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Katherine Whatley

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?

Nov 10, 2018

Motomi Morii: Japanese roots, Nordic aesthetic

Since 2009, Motomi Morii has lived and worked in New York. There, she indulges in her love of experimental and improvised music, and takes part in various Japanese cultural events around the city. Most importantly, New York provides her with constant inspiration and opportunity for her career in architectural design.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Nov 4, 2018

The Biwako Biennale makes the old new again

When it comes to curating a biennale, a lack of funding isn't always a big problem as it can lead to more imaginative results.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Oct 3, 2018

When Ami Yamasaki begins to sing, brooks, birds and barks emerge

I first heard Ami Yamasaki's voice in 2016 at a studio where I hosted a radio show in New York. She popped by to promote an upcoming performance at the Japan Society with composer Mamoru Fujieda, koto player Kayoko Nakagawa and shō (free reed mouth organ) player Ko Ishikawa.

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

CULTURE / Art

Jul 24, 2018

Of the many items in a calligrapher's toolbox, the most important are words

Yuyushi Furuta was on a path to commercial success with her calligraphy when she decided to take a left turn.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Jul 24, 2018

Setting the kanji free: A calligrapher walks the line between tradition and the abstract

Soufu Honda uses her entire body to create her calligraphy works in a process that verges on the theatrical.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Jul 5, 2018

Pure Land Buddhism and the art of photography

Follow the Sumida River southwest from Asakusa and you'll soon reach Kuramae, an old working-class neighborhood filled with small factories, wholesale shops and temples. The area is changing, though, with single origin coffee roasters and stores selling imported pottery sprouting up next to mom-and-pop...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Jul 3, 2018

Gordon Matta-Clark: Out of the rubble

It's New York in the 1970s. The optimism of '60s America has faded into cynicism and despair. The city is so broke that it's almost bankrupt. People are fleeing to the suburbs and industry New York is shutting down, leaving abandoned warehouses, homes and tenements scattered throughout. Meanwhile, artists...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Jul 1, 2018

Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale: Niigata's fields of art and inspiration

Deep in the mountains of Niigata Prefecture, the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale is preparing its hundreds of exhibitions, events and installations — some new, some already permanent — for its seventh edition.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

May 23, 2018

A world of art on display at Tokyo International Art Fair

This year's edition of the Tokyo International Art Fair will feature paintings, sculpture, photographic illustrations, jewelry and a "sumo-size" book, with the work coming courtesy of hundreds of artists from 30 different countries, fair organizer Joelle Dinnage tells The Japan Times.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

May 19, 2018

Through the lens: Japanese photographers explore nuclear narratives

Whether it's the work of Robert Capa in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) or Richard Drew's iconic "Falling Man" picture of a man free-falling from the World Trade Center in 2001, photography has provided us with the images that we've used to visualize every disaster of the 20th century and beyond. But...

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel

Apr 12, 2018

Layers of artistic heritage in Aomori Prefecture

The weather is crisp when I arrive at Shin-Aomori Station via the Tohoku Shinkansen. I'm not surprised, though, the northernmost prefecture on the island of Honshu is known as a cold and isolated place.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Mar 29, 2018

Kiyoshi Koyama: A life lived with jazz

"I have lived a life alongside jazz," says Kiyoshi Koyama, jazz critic, journalist and radio host. This is apparent on a recent visit to his home in Chiba Prefecture, where he and his wife live surrounded by walls of neatly organized records, CDs, books and other archives — a lifetime of research and...

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel

Mar 9, 2018

Two millennia of heritage along Wakayama's Kumano Kodo trail

The Kii Peninsula is a land of ancient spiritual paths and holy mountains. Part of Wakayama Prefecture, the area is famous for onsen, temperate rainforests, mountains and a beautiful coastline. The prefecture is known as a place of rich cultural heritage, in part because of its connection to the Kii Province and the Kumano Kodo trail.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Mar 1, 2018

Living and breathing history, through noh

Noh performer Hisa Uzawa has spent her life devoted to an art form that — with its slow and steady movements, sparse staging and ancient chanting — may at first seem staid. In her hands, however, the 650-year-old tradition becomes relentlessly contemporary.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Feb 1, 2018

Artist Asako Iwama explores the relationship between food and language

Food and the desire to eat has always been mysterious to Asako Iwama. When the artist and cook was a young child, she could not understand why she had to eat. Her earliest memories of food are of her grandmother's cooking in a strange yet fascinating kitchen far away from home.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Jan 4, 2018

A cloven landscape, a cloven tree, a cloven self

On a recent trip to Tohoku, photographer Naoya Hatakeyama took a picture of a tree. It wasn't a particularly remarkable tree, but it caught his attention all the same.

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel

Dec 29, 2017

Here comes the sun: Recommended hatsuhinode spots

The first sunrise of the new year represents a chance for a new beginning and so it's hardly surprising that some once viewed the first rays of the sun on Jan. 1 with special reverence. It was believed to be the moment that Toshigami, god of the new year, descends from heaven and bestows happiness on...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.

As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.11 : Sekisui House Ltd.World’s top homebuilder acts on its responsibility

mission sustainability vol.11 : Sekisui House Ltd.World’s top homebuilder acts on its responsibility

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