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December 22, 2024
 

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Robert Yellin
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 12, 2019
Bizen: Pottery that rose from the ashes
Of all the ancient high-fired unglazed stoneware styles in Japan, none is as popular as Bizen pottery, with its vareid colors and textures all the results of melting ash from the kiln.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 10, 2017
It's the season to see Japan's best ceramics
This autumn, there are not one, but two extraordinary ceramic art exhibitions showing in Tokyo. The first highlights the solo works and private collection of Tokyo's Seimei Tsuji (1927-2008) at The National Museum of Modern Art Crafts Gallery, while the other is a dual-exhibition of Kyoto artists Kazuo...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 4, 2016
Kanjiro Kawai sculpted a new vision of pottery
Japan's history of ceramics stretches back for millenniums, with most spinners of clay remaining nameless. One star, however, did shape a new world of pottery: Kanjiro Kawai (1890-1966).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 14, 2015
Kitaoji Rosanjin only served the very best
Only a culinary visionary would declare in 1935: "If clothes make the person, dishes make the food."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2014
Ryuichi Kakurezaki: on clay and legends
It's not easy to make profound changes in a ceramic style that has a 1,000-year history. Take, for instance, the style known as Bizen. Bizen pottery is one of Japan's most celebrated high-fired unglazed ceramic styles, and continues to be so to this very day. Forms that started with farmers' needs in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 25, 2013
Chawan: Simply, some of the hardest works of pottery to create
In the world of Japanese traditional ceramics there is not one form held in higher esteem than a chawan, a "mere" bowl used to serve whipped green tea.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 24, 2013
Crawling through the mud in style
It's quite fitting that the major Osamu Suzuki (1926-2001) retrospective, the first since the ceramicist's passing, is taking place at The National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, the hometown of the artist.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 18, 2011
Japan's celebrated Edo Period painters: Having the good fortune to see all that is Gitter's
The first time I met renowned Japanese art collector Dr. Kurt Gitter was at an Asian art conference in New York in 2001, where he was on a discussion panel on Japanese art. An audience member asked Gitter, "Sir, since you and others have passionately collected antique Japanese works for decades and since...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 29, 2010
Modern serving of traditional tea
If you've ever been fortunate enough to attend a tea ceremony, then you know that within the simplicity of movements, the quiet beauty of the room and the refined elegance of the utensils, there is a deep world where the moment becomes living art.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 3, 2010
Contemporary ceramics update the tea ceremony
The Way of Tea has for centuries been a cornerstone of Japanese culture and aesthetic beauty. An old Japanese proverb states: "If a man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Apr 5, 2007
The rewards of hardship
One of Japan's most influential 20th-century ceramic artists, Mineo Okabe, was relatively unknown -- and certainly under-appreciated -- during his lifetime. Today, though, potters take great inspiration from, and collectors go gaga over, the bold new forms and styles he created.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Dec 7, 2006
New forms of old traditions at the Japan Society
Over the past several years there have been quite a few exhibitions of Japanese ceramics overseas, but "Contemporary Clay/Japanese Ceramics for the New Century," which is now at the Japan Society Gallery in New York, is the most brilliant by far.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 24, 2006
Crafting the tea demon in Hagi
Psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), in his theory of self-actualization, said, "If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Dec 22, 2005
Looking back on 10 years of yakimono
In the 10 years since this column started, much has changed in the worldwide perception of yakimono, Japanese ceramic art. I'm talking about in the contemporary realm, not antiques. The deep and wide world of contemporary Japanese ceramic art is as varied as there are stars in a brilliant winter night...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Sep 29, 2005
Raku's hand-held universes and the unseen pots of Kamoda
The phrase "contemplation of the everyday object as a mystical resource" graces the back of a catalog from the 1998 Raku exhibition that toured Europe. I say it over and over in my mind like a mantra, challenging myself to be aware of the things I live with and how they not only satisfy my needs but...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 31, 2005
Porcelain horizons, modern monoliths
There are works of art that, maybe only once in our lifetime, may define an era and capture life's boundless spirit with a beauty that both moves the heart and deepens the experience of existence.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jul 27, 2005
Liberating Japan's world of ceramics
In the ceramic world of early 20th-century Kyoto, Chinese ceramics, not Kyo-yaki (Kyoto-style pottery) were the rage of the day, and any potter worth a spin on the wheel strove to emulate them. In form and color, the ability to perfectly copy an ancient Sung dynasty vase was held up as the highest peak...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jun 29, 2005
Hidden gems in clay
Any new publication on Japanese ceramic art in English is a welcome addition to the few books on the subject. Like "Masterpieces of Modern Japanese Pottery from the Gisela Freudenberg Collection" currently showing in Frankfurt, Germany, many of these publications coincide with exhibitions and serve to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
May 18, 2005
Spectacular diversity of clay
As noted in this column last month, Japanese ceramic art is finding a wider audience overseas. Many collectors search out the great potters of the past, such as Shoji Hamada (1894-1978) or Kanjiro Kawai (1890-1966), while more savvy collectors are looking to find out who's hot in Japan today.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Apr 20, 2005
The Koreans who potted in Kyushu
Japan has long been fascinated with outside influences, and voraciously absorbs them in order to create something totally unique. This can be found in almost all aspects of Japanese industry and culture -- and it is nowhere more apparent than in the pottery born in Kyushu. Of course, ancient kilns dating...
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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Longform

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By Alex K.T. Martin

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