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Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Oct 17, 2014

BIFF 2014 plays down unavoidable controversies

The biggest event of the year for South Korea's film industry is the opening night of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), which marked its 19th year Oct. 2 to 11. Whether or not they have films screening at the festival, almost all the major Korean movie stars show up and strut the red carpet...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 24, 2014

Kyoto Experiment marries form to cutting-edge content

Kyoto Experiment, the city's monthlong international performing-arts festival that debuted in 2010 and has been growing in popularity in the vanguard of contemporary performance every year since, is now set to embark on its fifth and most radical edition.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 20, 2014

Glimpses of Lafcadio Hearn's Matsue

The Matsue-bound train I boarded at Okayama Station was pointedly named Yakumo, a reference to its destination's best-known former resident: Greek-Irish writer Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), whose adopted Japanese name was Yakumo Koizumi.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 17, 2014

Korea's new 'Goddess' of musicals

The central Seoul district of Daehangno is renowned for its small theaters in much the same way as Shimokitazawa is in Tokyo. But whereas the latter boasts teens of venues, Daehangno has upward of 140 — so really there's no comparison.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 28, 2014

Former aide to Jasper Johns admits stealing, selling artwork for $6.5 million

A former assistant to renowned American contemporary artist Jasper Johns pleaded guilty on Wednesday to selling nearly two dozen of Johns' works without his knowledge.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 14, 2014

How Japan's art inspired the West

In the decades after Japan was forcibly opened to large-scale international trade in the early 1850s, a fever spread across Europe for items from the exotic country: its textiles, ceramics, paper fans, woodblock prints and more. Meanwhile, the term "Japonism" was coined to describe works made in Europe...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 14, 2014

'National Treasures of the Munakata Shrine'

The location of the city of Munakata, on the coast of northern Kyushu and close to Oshima and Okinoshima islands, helped it become a historical cultural hub that welcomed incoming crafts shipped from Korea, China and Persia.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 7, 2014

Daigoji Temple celebrates its collection

World Heritage Site, Daigoji Temple, was founded on the summit of Mount Kasatori in southeastern Kyoto when the monk Rigen Daishi Shobo (832-909) is said to have discovered a spring from which flowed the "ultimate taste, representing the highest state of Buddhist wisdom." From 876, he had produced statues...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 7, 2014

'20th Anniversary Commemorative Exhibition: Basically. Forever'

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts, which is known for its support of young photographers, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography is presenting a number of works from the Yamanashi Prefecture museum's collection.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 7, 2014

'Into the Future: Visual Deception II'

Trompe l'oeil (optical-illusion art) painting has a long history, dating back to the 17th century, but trick art is not always about paintings that create illusions using realistic three-dimensional imagery.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 6, 2014

Europe's rich tapestry unites two contrasting theater fests

As I often go to theater festivals in Europe, I was delighted to hear about the Schweizer Theatertreffen (Swiss Theater Encounter), a brand-new event being held in May. And since I'd already planned a trip that month to the Berlin Theater Festival, it was a no-brainer to check out this new Swiss kid...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 24, 2014

'Cool and Breezy: Summer Greetings through Paintings and Ceramics'

Just like its title suggests, this exhibition aims to show viewers that feeling cool and refreshed is not something that can only be experienced physically.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 22, 2014

Pianist Adachi delves further into the world of Croatian classical music

During his six-year stay in Croatia, pianist Tomohiro Adachi was introduced to a remarkable woman named Dora Pejacevic.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jul 21, 2014

Chores, charges and chin-wags: the chōnaikai ties that bind

Perhaps fearing that the entire council could fall apart, some neighborhood associations resort to drastic measures to keep members active and in line. The culture clash is not foreigner vs. Japanese, but traditional vs. modern.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 18, 2014

Contemporary art is not lost in space

While space art is a relatively small field — in which works that have actually been created in space is an even smaller subset — it can only become more commonplace as costs fall and the private sector promises to open up space travel to non-specialists, albeit very wealthy ones.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 16, 2014

Europe rewards edgy dramatists

Tim Etchells, artistic director of Forced Entertainment, the English company whose "The Coming Storm" was a highlight of last year's Festival/Tokyo, told me then that they now play abroad more than at home — mainly because festival organizers pay their costs. In contrast, producers are loathe to take...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 10, 2014

'Takehiko Inoue interprets Gaudi's Universe'

Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) left behind an unrivaled legacy of Modernist architecture — Casa Vicens, Casa Mila, the famous unfinished basilica Sagrada Familia and many more unusual structures. His imaginative, often colorful works inspired other architects and artists, and continues to do so today.
JAPAN / JAPAN TIMES FORUM ON FEMALE SCIENCE MAJORS
Jun 30, 2014

Examining women's roles in Japan's corporate structure

Rikejo, or women majoring in the sciences, are currently under the spotlight in Japan. As the country faces a severe labor shortage, a declining birthrate and a rapidly aging population, there is a need to employ more female talent.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 25, 2014

Kids' stuff that adults need to see

Perhaps in the wake of this attack on seriousness, many artists have since taken refuge in childishness, whimsy or playfulness, though these values have been carefully rationed in 'Go-Betweens: The World Seen through Children,' with the emphasis being more on showing childhood as a state of vulnerability and transformation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 18, 2014

Female dramatists dispel gender concern

Last month in Berlin, in a conversation with Annemie Vanackere, artistic director at the city's cutting-edge Hebbel am Ufer company, she was saying how she loved contemporary Japanese theater, and how HAU had worked with several Japanese dramatists. Then she suddenly asked me: "Why were they all men?...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 18, 2014

'Guess What? Hardcore Contemporary Art's Truly a World Treasure'

Contemporary artworks are rarely described as "world treasures," but here The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo has come up with its own definition of the phrase. These are works that are literally "treasures" in terms of their high market value, but also because of their ability to convey universal...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 31, 2014

Modern cat tale echoes former feline fiction

That the Japanese are great cat-lovers should come as no surprise: a taste for the elegant, the mysterious and the quirky leads in a feline direction, after all. There are paintings of cats from the classical period of the imperial court and prints from the more popular ukiyo-e of the Edo Period (1603-1867)....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 23, 2014

French to the fore on SPAC's 2014 festival menu

It is often said that "variety is the spice of life," but in the multifarious world of theater it is more a staple than a special condiment. That said, "variety" is the keyword chosen by Satoshi Miyagi, artistic director of the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC), to capture the upcoming and especially...
EDITORIALS
Apr 15, 2014

Flawed foreign labor plan

The Abe administration's sudden plan to use participants in a controversial foreign trainee program to fill manpower shortages in the nation's construction industry smacks of a ploy that benefits only Japan. The government must first consider how these workers' rights will be protected as well as how to avoid social problems if they are used.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 5, 2014

Fallout from the tax rise may hit in surprising ways

Prior to the consumption tax increase last Tuesday, from 5 percent to 8 percent, Japanese consumers were spending to beat the band. The local business magazine Economist (not to be confused with the English language newsweekly) reports that ¥4 trillion was spent on goods and services in recent months...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 2, 2014

When political agenda hinders aesthetic pleasure

The title of this exhibition is a clear attempt to evoke the idea of 'magical realism,' a literary genre that has been particularly associated with Latin American literature.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 2, 2014

Opening-night thrills with the NNTB

Although ballet-goers in Japan tend to prefer narrative works, the trio of edgy and abstract pieces from the 20th century to the present showcased last week by the New National Theatre Ballet (NNTB) may well have some revising their preferences.

Longform

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