What goes through your head when you look at contemporary art? Standing in front of, say, Damien Hirst’s shark in formaldehyde (“Is this art or taxidermy?”), Tracey Emin’s bed (“Anybody could do that”), Jeff Koon’s giant balloon-like poodles (“Kitsch,” or “preemptive kitsch,” as one ...
Art used to be about what you could see, but now, thanks to a more “conceptual” approach, it is often about what cannot be seen. Except the artist still has to demonstrate in some way what it is that can’t be seen — in ...
“They’re Wooin’ and Doin’ the Things Boys and Girls Like to Do . . . .” This is the message of many of the posters made for Hollywood musicals currently being exhibited at the National Film Center in Tokyo. Liza Minnelli, Mitzi Gaynor and ...
In January 2013 Eiga Geijutsu magazine released its annual “Best 10 and Worst 10″ lists. The two worst films of 2012, as chosen by the magazine’s panel of critics, were Sion Sono’s “Himizu” and “Kibo no Kuni (Land of Hope).” The former is about ...
It has been a year since post-hardcore group Fact released an artist photo with the six members’ faces revealed. Before then, the band always wore traditional Japanese noh masks. “We wanted our fans to listen to our music without having to care about how ...
Last year, animated TV show “The Simpsons” spoofed the films of director Hayao Miyazaki. This spring, bootleg Bart Simpson T-shirts line the boutiques of Harajuku. There’s a weird symbiosis between Japanese pop culture and America’s longest-running TV family, a force strong enough to attract ...
As an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, John Caird may be one of the leading pillars of the English theater establishment, but in a recent interview with The Japan Times, this acclaimed director of plays, musicals and opera declared, “In a ...
Becoming the latest high-profile name to partner with Netflix Inc., Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and his production company, Appian Way, will produce a documentary and a series that will premiere exclusively on the digital streaming service, the company said on Wednesday. DiCaprio, who worked with ...
Japan is well-known for its dolls, producing edgy urban vinyl, cute soft toys, manga figurines and even therapy dolls for lonely senior citizens. This “Doll Culture Exhibition” at Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills’ Tokyo City View observation deck, however, looks at old-school fashion dolls, which should ...
Since the 18th-century — the age of English historian Edward Gibbon — Western theories of history have held that the past consists of causes, effects and events; there are no determining laws or theorems, and no divine purpose. This is the opposite of the ...
The word “omokuri” in the title of the variety show “Omokuri Kantoku” (Fuji TV, Sun., 9 p.m.) is a combination of the words “omoshiroii” (interesting) and “creator.” The program invites several people famous in other fields to “direct” television shows based on their own ...
