Hikaru Uzawa is a noh performer who marries her work within the traditional confines of the art form with performing in contemporary pieces internationally, bringing freshness to the traditional world of noh. Uzawa, 39, comes from a long line of noh performers. Her mother, Hisa ...

Featuring an astounding 480 prints, spanning the entire 70 years of Katushika Hokusai's career, the new Hokusai exhibition at the Mori Arts Center Gallery is a great overview for ukiyo-e fans.

Ko Ishikawa plays the sho, a bamboo free-reed mouth harp that first came to Japan from China in the Nara Period (710-794). Despite what you might expect, however, the way he plays the instrument isn't conventionally traditional. The sho is used in gagaku, a style ...

Composer and performer Ned Rothenberg has spent his career traversing different musical worlds. He has worked extensively as both a composer and performer in the jazz and improvisation scenes, playing alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet and the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute. Rothenberg, 62, has ...

At the height of the splendor of the Heian Period (794-1185), lady-in-waiting to the Imperial Court, Murasaki Shikibu, wrote "The Tale of Genji," the story of imperial officer Hikaru Genji falling in and out of love with his various suitors. After centuries of war, ...

Though kissaten (old-style) coffee shops like have long been a part of Kyoto, the third-wave coffee boom has increased the number and variety of coffee shops in the city.

Since 2009, Motomi Morii has lived and worked in New York. There, she indulges in her love of experimental and improvised music, and takes part in various Japanese cultural events around the city. Most importantly, New York provides her with constant inspiration and opportunity ...

When it comes to curating a biennale, a lack of funding isn't always a big problem as it can lead to more imaginative results. That's the case with the Biwako Biennale, which runs through Nov. 11 in Shiga Prefecture. The event, organized by Yoko Nakata ...

I first heard Ami Yamasaki's voice in 2016 at a studio where I hosted a radio show in New York. She popped by to promote an upcoming performance at the Japan Society with composer Mamoru Fujieda, koto player Kayoko Nakagawa and shō (free ...

Contemporary classical duo bring together the cello, koto and shamisen for original classical contemporary compositions.