Tomohiro Osaki - The Japan Times

August 15, 2024

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Tomohiro Osaki

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Tomohiro Osaki

Tomohiro Osaki is a staff writer in the Domestic News Division. A graduate of Sophia University in Tokyo, he likes to explore under-reported realities of Japanese youth, with a tendency toward the taboo.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Mar 21, 2013

'Sakubei Yamamoto: Documentary Illustrations of the Coal Mining Industry'

Sakubei Yamamoto (1892-1984) grew up in Fukuoka Prefecture's Chikuho region, which was once one of Japan's most prolific coal-mining areas. He devoted his life to the mining industry, and when he retired he took up painting as a way to memorialize his experience, just as the importance of coal began...

Japan Times

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Mar 15, 2013

Film festival focuses on Osaka

Of all the films the late actress Isuzu Yamada starred in, none of them better symbolized the vicissitudes of her real life than the 1936 "Naniwa Ereji (Naniwa Elegy)."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Mar 14, 2013

'The Vision of Contemporary Art 2013'

The Vision of Contemporary Art annual competition, which has run for 20 years, aims to nurture young Japanese artists and help promote their work internationally.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Mar 14, 2013

'Cross Sections Chronicle @ MoMAK 1963-2013'

The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, was established with the aim of focusing on Kyoto's crafts and industries. It has remained true to its philosophy, hosting events and exhibitions featuring local artisans.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Mar 14, 2013

'Yae no Sakura'

Yae Niijima (1845-1932) is one of the most unconventional women in Japan's history. Born into a family of artillery experts, Yae spent her childhood working on her marksmanship. In 1868, when the Boshin War started, she joined male soldiers to help protect the Aizu region. She was 22 at the time and...

Japan Times

Events / Events In Tokyo

Mar 8, 2013

Fashion good enough to eat

The idea of edible clothing is nothing new in the sensational world of avant-garde fashion. Most famously, iconoclastic pop singer Lady Gaga grabbed headlines in 2010 when she showed up at the MTV Video Music Awards wearing a "meat dress" made of raw beef, which was of course met with a flurry of criticism...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Mar 7, 2013

'Rubens: Inspired by Italy and Established in Antwerp'

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) spent the better part of his childhood in Antwerp, Belgium, but left for Italy at age 20 to learn the history of classical Italian painting. After returning to his native country, he was appointed in 1609 as court painter to the sovereigns of the Netherlands Archduke Albert...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Mar 7, 2013

"Ancient Glass: Feast of Color"

In ancient times, when precious stones such as lapis lazuli and carnelian were admired and desired, craftsmen found ways to imitate such beauty by experimenting with decorative glassware techniques.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Mar 7, 2013

'Erwin Blumenfeld: A Hidden Ritual of Beauty'

German-born fashion photographer Erwin Blumenfeld (1897-1969) was particularly renowned for his cover shoots for fashion magazines such as Harper's Bazaar and Vogue. Although his extant works are highly acclaimed by art critics worldwide, they are rarely shown in Japan — mainly because they are housed...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Mar 7, 2013

'Alphonse Mucha: An Insight into the Artist'

During the late 19th century, Czech decorative designer and painter Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) became popular for his detailed and ornate designs that often depicted beautiful women in neoclassical attire. His style stood out from his contemporaries and later became known as Art Nouveau, establishing...

Japan Times

Events / Events In Tokyo

Mar 1, 2013

Rare chance to see Tokyo geisha

Being a talented conversationalist is a vital part of the skill set of any accomplished hostess. The same goes for top-class geisha. Veteran geisha Ikuko, for example, recalls scouring newspapers avidly for potential conversation topics, dining with her apprentices every morning, and even frequenting...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Feb 28, 2013

"Madonna del Granduca" is a beloved masterpiece by Italian painter Raffaello Sanzio (1483-1520), known by most as simply Raphael. Described by critics as one of the great Madonna and child paintings, it was a source of inspiration for many generations of painters.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Feb 28, 2013

'Shigeru Ban: Architecture and Humanitarian Activities'

Architect Shigeru Ban is renowned for involving himself in unusual projects, and he has become particularly well-known for his experiments with paper as a cheap and sustainable building material.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Feb 28, 2013

'Modern Kamakura Guidebook'

The city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, is a popular tourist destination that attracts around 19 million visitors a year, many of whom visit from nearby Tokyo. It became increasingly popular during the Edo Period (1603-1867), when pilgrimages to its Buddhist sites became a fashionable pastime. It...

Events / Events In Tokyo

Feb 22, 2013

New play tackles the touchy issue of nationalism

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Feb 21, 2013

'Klimt's Golden Rider and Vienna: Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Klimt's Birth'

Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) is well-known for the opulence and eroticism of his works, which often focused on the female nude, and for his preoccupation with themes of death.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Feb 21, 2013

'Design Project for the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games'

The 1964 Summer Olympics will forever be remembered as one of the most important events in Japan's postwar history. To Japan, hosting the Olympics was the nation's opportunity to prove to the world that it had strength and power to recover and progress from its crushing defeat in World War II two decades...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Feb 21, 2013

'Print Art Triennale in Kyoto'

With the growing popularity of high-tech art, such as digital media and installations, engraving woodblock prints might seem primitive and old-fashioned. Many Japanese, in fact, associate woodblock printing with older-generation artisans, who they imagine slave fastidiously over works in the silence...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Feb 21, 2013

'Kobayashi Naojiro Exhibition'

When Naojiro Kobayashi outlived a diagnosis that a lung disease he was suffering from would kill him by the age of 25, his favorite phrase became: "I'm so embarrassed I have lived this long." But he continued to defy the disease, finally living to the age of 93, keeping himself active throughout with...

Japan Times

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Feb 15, 2013

Party picks up in Chinatown this weekend

While it seems politics is all that comes to mind when talking about China these days, the current New Year's holiday shows what a remarkable breadth of culture the country has.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.

In search of the ‘Japanese dream’

By Thu-Huong Ha

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