The Hagi Uragami Museum in Yamaguchi Prefecture boasts a magnificent collection of ukiyo-e, Oriental pottery and porcelain works housed in a stylish building designed by well-known architect Kenzo Tange. Its origin, however, has distant echoes of Japan’s brutal wartime history. The museum was founded in 1996 ...

"Tokyo Olympiad," a documentary about the 1964 Summer Olympic Games, was partly fictitious — a gold medalist "acted" to re-create an iconic scene at the request of the film's legendary director, Kon Ichikawa. "Along the marathon course, there was no place to film a runner ...

Inuki Tachihara, a 62-year-old self-taught woodblock artist, has devoted half his life to reviving the lost beauty of ukiyo-e masterpieces from the Edo Period (1603-1867) by printing them exactly as they would have been made then, with their original colors. Surviving prints have mostly ...

South Korean Lee Yun Sok took the first step toward his dream of becoming a movie director three years ago when he started studying at a Japanese film school. Lee, 29, was among 50 students in a large classroom at the Japan Academy of Moving ...

Is homosexuality more accepted in Japan than it was 40 years ago? Some people think that baby boomers have paved the way for gay men to live more openly. Noriaki Fushimi believes gay men are a part of mainstream society and publishes a lifestyle magazine ...