People | WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN? Aug 12, 2017
Soprano Misaki Morino follows the music to Vienna
by Kathryn Wortley
For Misaki Morino, Vienna lives up to both its names: The City of Music and The City of Dreams.
People | WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN? Aug 5, 2017
Zen monk Seigaku: A life with less can be so much more
by Verena Dauerer
Japanese monk Seigaku lives a Zen life with as little money as possible in Berlin.
People | WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN? Jul 22, 2017
Yasuhiko Tsuchida: Bringing a hint of Japan to Venetian glass art
by Joji Sakurai
On a sweltering summer day in Venice, the temperature in Yasuhiko Tsuchida's glass-making atelier feels at least 10 degrees hotter than it is outside. Men roast their faces against groaning furnaces, shirts drenched with sweat, pulling clumps of luminous molten glass from the fire ...
People | WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN? Jul 15, 2017
Designer Yosuke Ushigome finds solutions to culture shock in English and humor
by J.J. O'Donoghue
How do you solve a geopolitical problem like Kim Jong Un? Containment? Embargoes? Propaganda? Regime change? Synchronized baseball?
People | WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN? Jul 8, 2017
Leading cancer researcher Yusuke Nakamura pursues answers
by Daniel Morales
Yusuke Nakamura could easily have had a long, successful career as a surgeon in Japan, but he isn't the kind of person who is satisfied with unanswered questions.
People | WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN? Jul 1, 2017
Blogger Namiko Chen satisfies an appetite for Japanese fare
by J.J. O'Donoghue
Every day for the past six years, Namiko Chen has been sending recipes from her cookbook of Japanese dishes out into the world from her home in San Francisco via her website and through a mix of social media channels.
People | WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN? Jun 24, 2017
Nobuko Kiyomiya: Judging a bookbinder in France by her covers
by Joji Sakurai
Kiyomiya is keeping alive a way of thinking about books that may be finding itself under threat in our world of Kindles.
People | WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN? Jun 17, 2017
Performance artist Eiko Otake is a stranger in New York
by Andrew Eglinton
Move to rest, sleep, and dream. Move to pass time, bloom, and linger." These are the opening lines of performing artist Eiko Otake's "Delicious Movement Manifesto."
People | WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN? Jun 10, 2017
Misa Kuranaga: Dancing up a storm in Boston
by Kathryn Wortley
After being nominated for one of the highest global honors in ballet in May, Misa Kuranaga could be forgiven for relaxing her gruelling training regime. But the 34-year-old from Osaka remains as motivated as ever.
People | WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN? Jun 3, 2017
Takashi Miyazaki: Food ambassador to Ireland
by J.J. O'Donoghue
Chef Takashi Miyazaki has a Cork accent. It's a hard accent to pin down, but 'de Cork' accent sounds somewhere between the lilt of the Caribbean Islands and being happily constipated. It's not the only thing Miyazaki has picked up since opening his bijou Japanese ...
People | WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN? May 27, 2017
Kyoko Sato: Curator inspired by New York's artistic energy
by Mark Schilling
Kyoko Sato hit bottom soon after arriving in New York in 2002 to be with the man who was to become her husband (since divorced). "I had been able to work freely in Japanese society, so I really suffered when I came (to the ...
People | WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN? May 20, 2017
Shoemaker Hidetaka Fukaya models creations on feline elegance
by Joji Sakurai
A renowned craftsman in Florence is working hard to maintain his freedom of expression as a shoemaker.