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April 05, 2025
 

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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
Jan 10, 2013
"Genichiro Inokuma: Change and Changelessness"
Over his 70-year career, Genichiro Inokuma (1902-1993) made several critical changes to his painting style. He began as a realist portrait artist, then moved onto geometric abstraction after the World War II, before becoming obsessed with portraying faces.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 10, 2013
"Enku's Buddhas: Sculptures from Senkoji Temple and the Hida Region"
It is said that the Japanese Buddhist monk Enku (1632-1695) carved as many as 120,000 wooden Buddha statues during his lifetime pilgrimage to shrines nationwide.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 10, 2013
"Film History in Posters Part 1: Western Movies"
For many, classic Westerns, with their depiction of the spirit and struggles of the new American frontier, bring up feelings of nostalgia. Their stereotypical gunfights, tough sheriffs and rugged wilderness keep them popular — even though for contemporary film, the genre is now waning.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 3, 2013
"Samurai Dandyism"
Although Japanese samurai warriors were engaged in daily bloody battles, it didn't mean that they lacked cultural sophistication and style. Some were poets and calligraphers, and many chose to have their tsuba (sword guards) decorated with intricate metal inlay, known as damascening.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 3, 2013
"Fantasy for the Jomon Era"
Information about the life of Japanese people during the Jomon Period (Japan's neolithic era) is limited, but the study of ancient ruins and archeaological finds have helped us develop a picture of their lifestyle. For example, it is assumed that they hunted boars in the winter and dived into the ocean...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 3, 2013
"Kimono Beauty"
The kimono is one of Japan's most famous traditions. Recently, it has garnered even more international attention as not only a fashionable garment but also as an art form.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 3, 2013
"Situations and Exchanges: Fukuoka Contemporary Art Chronicle"
Fukuoka Prefecture's art industry rapidly prospered during the 1950s-60s with the rise of Group Kyushu, a highly experimental and controversial artists' group. From the 1970s, however, an artistic stagnancy prevailed, and the generation of artists that emerged after the "golden period" struggled to make...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 27, 2012
"20th Anniversary Special Exhibition Opening of Edo-Tokyo Museum"
Before the current prefectural system was established, Japan was split into provinces. The western half of Aichi Prefecture was known as Owari Province, and during the Edo Period (1603-1867) the area became a domain of the influential and prospering Tokugawa clan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 27, 2012
"Hiroshige: Fifty-three Post-Stations of the Tokaido Series"
The Edo Period (1603-1867) was a time of rapid prosperity for Japan's Tokaido region, which stretches across the southeastern edge of Honshu. Improved public roads gave travelers easier access to the region, whose renowned shrines became popular pilgrimage and tourist destinations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 27, 2012
"Ikko Narahara: The Sky in my Hands"
Ikko Narahara first shot to fame in 1956, with "Human Land" — a photographic documentation of expeditions to the deserted Gunkanjima (Battleship Island) in Nagasaki Prefecture, and the lava-ravaged Sakura Island in Kagoshima Prefecture. On those islands, Narahara isolated himself from society, so that...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 27, 2012
"A History and Aesthetics of Guilloche Patterns in the Modern Banknote Design"
Japanese banknotes are patterned with highly intricate, geometrical designs of a style known as guilloche, or saimon in Japanese. Guilloche was first introduced to Japan in the beginning of the 19th century. Its complexity not only produces aesthetically pleasing patterns, but it is also difficult to...
CULTURE / Art
Dec 27, 2012
"A History and Aesthetics of Guilloche Patterns in the Modern Banknote Design"
Japanese banknotes are patterned with highly intricate, geometrical designs o a style known as guilloche, or saimon in Japanese. Guilloche was first introduced to Japan in the beginning of the 19th century. Its complexity not only produces aesthetically pleasing patterns, but it is also difficult to...
MULTIMEDIA
Dec 21, 2012
Manga convention hopes to get a crowd of fans jumping with joy
'Friendship," "endeavor," and "victory" are three main concepts underpinning a slew of popular manga stories that constitute the long-running weekly magazine Shukan Shonen Jump. As the titular word shonen (boys) suggests, these themes are precisely designed to intrigue fantasy-prone, thrill-seeking young...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 20, 2012
"Iura Arata: Between the Sun and the Moon"
Besides being an actor, Arata Iura has proved to be artistically talented in other fields. He runs his own fashion label, which offers a mix of traditional craftsmanship with modern design, and is now revealing himself to be a gifted photographer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 20, 2012
"Tadasu Takamine's Cool Japan"
The term "Cool Japan" was recently used by the Japanese government to help boost global interest in some of the nation's most admirable achievements, such as its altruism and pursuit of cutting-edge technology.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 20, 2012
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 20, 2012
"Modern European Art from the Collection of the National Museum of Western Art"
The National Museum of Western Art opened in 1959 as the only museum in Japan dedicated to Western artworks. Since its establishment, it has actively continued to collect, preserve and display Western works, becoming the major driving force behind today's widespread presence of European art in Japan....
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 14, 2012
Celebrate a traditional German Christmas at a market in Osaka
It's that time of year again. Expect the city of Osaka to be teeming with excited children and families over the weekend as the German Christmas Market in Kita Ward continues to attract merrymakers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 13, 2012
"Yase Doji Exhibition"
In ancient Japan, the term Yase Doji referred to the people who lived in the Yase district of Kyoto and worked for the area's Enryaku temple. Despite their plebeian status, Yase Doji were prosperous and maintained strong connections with those in power, including emperors, aristocrats and shogun. After...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 13, 2012
"Somewhere Between me and This World: Japanese Contemporary Photography"
Japan's economy has been in decline since the early 1990s, but Michiko Kasahara, a curator at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, refuses to accept that the last two decades have been "lost." A recent government poll shows that 70 percent of young Japanese are satisfied with their lives, Kasahara...
U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
3D printer used to construct train station building in Japan
A train station building (front) is assembled from parts printed using 3D printer technology, in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday.
Japan’s leader didn’t read the job description
Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba is facing a political funding scandal that has damaged his reputation and sparked speculation that internal efforts to remove him are underway.
Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Tokyo’s KK Line to close for decadelong overhaul as public greenway
People enjoy running and yoga on Tokyo Expressway’s KK Line, a 2-kilometer elevated expressway cutting through the capital’s commercial Ginza district, when it was opened as a pedestrian space in May last year.
Tottori takes a bold leap forward in the arts
The city of Kurayoshi in Tottori Prefecture celebrated the opening of its public art museum with festivities such as a parade that drew 1,000 revelers.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
Nintendo to launch the Switch 2 on June 5
The controllers for the Switch 2 will attach to the console magnetically rather than sliding on rails as with the original device.
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
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