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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 5, 2012

"The Mitsui Exhibition-ary of Japanese Art and Design"

Every museum-goer must have, at least once, experienced difficulty in understanding some of the complicated expository texts accompanying old art works.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 5, 2012

A stitch in time: re-dressing our memories

The Renaissance and in particular Giorgio Vasari's "Lives of the Artists" (1550) played a key role in elevating the lowly artist — formerly regarded as a mere craftsman — into something far grander and godlike. Nowadays some art collectors seem to want the opposite, favoring artists who create their...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 29, 2012

'The Amazing Spider-Man'

One telling scene in "The Amazing Spider-Man" is also the movie's defining moment. A high school English lit teacher explains to her class the premise of fiction and she gives it in three short words: "Who am I?" That's the question Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, struggles with in this reboot to the famed...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 28, 2012

"Bologna Illustrators Exhibition"

The Italian city of Bologna has a special place in the hearts of children's book illustrators. This is where, since 1967, the annual International Children's Book Fair is hosted, and where the prestigious international illustration competition takes place.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2012

Skytree a mixed blessing for locals

A month after the opening of Tokyo Skytree and Tokyo Skytree Town in Sumida Ward, the world's tallest broadcasting tower and its shopping and entertainment complex continue to draw hordes of visitors, reaching 1.6 million in just the first week, according to operator Tobu Tower Skytree Co. and its parent,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 21, 2012

"Inaudible Sound"

"Inaudible Sound" was originally a one-day event that was scheduled for March 19, 2011, but was canceled after the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 21, 2012

"Shu Kubo: Paper Cutout Exhibition"

Paper-cutting artist Shu Kubo uses handmade washi (traditional Japanese paper) and combines it with various materials, including ordinary paper, fabric and even sand. His works are dynamic and realistic and his multi-media approach offers a wide range of colors and textures.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Jun 20, 2012

Tyler learned many lessons in first NBA season

The Japan Times has published periodic interviews with bj-league players since the fall of 2006. This is the first One-on-One interview featuring a former bj-league player now in the NBA.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 14, 2012

In the light of Rinko Kawauchi

It's quite surprising to find out that "Kawauchi Rinko: Illuminance, Ametsuchi, Seeing Shadow" is Rinko Kawauchi's first solo exhibition in Tokyo. For a winner of prestigious photography prizes, who has published multiple books — not to mention held major exhibitions overseas — this mid-career show...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 7, 2012

Russians who cringed at their own

One of the features of Europe's interwoven network of royal families was that it led to a great deal of cultural transference between the different states. In order to avoid marrying beneath themselves, royals were tempted to look abroad for spouses, with the result that the incomers would often bring...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 3, 2012

Koki Mitani: Japan's Mr. Comedy

Koki Mitani is far and away the nation's best-known dramatist. Although theater is quite a niche medium here, most people in Japan — whether male or female, young or not so young, Japanese or not — recognize his face, even if they couldn't name many of his works. Recently, indeed, I was amazed when...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 1, 2012

Shizuoka eyes theatrical bridge over to Avignon

Stranger things have happened, and in the near future a vibrant cultural bridge across Eurasia may be built between the city of Shizuoka in the beautiful foothills of Mount Fuji, and ancient Avignon in the artists' mecca of Provence in the South of France.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 31, 2012

Japanese art history, through the eye of the collector

"Japanese Masterpieces from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston" is not a survey of Japanese art, nor is it representative of the vast holdings of the institution. Rather, it is an exhibition that tells of an understanding of Japanese art formulated in the late 19th century by the collectors and scholars...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 27, 2012

Life and death north and south of the Korean DMZ

The Orphan Master's Son, by Adam Johnson. Random House, 2012, $26.00 464 pp., (hardcover) Mr. Kill, by Martin Limon. Soho Crime, New York, 2011 $23.00 375 pp., (hardcover) A North Korean will instantly recognize that the young man called Pak Jun Do was raised in an orphanage; the name is a generic one...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 26, 2012

Head monk of Kyoto temple takes Buddhism into the community

Climb the stone walkway, stippled with fallen red camellia blossoms, that leads to Kyoto's Honen-in Temple, past a mossy thatched gate and raised platforms of sand combed in tight patterns of waves and chrysanthemums, and you enter a hushed and otherworldly space at the foot of Mount Daimonji.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 18, 2012

Dancer to honor late artist who balked at death

Shusaku Arakawa (1936-2010) was an enigmatic man. The late Japan-born, New York-based artist and his partner, Madeline Gins, once jointly declared they had decided "not to die," and even added that it was "immoral" for people to have to die. Based on their philosophy, the two created a series of houses...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 3, 2012

Takeshi Kitano takes on a different beat

"I want you to have fun. It's the only aim of this exhibition," said Takeshi "Beat" Kitano when "Gosse de peintre" originally opened at Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in Paris two years ago. For an artist, that's quite an unusual goal — but then Kitano is not your usual artist.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 3, 2012

"The Beauty of Kana"

Kana is a collective term for all the characters used in the Japanese language —hiragana, katakana and kanji.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 29, 2012

Erika Sawajiri is an "Evil Woman"; controversial DaVinci paintings; CM of the week: Lotte Ghana

She's back, and badder than ever! Actually, before her monumental fall from grace, actress Erika Sawajiri rose to fame on her innocent image and ability to weep on cue. But after dissing her own film at a press conference she became poison.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 28, 2012

Mashiko-based U.S. potter vows he'll not be defeated by 3/11 destruction

Harvey Young, a ceramic artist for over 40 years who has spent nearly three decades in Mashiko, Tochigi Prefecture, knows a thing or two about shaping beauty out of chaos — and about the sudden misfires life can bring. Even his early love for pottery warped and melded with other interests until it...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 26, 2012

"Yuzo Saeki and Posters in Paris Around 1920s"

In 1924, Osaka native Yuzo Saeki (1898-1928) left Japan for France, where he eventually made his home in Paris until his death four years later. His oil paintings became famous posthumously after businessman Hatsujiro Yamamoto collected his works and donated them to the city of Osaka.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 26, 2012

"Yuzo Saeki and Posters in Paris Around 1920s"

In 1924, Osaka native Yuzo Saeki (1898-1928) left Japan for France, where he eventually made his home in Paris until his death four years later. His oil paintings became famous posthumously after businessman Hatsujiro Yamamoto collected his works and donated them to the city of Osaka.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 19, 2012

Rustie to bring hyperactive set to SonarSound Tokyo

When Rustie (Russell Whyte, 29) makes his Japan debut at SonarSound Tokyo this weekend, it will mark the culmination of a remarkable few years that has seen the Scottish producer swap house parties in his hometown of Glasgow for headline spots at some of the biggest clubs in the world.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 12, 2012

"Beauty of Combination From Japanese-style Painting"

Traditional Japanese paintings were often created in pairs, and though such works would be individually striking, their visual effect is even more powerful when they are viewed together. For example, Chikudo Kishi's two "Views of Hozukyo" offer a vast panoramic view of the fiercely torrential Hozu river...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 12, 2012

"Beauty of Combination From Japanese-style Painting"

Traditional Japanese paintings were often created in pairs, and though such works would be individually striking, their visual effect is even more powerful when they are viewed together. For example, Chikudo Kishi's two "Views of Hozukyo" offer a vast panoramic view of the fiercely torrential Hozu river...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 12, 2012

Voina points to the art of dissent

The photo shows an unshaven Russian glaring into the distance from behind prison bars. It's a striking shot, so it is hardly surprising that when it was printed on a 4×6-meter banner and unfurled at an entrance to the 20-km exclusion zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the police officers...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 12, 2012

Voina points to the art of dissent

The photo shows an unshaven Russian glaring into the distance from behind prison bars. It's a striking shot, so it is hardly surprising that when it was printed on a 4×6-meter banner and unfurled at an entrance to the 20-km exclusion zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the police officers...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2012

Way of thinking at stake in U.S. 'boxing match'

Japan and America may share values such as democracy, rule of law, freedom of expression and protection of human rights. But do we share the same national mentality?
CULTURE / Art
Apr 5, 2012

'Tohoku Crafts and Shiko Munakata'

Woodblock print artist Shiko Munakata (1903-1975), who was born in Aomori Prefecture, excelled at works that portrayed the nature of northern Japan, including Tohoku.

Longform

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