More Culture Articles - The Japan Times

November 26, 2024

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Nov 27, 2002

Sigur Ros: "Kid-A"

By Jason Jenkins

When listening to Icelandic postrock outfit Sigur Ros, it's easy to conjure up romantic images of their homeland: frosted clouds framing a cobalt sky, ice monoliths frozen stoically over ancient lava plains, muffled blasts of the geothermal powerhouse deep below. These postcard shots may have held no...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Nov 27, 2002

Cyro Baptista: "Beat the Donkey"

By Tom Bojko

The outrageous percussion, dance and martial arts ensemble known as Beat the Donkey is the glorious creation of the Brazilian-born multi-instrumentalist Cyro Baptista. When not beating the donkey, Baptista is a hired gun for such luminaries as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Herbie Hancock and Trey Anastasio. He's...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 27, 2002

Groove Collective forged in the fires of a mad experiment

By Tom Bojko

In the fall of 1995, I spent many nights in a dank basement club called the Cooler, a former refrigerated warehouse in Manhattan's Meatpacking District. The neighborhood was raw -- the slaughterhouse smell of blood and death had coagulated in the cobblestones of Gansevoort Street and at night tall transvestite...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Nov 27, 2002

Wonderful Parade 2002

By Philip Brasor

Every year, the pholks at Philter Records, Japan's phearless purveyors of phoreign indie pop, bring a phleet of artists to these shores for a special showcase called Wonderful Parade. Last year, the pheatured artist was Of Montreal, which has nothing to do with Canada and everything to do with the Elephant...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Nov 27, 2002

Weather Report: "Live and Unreleased"

By Michael Pronko

Most "live and unreleased" retrospectives contain tracks that were once wisely relegated to storage bins. While such recordings are often excavated for all the wrong reasons, Weather Report's "Live and Unreleased" is the exception. This 18-track, two-CD set is an excellent selection of the band's greatest...

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Nov 24, 2002

'Dewy-eyed' U.S. no match for Japan's samurai values

By Jeff Kingston

BAMBOOZLED! How America Loses the Intellectual Game with Japan and its Implications for Our Future in Asia, by Ivan P. Hall. M.E. Sharpe: Armonk, New York, 2002, 324 pp., $26.95 (paper) For an enjoyable and stimulating read, one could do much worse than this thoughtful polemic on what ails bilateral...

CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF

Nov 24, 2002

Some downright formulaic viewing

As sports go, you can't get more specialized than Formula 1 racing. Built completely around machines, it is a team endeavor that goes beyond pit crews to embrace entire engineering staffs and, theoretically, whole automotive companies.

CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON

Nov 24, 2002

Pulsating with rock, reality

By Suzannah Tartan

To describe the dizzy thrill of Sleater-Kinney, one has to reach back to the bristling energy of early rock 'n' roll. Think of Chuck Berry cackling the words to "Maybelline." Think of Wanda Jackson's redemptive howl. Think of Muddy Waters' deliberate spelling of "M-A-N," each letter promising transgressive...

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Nov 24, 2002

When 'home' holds uneasy welcome

By David Cozy

BROKERED HOMELAND: Japanese Brazilian Migrants in Japan, by Joseph Hotaka Roth. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2002, 161 pp., $16.95 (paper) The story that was once told about citizens of foreign countries who could demonstrate Japanese ancestry was that even if they had never been to...

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Nov 24, 2002

Spotlight on Sri Lanka

By Donald Richie

PROFILING SRI LANKAN CINEMA, by Wimal Dissanayake and Ashley Ratnavibhushana. Sri Lanka: Asian Film Center, 2000, 46 monochrome photos, 152 pp., $25 (paper) In this comprehensive history of Sri Lankan film, the authors suggest four levels through which a national cinema might be understood. First, it...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Nov 20, 2002

"Captain Trip Records Sampler Vol. 1"

By Simon Bartz

The fact that major record labels in Japan fail to tap the wealth of excellent underground bands undoubtedly irks a lot of these groups who -- with live, recording and practice schedules to keep -- cannot take up salaried jobs and instead have to work arubaito on a permanent basis. They carry on with...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Nov 20, 2002

Sinead O'Connor: "Sean-Nos Nua"

By Philip Brasor

Though she's done the occasional traditional Irish song as a guest on other people's records, Sinead O'Connor has never explored her country's musical heritage in depth. Now, after more than 10 years of trying to express her adolescent earth-mother iconoclasm, she gives up and goes the trad route with...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.

Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat

By Greg Dvorak

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports