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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 26, 2012

Rembrandt still outshines Vermeer

The first exhibition at the newly renovated Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art (TMMA) was always going to be an important one. After a two-year closure to let the builders in, it wouldn't have sufficed to just have a run-of-the-mill exhibition. Something special was required, and with "Masterpieces from...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 26, 2012

Replicas allow the public a detailed understanding of Vermeer's paintings

Johannes Vermeer, one of the best known artists from the Dutch Golden Age, appears particularly popular in Japan. Once in a while, one or two of his works show up in Tokyo galleries and are used as bait to attract fans to otherwise dull and uninteresting exhibitions. There, his masterpieces are surrounded...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 26, 2012

"The Wonderful Life of Wasps and Bees"

Out of more than 130,000 species of insects, bees and wasps are believed to be the most advanced and prosperous due to their diverse lifestyles. They exhibit remarkable sociability, which can be observed in their highly sophisticated communication skills, and display other intricate behaviors, including...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 23, 2012

This summer, signs of setsuden will again be all around us

Now that all but one of Japan's usable nuclear reactors have been halted as a result of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant disaster — which followed the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami — the nation's households, small businesses and factories will once again plow forward through the hot summer...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 20, 2012

Yoshitomo Nara puts the heart back in art

The induction of manga-style painting into Japan's contemporary art canon over the last 15 years can be put down to the work of not one but two artists. Sure, it was Takashi Murakami who laid the theoretical foundations, spelling out links with classical painting and ukiyo-e prints. But it was another...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 15, 2012

On the trail of treasures at Kyoto's Toji Temple

The man unfurled the scroll and hung it on the wall of the makeshift tent to reveal a majestic mountain soaring to the heights in bold black brush strokes. It was a scene showing nature in all its grandeur dwarfing a lone human figure halfway up the mountain.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jul 14, 2012

NPO's projects seek to help Tuvaluans facing global warming issues

For many years people have been acquainted with the word "refugee." Though it usually brings to mind wars, genocide and ethnic cleansing, more and more often it has been linked to climate change and natural disasters. We may now be entering the age of the "environmental refugee."
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2012

Follies of overconfident, arrogant government may be setting the stage for a cyber meltdown

When the financial crisis of 2008 hit, many shocked critics asked why markets, regulators and financial experts failed to see it coming.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jul 7, 2012

In wake of 3/11 disasters, successful Italian helps those who helped him

After 21 years in Japan and for most of that time working 15 hours a day, Calabrian restaurateur Elio Ermanno Orsara has achieved a certain measure of success.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 6, 2012

Death marks beginning of life in ancient Egypt

A good portion of Japan's summer is dedicated to honoring the dead. Memorial services in early August remember lives lost to the atomic bombings of 1945, while the Bon holidays pay respect to familial ancestors.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 5, 2012

What is iconic photography?

Osamu Wataya is a photographer, but only in the dictionary sense of the word. Most artistic photographers use their subjects to make a work of art, "I want to be able to serve my subjects," he says, "I want my subjects to be able to use me." When the shutter snaps, he isn't so much freezing a moment...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 25, 2012

Ii ne! Facebook is a perfect place for Japanese immersion

Facebook has grown at a tremendous rate in Japan over the past four years, jumping from just over 200,000 users in 2008 to more than 6 million by the end of 2011. In the process, Japan has generated one of the social network's highest annual growth rates of 254 percent, second only to Brazil.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 24, 2012

A woman's world

PASSIONATE FRIENDSHIP: The Aesthetics of Girls' Culture in Japan, by Deborah Shamoon. Univ. of Hawai'i Press, 2012, 181 pp., $27.00 (paperback) The subject of this book is one that is baffling to outsiders, but visible on the streets of Tokyo, especially the more fashionable parts, and in fiction, dress...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 22, 2012

Model train buff brings out his toys for everyone

The term Shangri-La was coined by British author James Hilton in his novel "Lost Horizon," referring to a mythical paradise in the Himalayas. Nobutaro Hara, however, found his utopia on a railway line.
Reader Mail
Jun 21, 2012

What 'international outcry'?

The June 17 Page 2 article "Oi decision draws international outcry" is very interesting with regard to the disparity between the headline and the body of the article.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 21, 2012

Fan loyalty brings 2PM ups and downs

Dancing boy bands are a common feature in K-pop, but when it comes to fan loyalty, 2PM has few rivals.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jun 12, 2012

Totally wrapped in Joy

Asked to name a seminal New York City-born musician with an intrepid preference for over-the-top fashion, and Lady Gaga would surely the first name to roll off the tongue. But there's another female musician from the city who influenced global fashion with her unique taste in stage costumes: Yeah Yeah...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 9, 2012

Longtime Africa hand Kanbe fights to help preserve continent's wildlife

With his perfectly suntanned bald head and carefully trimmed white mustache, Shunpei Kanbe may remind some people of a lion tamer, or maybe an explorer from the Belle Epoque.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 7, 2012

Russians who cringed at their own

One of the features of Europe's interwoven network of royal families was that it led to a great deal of cultural transference between the different states. In order to avoid marrying beneath themselves, royals were tempted to look abroad for spouses, with the result that the incomers would often bring...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Jun 5, 2012

At times, there's no getting away from the neighbors

The house we were inspecting in Shiroi, Chiba Prefecture, looked better and larger in the photos that the realtor had posted on its website. Those pictures had been taken with a wide angle lens at the eastern side of the house, which bordered a leafy promenade. To the north and south of the house, however,...
CULTURE / Art
May 31, 2012

"Keisai Eisen"

Ukiyo-e (woodblock print) artist Keisai Eisen (1791-1848) is particularly famous for his bijinga (pictures of beautiful women) for which he often accentuated his subjects' voluptuousness. As his reputation soared, he became a leading expert in the genre and published many popular bijinga nishiki-e (multi-colored...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 31, 2012

What lies behind our love of clothes?

There's something counter-intuitive about photographic artist Hiroshi Sugimoto. While most artists are happy to achieve a distinctive style and enjoy the rewards that this brings, Sugimoto is forever reinventing the wheel by developing, then abandoning, one style after another.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 31, 2012

"One Hundred Images of Cats: Many Varieties of Cats by Kuniyoshi School"

Japan has long-been infatuated with cats, which are usually seen as creatures of good fortune. This exhibition is dedicated to ukiyo-e (woodblock prints) depicting felines at their cutest moments, such as playing with their fellow cats and struggling against the urge to doze off in front of their human...
LIFE / Digital
May 30, 2012

Video-game characters time-travel to the Edo Period

When most people in the know look at Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong, they picture them in action in the video games that made them famous. But not Jed Henry. Instead, the 28 year-old American artist imagines how these game characters would have looked if they were around in the days of Japanese woodblock...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 25, 2012

As the summer approaches, firefly-themed events light up Osaka

At the start of the month, Tokyo's Sumida River was filled with thousands of LED lights to create the illusion of fireflies. Nature lovers in Osaka hope you'll want the real thing.
JAPAN
May 25, 2012

Group seeks Web-based campaigning

An Internet campaign directed at young voters played a significant role in Barack Obama's election in 2008 as president of the United States.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 25, 2012

'John Cassavetes retrospective'

There are plenty of anecdotes about the late John Cassavetes — the director often cited as the "godfather of American independent cinema" — but my favorite is the one regarding an advance screening he did for his 1977 film "Opening Night," about an alcoholic actress overcoming a personal trauma to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 24, 2012

"Realism Today: Masterpieces of the Hoki Museum"

It has been a year since the opening of the Hoki Museum, which won the The Japan Institute of Architects' 2011 grand prize and is the first museum in Japan dedicated to realist painting.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 22, 2012

Once one and only, Sony seeks to regain that status

Despite reporting a record ¥457 billion annual loss last year, Sony Corp. earlier this month said it would return to the black in fiscal 2012 with a ¥30 billion profit.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji