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 Kris Kosaka

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Kris Kosaka
Kris Kosaka, a resident of Japan since 1996, contributes regularly to The Japan Times. She is a lecturer at Meiji Gakuin University in the Faculty of International Studies.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 17, 2012
Ink artist pushes the boundaries of tattooing
The skin as canvas, inks and needles replacing the palette: tattoos by Khan transcend mere decorations. Whether he is depicting eye crinkles in a portrait of the Dalai Lama or the leer of a supernatural ghoul, his rich color and technical realism redefines the boundaries of art and pop culture.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 9, 2012
Savor Hokkaido's warming winter menu
Autumn in Hokkaido is a comma before the long period of white winter. Autumn's food season too scurries almost directly from summer to wintry tastes, so here's a look at how the locals keep warm, starting in November and feasting all the way into May.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 28, 2012
Shaken, stirred puzzle that fits
SUBDUCTION, by Todd Shimoda, illustrated by L.J.C. Shimoda. Chin Music Press, 2012, 279 pp., $25 (hardcover) How to adequately describe "Subduction," the new work by husband and wife team Todd and L.J.C. Shimoda? A psychological thriller framed by gorgeous artwork? A beautifully bound collection of abstract,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 27, 2012
Jewish Japanese-American keeps multicultural connections in tune
Even in casual conversation, Danny Katz entertains. His voice doesn't just speak, it croons with comedic pacing, imitations and abrupt shifts in tone. He peppers his speech with accents, New York City slang, Japanese formalities or onomatopoeia.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 13, 2012
Manga artist wields 'fude' brush in samurai epic
Illustrator and comic book artist Mulele Jarvis came to Tokyo just as he reached adulthood. It was five years after he had first discovered manga near his home in San Francisco, at Kinokuniya Bookstore, next door to Japantown: "That's where I found Katsuhiro Otomo's 'Akira.' I was so impressed by it,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 22, 2012
Filipino filmmaker-writer captures the stories of Asians on the fringe
Rey Ventura's prose startles with the subtle force of cinematic images: From the "rustling leaves" that signal the return of the rebel forces to the Aeta hill tribes in the Philippines to the "standing men" or day laborers populating the alleyways of the Kotobukicho district of Yokohama. As both filmmaker...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 16, 2012
Charming short stories about man's tarnished imperfections
The Beautiful One Has Come, by Susan Kamata. Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, 2011, 212 pp., $15.00, (paperback) Long-term Japan resident and writer Suzanne Kamata juxtaposes the charming and the unappealing in an understated elucidation of flawed humanity with her collection of short stories, "The Beautiful...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 14, 2012
Recipes and more from the farmer's kitchen
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 19, 2012
Nursery rhymes that fly high with sound and color
JAPANESE NURSERY RHYMES: Carp Streamers, Falling Rain, and other Traditional Favorites, by Danielle Wright and illustrated by Helen Acraman. Tuttle Publishing, 2012, 32 pp., $16.95 (hardcover) With its many onomatopoeic words, the Japanese language booms and trills, echoing with musical lingo. Usually...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Aug 18, 2012
Innovative organic farming achieves sustainability in rural Hokkaido
How to endure? It's an elemental question perfectly matched to the endless, ripening fields of the organic farm Land Mann in the town of Biei, Hokkaido.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Aug 4, 2012
Atomic bomb survivor credits desire to learn for living 'four lives'
Yuuki Yoshida, 80, divides his lifetime into four different "lives," but he has lived each of them by following one maxim: "Try to learn as if you were to live forever, and live as if you were to die tomorrow."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 3, 2012
World Ballet Festival shows how Japan has jetéd its way onto the world stage
Ballet lovers faced a difficult choice this week when two productions of "Don Quixote" were performed in Tokyo. The shows heralded the opening of the 13th World Ballet Festival, whose main program began Thursday and closes with a Special Gala on Aug. 16.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 19, 2012
China and Japan: A 40-year friendship worth singing about
Forget allegations of spies and economic intrigue. Put aside the controversial Senkaku Islands and celebrate as the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing unites with the New National Theatre in Tokyo to commemorate the 40th anniversary of normalized relations between Japan and China. Two...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 15, 2012
Madame Butterfly's love child
Butterfly's Child, by Angela Davis-Gardner. Dial Press, 2011, 352 pp., $26.00 (hardcover) Western opera's opulent pageantry contradicts traditional Japanese understated aesthetics. In the novel "Butterfly's Child," Angela Davis-Gardner resolves this difference by crafting a subdued, multilayered marvel...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 30, 2012
British artist/chef finds happiness by keeping all of his options open
Cooking can be art and art nourishes, but what really connects the two for chef and artist Johnny Miller is the act of creation itself: "It's the physicality of it — both are directly related to your body and how your body moves. In cooking, you've got to touch things, touch hot and cold things. You've...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 23, 2012
Aussie rejects salaryman lifestyle to embrace love of nature in Hokkaido
Rambling among crates of raw fish, dawdling around with 450 types of freshly caught produce. It may seem an odd way to relax, but for James Gallagher, 46, the organized chaos of the Tsukiji Fish Market used to be a welcome respite during his lunch breaks at the advertising firm Dentsu in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 10, 2012
Essential reading for those who love haiku
Haiku Poetics in Twentieth Century Avant-garde Poetry, by Jeffrey Johnson. Lexington Books, Maryland, 2011, 226 pp., $70.00 (hardcover) The threads of haiku run through many layers of Japanese society — from school-age recitations and the Emperor's New Year's greetings to Twitter or text battles —...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 2, 2012
Japan's great outdoors becomes Oregonian's office-cum-playground
Gliding through powder across Mount Hakkoda in Aomori Prefecture or scanning the surfers at Shonan Beach in Kanagawa Prefecture, Gardner Robinson's life and work merge so completely that on the clock and on the slopes are one and the same.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 24, 2012
Matthias von Stegmann creates a modern German myth for Japan
Modern and mythological perspectives converge as the New National Theatre Tokyo's Opera Division looks to its past to envision the future. From June 1-16, German-Japanese director Matthias von Stegmann guides this new vision of Richard Wagner's opera "Lohengrin," last produced at NNTT in 1997, when the...
CULTURE / Books
May 13, 2012
A chart-topper for J-Pop fans
Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon: A Geopolitical Prehistory of J-Pop by Michael K. Bourdaghs. Columbia University Press, New York, 2012, 304 pp., $27.50 (paperback)

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?