Tag - noh

 
 

NOH

Vocaloid idol Hatsune Miku and kabuki actor Nakamura Shido II first performed together in 2016. This month, they’re reviving the show for the Osaka World Expo.
CULTURE / Stage
May 17, 2025
Traditional performing arts are plugging into modern audiences
Noh and kabuki are getting an image update by teaming up with pop culture figures such as Vocaloid idol Hatsune Miku and DJ Ken Ishii.
A customer walks past a display of rice, with a sign apologizing to shoppers they must be limited to one bag each due to market conditions, at a branch of Japanese discount retailer Don Quijote in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on April 21.
JAPAN
May 10, 2025
As prices soar, Zen-Noh ships just 32% of government-stockpiled rice
The group is currently shipping between 2,000 and 3,000 tons of rice per day, and is working to send out deliveries as quickly as possible, a Zen-Noh official said.
Don Kenny leaves behind a wealth of English translations of kyogen as well as work on other aspects of Japanese culture.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 14, 2024
A bridge between kyogen and the world, Don Kenny dies at 88
He came here a soldier, stationed at Atsugi air base after the war, and soon fell in love with the world of Japanese theater.
At Suigian, an underground restaurant and bar focused on the traditional Japanese stage, diners can get within an arm's length of authentic Japan.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 10, 2024
Suigian is everything Robot Restaurant was not
For the tourist willing to do a little homework and pay a slight premium, Suigian offers the possibility of cultural verisimilitude.
Mayuko Kashiwazaki tries on her mask after getting into costume before a dress rehearsal for "Dojoji," a famous noh drama about the revenge of a betrayed woman.
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 7, 2024
An 'all-women' noh production challenges traditional Japanese ideas
While women have been involved in noh for decades, older audiences tend to expect an all-male cast. Now, actors believe the times are changing.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 22, 2020
Jonah Salz: What's life without the drama?
Theater scholar and director Salz on Beckett, kyogen and teaching in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 19, 2019
Hikaru Uzawa blends old and new to add vitality to the world of noh
Hikaru Uzawa is a noh performer who marries her work within the traditional confines of the art form with performing in contemporary pieces internationally, bringing freshness to the traditional world of noh.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Oct 20, 2018
Life lessons from the master of noh Zeami
Stately, stylized noh arose from primitive, rollicking ancestors — sarugaku (monkey music) and dengaku (rural music). Two qualities in particular define it: yu016bgen (mystery) and monomane (imitation).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 1, 2018
Living and breathing history, through noh
Noh performer Hisa Uzawa has spent her life devoted to an art form that — with its slow and steady movements, sparse staging and ancient chanting — may at first seem staid. In her hands, however, the 650-year-old tradition becomes relentlessly contemporary.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / Backstage Pass
Mar 1, 2018
Rethinking noh for the opera crowd
Artists have long mined older works to create new forms of expression, just look at the continuing relevance of Shakespeare's stories.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 6, 2018
Kazufusa Hosho: 'Noh is necessary in times of social unrest'
The challenge facing Kazufusa Hosho is one that many guardians of traditional Japanese art forms know well: ensuring the survival of a centuries-old culture by attracting new and younger audiences.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 9, 2017
Diego Pellecchia: When heavy metal and noh collide
Noh scholar and practitioner talks about what noh, heavy metal and fantasy literature have in common.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 8, 2017
Ginza's new noh theater seeks to break down cultural barriers
The Kanze Noh Theater reopened in April in Ginza Six, a new upscale shopping complex in central Tokyo that seeks to attract domestic and foreign audiences to a wide range of the country's traditional performing arts.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 29, 2016
Abe's war against agriculture juggernaut found wanting in watered-down plan
Abe on Tuesday approved the new plan to shake up Zen-Noh, a juggernaut that boasts u00a56 trillion in annual operating revenues.
EDITORIALS
Oct 28, 2016
Reform of agricultural cooperatives
Reform of the agricultural cooperative system must address the shrinking farmer population and ways to improve earnings.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 11, 2016
Noh players seek new audiences with live subtitles on tablets
Tightly traditional noh drama is loosening up, with theater groups trying out tablet computers to help baffled audiences understand what's going on.

Longform

Construction equipment sits idle in a park near Shiba Toshogu shrine in Tokyo's Minato Ward. While Japan has a history of treating its trees with reverence, green coverage is said to be lacking in most of the major cities.
Do Japan's trees no longer occupy the sacred space they used to?