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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 11, 2011

The National break past indie's borders

Formed in Brooklyn, New York, via Cincinnati, Ohio, The National have taken an equally oblique route to success. Twelve years into a career where every strand of recognition has been painstakingly hard-earned, The National's exquisite melancholy has resonated long enough to transform any cult-status...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 11, 2011

'Sone Yutaka: Perfect Moment'

Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Mar 5, 2011

Kodansha ends export strategy

Publishing giant Kodansha Ltd.'s recent decision to close down its subsidiary, Kodansha International Ltd., by the end of April reflects the firm's change in its business strategy from shipping its English-language books made in Japan to publishing and distributing them in its largest market, North America....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2011

'Chatroom'

Speaking strictly from a J-cinema fan/patriot point of view, "Chatroom" is a cause for celebration. It's set in London, stars some of the brightest young talent in the United Kingdom, centers around the timely topic of social networking — and the whole thing is directed by Japanese horror meister Hideo...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 4, 2011

Showing art can be a load of rubbish

How are Africans seen by the rest of the world? Often as victims of tragedy, requiring our pity and charity, as I discovered when I showed a class of students a photo of the respected Ghanaian artist El Anatsui. The picture — in the catalog for his exhibition now on at the Museum of Modern Art, Hayama...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 20, 2011

Remember Takuboku: A model to rouse today's thwarted youth

Social change is a volcanic phenomenon. The first rumblings may not be widely seen or heard; then there is an eruption that takes society unawares. All of a sudden — or so it seems — a new generation with new needs and demands is born. Until that happens, society often outwardly appears placid, calm...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 11, 2011

Should Japanese-style painting represent the nation as a whole?

Mise Natsunosuke has been drawn into the fold of neo-nihonga (new Japanese-style painting) practitioners, a pigeon-hole he happily investigates but is also troubled by. In earlier exhibitions he has shown complicity with both the destruction and the resurrection of nihonga, which he pursues in his current...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jan 30, 2011

Murin-an Garden: an ode to water

Surprisingly, as modernization swept through Japan in the Meiji Era (1868-1912), the number of traditional gardens increased. The clients, though, were now of a different order. Instead of the shoguns, their court aristocracy and feudal lords, the new patrons of these meticulously crafted sites of reflection,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2011

'Copie Conforme (Japan title: Tosukaana no Gansaku)'

"Copie Conforme" is intimate without being intrusive, blending insight and cynicism to portray the dynamics of a marriage that never was.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 21, 2011

New National Theatre, Tokyo, hopes 'Yuzuru' will help Japanese opera soar

Imitation may be a form of flattery, but it is also an important first step for creative genesis. The 1952 premiere of "Yuzuru" by Ikuma Dan — half imitation of Western operatic traditions and half Japanese creative innovation — marked a milestone in the development of opera in Japan.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 14, 2011

Blackwell takes stock of sweep by Phoenix

How a team responds after a key series can be a defining moment in a season.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 14, 2011

Following Monet to the country

The charm of Impressionism was that it allowed a great deal of artistic freedom and expressiveness without losing touch with realism. A good Impressionist painting allows us to recognize a scene, while encouraging us to see it in new ways. This quality of blending the real with something more ethereal...
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 31, 2010

A great year for theater innovation

Japan's drama scene has seen some change in 2010. It was as if the theater crowd grew tired of waiting for the country's ailing economy and faltering politics to offer them anything new to work with and decided to go and find their own inspiration.
BUSINESS / Japan Pulse
Dec 29, 2010

Chapter 2 of e-readers in Japan

2010 was the year of the iPad, but Sony, KDDI and Sharp haven't exactly closed the book on e-readers yet.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 24, 2010

A figure outside the nihonga box

"Depicting the Human Form: From Natural Sight and Sentiment to Modeling" at the Insho-Domoto Museum of Fine Arts, Kyoto, jumps around. It is evidence of the constantly searching temperament of the nihonga (Japanese-style painting) painter Insho Domoto (1891-1975), who refused to acquiesce to the sometimes...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 24, 2010

Japan makes Beethoven's Ninth No. 1 for the holidays

It's Sunday afternoon at Tokyo Geijutsu Gekijo, where the Japan Philharmonic is performing Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, one of dozens of performances of the piece that take place throughout Japan during the month of December. The house is virtually sold out, and the audience appears to be mostly...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 24, 2010

'Bakamono (Fools)'

Age-inappropriate romance, on screen or off, stirs up passionate reactions. Cougars — an American term for middle-aged women who actively seek out younger lovers — find both supporters (who see them as adventurous and sexy) and slammers (who deride them as deluded and shameless). I like a saying...
CULTURE / Art
Dec 24, 2010

'Snapshots Cast Their Spell'; 'Radiant Moments: The New Snapshot'

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 19, 2010

'Candy man' conjures up art to eat

Children and adults swarm the sanzun (small street cart) of Takahiro Mizuki as he creates traditional ame zaiku (candy sculptures).
EDITORIALS
Dec 17, 2010

Mr. Kan to open floodgates

Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Wednesday decided not to appeal a Dec. 6 Fukuoka High Court ruling that called for opening two floodgates, north and south, of the dike in Isahaya Bay.
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 10, 2010

Class of 2010: Japan's playwrights head west

Japan's young dramatists are increasingly shrugging off their medium's long-standing, self-imposed national isolation and are setting sail in search of new audiences, and critical praise, overseas.
JAPAN / LIVING IN LUXURY
Dec 3, 2010

Tycoon's mansion now campus landmark

One of the final works of English architect Josiah Condor before his death in 1920 was the Tokyo manor of Duke Tadashige Shimazu, a house built in Italian Renaissance style that has become the symbol of Seisen University.
LIFE / Digital / Japan Pulse
Dec 1, 2010

Charismatic shop assistants are back in style

The returning popularity of store staff blogs show that strategic charisma can go a long way toward good PR and sales.
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 28, 2010

Eats, shoots and leaves in Hakusan

It's hunting season in Tokyo. I kit up and trek out to the Hakusan area of Bunkyo Ward, hoping to shoot (with camera) the wild shades of autumn.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 25, 2010

Mozart's growing influence on food

Although the claim that listening to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's complicated scores can boost your IQ has been debunked, its effect on bananas has yet to be disputed. So in July, the Hyogo Prefecture-based fruit company Toyoka Chuo Seika shipped out its first batch of "Mozart Bananas" to supermarkets in...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 21, 2010

'Freeter' drama reflects Japan's income gap

The American media keeps wondering whether or not the United States will have to endure a "lost decade" of sluggish growth and stagnant employment like the one Japan suffered through after the real-estate bubble burst in the early 1990s. It seems unlikely. The American economy is dynamic while Japan's...
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 21, 2010

'Evacuate' to whole new worlds

In the foyers of theaters in Tokyo's new "happening" hub of Ikebukuro — where the provocative Festival/Tokyo (F/T) drama event is running through November — odd exchanges can often be overheard.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?