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August 29, 2025
 

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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 20, 2007

Adventures in folk

'At a festival like this, where you're collaborating with highly talented, colorful artists during a short, intense time period, there is always a risk. But the wonderful thing about 'La Folle Journee' is that the artists are given the opportunities to work with partners who they would not have otherwise...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 9, 2007

Violinist's 'virtuoso fun'

Promising young Japanese-American violinist Ray Iwazumi makes his Tokyo debut at Opera City Recital Hall on March 17. In an e-mail interview, Iwazumi himself described the evening's program of great Belgian works composed around the turn of the 20th century as an entertaining one, which will combine...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 15, 2007

A cockeyed view of reality

Hiroshi Nakamura's signature works evoke the world of the otaku (obsessive fan). His frequent use of the high-school sailor uniform -- often slightly disheveled -- combined with his trainspotting obsession with trains and other forms of locomotion, creates the same kind of atmosphere you can encounter...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Feb 8, 2007

Blood, guts and bathing

Colonialism leaves a peculiar scar. As generations pass and ethnicities merge, the distinction between indigenous and invader becomes increasingly blurred until it is impossible for either side to regard the other without finding something of themselves reflected there. Some 500 years after the arrival...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 21, 2006

Seeking new approaches

PHOTOGRAPHY is everywhere these days. The popular photo-sharing Web site Flickr is said to have 4 million members, who upload 1 million images a day, and with cell phones now having more pixels than old digital cameras, everything is a Docomo, Softbank, Canon or Nikon "moment."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 16, 2006

An upheaval of creativity

History is full of lies but, there's at least one truth you can count on: times of great upheaval and change often lead to, and are on occasion born of, great flowerings of human genius.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 9, 2006

Going out on a limb

When Katsura Funakoshi started working in wood more than 30 years ago, it was a highly unfashionable artistic material. It didn't have the mercurial properties of paint or video, nor the modern gleam and sheen of steel or other manmade materials.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 9, 2006

The art of the machine

The phenomenal success of MTV's "Pimp my Ride," a show in which everyday folk have their unglamorous vehicles jazzed up with chrome wheels, fancy paint jobs and state-of-the-art sound systems, has sparked huge interest in the art and practice of motor-vehicle customization. So it wasn't long before a...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 10, 2006

Out of the well, but into the fire

FROG IN THE WELL: Portraits of Japan by Watanabe Kazan 1793-1841, by Donald Keene. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006, 290 pp., including endnotes, bibliography, index and 38 color illustrations, £24.50 (cloth). Watanabe Kazan is not nearly as well known in Western countries as his contemporary...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 31, 2006

The search for 'nihonga' clouds artistic judgements

While proponents of contemporary Japanese art do not seem quite as preoccupied with attempts to shock as their Western counterparts, for curators and creators with an eye on finding fame and fortune overseas, courting controversy can seem almost like an obligation.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 27, 2006

Cultural insight past the twaddle

FULL METAL APACHE: Transactions Between Cyberpunk Japan and Avant-Pop America, by Takayuki Tatsumi, foreword by Larry McCaffery. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 272 pp., 2006, $22.95 (paper). Literary theorist and critic Takayuki Tatsumi's new book, "Full Metal Apache," is both good and bad....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 17, 2006

Ernesto Neto

Tomio Koyama GalleryCloses in 9 days
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 13, 2006

A stroll among the masterpieces

The Price exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum is divided into five sections, each devoted to a specific area of painting. The first sets the stage with examples of "mainline" painters -- members of the Kano school (which, from the late 16th century to the late 19th century, combined Chinese academic...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 29, 2006

Japanese artists meet Duchamp's 'bride'

Given Marcel Duchamp's pivotal role in the history of modern art, you could say that connections could be drawn between his work and that of any other artist. In Japan, his controversial ideas have definitely had a strong influence on modern art, both before and since World War II.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 18, 2006

The lore and legend of Asian lawmen

"The Calf Strung Up beneath The Cart" will cause you agony profound; "The Ass tied tightly to The Post" will make you scream and leap around; "The Phoenix drying both her Wings" to death itself will bring you near; "The Boy who Sits and Contemplates," the stoutest soul will cause to fear; And if "The...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 4, 2006

Big in France

There's a good reason that the artists given the moniker the Ecole de Paris were called a "school" -- in the early 20th century they had flocked from all over the World to Paris to learn the styles, techniques, and attitudes that had put the French capital at the cutting edge of art.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 9, 2006

Young, fresh and traditional Japanese artists

Some people complain that poetry has never been the same since poets were absolved of their obligations to rhyme and rhythm. The same people also think that since the 1968 scrapping of the Hollywood Production Code that regulated sexual content, movies have lost a lot of their sexual sizzle.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 23, 2006

The real Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The genius, the divinely inspired child, the idiot savant, the skilled populist craftsman, the underappreciated artist in his time who died tragically young in anonymous penury. Every generation makes of him what they will; the legends abound. And 250 years after his birth in...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 22, 2006

S. Korean wetland faces doom

For those readers long ago numbed to the fraud, waste and environmental abuse that accompanies public works projects in Japan, here's one that might jump-start your ire: A project by the South Korean government to landfill and develop 40,100 hectares (almost 100,000 acres) of coastal waters and wetlands...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 16, 2006

Teppei Ujiyama: Ad hoc accumulations create musical universes

While the exuberance of youth has played its part in countless artistic breakthroughs, the power of the midlife crisis should not be underestimated either, especially in a society where the wisdom or follies of age are afforded much more respect (or tolerance, as the case may be) than those of youth....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 9, 2006

Aya Kondo : Rock 'n' roll with manners

What can you say about Aya Kondo, a woodblock-print artist who has taken staid wafu -- traditional Japanese style -- and turned it into girly sass? In doing so, Kondo encapsulates everything we love about Japanese youth culture at its best: well-mannered rock 'n' roll, cultural self-consciousness, the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 5, 2006

Meissen porcelain: Europa's bulls in the China shop

Fragility can sometimes add to beauty -- one of the reasons for the affection for the short-lived cherry blossom. The more fleeting, unstable, or breakable something is, the less likely its beauty will be taken for granted.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 22, 2005

Completely useless objects

It's 6 p.m., it's the end of the work day at a busy Kanda office block. OLs have been furiously tapping away at their keyboards, and connections have been made in the meeting rooms. Power players in their suits have been clinching make-or-break, win-win deals. Suddenly, the doors of the elevator open...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 10, 2005

The thing itself

In October 1968 Nobuo Sekine dug a hole in the ground, shaped the extracted dirt into a large cylinder and called the work "Phase -- Mother Earth." It was probably an experiment, influenced by discussions of the new Land Art and Minimalist works taking place in the United States.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 2, 2005

Timeless complement of form and function

INSPIRED SHAPES: Contemporary Designs for Japan's Ancient Crafts, by Ori Koyama, translated by Charles Whipple, photographs by Mizuho Kuwata. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2005, 112 pp., 3,900 yen (cloth). Life in urban Japan is so suffused with artificial, factory-produced materials that the soul can...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 31, 2005

The nature of the mind

Shunmyo Masuno calls his works "expressions of my mind," and they have the power to stir up depths of emotion and even tap into the subconscious. They are not psychedelic paintings, however, nor are they virtual reality installations -- they are gardens. And the man who creates them is a Buddhist priest....
EDITORIALS
Aug 28, 2005

Win-win in a downloading culture

The start of Apple Computer Inc.'s music-downloading service Aug. 4 heralds big changes in the landscape of Japan's music business and culture. Music lovers can now choose their favorite songs from among 1 million songs offered by iTunes Music Store. With Apple's entry into the Japanese market, an increasing...
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2005

Koizumi turns new residence into exclusive art museum

If the new Prime Minister's Official Residence was opened to the public, unknowing visitors would think they had stumbled into an art museum.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 14, 2005

Serving the best slice of modern Japanese literature

THE COLUMBIA ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN JAPANESE LITERATURE, Volume I: From Restoration to Occupation, 1868-1945, edited by J. Thomas Rimer and Van C. Gessel, with poetry selections by Amy Vladeck Heinrich and Leith Morton, introduction by J. Thomas Rimer. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005, 864 pp.,...
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Akazawa's trip to Washington for tariff talks abruptly canceled
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, had been set to fly to Washington on Thursday.
Confusion over Japan’s ‘hometown’ plan overshadows African development event
First Lady Yoshiko Ishiba (center, in white and blue dress) hosts an event on Japanese culture with the first ladies of African leaders on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Is Kishida plotting a return of the king? Or would he rather stay a kingmaker?
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chairs a plenary session at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy
Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

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