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C.B. Liddell
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 24, 2010
Meet some famous Japanese ghosts of publishing
We live in interesting times. Because of the Internet, old familiar media formats are breaking down or going through changes. More and more printed word publications are going out of business or finding new life online. The old LP/album format is essentially an anachronism in an iPod-centered universe....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 17, 2010
Today's artists 'paint' a new vision of 2-d art
The term "Primary Field" can either mean a group of aspirant candidates (in the United States) or an idea from physics that most laymen will find hard to understand; so the title of the "Primary Field II" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art Hayama is surprisingly apt. Like many group shows of contemporary...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 10, 2010
When followers outdo the master
R. D. Laing, the leading light of the 1960s anti-psychiatry movement, believed that mental illnesses were natural responses to the unnatural stresses and strains of modern life. Something similar can be said about Surrealist art, which, at times, seems like an artistic reaction to a world that throws...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 3, 2010
There are no words to describe the mystery of the ancient 'rubber people'
That which we know the least about is often the most interesting. A case in point is the civilization of the Olmecs. This flourished in Mexico between 1500 B.C and 400 B.C., leaving behind much intriguing evidence in its art and archaeological remains but no written record to explain anything. Because...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 3, 2010
The Chick Corea Trio
Is it possible to be creative by only emphasizing the positives? Jazz legend and keyboard tinkler extraordinaire Chick Corea certainly thinks so as he prepares for what has effectively become an annual visit to Japan with a number of shows lined up at Tokyo's Blue Note and several other venues around...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 26, 2010
Loosening ties to the kitchen sink
One of the reasons the Germans lost WWII, it has been argued, was because they failed to mobilize their female labor force to the same degree as their enemies. This had much to do with a "Kinder, Kuche, Kirche" (children, kitchen, church) mentality that consigned women to a world of old-fashioned domestic...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 19, 2010
Van Gogh: Sanity behind madness
In recent years there has been a sea change in the official cult surrounding the Post-Impressionist Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). For the masses he is still the archetypal "crazy artist": razor blade in one hand, severed ear in the other, and a lovely picture of sunflowers on the easel...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 5, 2010
Architect's floating future vision
The inexorable rise of Tokyo Sky Tree on the city's skyline has once again raised the question of what a future Tokyo might look like. The exhibition "Sousuke Fujimoto Architects: Future Visions — Forest, Cloud, Mountain" at the Watarium Museum attempts to get people thinking along these lines,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 29, 2010
The depths of traditional Japanese painting
While China's long-running contribution to Japanese art is usually acknowledged, it is often assumed that Western models only started to have a significant impact in the Meiji period. Part of the reason for this is the sharp reaction to Western artistic influence that occurred in the late 19th century,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF
Oct 22, 2010
'Saburo Miyamoto: 1940-1945'
Setagaya Art Museum
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 8, 2010
Harue Koga: The art of assimilating Western styles
The curse of early Western-style Japanese painters is the charge of derivativeness. Simply because they embraced foreign artistic idioms rather than their own indigenous artistic traditions, it is easy to dismiss them as mere copyists, "regurgitating" whatever it was they saw in the latest imported art...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF
Oct 8, 2010
'Here Comes the Tengu'
Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 1, 2010
Delorean
The Argentinian writer and Nobel laureate Jorge Luis Borges once described the Basques as "a people who throughout history have done little else than milk cows." Although this dismissive comment was from a character narrating a tale rather than the author's own, it could nevertheless be said that Basques...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 1, 2010
Find time in the 'Forests of Asoka'
Like many people, I have an instinctive suspicion of conceptual art, regarding its practitioners in the same league as politicians, lawyers and snake oil salesmen; namely, hot-air artists who rely too much on words to win us over to their dubious concepts. Art should effortlessly speak for itself, but...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 17, 2010
Show undermined by a surfeit of masters
Save us from the well-rounded exhibition! For museum visitors in Japan, this is a constant danger; something I was reminded of again by the Setagaya Art Museum's latest show: "Masterpieces from the Collection of the Kunstmuseum Winterthur." Like other multi-faceted exhibitions that endeavor to provide...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 27, 2010
In the absence of information comes greater imagination
The 1990s saw the rise of what at the time seemed an important generation of Japanese female photographers. This included Junko Takahashi, HIROMIX, Rika Noguchi, Mika Ninagawa and Tomoko Sawada. While much of this new wave — most notably the narcissistic soft-porn of HIROMIX and the cosplay outings...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 30, 2010
Who deserves to sit alongside Chagall?
There are many ways to view the lush, colorful, dreamlike and apparently naive art of Marc Chagall, one of the undoubted greats of 20th-century painting. "Marc Chagall and the Russian Avant-garde, from the Collection of the Centre Pompidou" at The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of Arts, makes...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 16, 2010
Looking back at the Renaissance
To the receptive, an old painting can sometimes seem like a time machine, giving a vivid sense of the hand and mind that created it, as well as the social milieu and atmosphere behind it. But this time- traveling analogy doesn't just extend to the viewing of venerable art. Even the creation of new paintings...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 9, 2010
A view of Naples' 'head of the hill'
Following the exhibition "Galleria Borghese" at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum earlier this year, yet another famous Italian artistic institution is in town. This time it's the Capodimonte Museum from Naples, with a show at the National Museum of Western Art. Like the Borghese show, this exhibition...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 4, 2010
Artistic daring from a retired prime minister
This story may sound like the ultimate anecdote about "slumming it," a phenomenon in which the rich and privileged willingly choose to endure conditions much harsher and more squalid than they are used to. About 10 years ago, following his retirement from politics, ex-Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa...
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
Amid same-sex marriage ban, LGBTQ couples opt for 'photo weddings'
A lesbian couple, consisting of a 35-year-old woman (left) and 40-year-old woman, cover their faces with bouquets as they pose for wedding photos in Yokohama on Nov. 1.
China and Russia conduct joint Pacific military patrol
The Russian corvette Gromkiy enters the Chinese port of Zhanjiang as part of a joint China-Russia naval exercise on Saturday.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.
How to tweak your diet when temperatures spike
Most people think of hydration as a strictly liquid-based concept, but eating foods with high water content is an essential part of making it through a Japanese summer unscathed.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals
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