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November 21, 2024
 

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Thu-Huong Ha
Thu-Huong Ha is the culture critic at The Japan Times, focusing on contemporary art and fiction. Previously she was a reporter for Quartz, an editor for TED.com and an executive producer of TEDxNewYork. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wired, The Believer, and ArtReview, among others. Her debut novel, "Hail Caesar," was published by Scholastic/PUSH in 2007. Get in touch: [email protected] or instagram.com/whatthusee.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Jul 5, 2023
Would you spend the night in a coffin … for art?
Want to know what it’s like to spend the night in a coffin? Culture critic Thu-Huong Ha joins us to discuss her night in artist Marina Abramovic’s nightmare-inducing Dream House.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / Longform
Jul 3, 2023
Sixteen hours in Marina Abramovic's nightmare hotel
In rural Niigata Prefecture, you can stay overnight in an artwork dreamed up by the world’s most infamous performance artist. If you don’t mind sleeping in a coffin.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 25, 2023
How (and why) to enjoy a 700-year-old painting of Buddhist suffering
A Kamakura Period depiction of Buddha’s death, on view at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, is surprisingly relatable even today.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 13, 2023
Losing and finding my cool in Gwangju
Located in a city imbued with a fighting spirit, art festival Gwangju Biennale 2023 provides a backdrop for contemplation about action, strength and inner calm.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 11, 2023
Yu Yamauchi gets very comfortable in isolation
The photographer, whose exhibition 'Jinen' is on display at this year's Kyotographie photo festival, gets in touch with himself and the world with long, lonely stints immersed in nature.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 29, 2023
DJ Nobu: The face of Japanese techno is ready to break free
Japan’s current king of underground techno leaves the pandemic years with a renewed desire to defy the status quo... and maybe even skip the country.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 22, 2023
A new music festival shakes up Kyoto's staid atmosphere
Kyotophonie, a sister event to photography festival Kyotographie, succeeds in its uniqueness and use of storied spaces, but it’s not clear who the event is actually for.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 18, 2023
‘The Great Reclamation’ details the horrors of the foreign occupation in Singapore
Rachel Heng’s dazzling coming-of-age novel, set before the island country’s independence in the 1960s, chronicles the tragedy of progress with a vivid cast of characters.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 13, 2023
Haruki Murakami’s first novel in six years hits shelves in Japan
The bestselling author spent three years working nonstop on his new novel, 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls,' which reworks the story of the same title from 1980.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 31, 2023
600 pages all at once: What readers are saying about Mieko Kawakami’s new novel
Initial reviews of “Sisters in Yellow” say the hefty book is a fast read that leaves an almost painful impression.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2023
In Japan, cherry blossom forecasting is a big deal. Warming is making it harder.
A robust system of forecasting has built up around Japan’s sakura festivities, but climate change is disrupting the former and threatening the latter.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Mar 23, 2023
The cherry blossoms are here and business is blooming
Kathleen Benoza explains what's at stake during the hanami season, while Thu-Huong Ha and Alyssa I. Smith discuss the science, symbolism and culture of sakura in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 19, 2023
'The Flowers of Buffoonery': Osamu Dazai's unexpected portrait of camaraderie
The novel adds new texture to the author's classic 'No Longer Human,' while bringing levity to a somewhat dire thesis: The world is full of inauthenticity.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 14, 2023
The guilt of fatherhood helped shape Kenzaburo Oe’s literary vision
The award-winning writer attempted to give his disabled son a voice through fiction.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 11, 2023
Artizon Museum's Dumb Type installations will leave you cold
Recent works by Dumb Type have been recreated in and adapted for the Tokyo museum as “2022: remap.” But even for this high-concept collective, some of the works are especially hard to grasp.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Mar 2, 2023
Infinity and beyond: Yayoi Kusama’s next evolution
Culture critic Thu-Huong Ha joins the podcast to explain Yayoi Kusama’s latest stage of evolution.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / Reviews
Feb 23, 2023
TeamLab goes to the opera
The art collective teamLab attempts to expand its creative empire with a foray into opera. This poses the question, is 'Turandot' a fair play?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 18, 2023
Is this Yayoi Kusama's final evolution?
A recent branding campaign with luxury brand Louis Vuitton raises the question: Is she still interesting?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 17, 2023
Could the Akutagawa Prize get its first American winner?
Gregory Khezrnejat, whose short story “Kaikonchi” is up for the literary award, sees writing in Japanese as a minor rebellion against English's assumed dominance in global culture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Jan 8, 2023
A love letter to hot springs at music festivals
Getting covered in grime, mud and sweat is an expected part of attending a multiday outdoor festival, but in Japan, hot springs provide a surprisingly liberating dimension to the weekend.
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

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

Longform

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

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