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May 01, 2024
 

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JAPANESE ART

Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 10, 2014
'Hokusai and Riviere: Thirty-six Views Compared and the Hokusai Manga'
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of French ukiyo-e artist Henri Riviere (1888-1902), the Sagawa Art Museum is showcasing the printmaker's famous "Thirty-six Views of the Eiffel Tower" alongside its inspiration, Katsushika Hokusai's "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 3, 2014
'Welcome to Edo! Children Depicted in Ukiyo-e Prints'
Though the most famous of ukiyo-e prints and paintings often feature women, actors and scenery, children were also a common subject. In fact, in Japan, images of children, usually depicted in everyday activities, were some of the top-sellers of the 17th to 19th centuries.
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 / Art
Jun 25, 2014
The evolution of Seiki Kuroda
In all too-common sophomoric slight to artists is: 'A child could have done that.' Seiki Kuroda (1866-1924), the most significant Western-style painter in Japan's early modern history, however, shows that even some young adults can not accomplish what takes years to hone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 25, 2014
'Specters, Ghosts and Sorcerers in Ukiyo-e'
Ghouls, monsters, specters, ghosts — all manner of the supernatural have long fascinated and frightened in all cultures, but the Japanese have historically enjoyed a particularly entertaining, and pictorial, relationship with the eerie and uncanny.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 25, 2014
'Looking East: Western Artists and the Allure of Japan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston'
After Japan finally opened up to foreign trade during the mid- to late 1800s, many of the West's well-known 20th-century art movements were, perhaps surprisingly, strongly influenced by Japanese art. Japonism became a part of Impressionism, Aestheticism and Art Nouveau, with Japanese aesthetics, themes and motifs appearing in paintings, drawings, objets d'art and the decorative arts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 18, 2014
The Uemuras were not quite like mother, like son
Shoko Uemura (1902-2001) was born to Shoen Uemura, the most revered and financially successful female painter of the early modern period, who arguably did more to popularize the bijinga genre (pictures of beautiful women) than any other. Artistically, however, his mother is said to have taught him nothing.
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 messages in forms that will withstand the tests of time. Of the 75 works on display, many have been controversial and all are by major artists, such as Francis Bacon, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol and Hiroshi Sugimoto.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 11, 2014
Imagination runs wild in Japanese contemporary art
"Nostalgia and Fantasy: Imagination and its Origins in Contemporary Art" is a ragtag grouping of nine individual artists and one unit, each of whom focus on extremely different things. It is difficult to say, in fact, where "nostalgia" and "fantasy" come into play in some instances. With only minimal wall-panel descriptions, contextualization is a major stumbling point, not the least with the subtitle and the supposed origins of the imagination in contemporary art. Many of the works, however, are outstanding.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 11, 2014
Nature prevails at the Hakone Open Air Museum
The Hakone Open Air Museum, located on the slopes of Mount Hakone in Fuji Hakone Izu National Park, is built in a beautiful natural setting of over 70,000 sq. meters. It is perfect for a day trip from the city or an extended weekend excursion, and its expansive grounds showcase more than 100 monumental sculptures, including one of the world's largest collections of works by British sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 4, 2014
Tokihiro Sato: A breath of fresh photography
Using a penlight at night and a mirror during the day, the photographs in Tokihiro Sato's 'Photo-Respiration' series show trails or spots of light in darkened landscapes, of which probably the most audacious are scenes of central Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 4, 2014
How Japan crafted its modernization
When Japan ended its isolation in the mid-to-late-19th-century, it had lots of disadvantages compared to the other major powers. But one distinct advantage that its isolation had preserved was its craft industries and the skills of its craftsmen.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 4, 2014
'Essays in Idleness: Enjoying Classical Literature Through Art'
The collection of essays "Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness)" written by Yoshida Kenko in 1330-31 is considered as one of the three greatest zuihitsu (collection of writings) in Japan, along with "Makura no Soshi (The Pillow book)" by Sei Shonagon and Kamo no Chomei's "Hojoki (An Account of My Hut)." However, it was not until the Keicho Era (1596-1615) that "Tsurezuregusa" first became critically acclaimed and not until the Edo Period (1603-1867) when it was widely read and studied. During this time it also became the subject of artworks known as tsurezure-e.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 4, 2014
'Hirayama Ikuo: Message to the Next Generations'
Ikuo Hirayama (1930-2009), who experienced the World War II atomic bombing of Japan, based his artistic values on his strong Buddhist faith and his search for peace. He traveled along the Silk Road to research the history of Japanese art and worked on many bold and grand paintings with Buddhist themes, such as his "Angkor Wat no Tsuki."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 4, 2014
'Yasuyoshi Sugiura: A Natural History of Ceramics — Making Nature'
While attending college, Yasuyoshi Sugiura was moved by the words of his teacher, who told him, "ceramics are stones." This inspired the artist to explore the potential of clay as a medium, creating works such as the "Stones of Ceramics" series" that, as the title suggests, presented small, realistic ceramic rocks. By taking a conventional and ubiquitous shape and re-creating it in an unfamiliar material, Sugiura challenges visitors to re-examine and re-interpret the ordinary.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 28, 2014
The 'Great Wave' that reached the West
Ukiyo-e prints could be found in Europe from at least 1795 at the Cabinet des Estampes at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. It was not until the 1850s, however, when trade between Japan and Europe began to flourish, that the craze for things Japanese began to crescendo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 21, 2014
Japan's isolation didn't stop the West lending its colors
A common misperception of sakoku, Japan's closed-door isolation policy gradually enacted from 1633 by Tokugawa Iemitsu and his successors, is that Japan forsook the outside world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 21, 2014
Naonori Oshima: What you see is less than what you actually get
'ON Harmonic Balance' is a dark, claustrophobic collection of images that, although they illustrate many of the tropes that are often associated with the snapshot aesthetic, come across as guileless and unforced.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 13, 2013
Illuminating the interplay between Japanese poetry and pictures
This cleverly titled book combines two subjects, for the "art" that it describes is not just the art of haiku composition but that of the pictures that frequently accompany the poems, often by the same person. "If haiku is a worldwide phenomenon, haiga (haiku painting) is almost unknown," says the author.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 9, 2013
Japan's Gutai artists celebrated like never before
"Do what no one has done before," was the rallying cry that Jiro Yoshihara, founder of the postwar Japanese art group the Gutai Art Association, demanded of his fellow members.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Yen rebounds strongly after first slide past ¥160 since 1990
The yen dropped to ¥160.245 per dollar on Monday before heading into the other direction to ¥155.01 amid speculation of an intervention by Japanese currency authorities.
Did Japan intervene to prop up the yen? Analysts think it did.
A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rate for the yen against the U.S. dollar (right) in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAL cancels international flight after captain gets drunk at Dallas hotel
A Japan Airlines' flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled last week after its captain got drunk at a local hotel.
Golden Week crowds greeted with high temperatures as holiday period kicks off
The departure lobby for domestic flights is crowded with travelers at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Saturday, the first day of this year's Golden Week holidays.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.

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