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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jul 9, 2005

Five signs of the coming Golden Age of trance

In the fast and chaotic protoculture growing around psychedelic trance in Japan, it is often difficult at best and futile at worst to try to get a genuine fix on the direction in which we are headed.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 27, 2005

Get peace of mind . . . in the off-season

Arrival in some places doesn't always meet expectations. From stories I had read of Taketomi, I had built up a picture of a sleepy subtropical paradise. This island at the southwestern end of the Okinawan chain was, I learned, a place of coral-sand streets and quaint Okinawan life, an island where cars...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 19, 2005

Castle of the truly absurd

One night in deep midwinter, K. arrives at an inn in a snow-covered village beneath a mighty castle which may or may not exist. K., played by Tetsushi Tanaka, claims he has been hired by the castle as a land surveyor.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 15, 2004

You can't beat an old master

Coffee Jiko Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Hou Hsiao- hsien Running time: 103 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Yasujiro Ozu's trademark style -- the low camera angles, the straight cuts, the actors talking at the camera in medium closeup...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 4, 2004

Robert Whiting: Outside the box

Back in 1972, a 30-year-old New Jersey native who had recently graduated from Tokyo's Sophia University was in New York City, trying to talk to anyone who would listen about politics and life in Japan. Nobody was interested.
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Jan 8, 2004

Japanese books climbed walls, went back to the past in 2003

The particular combination of theme, packaging and timing that produces a best seller is always a mystery, and last year's top sellers in Japan presented even more of a puzzle than usual. What is it about "Baka no Kabe" by anatomy professor Takeshi Yoro that took it to the top of the chart soon after...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 2, 2003

One-man media airs his views

It's 10 a.m. Sunday, and TBS TV's "Sunday Japon" show is getting under way. American entertainer Dave Spector, a regular panelist, shares the stage with a former porn actress, a Korean journalist and a member of the Diet. After an hour of exchanging ripostes with the others on major international and...
CULTURE / Music
Sep 29, 2002

Music of the J-people

Japanese pop music is crap. So say many of my friends, especially the non-Japanese ones. They reach that conclusion after noticing that the charts are full of chipmunk-voiced idols who are long on looks and short on talent -- and whose shelf lives are only slightly longer than sushi.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 25, 2002

Printers who made an impression

LONDON -- In 1945, as the Japanese contemplated defeat, devastation and occupation by a foreign power for the first time, the future must have seemed bleak and uncertain. But along with the terrible toll on life and property, the war years damaged Japanese society in ways that were harder to see.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 7, 2002

Adult 'Fosse' is setting the stage alight

"Fosse" is here again, back in Japan after its first, hugely successful tour last year mobilized 100,000 fans of the late choreographer-director-actor-dancer Bob Fosse's astonishing oeuvre.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 26, 2002

Enough to make Spanish eyes smile

In case you hadn't noticed, Spanish food is big right now -- or at least that's what the vernacular magazines would have us believe. This, of course, is not the first time it's been touted as the next big thing. But somehow a critical mass of popularity was never achieved, and Spain's culinary profile...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Apr 10, 2002

In a sentimental mood

For Westerners of a certain age, the '60s were an era of social and cultural ferment, when the Vietnam War, the Pill, rock music, drugs and the sexual revolution shook the foundations of society. In Japan, however, a "can-do" spirit prevailed as the postwar blahs were left behind and the country entered...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2002

North Korea: signs of trouble but no evil

CAMBRIDGE, England -- I have just returned from a week visit to North Korea, one of the countries on U.S. President George W. Bush's "axis of evil." I was one of three British academics running a workshop under a new technical assistance program inaugurated when the two countries opened diplomatic relations...
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jan 6, 2002

Starting at the root of Japanese cooking

A samurai party — pungent as daikon radish their conversation! — Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)
JAPAN / ANCIENT TRADITIONS
Jan 1, 2002

Western eyes blind to spirituality in Japan

First of two parts
COMMUNITY
Dec 16, 2001

Photo-news loses its focus

Last August's demise of Shinchosha's weekly photo newsmagazine Focus marked a major publishing milestone in Japan.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2001

Disturbing signals from distant Planet Y

All About Lily Chou ChouRating: * * * 1/2 Director: Shunji Iwai Running time: 146 minutes Language: Japanese Now showing
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 5, 2001

The big day

When 645 guests descended on Tokyo's New Takanawa Hotel last month to celebrate the marriage of 46-year-old former pop idol Hideki Saijo to Miki Makihara, a 28-year-old "office lady" he'd been dating since the fall, the starstruck media gushed at length over the "super gorgeous" event.
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2001

On the streets of Oguiss' town

When I first saw the oil paintings of Paris by the Japanese artist, Takanori Oguiss (1901-1986) I was strangely reminded of the neutron bomb, a weapon notorious for its ability to annihilate humans without damaging buildings.
CULTURE / Art
May 9, 2001

The shock of the Nouveau

Like a femme fatale, Art Nouveau has long guarded her secrets well. Were her sinuous lines symbolic or erotic? Did she bring fresh beauty into the modern world, or exploit a fin de siecle taste for the decadent? And why did she suddenly disappear, after a rapid rise to fame?
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Oct 7, 2000

Tales of romance and bloodshed come alive in Shinnai song

Some of the performing arts of Japan are so spectacular that they grab your attention and immediately make you feel a part of the music. Taiko drumming is one; rhythm speaks directly to our bodies, and the beating of a stick on a drum has a physical appeal to all, regardless of language or culture.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 13, 2000

A Dance of hope: Rediscovering the artistry and power of Choi Seung-Hee

On March 20, 1926, a 14-year-old Korean girl was in Seoul, watching a performance of the internationally renowned dancer Baku Ishii and his troupe.
LIFE / Travel
May 24, 2000

Lazy days on Yanagawa's canals

Yanagawa, in Fukuoka Prefecture, almost doesn't feel like a castle town. After all, the castle's remains (several heavy stone walls covered with greenery) now have two schools sprawling over them, and today the city is more associated with water, willow trees and writers. However Yanagawa's most distinctive...
CULTURE / Art
May 7, 2000

Jewels of the printmaker's art

"I call these my jewels," said Joanna H. Schoff, as we bent to catch a gleam of silver in the softly lit museum. Treasures indeed, but instead of the brilliance of diamonds we were looking at far gentler beauties: rare gems of Japanese printmaking from the 1800s.
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 16, 2000

Want to know your fortune? Go fish

In the West you might scan your tea leaves for a peek at what the future may hold, but in Japan you are more likely to grab your chopsticks (OK, mouse) for the latest craze -- sushi fortunetelling.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Nov 27, 1999

The potter who set the scene on fire

In a brief span of time a few decades ago, one Japanese potter set the ceramic scene on fire, and as quickly as a brilliant meteor shooting across a night sky, disappeared. Yet his name and influence still circle the wheel that spins in most potters' studios; his immense impact on contemporary ceramics...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Women at Work
May 9, 2023

Breaking ground for women in Japan's bureaucracy

Yasuko Gotoh braved the attitudes and aggressions of Japan's government ministries early in her career before thriving in later roles and in the private sector.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jul 23, 2023

Japan's macho cheerleaders fight to save a tradition

Dressed in old-fashioned, school-style uniforms, cheering squads are a mass of black at college baseball games as they shout out chants and bang taiko drums.
A woman takes a picture of the poster for the new Hayao Miyazaki film, “The Boy and the Heron.”
PODCAST / deep dive
Aug 2, 2023

Hayao Miyazaki’s confusing new masterpiece

Our critics Thu-Huong Ha and Matt Schley discuss what they thought of the new Hayao Miyazaki film, “The Boy and the Heron.”
Mysteriously suspended on the water of the Fugan Canal in Kansui Park, Hiroko Kubo’s “Mountain Dogs” (2023) are made from materials that reflect the industries of Toyama.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 7, 2023

An introspective Go For Kogei turns its attention to Toyama

The craft-art festival focuses on the historically industrial city to explore the Hokuriku region's crafts in an urban setting.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami