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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Oct 30, 2011

Yea! As I walk through the valley of Todoroki . . .

Todoroki Valley Park, a protected green swath along Tokyo's only ravine, strikes me as an interesting and possibly quite sheltered destination on a brisk and breezy fall day.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 30, 2011

Sheer delight of graceful Kurahara

There is a persistent hum of activity among small-press publications in Japan, much of it concerned with poetry and a good deal of it translation.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 29, 2011

A hippo goes under the drill

The meeting room was packed with dentists in white smocks — men and women, interns and doctors nearing retirement — about 30 of them sitting in front of a screen and another 20 standing along the sides of the room. The lights go out and on the screen appears an X-ray of hippopotamus teeth.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 28, 2011

"The Lineage of Culture: The Hosokawa Family Eisei Bunko Collection"

The Eisei Bunko museum was established in 1950 in Mejiro, Tokyo, to preserve the collection of some 80,000 artworks owned by the Hosokawa family, the former domain lords of Kumamoto in Kyushu. Founded by the 16th lord, Moritatsu Hosokawa (1883-1970), an avid collector of artworks, Eisei Bunko is known...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 28, 2011

"DOMA, Akioka Yoshio Ten: Mono eno Shiso to Kankei no Dezain"

As Japan recovered from World War II, changes in economy and society accelerated. Mass-produced goods and mass-consumerism quickly became a norm.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 28, 2011

"Shoko Uemura"

Marking the 10th year since nihonga (Japanese-style painting) artist Shoko Uemura's death, this exhibition showcases representative works from the painter's later years, and includes a series featuring cranes — one of the artist's favorite motifs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 28, 2011

"Charlotte Perriand et le Japon"

In the early 1920s, Charlotte Perriand studied furniture design at the Ecole de l'Union Centrale des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. She was later invited by the great architect Le Corbusier to join his studio and design interiors.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Oct 27, 2011

Artists who'll go bump in the night

If you catch sight of The Invisible Salaryman, or rather his bandages, dark glasses and business suit, as he loops Tokyo by rail on the Yamanote Line this coming Sunday, you may want to follow him to the "abandoned" hospital hosting the latest ArtGig Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Oct 25, 2011

Hiroshima-area family roots inspire Canadian film director

When Linda Ohama, a third-generation Japanese-Canadian, heard the news about the earthquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku region on March 11, she says she was "very shocked" and felt a strong urge to do something for the people there — especially the children.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Oct 24, 2011

Ill omens for Asian economies

Even though Asia is still perceived to be the global economic growth center, there are signs of potential dangers of the regional economy heading toward a collapse because of a vicious circle of inflation and wage increases brought about by huge sums of speculative money being poured into Asian countries....
SOCCER / J. League
Oct 23, 2011

Stojkovic works magic with late-game changes

Defending J. League champions Nagoya Grampus dug deep to beat Omiya Ardija 3-2 on Saturday and keep themselves firmly in the title shakeup going into the final four games of the season.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 21, 2011

"Oyamazaki Villa's Hospitality: Big Tea Ceremony with Mitate Used by Rikyu and Monet"

Since its relocation in the 16th century, Taian — the only known surviving tea room believed to have been built by tea master Sen no Rikyu — has been housed in Oyamazaki in Kyoto.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 20, 2011

Rediscovering the neglected master of Japan's avant-garde

The fickle hand of artistic fate is seen not so much in whom it plucks from the depths of obscurity, but in how high those chosen are raised up. A case in point is the multidisciplinary avant-garde artist Hideo Sugita, better known by his alias Ei Q (1911-60).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 20, 2011

Kido dials up the romance

I'm told Ryuto Miyake, the artist who sketched the portrait in front of me over hamburgers near his university in Tokyo, shares the same ideas about the music industry as the "real" Yoji Kido now sitting opposite me; mainly a desire to strip away labels and to cross genre-boundaries. A cliche maybe,...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 18, 2011

The EU's clean-air turbulence

Passengers flying to and from Europe face higher fares from next year, and anyone flying to Japan or Asia will pay sharply more than those staying within Europe or going to the Middle East, thanks to new rules from the European Union in pursuit of an oxymoron, making air travel environmentally friendly....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Oct 18, 2011

Greenthumb plants 'kolonihave' seed

Jens Jensen makes almost anything he needs for his weekend life from scratch, from a doorknob to a window frame to a small wooden hut.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 16, 2011

Break on through (to the puppet side)

It is often said that truly gifted teachers make their subject matter come to life. Jesse Glass has taken that concept to a new level by asking his students to take literary characters off the page and dance them about the room.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 16, 2011

Laid-back celebration of the empty and ordinary

PLAINSONG, by Kazushi Hosaka, translated by Paul Warham, Dalkey Archive Press, 2011, 176 pp., $18 (paper) After being dumped by his girlfriend and moving to a new apartment, the anonymous anti-hero of this plaintive novel finds himself drawn to the life of a recluse, shunning drinking friends, and spending...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 15, 2011

When favors throw you into a vicious circle

The Japanese countryside is a place where the people are so nice, it's well, ridiculous. Actions that wouldn't even register in my mind as "thankable" are commonly thanked for here.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 14, 2011

Busan festival takes a bold step, but is Asian cinema ready?

"Change" was the key word at this year's Busan International Film Festival, and not just because the organizers finally succumbed to the host South Korean port city's request to change the name from "Pusan." Lee Yong Kwan took over as festival director from founder Kim Dong Ho, who is credited with turning...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 14, 2011

"Kasuga Landscapes: Elegant Images of a Sacred Sanctuary"

Mount Mikasa in Nara Prefecture is a well-known sacred site, said to be where the Shinto kami (gods) first appeared on Earth. In the middle of the 8th century, the powerful aristocratic Fujiwara clan built Kasuga Shrine on the Kasuga plains at the foot of Mount Mikasa, and it is now known as one of the...
Reader Mail
Oct 13, 2011

Useful film about depression

Mark Schilling's Oct. 7 review of the Japanese film "My S.O. Has Depression (Tsure ga Ustu ni Narimashite)" said two things to me:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 13, 2011

Honeydew "Don't Know Where"

"Don't Know Where" lacks prerelease hype, sub-subgenre classification or needless gimmicks (unless consistant lyrical allusions to driving cars qualifies — autocore, anyone?). Honeydew's debut album is a simple collection of feedback-assisted indie pop reminiscent of U.S. group Yo La Tengo's catchier...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2011

Jobs leaves questions behind

Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. deserves praise as a remarkable radical thinker and businessman who made path-breaking innovations to transform modern life, from the Mac computer to the smart — both in looks and in performance — iPhone, iPod and iPad. But I would like to raise some deliberately jarring...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 13, 2011

Shedding new light on architecture and art

The floor is made of white concrete, but it hugs the contours of the ground so closely that it could be satin cloth. And the roof, apparently anchored to the ground only by a curtain of glass at its perimeter, appears to float in mid-air like a giant magic carpet.
EDITORIALS
Oct 12, 2011

Scrutinize dam evaluation method

In its manifesto for the 2009 Lower House election, the Democratic Party of Japan called for stopping the construction of the Yanba dam project in Gunma Prefecture as a symbol of wasteful public-works projects.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 12, 2011

Missing the boat to Myanmar

Where is Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's foreign policy? A neighboring country that has suffered years of isolation and plunder by the misruling junta may be signaling that it wants to come in from the cold. Japan, which could offer the greatest help, seems to be asleep to the opportunity.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 12, 2011

Nuclear fears reawaken mass anger

Compared with the West, and recently the Middle East, which has been swept by civil uprisings, Japan is not commonly known for having large-scale demonstrations or violent antigovernment protests.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2011

Millionaires don't have it made

President Barack Obama has been trying to sell his new "millionaires' tax" to the Rust Belt. "What's great about this country is our belief that anyone can make it," he said in Cincinnati on Sept. 22, praising "the idea that any one of us can open a business or have an idea that could make us millionaires."...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 9, 2011

Like Astro Boy, humans may be able to live with radiation

"It makes good media. It's the emotional pulling on the idea that radiation kills you. But you talk to our cancer patients: Radiation cures you."

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear