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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 9, 2012

From Comme des Garcons to Somarta, Japanese fashion excels at weaving past, present and future

In 1981, while Western designers focused on shoulder-padded power suits, bright colors, sharp stiletto heels and statement jewelry, Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garcons' Rei Kawakubo sent their models down the runway in defiant black, voluminously draped garments, accessorized with nothing but flat shoes....
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 6, 2012

Rug's secrets to unravel in Gion

The results of a nifty piece of historical sleuthing are on display in Kyoto through July 18 in an exhibition timed to coincide with the city's renowned Gion Festival.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jun 12, 2012

Totally wrapped in Joy

Asked to name a seminal New York City-born musician with an intrepid preference for over-the-top fashion, and Lady Gaga would surely the first name to roll off the tongue. But there's another female musician from the city who influenced global fashion with her unique taste in stage costumes: Yeah Yeah...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 7, 2012

Tsunami-spoiled pics given new life

Of all the many and varied recovery and repair efforts now under way following the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, few would be as fiddly as the Rikuzentakata Disaster Document Digitalization Project.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 29, 2012

Behavioral patterns in the male

RECREATING JAPANESE MEN, edited by Sabine Fruhstuck and Anne Walthall. University of California Press, 2011. 309 pp., $26.95 (paper) Debate on the how, when and why of mankind's creation brims over mere academic study. Sabine Fruhstuck and Anne Walthall, professors of Modern Japanese Culture and History...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 12, 2011

Retiree's blog about old car catalogs finds fans

A blog written by a 76-year-old retiree in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, is finding an audience among car buffs.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Oct 18, 2011

Fashion Week action happening on more than just runways

Tokyo's MBFW festivities It's mid-Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Tokyo (MBFW Tokyo) and there's still an array of snazzy events to carry you through to the end while keeping you fashionable. So roll up your best, pressed sleeves and read on.
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Aug 12, 2011

War memoirs digitized for posterity

27th in a series
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 12, 2010

Ephemeral beauty in the lives of Edo women

The Ota Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo, is currently hosting an exhibition of Edo Period (1603-1867) ukiyo-e woodblock prints from the Museum for Art and Craft Hamburg, Germany. The museum houses one of the finest ukiyo-e collections in Europe, and has lent 237 pieces from its 5,000 piece collection,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Nov 11, 2010

New inroads for Louboutin, Rag & Bone, Nike-Undercover, K-Swiss

Louboutin digs his signature heels into flagship Ginza space Christian Louboutin, arguably the most famous shoe designer in the world, was in Tokyo early this month to christen the opening of his very first free-standing boutique in Tokyo and Japan. The space is a three-story building that fits snugly...
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 31, 2010

Tipping a hat to Japan creations

I was feeling an itch to don a bonnet.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Oct 14, 2010

A feast fit for fashion

Fashion week for the public It's that time again, when fashion makers and breakers take all that creativity they have pent up for the past six months and let it loose in the form of Japan Fashion Week (JFW).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 8, 2010

What artists see in themselves

Visitors to Florence in Italy have long been awed by the works in two of the city's finest museums: the Uffizi Gallery and the Pitti Palace. But, perhaps preoccupied by prime examples of Raphael, Botticelli and other Renaissance artists, many visitors let their stay come to an end without enjoying the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 20, 2010

Immigration procedures face huge shakeup

As of July 1, there are big changes afoot for the laws governing foreign residency in Japan. Not since 1990, when the categories of residence increased from 18 to 27, has the Ministry of Justice's Immigration Bureau undergone such a wholesale reordering of its operations.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 13, 2010

One more time — with Charisma

Hide the booze and lock up your daughters: Charisma Man is back. The lovable loser who was constantly broke, dateless and swilling rotgut at home is back in Japan, with a pocket full of folding money, a girl on each arm and a chilled glass of first-class sake in his hand.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 11, 2010

Identity quests unite labels

Maybe the abundance of "safe" fashion on the runways at the 2010 Autumn/Winter Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo last month was the designers' way of spinning themselves a taffeta and jersey-cotton cocoon from which they hope to emerge next season with their businesses and egos left intact.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Apr 8, 2010

Return of Yohji, AMBUSH bling, LIMI feu bargains and Tokyo Girls

Coming back in style
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 20, 2010

American gomi yashiki

I was recently asked by a Japanese person if we have gomi yashiki (trash houses) in the United States. In Japan, such houses refer to those whose inhabitants hoard things to the point that their stuff is overflowing onto the streets, sometimes impeding traffic.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 5, 2010

Wife of writer behind 'Slumdog Millionaire' exhibits art at Miele

Aparna Swarup, wife of diplomat Vikas Swarup, who wrote "Q & A," the original story behind Oscar-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire," is showing her art in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 5, 2010

Spring blooms early in art world

Seasons play an important role in Japanese culture, which has long celebrated the appreciation of ephemeral beauty as a reflection of life itself. One of the most important seasons in Japan is New Year's, a time for families to gather and celebrate with several days of elaborate feasts. Traditionally,...
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 8, 2009

Fashion fantasy meets form

With Japan Fashion Week shows now running concurrently with the Tokyo International Film Festival, it was hard sometimes not to liken the collections to films.
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 8, 2009

Matohu duo open up

Two hours late to the audition, a leggy model scrambled in to Matohu's showroom. After she presented her portfolio of photos to the designers and performed a short runway strut, she picked up her things, gave a bow and quickly left.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 16, 2009

Love and light at Hara Museum

In 1979, when he founded the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in his grandfather's former residence in Tokyo's Shinagawa district, Toshio Hara was driven by the vision of creating one of Japan's first institutions dedicated to living artists. At the time there were precious few other venues for contemporary...
CULTURE / Books
May 24, 2009

The enduring tradition of tanka

WHITE PETALS by Harue Aoki. Shichigatsudo, 2008, 126 pp., ¥1,500 (paper)
Japan Times
LIFE / JAPAN FASHION WEEK
Apr 12, 2009

Designers bid to shrug off woes

The global slump's impact on the fashion world was on everyone's lips during Japan Fashion Week, as it has been around the world since last fall.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Apr 9, 2009

Kalivas goes 'Goemon,' Marjoli shines bright and Sistere makes Kyoto urban

Fantasy after fashion Tina Kalivas will get to see her creations on the big screen this May, as the Australian fashion designer produced the costumes for the new Japanese film "Goemon." The movie is based on the legend of a Robin Hood-like hero and was directed by Kazuaki Kiriya, who was responsible...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 21, 2008

A trove of fiction, all for the love of women

SPARKLING RAIN and Other Fiction From Japan of Women Who Love Women, edited by Barbara Summerhawk and Kimberly Hughes, with introductions by Hitomi Sawabe and Mieko Watanabe. Chicago: New Victoria Publishers, Inc., 2008, 216 pp., $16.95 (paper) As editor Barbara Summerhawk writes in her introduction...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Aug 12, 2008

Jimmy Choo, Mickey Mouse, Fred Perry and more

Fashion mouse Disney has inspired a lot of people, from little girls to Superbowl champions. Even designer Vivienne Tam has now taken inspiration from her childhood and decided to pay tribute to the famous mouse with a capsule collection of playful dresses for this fall/winter season.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight