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Japan Times

CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN

Feb 20, 2002

Views from a place you've been before

By Monty Dipietro

It's always a pleasure to discover an exhibition space in Tokyo that you've never been to before, especially during these difficult economic times when old favorites are closing down. My latest find is Gallery Senkukan, tucked into a tiny Yoyogi side street, which opened a little more than a year ago....

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Feb 20, 2002

Sam Phillips: 'Fan Dance'

By Philip Brasor

Nonesuch, America's premier record label for modern music (Kronos Quartet, Steve Reich), has recently become a place where high-minded pop artists can make mid-career course corrections. Emmylou Harris found a sympathetic outlet for her burgeoning Gothic-country tendencies, and the label let Duncan Shiek...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Feb 20, 2002

Onward klezmer voyager

By Tom Bojko

Like people, music travels. How else could a handful of Japanese musicians have come to embrace klezmer, a centuries-old Eastern European folk music historically associated with traditional Jewish weddings?

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE

Feb 20, 2002

And that really burns me up

By Steve McClure

If, like me, you do a lot of your work at home, I imagine you may like to listen to music as you labor through a translation, write a story or put together a PowerPoint presentation. And you probably find it convenient to listen to CDs on your computer.

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Feb 20, 2002

By Simon Bartz

Supersnazz's 1998 album, "Diode City," must feel like a bit of an albatross for the band. The 19-song punk-pop classic is so awesome that if you locked Supersnazz in a studio for 10 years and held a gun to their heads, they'd be unlikely to better it. On their latest album, "Rock-O-Matic," they don't...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Feb 20, 2002

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

By Simon Bartz

Last year, The Strokes and White Stripes were placed in a rocket of hype and blasted into superstardom. The media -- me included -- bludgeoned you into thinking they were the hippest bands in the universe and should be name-dropped at every opportunity if you wanted to be cool. Thankfully, they made...

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Feb 17, 2002

Let the masses consume

By Pierre Fuller

CHINA'S CENTURY: The Awakening of the Next Economic Powerhouse, edited by Lawrence J. Brahm. John Wiley & Sons, 2001, 421 pp., $24.95 (cloth) Pick up an international paper published before Sept. 11, and China is either on the front page or generously featured inside. Not anymore. The rising giant of...

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Feb 17, 2002

Atrocity and intrigue in a troubled land

By Andrew Ranard

AFGHANISTAN: A New History, by Martin Ewans. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2001, 239 pp., 12,600 yen (cloth) The exorbitant price of Martin Ewans' "Afghanistan: A New History," coupled with the word "new" in the subtitle, is enough to attract attention. But as it turns out, the book is new only in...

CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF

Feb 17, 2002

Grow up, get over it or get done

Several weeks ago, Goro Inagaki, the quiet member of SMAP who for three months excluded himself from the group's activities as penance for a traffic violation, returned to showbiz with considerable fanfare.

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Feb 17, 2002

Donald Richie rewinds a century of film

By Stephen Mansfield

Donald Richie has always struck me as the ideal role model for the aspiring writer. More the distiller than the brewer, the cordon-bleu chef than the bone-cook, there is much to be learned from Richie's refinements.

CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN

Feb 14, 2002

Art appreciation as commodity fetishism

By Monty Dipietro

For the next three months, the Tokyo Opera City Gallery is devoting its large exhibition space to "JAM: Tokyo-London." Born of a cross-cultural happening in England in 1996, this second installment of JAM focuses on art, fashion and music. Premiered at the Barbican Gallery in London last summer and now...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Feb 13, 2002

Marc-Andre Hamelin

By Philip Brasor

Canadian pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin was the only classical musician to play live at the 2001 Grammy Awards Ceremony, a distinction that some of his peers might find dubious and others downright horrifying. It isn't clear what benefit the gig afforded Hamelin in terms of record sales, but in a roundabout...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.

What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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