Tokyo Ballet's top principal readies a final dance
On his second-ever professional tour in Europe, dancer Naoki Takagishi fought through injuries as he worked with modern-dance choreographer Maurice Bejart for the first time. "I was only 22 years old," Takagishi tells The Japan Times. "Mr. Bejart first saw me dance before the performance ...
Jackson brothers to visit Michael's 'second home'
"Immortal," the new Michael Jackson-themed Cirque du Soleil show touring North America may sound grandiose but the self-proclaimed "King of Pop" was undoubtedly a larger-than-life character. While immortality was out of Jackson's reach, the singer's family are doing their best to keep his memory ...
Proud love pervades NHK's 'Madame Butterfly'
"Well, little Chrysanthème, let us part good friends; one last kiss even, if you like. I took you to amuse me; you have not perhaps succeeded very well, but after all you have done what you could: given me your little face, your little ...
Kyoko Kagawa is among the fast dwindling number of living witnesses to Japanese cinema's Golden Age of the 1950s and '60s. In a career that started in 1949 with the Shintoho studio, Kagawa worked with the giants of the era, including Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu, ...
Overcoming disaster via cinematic therapy
Back in May, the rumor among cinephiles in the Japanese media was that the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) wouldn't happen this year. The mood was that it was too soon after the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11 to hold anything festive, ...
Average Joes become champions on 'Sasuke'
"Pole dancer! Pole dancer!! Pole dancer!!!" From the bellowing announcement thumping through the speakers, you might think we're in a night club. We're not. But, without doubt, the location is just as fabled as many nocturnal haunts, and the atmosphere is just as electric. Welcome ...
Pitt, Penn heap praise on Malick's 'real world'
Terrence Malick kicks off his new film, "The Tree of Life," with a bang. The Big Bang, actually. Over the next 138 minutes, the viewer witnesses a journey through history that ends up in a small town in Texas. Critics seem to agree that ...
Local galleries move to fore at Art Fair Tokyo
On the Japanese cultural calendar, visual-art events tend to take place in the more pleasant seasons of spring and autumn. Classical music and ballet have winter sewn up, with dozens of performances of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 or "The Nutcracker" being held ...
Orchestrating a ska paradise for the summer
It's a standard response for bands to say they are surprised by their longevity and accomplishments, but Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, Japan's best-known ska act, are unlikely to be overly humble. "When we first came together I knew this band would last for a really ...
Will heartthrob Mukai shine as the shogun?
This year's NHK Sunday evening drama has already entered the history books for one, perhaps inauspicious, reason. On March 12, a day after the Great East Japan Earthquake, NHK announced that the following day's broadcast of "Go," as the show is titled, would be ...
Director Ishii brings style to family drama
Japanese directors with any kind of ambition usually end up making a family drama, which is to Japanese cinema what the Western used to be to Hollywood: the core national genre. Of course, plenty of bad-to-mediocre directors here have made family dramas, just as plenty ...
Hang on a minute, how did this happen? Somehow hippie-loving 1960s-throwback pop songstress Superfly has got, like, totally heavy, man. While her previous studio album, 2009's "Box Emotions," featured a couple of belters, new release "Mind Travel" does away with soppy ballads almost completely, ...
