
Books
Ian Buruma's 'A Tokyo Romance' captures the beating heart of avant-garde Japan
by Martin Laflamme
Landing in the Japanese capital in 1975 was a bit of a shock. "The crowds, the noise, the visual excess" — everything seemed over-the-top.
Ian Buruma's 'A Tokyo Romance' captures the beating heart of avant-garde Japan
Landing in the Japanese capital in 1975 was a bit of a shock. "The crowds, the noise, the visual excess" — everything seemed over-the-top.
Yuki Kimura may have struck out on 'The Bachelor Japan,' but she won the people's rose
On the first episode of the reality dating series "The Bachelor Japan," 25 women took turns stepping out of a limousine, walking down a red carpet and introducing themselves to their potential future husband. The women timidly approached the bachelor, Hirotake Kubo, 35, in long ...
Shizuoka stage festival aims to engage its audiences the old-fashioned way
This hasn't been a great year for social media. Internet addiction has been a hot topic, as have privacy issues, and there has even been a movement to #DeleteFacebook. Last month, Satoshi Miyagi, artistic director of the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center, which runs World Theatre ...
'Inuyashiki': It's a bird, it's a plane ... it's salaryman!
Fantasizing about instantly acquiring superpowers is something you do as a kid — or when you're late for an appointment and imagine flying to it like Superman. But what if your power-up comes when you're creaky in the joints and counting the days to ...
'Liz and the Blue Bird': A brilliantly executed return to an anime favorite
'Liverleaf': Sadistic school bullies get their comeuppance in a bloody, bleak thriller
'The Bastard and the Beautiful World': Former SMAP stars let loose in a quartet of twisted tales
Isao Takahata's gentle spirit enriched the world of Japanese animation
'After the Rain': A problematic love story deftly presented with emotional heft
His darkest hours behind him, Kazuhiro Tsuji returns to Hollywood and Oscar glory
BTS is big, let's hope the hype helps other Asian acts
Earlier this month, an album sung mainly in Japanese landed on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart at No. 43. That's a rare accomplishment for any Japanese artist — and an even less frequent one for a non-Japanese outfit to pull off. But it's just ...
Koshiro Hino's 'Geist' summons spirits with sound and light
Japan's station jingle maestro combines his two passions: music and trains
'I can only speak my own truth': Otoboke Beaver rocks tunes not politics
Kiyoshi Koyama: A life lived with jazz
You too can grace the stage at Suntory Hall
Just let Johnny's Jr. be Johnny's Jr.
Legacy of genius: Kyosai and Kyosui
Kawanabe Kyosui might not be as well-known as her father Kyosai, but the prolific painter helped pave the way for women artists in early 20th-century Japan.
Kyotographie is still on the up and up
When art met craft in Meiji Era Japan
Photos highlight the everyday lives of prisoners in Japan
Michiko Kon: Mistress of the dark
Koga: A pithy affair with the avant-garde
Turner: The landscaper of art genres
'Ballyturk' delivers a surreal yet exciting challenge
When Akira Shirai first read the script for "Ballyturk," he quickly understood why its creator, Irish playwright Enda Walsh, said the work "should bypass the intellect and go straight into your bones." The 60-year-old artistic director at Kanagawa Arts Theatre in Yokohama was mulling over ...
Abduction issue takes center stage in London in 'The Great Wave'
Force and fragility meet and merge in 'Dunas'
Dairakudakan's 'unearthly' butoh meets a tortured Russian tale
Living and breathing history, through noh
Rethinking noh for the opera crowd
Chiaki Soma puts on a not-so-common theater festival
Avicii, one of the world's most successful DJs who helped usher in the global boom in electronic music but struggled to cope with the hard-partying lifestyle, died Friday in Oman, his representative said. He was 28. Two years after his unusually early retirement from touring ...
Bill Cosby's star witness says accuser spoke of plot to frame famed comedian
Saudis screen 'Black Panther' to mark kingdom's cinema opening
Fox stands behind Sean Hannity after learning he shared lawyer with Trump
Leonardo DiCaprio to present friend Martin Scorsese with award at TCM Film Festival
Commercial and critical darling Kendrick Lamar wins Pulitzer
'As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams' brings to life the lucid prose of the Sarashina Nikki
The "Sarashina Nikki" is a classic of Japanese literature. The life of the narrator, one spent largely turned away from the world, is revealed in translation through prose that transcends cultural and historical distance.
'Hiroshima Boy': Mas Arai takes a well-deserved bow in the saga's final mystery
'Lion Cross Point': A child's abandonment, cushioned by hope and quiet resolve
'The Man in the High Castle': Exploring a world in which the Axis powers reign supreme
'Sweet Bean Paste' offers an original take on the odd couple genre
'Patient X' by David Peace: An intensely profound portrait of a writer's life and death
'Ainori' teaches lessons in love ... and soft power
Netflix Japan's reboot of the reality show "Ainori" features plenty of drama — most of it interpersonal, but some geopolitical. The streaming-era version of the show, a joint effort between Fuji TV and Netflix, debuted last fall. Like the original incarnation that ran from 1999 ...
1970s Japanese TV series 'Monkey' had a magic that has never been matched
Japan gets its own 'Orphan Black' ... with a few twists
'Home Sweet Tokyo': Fresh-off-the-boat narrative has room to grow
B.J. Fox navigates life in Japan as a stay-at-home dad in the sitcom 'Home Sweet Tokyo'