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December 22, 2024
 

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James Jack
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 16, 2014
All aboard the art train to Ichihara
Just after the train departs, a passenger falls to the floor. Further down the small train carriage another person follows suit. "Ma'am, are you sane?" questions a female announcer over the loudspeaker. The diesel train chugs forward. A young man asks, "Mom where did you go?" The mother responds, "The...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 3, 2014
When it comes to public space, Atelier Bow Wow barks up the right tree
Atelier Bow Wow uses the framework of art exhibitions to encourage public social interaction in what it calls 'micro public spaces.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 8, 2014
Darren Almond: All things pass
A wall of 450 flip-clocks all display 15:26 in the entryway to "Second Thoughts" at Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito. Seconds pass ... CLICK, all synchronized to the minute. The sound of 15:27 is so overwhelming it's surprising to see only one digit change: 6 to 7. Standing, waiting for 15:28,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 30, 2013
The effervescence of artist He Xiangyu
He Xiangyu is a conceptualist with a clear vision of the world as a philosophical playground. The critical language employed in his artworks quotes from global consumerism, Americanism and militarism, emphasizing the power of infinitesimal change. He uses the shape of a leaf to describe creative process:...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2013
Art fiction that keeps our thinking adept
What is the connection between Kampala in Uganda, Fukushima in Japan and New Orleans in America? Tsuyoshi Ozawa links these seemingly disparate places in his ongoing series "Vegetable Weapons". The shape of a gun is formed out of local vegetables and photographed, before it's taken apart and the same...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 9, 2013
Replaying people's actions with a twist
Much of Belgian artist Francis Alu00ffs' work and life have been determined by chance.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 28, 2013
Unearthing the Seto Inland Sea's social landscapes
Whenever traveling directly from one island in the Seto Inland Sea to another, I sense threads holding each one to the other. Perhaps this is a vestige of the trade routes that traversed the 700-plus islands in this scenic region between Hiroshima and Osaka. As sea trade waned in postwar Japan, these...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 7, 2013
Tadasu Takamine's not so 'Cool Japan'
In May 2011, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry promoted the idea of "Cool Japan," presenting Japanese culture as a product amid the confusing circumstances after the Great East Japan Earthquake. As Japan continues to suffer a declining population and weak economy, it was a government attempt...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 17, 2013
When the connections are as crucial as the art
Amid the hurry of daily life it is easy to forget what lies below our feet. To most of us, it may appear to be just cement or dirt, but to artist Kenji Yamada there are profound mysteries contained on the ground, in things as simple as our own footprints in the snow. His installation artworks are born...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 15, 2012
Energy multiplies creative potential at Trans Arts Tokyo
Spanning seventeen floors of a building that was once part of Tokyo Denki University in Kanda, the Trans Arts Tokyo project is bursting with exhibitions, talk events and workshops, open laboratories and artists-in-residence studios. The massive temporary art space is the latest work by Masato Nakamura,...
Freed anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson arrives in France
U.S.-Canadian anti-whaling environmental activist Paul Watson, who was released from prison in Greenland's capital Nuuk after five months in detention, arrives with Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France, at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy-en-France, near Paris, on Friday.
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.
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.

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