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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2014

Getting a hustle on the Oscars

David O. Russell's "American Hustle" is cleaning up in the early part of an awards season that was meant to belong to Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave." And that ain't no con.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 22, 2014

Hiraki Sawa’s dream world: Worth the pause for thought

Sometimes it can be irritating visiting an exhibition of video-based art. You come in halfway through one of the videos or near the end of another, and you feel that you've missed something and wonder if you should stick around to watch it from the start.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 22, 2014

Komanosuke Takemoto: a rare voice of tradition

The traditional performing art of bunraku (ningyō jōruri) involves three puppeteers together operating a cast of single puppets, with a gidayū bushi to the side comprising a story-teller (tayū) and a shamisen player (shamisen- hiki) seated on a round platform (yuka).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 22, 2014

'The Masterpieces of Nihonga'

This exhibition of nihonga (Japanese-style painting) is divided into various themes and comprises works from the late 19th century to today, collected from 60 different locations in Japan. Highlights include a display of six designated Important Cultural Properties, one of which depicts the Buddhist...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 21, 2014

Kobe's tofubeats moves from blogs to the big time

Like many kids growing up in the 1990s, Yusuke Kawai's initial brush with the World Wide Web happened in elementary school.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 20, 2014

Citizen watchdogs see secrets law reviving tax money abuses

Democratic societies often have an ombudsman system of ordinary citizens who monitor how local and national tax money is spent.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 18, 2014

Lexicon for today's Japan: Reading between the lies

Plowing through the news, one is often struck by the proliferation of acronyms, jargon, new names and terms. It can be a baffling experience, so I thought I would provide some explanations, keywords, synonyms, associative notions and interpretations to aid comprehension — even at risk of differing...
MORE SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Jan 14, 2014

Coaching, managerial changes follow predictable patterns

Whenever a coaching change is made in the NFL or a managerial switch takes place in MLB, the players on the teams involved must feel like police suspects being subjected to the classic "good cop-bad cop" routine.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 13, 2014

A hard day's grind for porn's professionals

A day on set with Akira Takatsuki, arguably Japan's most famous porn director in the subgenre revolving around well-endowed female talent, and AV stars Shiori Tsukada and Mumin reveals a world of work like any other — except for the sex stuff.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ADVANCES IN PROGRESS
Jan 12, 2014

Display technologies set to turn heads in cars and windows

From smartphones and high-definition TVs to digital displays, display technology has advanced in leaps and bounds to become ubiquitous the world over.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jan 9, 2014

Tao makes the cut in new drama

At age 28, actress and model Tao Okamoto is already one of the few women in history — along with actress Farrah Fawcett and Jennifer Aniston's Rachel character from "Friends" to name a couple — to have a haircut named after her.
EDITORIALS
Jan 8, 2014

Shaky foundation for recovery

The Japanese economy appears to be on the recovery path for now, thanks to the policy of the Abe administration, but the effects from the consumption tax rise, beginning in April, and the extra financial burden that households can expect under the fiscal 2014 draft budget do not place the recovery on a solid foundation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 2, 2014

'Odd Thomas'

Director Stephen Sommers is known for works such as "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" and "Van Helsing"; in the words of one U.S. critic, he makes "watchable trash."
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2013

Gridlock at Isahaya Bay

The government had better take the initiative to break the legal gridlock over the Isahaya Bay dike in Nagasaki Prefecture. Fishermen seek to open the floodgates while farmers try to keep the floodgates closed. Courts have handed down conflicting rulings.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2013

Base time frame for Futenma relocation uncertain

The decision Friday by Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima to allow the start of offshore fill work needed to build a replacement facility for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma ends a 17-year standoff that pitted entrenched base opponents against Tokyo and Washington.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 25, 2013

Casino quest governor's hole card?

As Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima's Futenma base decision, speculation is growing that he's holding out for the promise of a casino resort.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 18, 2013

What goes around comes around in Nagatsuka's 'Macbeth'

Whether he likes it or not, unassuming Keishi Nagatsuka is widely seen as being foremost among the coming generation in Japan's contemporary theater world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 18, 2013

Josef Koudelka: the theatrics of life

Wild white hair and beard, but dressed in a drab, olive shirt and combat jacket, Josef Koudelka is like a guerrilla Father Christmas. Wearing scuffed shoes, and with a roughly unceremonious joviality, the Czech photographer appears uncomfortable being stalked around his exhibition by dozens of press...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 18, 2013

'Hokusai from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston'

Hokusai Katsushika (1760-1849), one of Japan's best-known Edo Period ukiyo-e (woodblock print) artists, has garnered admiration from across the world for more than a century. His prints are still sought after by collectors and he was the only Japanese to be selected by Life Magazine to be included in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 11, 2013

'Ichihashi Orie Exhibition 2001-2013'

Ichihashi Orie is a young photographer who has recently gained significant recognition for her print media and advertising campaigns for major companies such as McDonald's, Kirin and Uniqlo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 10, 2013

Recalling nature's fury abstractly in oils

As someone who was born and brought up in Bosnia, educated in Germany and is now based in New York, why should artist Amer Kobaslija have reacted as passionately as he did on hearing about the earthquake and the tsunami that struck Japan's Tohoku region on March 11, 2011?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 7, 2013

The Frontier Within: Essays by Kobo Abe

Kobo Abe was one of Japan's greatest postwar authors, with his works of science fiction and existential plays on alienation and absurdity drawing comparisons with European writers such as Franz Kafka and Alberto Moravia. However, he also wrote theoretical criticism that merged literary and philosophical...
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Dec 5, 2013

See 'Akira' in full aural capacity

Experience animation artist Katsuhiro Otomo's masterworks in a way you're unlikely to have done before. The Bakuon 2013 film event in Tokyo is showcasing various anime films by the renowned artist in a space with acoustics designed for music festivals. So, consider yourself warned — the screenings...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 4, 2013

Trapped by human society

Osaka-born Tetsumi Kudo's oeuvre has been the subject of a number of major international retrospectives since his death in 1990, and these indicate the artist's increasing postwar historical significance. The current National Museum of Art, Osaka retrospective is magisterial. With more than 600 pages,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 4, 2013

A modern view of a neglected Impressionist

The French painter Gustave Caillebotte has suffered more than most from the fact that he wasn't Monet, Manet, or Renoir. As one of the second-ranking Impressionists, he has long been in the shadow of these more famous names with which his career is associated.

Longform

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