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October 27, 2025
 

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CULTURE

Art

Film
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Gaku Kurokawa’s “Listening to Stone,” which is essentially a large stone with a hole carved in it, instructs visitors to put their heads inside the hole and listen to themselves in isolation.
CULTURE / Art
Tokyo Biennale hides the art in plain sight
This year is the biennale's most ambitious yet, with 39 participating artists from Japan and abroad creating under the theme “Wander for Wonder.”
CULTURE / Art
T3 Photo Festival reframes cityscape as nature
This year’s photography festival plants exhibitions all around central Tokyo with photos that showcase urban landscapes under the theme “City as Garden.”
CULTURE / Art
Artists turn Okayama into Murakami-esque city of wonder
The fourth edition of the triennial Okayama Art Summit transmutes the sensibility of Haruki Murakami’s “1Q84” into an urban art program.
Ari Bayuaji's artwork of the benevolent Bali god Barong is on display in a glass case on the ground floor of Hollywood Beauty Plaza.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 2, 2025
Artist Ari Bayuaji materializes monsters from ocean plastic
By Thu-Huong Ha
From his series “Weaving the Ocean,” the demon Rangda is on display at Go for Kogei 2025, while the more benevolent Barong sits in a glass case in Roppongi.
Yuanhui Li's illustration is one of the awardees in the student category of the American Society of Architectural Illustrators' annual award for artists.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 26, 2025
Architecture art exhibition highlights unsung industry artists
By Zoria Petkoska
For only the second time in its 39-year history, the “Architecture in Perspective” exhibition will take place in Japan's capital.
“Between Currents and Bloom,” an eye-popping crocheted seascape by Indonesian artist Mulyana, dazzles with Instagram-ready cuteness while recalling a vibrant ocean now threatened by warming seas.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 22, 2025
Aichi Triennale’s message to the art world: Free Palestine
By Thu-Huong Ha
At Aichi Triennale 2025, Hoor Al Qasimi, the festival’s first foreign artistic director, takes a stand in support of Palestine.
Shuji Nakagawa created a teahouse using the same technique for making traditional wooden buckets.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 19, 2025
A bucket becomes a house in the hands of craftsman Shuji Nakagawa
By Thu-Huong Ha
At Go for Kogei 2025, a third-generation woodworker envisions new forms for a humble vessel.
One notable section of the “Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989-2010” exhibition is a predominantly pink room featuring works that explore the lives of Asian women, such as Minako Nishiyama’s “The Pinku House”and footage of Lee Bul’s performance “Sorry for suffering — You think I’m a puppy on a picnic?”
CULTURE / Art
Sep 19, 2025
‘Prism of the Real’ makes two turbulent decades tangible with art
By Jennifer Pastore
Born of a partnership between The National Art Center, Tokyo and M+, the show reveals how artists across borders grappled with a changing world.
Shinji Ohmaki’s “Tokinokage” exhibited at Fuji Textile Week 2021 shows the use of fabric as art.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 13, 2025
Japan's major art events converge this fall
By Zoria Petkoska and Thu-Huong Ha
Dozens of biennials, triennials, art festivals and fairs are taking place between September and December.
A <i>shunga</i> work by Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825) is on display at an exhibition of erotic Japanese art in the Kabukicho red-light entertainment area in the Shinjuku district of central Tokyo.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 8, 2025
Traditional Japanese erotic art exhibition puts female pleasure in focus
By Tomohiro Osaki
An erotic form of ukiyo-e, shunga is often dismissed as mere pornography. An exhibition in Kabukicho aims to highlight its artistry.

Bear kills another person in Japan in record year for fatal attacks
Police investigate the scene of a bear attack that killed one person and injured three others on Friday in the village of Higashinaruse in Akita Prefecture.
Tokyo launches English-language international school database
A screenshot of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's international schools portal site
Strong quake shakes Hokkaido as authorities urge vigilance
Kunashiri Island is seen across the Nemuro Strait, just before sunrise from Rausu, Hokkaido. A strong earthquake struck the area at a depth of about 40 kilometers early Saturday.
New tourism minister calls concentration of tourists in certain areas 'very serious'
Tourism minister Yasushi Kaneko holds a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Florian Wiltschko: ‘Shinto helps me understand and live within Japanese culture’
Florian Wiltschko’s interest in Shintoism began with a trip to Japan in his teens. He now serves as the supplicant priest at the 355-year-old Hisai Hachiman Shrine in Mie Prefecture.
Loss to Wallabies doesn't dampen Japan’s optimism
Japan's Michael Leitch controls the ball during the match against Australia on Saturday.
Stars align for Kim-Trump meeting — but any talks will be on N.K. leader’s terms
A South Korean soldier stands next to a TV broadcasting a news report about a possible summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, at the main railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.
New ‘immigration minister’ post signals Takaichi Cabinet’s priorities
Kimi Onoda, economic security minister and minister for harmonious coexistence with foreign nationals, arrives at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Number of suicide cases among students in Japan hits record high in 2024
The health ministry's Suicide White Paper for 2024 has found that numbers for both men and women peak at age 21, with “concerns over future career paths” being identified as the most likely cause.
The newly formed LDP-JIP coalition may not be as solid as it seems
Ruling Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi and Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura sign a policy agreement between the two parties at the Diet in Tokyo on Monday.

Podcast

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

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.
By Thu-Huong Ha and Mike Fu

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