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October 11, 2025
 

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OPERA

Sung in Japanese, German and Ukrainian, “Natasha” is a multilingual opera with a multinational cast. Belgian soprano Ilse Eerens will originate the titular role, with Japanese mezzo-soprano Hiroka Yamashita as Arato and German baritone Christian Miedl as their trickster guide.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 9, 2025
‘Natasha’ distills global zeitgeist on the opera stage
An original work commissioned by the New National Theatre, Tokyo, “Natasha” is a multilingual opera with a multinational cast from Japan, Germany and Belgium.
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.
Cantonese opera actor Lung Koon-tin, portraying U.S. President Donald Trump, performs on stage in "Trump, The Twins President" in Hong Kong, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 6, 2025
Trump-inspired Cantonese opera in Hong Kong aims to bring love and peace
"Trump, The Twins President" has been through several iterations since its 2019 debut, with the latest version featuring the attempted assassination of the U.S. president.
Drag queen Becca D’Bus plays Dido, the forlorn queen of Carthage, in a drag version of “Dido and Aeneas."
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 30, 2024
Divas and diversity: Opera meets drag in ‘Dido and Aeneas’
Becca D’Bus, one of Singapore’s most popular drag queens, and Tokyo’s voguers and queens team up for a grand show at the Yokohama International Performing Arts Meeting.
Set in a village in the Swiss Alps, Vincenzo Bellini’s opera “La Sonnambula” centers on an orphan named Amina who is unknowingly frightening the locals with her nightly sleepwalking, and they believe there is a ghost among them.
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 26, 2024
'La Sonnambula' offers a modern take on a dubious happy ending
Director Barbara Lluch scrutinizes gender expectations and patriarchal societies that thrive on polarizing views in her production of Vincenzo Bellini’s opera.
Cuban American soprano Lisette Oropesa stars as Violetta in a restaging of Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata” directed by Sofia Coppola in her opera directing debut in 2016
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 8, 2023
Rome Opera's tragic heroes resonate in modern times
For its Japan tour, the company will perform lavish productions of "La Traviata," directed by Sofia Coppola, and "Tosca," by Franco Zeffirelli.
Cincinnati Opera’s new production of “Madame Butterfly,” directed by Matthew Ozawa, frames the action as a virtual-reality fantasy of Japan.
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 27, 2023
Reimagining ‘Madame Butterfly,’ with Asian creators at the helm
As opera houses rework Puccini’s classic, criticized for stereotypes about women and Japanese culture, artists of Asian descent are playing a central role.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / Reviews
Feb 23, 2023
TeamLab goes to the opera
The art collective teamLab attempts to expand its creative empire with a foray into opera. This poses the question, is 'Turandot' a fair play?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 30, 2021
New opera ‘Yuzuru’ cautions against the dangers of capitalism
For his first foray into opera, dramatist Toshiki Okada is modernizing a Japanese classic, centering it on 'the damaging influence of capitalism' instead of a tragic love story.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 19, 2020
Composer Dai Fujikura's new opera tackles fear and uncertainty
“A Dream of Armageddon” is based on H.G. Wells' prescient short story about weapons of mass destruction and totalitarianism.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 29, 2019
Kenzo Takada adds to a legacy of operatic style
Since his official retirement from the clothing brand Kenzo in 1999, Kenzo Takada has taken on interiors, accessories and now costume design.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 12, 2019
Bringing Japanese opera into the 21st century
Kazushi Ono, artistic director of opera at New National Theatre, Tokyo, is using his experience of working in Europe to help stage operas with a nod to the digital age in Japan
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 3, 2019
The Royal Opera's Vittorio Grigolo is on a mission to bring opera to the masses
Forget its reputation as art for the culturally elite. If Italian superstar tenor Vittorio Grigolo has his way, modern opera will soon take its place as pure entertainment for the masses.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / CULTURE NOTES
Jul 25, 2019
Bringing opera to Tokyo 2020
Among the many absurdist opera stories in existence, nothing is more preposterous than the happy ending generally used for Giacomo Puccini's final opera "Turandot," in which Princess Turandot suddenly accepts Prince Calaf's wooing right after the suicide of Liu, a slave, as if her death was nothing....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Apr 6, 2019
Yasushi Hirano's aria of operatic commitment
From techno fan to bass baritone opera singer, Yasushi Hirano now celebrates 20 years living and singing in Vienna.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 22, 2018
New National Theater, Tokyo, stuns with a bold interpretation of Beethoven's 'Fidelio'
When Ludwig van Beethoven dipped his toe into the world of opera in the early 19th century, the composer may have had the concept of freedom on his mind.
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
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Sep 9, 2017
Kano Ozawa breathes fresh air into opera direction in Turin
In the Roman amphitheater of Verona, Italy, the elephants and horses in ancient Egyptian regalia marched onto stage to the thunderous chords of Guiseppe Verdi's opera "Aida." The singers filled the balmy night with their voices, soaring over the trumpets and crashing cymbals of the orchestra — and...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Aug 12, 2017
Soprano Misaki Morino follows the music to Vienna
For Misaki Morino, Vienna lives up to both its names: The City of Music and The City of Dreams.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / Backstage Pass
Aug 3, 2017
Giving Cio-Cio San a better ending
Giacomo Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" tells the story of a young Japanese girl named Cio-Cio San ("chō-chō" is the Japanese word for "butterfly") marrying and getting dumped by an American naval officer named Pinkerton. First performed in Italy in 1904, the opera is one of the most popular in the world...
Takaichi's PM bid faces further headwinds with coalition split
LDP leader Sanae Takaichi and Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito attend a party leaders' meeting on Friday in Tokyo.
Powerful earthquake strikes off southern Philippines
Authorities inspect a damaged wall and a car outside a mall in Butuan, Philippines, on Friday, after a major earthquake struck the area.
Japan to move toward five-year integrated bachelor's-master’s programs
Japan plans to introduce nationwide five-year bachelor's-master's programs to raise graduate school enrollment and train more highly skilled professionals amid a shrinking workforce.
Tokyo named world’s best big city for second straight year
Tokyo was ranked the world's best large city for the second year in a row in the Conde Nast Traveler's 2025 Readers' Choice Awards.
Chemistry Nobel winner Kitagawa says downtime helped him think up new material
Susumu Kitagawa speaks to reporters at Kyoto University on Wednesday after receiving the news that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry the same day.
A Japanese comedian walks into an Aussie bar … and stays there
Takashi “Waka” Wakasugi stopped by the Tokyo Comedy Bar in Shibuya Ward last month following his stint at Edinburgh Festival Fringe performing his show “Comedy Samurai.”
Chemistry Nobel winner Kitagawa says downtime helped him think up new material
Susumu Kitagawa speaks to reporters at Kyoto University on Wednesday after receiving the news that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry the same day.
University of Tokyo lands its highest spot ever in global higher education ranking
The University of Tokyo in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward
Tokyo named world’s best big city for second straight year
Tokyo was ranked the world's best large city for the second year in a row in the Conde Nast Traveler's 2025 Readers' Choice Awards.
With nuclear sub proposal, Japan faces array of political and tech challenges
The Jingei, the third of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Taigei-class submarines, was commissioned in March last year. It is equipped with lithium-ion batteries, enabling it to have a longer diving time and cruising distance than older models with lead-acid batteries.

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By Alex K.T. Martin

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