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July 12, 2025
 

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Stuart Munro
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 21, 2015
Yoshihiko Ueda: a life with photography
"What remains is future" were words written on a bag I saw someone carrying at Yoshihiko Ueda's new exhibition "A life with Camera." It's the same phrase that appeared on badges Patti Smith handed out in New York nearly 10 years ago. Fittingly, her portrait now hangs among 300 photographs, which were...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 23, 2014
What words alone cannot convey
"Can writing succeed as the subject of photography?" This is a question that troubles Paris-based artist Yuki Onodera.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 21, 2014
Artists expand photography and film conventions into a new language
At a time when popular culture is fed both mesmerizing and disturbing imagery, it often carries with it a sense of terror, while alluding to the possibility of something disturbingly sublime. What makes that something "sublime," however, evades easy definition.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 17, 2014
Nao Tsuda takes us beyond the straight and narrow
The walkways, ravines and peaks of the Himalayas, Tibet and Swiss Alps form the backdrop for "On the Mountain Path," the latest photographic exhibition by Nao Tsuda at Gallery 916.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 7, 2014
Shiseido's Tsubaki-kai questions the nature of art
Now in its seventh incarnation, Shiseido's most recent Tsubaki-kai group of artists is the first to be formed since the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of 2011, and it has added to its concerns the meeting of personal preoccupation with art's wider relevance and meaning.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 17, 2014
Roppongi Art Night 2014: Get ready for a 32-hour art marathon
Art needn't be strictly visual. That's how Katsuhiko Hibino sees things.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 19, 2014
For Goze artists, music was a life of servitude
Walking in a line, hands gently touching the person in front and guided by someone able-sighted, blind female entertainers, known as Goze, would travel up and down Japan, come rain or snow, to play the shamisen and perform jōruri narrative music. Walking in unimaginable conditions these women shared...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 13, 2014
Making sense of cultural nonsense
In today's complicated world of mass media and communication, contemporary British artists are finding new means of expression.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 13, 2013
Portraits reveal much more than a person's appearance
Filmmaker and photographer Dennis Hopper leans against an old wall with his camera sandwiched between his body and the brickwork. Photographer Robert Frank lies sockless on the sand, harmonica in mouth. These celebrities are only two of a very long list of figures from film, art, music and pop culture,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 2, 2013
The Towada Art Center expands its landscape
Ever since the Towada Art Center opened five years ago, the city in Aomori Prefecture has seen its prospects dramatically alter. Not only by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, but by the subsequent devastation of neighboring areas, all of which compounded the dwindling prosperity of Towada....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 11, 2013
The tireless patience of a behavioral photographer
In Wim Wenders' 1984 film "Paris, Texas," Walt (Dean Stockwell) picks up his younger brother Travis (Harry Dean Stanton), who had disappeared in the desert four years earlier, to drive him back to Los Angeles. As Walt drives, Travis shows him a weathered picture of an empty plot of land he bought in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 4, 2013
Shuji Terayama's underground public stage
Thirty years on from the death of Shuji Terayama, Japanese theater's most avant-garde provocateur continues his renaissance with a show of his films, photography and, most importantly, theater works at the Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, which follows on from the recent showing of printed ephemera...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 21, 2013
Britain's 'YBA' have moved on, but they still inspire
In Ben Wheatley's recent film "A Field in England," a group of deserting soldiers fleeing the 17th-century English Civil War escape through a field of mushrooms, only to be captured by an alchemist and descend into a nightmare of both body and mind — all against the backdrop of the English countryside....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 7, 2013
Open sky, flying high
In her book "North to the Orient," published in 1935, aviator Anne Morrow Lindbergh, one of America's first female pilots, and wife of fellow aviator Charles Lindbergh, wrote of the cultural differences she experienced traveling across Asia, and on the simple act of saying farewell. She remarked of her...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 10, 2013
Surveying the city from a different viewpoint
Beside Stephan Balkenhol's sculpture "Big Head with Three Part Relief" a note reads, "Nothing here is as it should be." This figureless "head" set against a black void represents "Mr. Everyman," that common figure, detached from his surround and considering his place in the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 10, 2013
Gregor Schneider: temporary structures that resist conformity
Seemingly out of nowhere, German artist Gregor Schneider exhibits major work at the recently opened TOLOT/heuristic Shinonome complex. His solo show brings together "It's All Rheydt" (Kolkata, 2011) and photography from his largest undertaking, "Haus u r," a house in his hometown of Rheydt that, since...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 20, 2013
Are we all blinded by our sense of beauty?
Sophie Calle is an enigma. She is an artist, writer, photographer and filmmaker yet doesn't work exclusively in any of these areas. She has become famous for her work in photography but her objects and later films have drawn equal attention — work that carries with it the curiosity of a detective who...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 13, 2013
Observing the present and past is to see into the future
For the past 48 years, Daido Moriyama has followed his photographic instinct, drawn to subjects whose characters appear as vibrant as they are tragic while leaving the question of which for us to decide. The act of exhibiting, through the unraveling of images, has charted this one man's continuous urban...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 6, 2013
How far does the apple drop?
"I don't like Graffiti" states French artist Zevs, who is known for his street-art work and is currently showing at The Container in Daikanyama.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 4, 2013
JR's portraits put a face on Tohoku
French artist JR, whose show of photographic artwork is on display at the Watari-um (Watari Museum of Contemporary Art), inspires while questioning the role of art in war-torn and disaster-ridden places, asking whether art could really change things for the better. JR not only documents but also involves...
Tokyo hit by torrential rainfall at rush hour
People line up at Shibuya Station in Tokyo as they try to avoid the heavy rain on Thursday.
Foreign drivers in Japan to face tougher license conversion rules from October
According to the National Police Agency, there were 75,905 people who converted their foreign driver’s license to a Japanese one in 2024, up from 48,885 in 2019.
Chinese fighters came within 30 meters of Japanese spy aircraft, Tokyo says
A Chinese JH-7 fighter jet makes an near an Air Self-Defense Force YS-11EB surveillance aircraft over the East China Sea this week in this image released Thursday.
Air India crash report to offer peek into last seconds
Members of the Indian Army's engineering arm prepare to remove the wreckage of an Air India aircraft in Ahmedabad on June 14.
What Japanese politics could look like after Upper House election
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (center) waves to attendees as he departs after delivering a campaign speech in Yokohama on Sunday.
New IG Arena set to dial down temperature at Nagoya Basho, in a good way
With IG Arena getting glowing early reviews as the Nagoya Basho’s replacement venue, it may be a while before fans wax nostalgic about the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium.
Once a niche, anime is now mainstream content for Netflix and other streaming services
Though Netflix remains the dominant choice globally for anime viewers, Amazon Prime Video has also invested heavily in anime, steadily adding titles to their catalogue.
NGOs condemn rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric ahead of Upper House vote
Sanseito head Sohei Kamiya holds a board that reads "Japanese First" in Tokyo on July 2. In a joint statement on Tuesday, eight human rights nongovernmental organizations described the far-right party's stance as "hate speech."
Japanese dancers find a home abroad at Houston Ballet
“Giselle” lead Yuriko Kajiya (center), performing with Connor Walsh as Albrecht, is one of six Japanese dancers at Houston Ballet.
From the Abes to the Ohtanis: How siblings shape athletic development
Olympic judoka Uta Abe (second from left) and Hifumi Abe (second from right) with their brother Yuichiro (center) and their parents. “I’m always consciously trying to be a good older brother,” Yuichiro said.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning
Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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