician and your death was imminent, what piece of music would you like to cover before you die? Maybe you'd want to play a Sex Pistols track on the guitar, or perhaps try mastering a trumpet solo by Dizzy Gillespie?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 14, 2018
Jia Pengfang left his home in rural China with an erhu and a dream
Jia Pengfang's talent with the erhu took him around the world, but would audiences overseas appreciate the traditional Chinese instrument?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 30, 2018
From a POW camp to esteemed music halls nationwide: Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 marks 100 years in Japan
It's rare that a concert has so much impact that people still talk about it 100 years later. However, that's certainly the case for a performance a century ago by some German prisoners of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in Tokushima Prefecture. It was the masterpiece's first performance in a country that would later make it part of its year-end holiday tradition.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 22, 2018
New National Theater, Tokyo, stuns with a bold interpretation of Beethoven's 'Fidelio'
When Ludwig van Beethoven dipped his toe into the world of opera in the early 19th century, the composer may have had the concept of freedom on his mind.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 27, 2018
You too can grace the stage at Suntory Hall
Concert halls aren't just venues to enjoy music, they're landmarks. And among the many scattered around Tokyo, Suntory Hall has had the distinction of being described as a "jewel box of sound" by Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan (1908-89).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / Backstage Pass
Mar 1, 2018
Rethinking noh for the opera crowd
Artists have long mined older works to create new forms of expression, just look at the continuing relevance of Shakespeare's stories.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 13, 2017
The year's not over till you hear Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
It's "Beethoven season." The run-up to the new year has long been marked in Japan with performances of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 — known here simply as "daiku" — gloriously performed by large orchestras featuring around 80 instrumentalists and some 100 choir members or more.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 2, 2017
Master class: Conductor Seiji Ozawa passes on his knowledge to a new generation
An old piano sits by a window in the corner of a tiny room in Seiji Ozawa's office in Tokyo's Seijo neighborhood. The 82-year-old conductor's father apparently bought it for him more than 70 years ago.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Nov 16, 2017
The new head of the Boston Symphony Orchestra takes a bow in Japan
An orchestra is a lot like a perfect society: the instruments all have different roles and personalities, and when they come together beautiful music is created. Every society needs a leader, though, and last week the Boston Symphony Orchestra introduced its new leader to audiences in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / Backstage Pass
Aug 3, 2017
Giving Cio-Cio San a better ending
Giacomo Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" tells the story of a young Japanese girl named Cio-Cio San ("chō-chō" is the Japanese word for "butterfly") marrying and getting dumped by an American naval officer named Pinkerton. First performed in Italy in 1904, the opera is one of the most popular in the world and was reportedly performed more than 2,640 times in the 2015-16 season.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 13, 2017
The cultural legacy of erhu artist WeiWei Wuu
When erhu artist WeiWei Wuu took to the stage at Shanghai Concert Hall on April 30, she delivered a show that could be described as out of the ordinary.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 20, 2017
The amateur members of Tokyo Symphony Chorus perform like true professionals
The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (TSO) opens its 2017/18 season on April 22 at Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall, but the performance will be lacking one crucial element during the opening piece: the orchestra.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 2, 2017
Yo-Yo Ma and Silk Road Ensemble build bridges between cultures one note at a time
Even before the Grammy award for best world music album was announced during a pre-telecast ceremony on Feb. 12, Haruka Fujii was awestruck.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 5, 2017
Passion rules in Japan's amateur orchestras
Classical music has always been a big part of Ikuo Nakajima's life. He never became a professional trumpeter, opting instead to become a managing engineer, but that hasn't stopped him from performing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 5, 2017
Violinist Ray Iwazumi to restage famed 1920 recital by Fritz Kreisler
In 2014, New York-based violinist Ray Iwazumi performed a concert playing a replica of Il Cannone, a famous violin used by Niccolo Paganini and originally created by Giuseppe Guarneri. He hopes to recapture the success of that show when playing a different replica this weekend in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 5, 2017
Tokyo-based luthier who replicates storied violins is one of a kind
Throughout the history of classical music there have been composers who, in moments of inspiration, created masterpieces that have stayed with us for centuries. Just as important are those musicians who, through their own virtuosity, re-create those masterpieces — a talent that was particularly appreciated before the advent of recording technology.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 16, 2016
Orchestra from Jerusalem to tour Japan
Classical music fans in Japan are set for a treat when the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra conducts its first tour of this country from Nov. 19 through Dec. 4.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 23, 2016
The Fujii sisters carry on their mother's percussion legacy as Utari
Sisters Haruka and Rika Fujii are keenly aware of their musical lineage; their mother, Mutsuko, is a pioneer when it comes to the marimba.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 4, 2016
Takashi Niigaki emerges from the ashes of a scandal with a symphony to call his own
On Feb. 6, 2014, composer Takashi Niigaki faced a crowd of reporters at the Hotel New Otani in Tokyo and took a deep and apologetic bow. He had just revealed that he was ghostwriter for Mamoru Samuragochi, who was celebrated as "Japan's Beethoven" before being exposed as a fraud. Niigaki confessed to the room that, by remaining silent, he felt he was complicit in the deceit.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Did Japan intervene to prop up the yen? Analysts think it did.
A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rate for the yen against the U.S. dollar (right) in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Number of vacant homes in Japan hits record high of 9 million
A vacant house in Tokyo is seen demolished in January 2020.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.

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