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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 21, 2003

The first Western master of woodblock

A Western man clad in a kimono sits in his tatami-floored studio with his paintings strewn about him. In the background a shamisen stands in a wooden box, its neck jutting upward.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 27, 2003

Time after time, show after show

Though Cyndi Lauper is much more than a one-hit wonder, her sudden stardom in 1984 made the subsequent lack of fireworks in her career seem as if she'd put everything she had into her debut album, "She's so Unusual." It's not entirely true, but in any case that LP went platinum five times in the United...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Apr 18, 2003

The air is clear and the food gives cheer

Now in my early 30s, I find myself no longer able to just pick up and head off for a break. Ten years ago, my friends and I would take off anywhere, just about anytime. One of our last considerations — being in motion was the first — was what to do when we got there or what to eat when the time came....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 5, 2003

Not just another pretty spaz

Singer-songwriter Rhett Miller, who is in Tokyo for a few days plugging his album "The Instigator" is feeing encouraged. "I told my manager I wanted to come back in May with a band," he says between sips of green tea at the offices of Warner Music Japan. During a solo acoustic showcase the night before...
LIFE / Travel
Feb 23, 2003

Austere monks in a lavish monastery

It seems at first that they are not of this world, these monks living out their lives of mountain seclusion. They glide purposefully -- as if on some devout mission from on high -- through the monastery corridors. At times, they flit by at great speed, their black tunics and dark blue robes swishing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Feb 12, 2003

Mountain man who walked the path of art

"Born alone, will die alone; come alone, will be gone alone; study alone, walk alone": This is said to have been the mantra of one of Japan's greatest 20th-century artists, the boisterous, arrogant and brilliant Rosanjin Kitaoji (1883-1959).
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Feb 3, 2003

"The Wish List," "Winnie's Magic Wand"

"The Wish List," Eoin Colfer, Puffin Books; 2002; 200 pp. If you couldn't get enough of Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series, put this book on your wish list.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jan 19, 2003

Paradise retained

Palawan is variously cited as the Philippines' "last frontier," "the world's best-kept secret" and "a nature-lover's dream."
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Jan 19, 2003

Perseverance, positive outlook carrying Inamoto

Scoring an important goal obviously affects the outcome of a game. But it also sometimes changes the scorer's career -- as in the case with Japan and Fulham midfielder Junichi Inamoto.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 4, 2003

Banish bad habits with hypnotherapy and healing

Erik Bragg had said to look for a beard and a big blue coat. And here he is, though not quite as hirsute as imagined, and wearing an anorak rather than the more theatrical style somehow envisaged. He has traveled in from Kashiwa, in Chiba Prefecture, where he practices as a certified clinical hypnotherapist...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 22, 2002

Kazuko Shiraishi does it her way

KAZUKO SHIRAISHI: Let Those Who Appear. Translated by Samuel Grolmes and Yumiko Tsumura. New Directions, 2002, 49 pp., $12.95 (paper). I've met the poet Kazuko Shiraishi three times, on each of her visits to New York. Shiraishi made her latest trip to this city in the spring of 2002, to mark the publication...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 20, 2002

The dangerous art of living quietly

Oriza Hirata's 1995 Kishida Drama Award-winning "Tokyo Notes" opened in Japan for the first time in four years Sunday, after touring overseas to critical acclaim. Now being staged at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Kinshicho by Seinendan, the company Hirata founded in 1983, this portrait of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 10, 2002

The mismeasure of Emperor Meiji

EMPEROR OF JAPAN: Meiji and His World 1852-1912, by Donald Keene. Columbia University Press: New York, 2002, 922 pp. + xiii + 18 pp. of illustrations, $39.50 (cloth) Like any great story, history prefers that its leading men (and women) have some sparkle, whether a foible (Henry VIII's marital tangles;...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2002

Social responsibility a safe investment

One Akiyama thrived in the fast-paced, high-stakes world of finance for 18 years, working as a U.S. government bond trader for several brokerages in Tokyo and New York. Until about a year ago.
COMMUNITY
Nov 2, 2002

Design consultant draws on stores of good sense

If you see a conservatively dressed Englishman pop a plastic bag over his head as it begins to rain, it's most probably Tim Toomey: "I'd rather turn up for a meeting dry and comfortable than arrive sopping wet in some misguided attempt to preserve my image."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 27, 2002

Coldfeet raise pop to a higher plane

"Sure, we want to be famous," Coldfeet's chanteuse, Lori Fine, says a little defensively in the faux tavern environs of Shibuya's TGIFridays, stabbing at a half-eaten pizza quesadilla. Fine is a former model and has the effortless poise and posture of one -- minus the myopic egotism.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 13, 2002

Joanie's in town, and she's ready to kick some butt

Joanie Laurer lists herself as 5'10". She looks more like 6'4" in the flesh. Built like a brick lighthouse, former World Wrestling Federation (WWF) star "Chyna" cuts an imposing figure as she greets me at the door to her hotel room.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 13, 2002

Dear old dads star in series, specials

Fathers of all shapes and sizes are the stars of this week's lineup of drama specials and new series. "Otosan (Father)," premieres Oct. 13 at 9 p.m. on the TBS network.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 22, 2002

Hsia Yu: modern, universal and refreshing

FUSION KITSCH: Poetry by Hsia Yu, Translated by Steve Bradbury. Zephyr Press, Massachusetts, 2001, 131 pp., $13 (paper) The title of this book, the first bilingual collection of work by Taiwanese poet Hsia Yu, is apt. In fact, translator Steve Bradbury, a professor at National Central University in Taiwan,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Sep 11, 2002

Putting the J in J-punk

It's taken a while, but punk rock seems to have finally broken into the J-pop mainstream.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 1, 2002

Rene Paulo takes a break from the hotel circuit

For the better part of five decades, Rene Paulo has made a steady living playing piano in hotel lounges in Honolulu, Las Vegas and Los Angeles -- but don't call him a lounge player. And don't ask him if Liberace was an influence.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 1, 2002

Reaching for the skyline

Sixty-nine-year-old British architect Sir Richard Rogers has been one of the world's foremost architects for the last 30 years. Awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1985, he was further rewarded for his outstanding achievements with a knighthood from the Queen six years...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 31, 2002

Madhu Jain

"My exhibition in Japanese-style painting portraying Indian imagery was an exciting challenge for me, as it uses a relatively unknown medium. At times I struggled late into the night to bring about the desired effects. When suddenly I could see the subject emerge with the brilliance of its pigments against...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 7, 2002

The Streets: Original Pirate Material

Following hard on the heels of drum 'n' bass, U.K. garage (or two-beat) was already the hippest thing in urban Britain by the time the rest of the world had even heard of it. Critics called it the purest form of dance music since '70s disco, while practitioners made much of its up-from-the-streets credibility,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Aug 6, 2002

Pick a Palau isle and call it your own

The boat is fueled. Frosted beer bottles glint in the ice boxes. The provisions are stashed, and we are about to go and find ourselves our very own desert island.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 31, 2002

Modern Paintings of Mongolia: taking great steppes

Dividing his massive empire between his sons, Genghis Khan's grand legacy to the eldest was all the land from the Aral Sea westward "as far as the hooves of Mongol horses have reached."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 21, 2002

Public works projects? Dam them all to hell

The person who said that all politics is local probably wasn't thinking about Japan, where regional officials don't seem to have much purpose in life beyond trying to cadge money from Tokyo.
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 5, 2002

Zico open to taking Japan job

Former Brazil international and Kashima Antlers technical director Zico is very receptive to the Japan Football Association's offer to become the next Japan national team coach, saying he "would like to take it if the two sides can settle the matter in details."
CULTURE / Books
Jun 23, 2002

The courage to endure

BAD ELEMENTS: Chinese Rebels from Los Angeles to Beijing, by Ian Buruma. Random House: New York, 2001. 367 pp. $27.95 (cloth) Are the Chinese hard-wired for authoritarian government? Is there a cultural barrier to democracy? Ian Buruma spends more space than warranted in answering these questions with...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2002

Let them breathe water: U.S. blocks sustainable development talks

BALI -- Already from the beginning there was an air of defeatism at the preparatory meeting in Bali for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. It was certainly not the ambience: The resort-style lodging for the 6,000 delegates could hardly have been a reason for complaint. But after two weeks of...

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building