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August 26, 2025
 

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NOH

Maria Seiren, known for winning the first-ever “Japan’s Got Talent” with her opera voice, has also been training in traditional noh theater, creating productions that combine opera, noh and even pop music.
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 28, 2025
Diva of dualities: Maria Seiren sings opera and noh in both a female and male voice
The first-ever winner of talent show competition “Japan’s Got Talent” is having a stacked year with two noh and opera productions and her 10th anniversary album release.
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.
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
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
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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 18, 2015
All change for Kanze noh theater
Of Japan's many traditional performing arts, noh is the most refined — and among its most prominent figures today is 55-year-old Kiyokazu Kanze, the 26th head of its largest faction, the Kanze School.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 25, 2015
French artiste par excellence hails noh highs
French comedian extraordinaire Guillaume Gallienne has a sizeable Japanese fan base, which gratifies him most heartily.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 16, 2014
Noh master Gensho appears to know no bounds on stage
Noh is a performing art originally developed by and for the samurai class that has continued without a break for 700 years — a mighty span through which Umewaka Rokuro Gensho, as the 56th-generation head of the Rokuro Umewaka family, can trace his lineage.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 7, 2013
Searching to define difficult, elusive concept
The title of this book is exquisite, while the cover illustration is of something else, different yet just as exquisite. This is appropriate because the aesthetic concept that the book considers is not just beautiful, but elusive and difficult to define.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Apr 19, 2013
Buddhist bash offers up some spiritual relief
Most Japanese people come in contact with Buddhist priests on formal occasions, such as when a family member passes away. But a cross-denominational group of young Buddhist monks is trying to change that — by putting together a unique cultural event involving three Buddhist temples, a Shinto shrine,...
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 28, 2010
Tri-lingual system proposed for world communications
May 15, 1939
Character-crazed Japan has little appetite for Labubu
A pop-up advertisement for the newly opened Chiikawa Park in Tokyo's Ikebukuro neighborhood demonstrates how the country is chockful of cute characters — to the detriment of trends like Labubu.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
JICA to designate four Japanese cities as 'hometowns' for African nations
The Japanese flag (left) with the flag of the African Union
Man arrested in Kobe stabbing had been staying at hotel near victim’s home
Masashi Tanimoto arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the fatal stabbing of a woman in Kobe, is sent to prosecutors on Sunday.
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Germany's first sakemaker offers a bold brew of ideas
Reigen, Germany's first sake brewery, makes a diverse, nontraditional range of sake that includes fruit-flavored sips and wine barrel-aged renditions.
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.

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