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Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jun 17, 2011

Nakamura hopes to bring winning ways to Akita

Fiery leader Kazuo Nakamura is officially on board as the Akita Northern Happinets' new head coach. The announcement, made earlier this week, was in the works for weeks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 17, 2011

'Saya Zamurai (Scabbard Samurai)'

of manzai comedy duo Downtown, Hitoshi Matsumoto has sat atop the slippery pole of popularity on Japanese television for nearly two decades. He has also directed two films, 2007's "Dai-Nipponjin (Big Man Japan)" and 2009's "Shinboru (Symbol)," that have screened widely abroad, while occasioning some...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 17, 2011

"SYNTHESIS"

"Synthesis" is conceptual artist Kohei Nawa's first large-scale solo exhibition. Recently, Nawa's work has been gaining attention both in Japan and overseas. His Sandwich studio in Kyoto, an old sandwich factory that has been renovated into an art studio, has also become well-known for producing numerous...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 17, 2011

"Kyuyo Ishikawa: Calligraphy, Sake Drinking Ware and The Tale of Genji"

Fukui Prefecture native Kyuyo Ishikawa (b. 1945) is a chirographer and a leading expert in calligraphy and its history. His "Sakazuki Senjimon" series comprises 1,000 sake drinking cups, on which he wrote each of the 1,000 characters of "The Senjimon," a poem also known as "The Thousand-Character Classic."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 17, 2011

"Yves Saint Laurent Mis a Nu: Photographies De Jeanloup Sieff"

Fashion photographer Jeanloup Sieff, who was favored by Yves Saint Laurent, is renowned for sensual yet refined photos, many of which have now become iconic images. He was often commissioned by prestigious fashion publications, such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, and he worked on many global marketing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 16, 2011

You're not alone in feeling lonely

For playwright and director Ryuta Horai, the last two years have been a nonstop whirl of activity since "Mahoroba" ("A splendid location") — his drama about four generations of women in a traditional rural family meeting up and feuding — won the highly prestigious Kishida Kunio Award for best play...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2011

JET coordinator finds Iwate spirit contagious

Iwate Prefecture's coast suffered some of the most severe damage in the March 11 quake and towering tsunami, where more than 4,500 people have been confirmed killed and 2,700 are still missing.
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2011

Honda and Toyota getting outgunned in U.S.

Stephen Ragsdale is no longer one of Honda's "Happy Drivers." A loyal owner for a decade, he ditched a 2009 Accord just 18 months after he bought it. The reason: He coveted his mother's stylish Kia Optima.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Jun 14, 2011

A season for accolades, milestones and new frontiers

Florence and Kyoto unite to celebrate Gucci's 90 years Revered luxury brand Gucci is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year with a special traveling exhibition in Japan that highlights its prowess in craftsmanship. Starting at the famed Kinkaku-ji Golden Temple in Kyoto, "Gucci: 90 years" showcases...
Reader Mail
Jun 12, 2011

Elites who guard the status quo

Kevin Rafferty's May 26 article, "Japan: the silent IMF partner," enlightened me on how the system overseeing global finance works. We should have known and discussed these facts earlier.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 12, 2011

Enjoy art with alpine views

Back in the 1960s, a New York postal worker named Herbert Vogel and his librarian wife, Dorothy, began buying paintings. Using Herb's modest salary, and living off Dorothy's, they picked out affordable pieces that took their fancy — most of them by artists unknown at the time. By the early '90s, their...
BASKETBALL
Jun 11, 2011

Two groups bidding to buy Tokyo Apache

The Tokyo Apache's immediate future is still up in air.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2011

Noda emerges as likely Kan successor

With Naoto Kan's days as prime minister apparently numbered, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda emerged Thursday as a key candidate to succeed Kan.
COMMENTARY
Jun 10, 2011

Round two for a U.N. workaholic

What's surprising about the probable confirmation of incumbent United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon for a second five-year term is not its near-certainty. It is the virtual lack of controversy surrounding it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 10, 2011

"Yoshihiko Yoshida & Isao Hayashi"

Yoshihiko Yoshida (1912-2001), nihonga (Japanese painting) artist and professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, was inspired by the importance of learning from ancient masterpieces, as was taught to him by the nihonga painter Gyoshu Hayami (1894-1935). He later joined a group of artists to replicate...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 10, 2011

"The Birth Of European Porcelain: Celebrating 300 Years Of Meissen Ware"

In 1710, Germany's Meissen kiln succeeded in making, for the first time in Europe, hard-paste porcelain, a Western equivalent of China-ware from the East. It has been 300 years since the Meissen kiln was established under the patronage of then Elector of Saxony, Augustus the Strong.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 10, 2011

'The Disappearance of Alice Creed' / 'The Tempest'

It couldn't have been more than five minutes into "The Disappearance of Alice Creed" when my girlfriend leaned over and asked: "What kind of a movie did you say this is?" It was just at the point where Gemma Arterton was tied spread-eagled to a bed with a ball-gag in her mouth, and her burly kidnappers...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 9, 2011

Puffyshoes just wanna have fun

Shorter is nearly always better. The Pixies managed to cram three verses and choruses into just 94 seconds on "Trompe le Monde" track "Palace of the Brine," and it became one of the best songs they ever wrote. And just look at almost any tune recorded by The Supremes or The Shangri-Las or Elvis Presley,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 9, 2011

Cinema Staff "Cinema Staff"

Now based in Tokyo, Gifu Prefecture-bred Cinema Staff played at the 2009 editions of both the Summer Sonic and Rock in Japan festivals. Formed in 2003, the indie-rock quartet issued three EPs prior to the release of their eponymous full-length debut.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2011

Tsunami-struck museum starts recovering collection

A pile of small display cases lies in the dirt outside the Rikuzentakata City Museum. With their glass tops smashed into a thousand shards that reflect the sunlight through a layer of dried mud, it's difficult to make out the crushed wings of the small butterflies still pinned inside.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jun 8, 2011

Express yourself with a wiggle of Necomimi or make music with the Ningen Gakki

One of the fun things about writing about Japanese technology is that every once in a while you come across a device that elicits both genuine admiration and a jaw-dropping reaction. And I'm delighted to report on two such gadgets today, both of which have generated some pretty significant Internet buzz....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 5, 2011

Bodikon girl's remarkable selfmade comeback

One of the more enduring TV formats is the Ano hito wa ima (Where are they now?) variety special, which tracks down celebrities of the past to find out what happened to them in the decades since they vanished from our collective consciousness. The hunt is more interesting than the capture, since the...
CULTURE / Books
Jun 5, 2011

Can we all just get along?

THE POLITICS OF ECONOMIC REGIONALISM, by Kevin G. Cai. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, 196 pp., $80 (hardcover) CHINA, JAPAN AND REGIONAL LEADERSHIP IN EAST ASIA, by Christopher M. Dent. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010, 311 pp., $50 (paper)
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 5, 2011

Amon Miyamoto: Globe-trotting dramatist seeks new horizons

Fifty-three years ago, Amon Miyamoto was born into a world in which he grew up listening to spirited exchanges between leading lights from the stage and showbiz in his father's coffee shop across from the modern-leaning Shinbashi Enbujo outpost of the venerable Kabuki-za theater in Tokyo's smart Ginza...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 3, 2011

"Visions of Fuji: A Portrait Of The Japanese People as Seen Through Mt. Fuji"

Admired by many throughout Japanese history, Mount Fuji is the subject of a new exhibition at Izu Photo Museum, which itself is located in the dormant volcano's shadow. Through photographs and illustrations, the show reveals how perceptions of Mount Fuji have evolved in accordance with artistic taste...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 3, 2011

"Expressing Ocean And Water in Modern Art — Paul Signac, Fukuda Heihachiro, Sugimoto Hiroshi and Others"

In ancient times, Osaka flourished as a hub port connecting other regions of Japan. Its rivers, canals and seaways played a vital role in transportation and trade, and before the end of the Edo Period (1603-1867) it had developed into Japan's economic center. The Osaka City Museum of Modern Art, now...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 3, 2011

"1960's-2000's Fashion"

As a time of burgeoning mass consumerism, the 1960s became an epoch-making era for fashion. Haute couture, privately made custom-fitted high fashion, which first prospered in Paris at the end of the 19th century, faced its first reform with the introduction of ready-made prêt-à-porter clothing. Rising...

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb