Search - beauty

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 16, 2011

"Japanese Craft Techniques and Beauty"

In order to help preserve Japan's cultural heritage, the national government has been designating traditional intangible techniques of crafts and performing arts as Important Intangible Cultural Properties since 1955. Skilled artisans of such designated intangible techniques are often called Living National...
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Dec 15, 2011

Having a laugh at the witch doctors of art

It's one of the most enigmatic questions of all time: What is art? Any gallery that holds an exhibition using that as its theme is either taking things very seriously indeed, or it's having a laugh.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Dec 14, 2011

Perfect toys for retro gamers and karaoke fans

People who were kids during the early days of console gaming often look for ways to recapture the the excitement of that time. Those who spent hours playing the Famicom here in Japan, for example, still have a weakness for retro gaming. And while there are many ways to relive gaming glorydays (Famicom...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2011

'The Ditch' / 'Sacrifice'

In 1949, the revolution of Mao Zedong infused revolutionaries worldwide with hope. In France, existentialists Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre singled China out as a nation with the potential to set all other nations free. Then in 1956, Chairman Mao made a public declaration to encourage free...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Dec 9, 2011

Fugu dinner course at Hakone hotel

Through Feb. 29, 2012, the Odakyu Hotel de Yama in the resort area of Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, is offering a special winter accommodation plan that comes with a special Japanese kaiseki dinner featuring fugu, a seasonal fish for winter in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2011

'Genji Monogatari: Sennen no Nazo (Tale of Genji — A Thousand Year Enigma)'

Filming "Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji)," Murasaki Shikibu's epic 1,000-year-old tale of love and intrigue among Heian Period (794-1185) nobles, would seem to be an impossible task, like putting the Bible on the screen. (The 1966 John Huston film of that title covers only part of the book of Genesis.)...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 8, 2011

Forget Santa — spend the holidays at a live house

For those not into the usual Japanese holiday traditions of eating Christmas cake, watching the "Kohaku" music show on TV, and quiet nights with the family, luckily Japan's rockers aren't taking time off. December is filled with must-see gigs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 2, 2011

"Toshinose Kourei! Chushingura Ten: 'Kawaridane' Chushingura"

On Dec. 14, 1702, 47 samurai from Ako, in present-day Hyogo Prefecture, avenged the death of their master by attacking the mansion of the high official held responsible and killing him. "Chushingura," a historical tale of loyalty and the samurai code of ethics, is a popular story that is often dramatized...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 2, 2011

Hannaryz building momentum in Western Conference

In the rugged Western Conference, the Kyoto Hannaryz face a rough road ahead in their quest to reach the Final Four for the first time in franchise history.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 2, 2011

Tintin gets a little closer to Japan in 3-D movie

"Everyone knows Tintin!" says a street hawker in the film "The Adventures of Tintin" — but 30 years ago director Steven Spielberg had no idea who or what he was.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 1, 2011

Issues that covered up Japan's nudes

In his popular anecdotal encyclopedia of Japan, "Things Japanese," the 19th-century British Japanologist, Basil Hall Chamberlain, included the comment that "the nude is seen in Japan but not looked at." This reflected a reality in 1890, when the book was published: Nudity was not a big deal, at least...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 1, 2011

'Ryoko Suzuki: "I am ..."'

Zeit Foto Salone Closes Dec. 17
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 25, 2011

"Noh Masks and Costumes from the Mitsui Collection"

Showing approximately 100 noh masks and costumes drawn from the Mitsui Memorial Museum's collections, this exhibition was curated to present the "profound and subtle beauty" of a uniquely Japanese art form.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 25, 2011

"Shigemori Mirei: Hokutoshichisei no Niwa Ten"

From Dec. 4, the Watari Museum of Contemporary Art explores the essence of Japanese aesthetics through a retrospective exhibition of Mirei Shigemori (1896-1975), a Japanese garden designer and historian.
Reader Mail
Nov 24, 2011

The myth of an aesthetic sense

Jevon Allen's Nov. 17 letter "Cleaning up after the natives" exposes at least two things about Japanese culture. First, the in-group/out-group thing, which might explain a lax attitude toward littering the beaches, the countryside, woods and mountains — places for which people feel responsibility in...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 20, 2011

Sarobetsu's a stopover to count on for wonders

Gray predawn light suffuses the eastern horizon before crawling slowly across the landscape — but not before a rich clamoring reaches my ears.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 18, 2011

"Yoshiyuki Chosa: The Beauty of Metalworking"

This exhibition celebrates the Nov. 10 presentation ceremony of the Kyoto Prize, which was established by the electronics company Kyocera's founder, Kazuo Inamori, and given in recognition of outstanding work in the fields of art, philosophy, science and technology.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Nov 18, 2011

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 curtseys, your little music; in short, you have been pleasant enough...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 17, 2011

'Irving Penn and Issey Miyake: Visual Dialogue'

21_21 Design Sight
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 12, 2011

Modern Greece built on myth

Greece is the cradle of democracy, but as the world has seen recently, a financial crisis is no time to put important questions to the people. Prime Minister George Papandreou's proposed referendum on the country's loan deal with the European Union, called off quickly after intense international opposition,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 4, 2011

"Valerio Olgiati"

Swiss architect and designer Valerio Olgiati has an office in Zurich and another in the Swiss mountainside municipality of Flims. He also worked for a number of years in Los Angeles and has recently garnered international acclaim for his daring and yet simple designs.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 1, 2011

Matchmakers in wings as singles rise

How can you meet the spouse of your dreams? To find that special someone to spend the rest of your life with, to have children and grow old together? Who can fit the bill?
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Oct 30, 2011

Yea! As I walk through the valley of Todoroki . . .

Todoroki Valley Park, a protected green swath along Tokyo's only ravine, strikes me as an interesting and possibly quite sheltered destination on a brisk and breezy fall day.
SOCCER / J. League
Oct 23, 2011

Stojkovic works magic with late-game changes

Defending J. League champions Nagoya Grampus dug deep to beat Omiya Ardija 3-2 on Saturday and keep themselves firmly in the title shakeup going into the final four games of the season.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 20, 2011

Hossam Ramzy's drum tells tales going back to Ancient Egypt

Given the ongoing popularity of bellydancing in Japan, the signature sound of the Egyptian darbuka drum, has become far more familiar. While it may not have the ubiquitous hippie drum-circle presence of the djembe, this smaller-but-brash hand drum has developed quite a following of its own. Local groups...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 16, 2011

Don't look back, Tohoku: It's time to look far beyond the Japanese box

Iam just back from a five-day journey around Iwate Prefecture in Tohoku with an NHK TV crew.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 16, 2011

In search of the Holy Grail of mushrooms

The ancients were none too complimentary about their fungi. "Few of them are good, and most produce a choking sensation," wrote Marcus Athenaeus of Naucratis 1,800 years ago in "Deipnosophistae" ("Philosophers at Dinner").
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Oct 14, 2011

Gardow has expansion Jets prepared for takeoff

The bj-league's Eastern Conference is overflowing with newness this season.
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 9, 2011

Women warriors of Japan

"Ah, for some bold warrior to match with, that Kiso might see how fine a death I can die!"

Longform

Construction equipment sits idle in a park near Shiba Toshogu shrine in Tokyo's Minato Ward. While Japan has a history of treating its trees with reverence, green coverage is said to be lacking in most of the major cities.
Do Japan's trees no longer occupy the sacred space they used to?