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April 26, 2024
 

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SHAMISEN

Japan Times
Film / Reviews
Jul 6, 2023
'With Each Passing Breath': A compassionate and richly textured documentary
As summer festivals return to Japan in full force, a film dives into the lives of the people who keep the cultural elements behind them alive.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Dec 18, 2022
A musical history told through centuries of Japanese literature
The modern ear, tuned to the aesthetics of a different timbre, may find that one era's beauty is another's cacophony.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 24, 2021
‘Ito’: Ren Komai strums the right notes
Satoko Yokohama's drama, set in the director's native Aomori Prefecture, features a troubled teen whose talent for playing the shamisen is hindered by grief.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 26, 2020
Departing from tradition with Hiromitsu Agatsuma and Akiko Yano
Shamisen player Hiromitsu Agatsuma teams up with singer and musician Akiko Yano for a new album which sees both depart from their previous styles and genres.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 22, 2019
'The Fourth String: A Memoir of Sensei and Me': Music, life and reflections on the space in between
Janet Pocorobba's 'The Fourth String' reconfigures the typical Japan fish-out-of-water memoir into a meditation on music and mastery, relationships, culture and narrative.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Aug 11, 2018
Duo Yumeno: Making music across the Pacific
Contemporary classical duo bring together the cello, koto and shamisen for original classical contemporary compositions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 4, 2018
Traditional arts live through kids
Nurturing respect for cultural traditions is a daunting challenge these days, when kids are glued to cellphones and game apps. So what does a country with centuries of carefully polished artistry do to preserve its heritage? Drop a curtain on the whole show? Not in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 22, 2017
The Yoshida Brothers get in on Kubo's big adventure
Speaking as a Japanese person, I can't help but feel a short burst of national pride when Hollywood gives my country any kind of attention, like with the animated film "Kubo and the Two Strings."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2017
After 13-year quest, shamisen maker sheds animal skin in favor of synthetic
A shamisen instrument maker near Tokyo has developed a synthetic substitute for the cat and dog skins used to craft the traditional three-stringed instrument.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 29, 2016
Shamisen faces crisis as cat skins fall from favor
Few instruments are as integral to a nation's traditional culture as Japan's shamisen, whose evocative sound accompanies a range of performances from kabuki and puppet plays to folk songs and geisha entertainments in teahouses.
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2015
Seven envoys named to promote cultural exchanges with Japan
The central government has named seven individuals as envoys to promote cultural exchanges with other countries in fiscal 2015, the Cultural Affairs Agency said Monday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 14, 2014
Wasabi crafts sounds of old Japan into something new
Wasabi "Wasabi 2" (Japan Traditional Cultures Foundation)
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Sep 30, 2014
Quebecoise shines as 'minyo' singer
Learning to play the three-stringed Japanese traditional instrument shamisen topped Canadian Maud Archambault's list of things to do while in Japan. She arrived here in 2001 to explore one of her fields of study: Japanese culture.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 27, 2013
At home on the Maasai Mara range
Asuka Takita has a passion for Africa and its wildlife that took root during her childhood in Singapore and flourished in the soils of Kenya during her third year of university.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 28, 2013
African elephants pluck at Japan's heartstrings
Next time you attend a shamisen performance, neither you nor most anyone else there will likely notice the elephant in the room. And those who do probably won't have given it much thought.
'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.
Over 40% of Japan's municipalities at risk of vanishing, study finds
Of 1,729 local municipalities nationwide, 744 have been identified as being at risk of disappearing.
Princess Aiko makes debut at imperial garden party
Princess Aiko attends an imperial garden party in Tokyo on Tuesday.
'Sugar Baby Riri' gets nine-year prison term over romance scam
Mai Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri,” dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.
Japan's former PM Aso meets Trump for talks on security and economy
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and Taro Aso, vice president of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, in New York on Tuesday. The Japanese government’s top spokesman on Wednesday played down the meeting as one conducted "in the capacity of one lawmaker" and “without the government’s involvement.”
For amateur sumo, a fresh start offers hope against time-wasting and gamesmanship
Wrestlers prepare for the start of a bout at the 2023 Sumo World Championships in Tokyo. Starting this month, placing one hand on the clay first is no longer allowed.
LDP veteran Nikai's youngest son expected to succeed him in Wakayama
Toshihiro Nikai, former secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, announced in March that he would not run in the next Lower House election to take responsibility for the political funds scandal that rocked his party and his own faction.
New workers name Shohei Ohtani as 'dream boss' for two years running
Shohei Ohtani has been overwhelmingly voted as the “dream boss” for people who started working in April, according to a survey.
A craft beer crawl through Tokyo’s top bars, brewpubs and dives
If all you drink is Asahi, Sapporo and Kirin, you're depriving yourself of some of the best craft beer Tokyo has to offer — and there sure is a lot of it out there.
'Sugar Baby Riri' gets nine-year prison term over romance scam
Mai Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri,” dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

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