Search - collection

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 13, 2012

"The Osaka Best Art: Our Collection, Our Selection"

From April to July, Osaka Prefecture asked its citizens to vote on their favorite paintings from 100 masterpieces owned by museums in the area. The project attracted ballots from 8,371 people, who voted the most popular work to be "Postman" by Yuzo Saeki (1898-1928), a renowned Japanese painter from...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 6, 2012

Hints of love fill the air at Nara's Manyo festival

Japan's oldest market in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, will host the Manyo Matsuri on Sept. 8, a festival to commemorate the market and the region's (central Nara Prefecture) ancient culture.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 2, 2012

Unwanted pregnancies need to be discussed

Two weeks ago a 17-year-old girl collapsed in a shopping mall in Hiroshima and was rushed to the hospital. At the same time a dead fetus was found on the floor in the corner of the mall's food court. The girl eventually admitted that she had just given birth to the child. On Aug. 9, a cleaning person...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 2, 2012

Prescient work of writer Sawako Ariyoshi begs for rediscovery

Aug. 30 marked the day, 28 years ago, that Japan and the world lost a writer of immense importance. Sawako Ariyoshi's works of fiction and nonfiction took up many social issues that came into prominence in the years after her death. To my mind, she is not only one of the greatest authors of modern Japan,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 30, 2012

Fact welcomes a new face to the fold

In September, Fact will embark on a monthlong Japan trek in support of their fourth full-length effort, January's "Burundanga." The gigs will be the Chiba posthardcore act's first domestic concerts since performing last December at the popular annual Countdown Japan yearend music festival. They will...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 30, 2012

"Japanese Traditional Painting: Materials, Forms, Themes" (Painting)

In an exhibition aimed at generating more public interest in traditional Japanese paintings, the Nara Prefectural Museum of Art is showcasing medieval and modern works from its own collection.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Aug 28, 2012

Purifying plant power

The Airleaf Mini is an interesting product that makes use of your fan or air conditioner. It contains little beads filled with oils extracted from fir trees, which purifies air as it's blown through by cutting down the carbon dioxide and restricting production of oxygen radicals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 23, 2012

"Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection II: A Close Look at Private Art Schools of Kyoto"

Gajuku, art schools for painters in Japan, played a vital role in the cultivation of Kyoto's modern art industry. Some gajuku were run privately by experienced painters, while others served as places where highly motivated, like-minded artists could get together and practice their skills.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 23, 2012

Art director Hideki Nakajima throws down the gauntlet of design

In Hiroshima the sun is setting on a large retrospective exhibition by one of Japan's leading graphic designers, who for the past 20 years has been working at the edge of his discipline, carving out a unique niche for himself within a very prescribed industry.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Aug 19, 2012

Scholar Tenshin Okakura's seaside pavilion, destroyed in tsunami, witnesses a new dawn

Rokkakudo, a small, six-sided wooden pavilion that overlooks the Pacific Ocean from a low rocky headland in northern Ibaraki Prefecture, is by no means Tenshin Okakura's most important legacy. That honor would go to "The Book of Tea," a now-classic dissertation on traditional Japanese aesthetics that...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 17, 2012

Light meals for Tokyo's long, sticky summer

Summertime, and the living is far from easy in the city. Stuck in the middle of the heat island, appetites fray and taste buds wilt like yesterday's lettuce. Simple snacks are called for, not major meals, with copious quantities of liquid sustenance too.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 16, 2012

Miu Sakamoto "I'm Yours!"

"I'm Yours!" is the third album to come out of the partnership between Japanese pop singer Miu Sakamoto and The Shanghai Restoration Project, an American outfit led by Dave Liang that merges traditional Chinese instruments with contemporary electronic music. They've been handling the production on Sakamoto's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Aug 14, 2012

Parisienne cool reaches Tokyo

Isabel Marant, the queen of French haute-casual wear, has finally opened her first shop in Japan, right off of Tokyo's Omotesando promenade.
EDITORIALS
Aug 12, 2012

Happy 50th, Beatles!

Imagine there's no Beatles. It's impossible, even if you try. Their music is too well known and too deeply loved. When Paul McCartney sang "Hey Jude" at the opening of the London Olympics two weeks ago, people around the world sang along — they all knew the melody and the words. What other band in...
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 11, 2012

Supporters helped propel Icho, Obara to gold

Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, is not known for being Party Central. But that changed in a big way when freestyle wrestlers Kaori Icho and Hitomi Obara doubled Japan's gold medal total on Wednesday, making their hometown proud and bringing immense joy to Tohoku.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / LONDON POSTCARD
Aug 7, 2012

U.K. track success gives games 'signature day'

Looking back at the second evening of athletics at Olympic Stadium, so many images and sounds are flashing through my mind.
COMMUNITY
Aug 7, 2012

American photographer recounts childhood in wartime Karuizawa

Hungarian-American photographer Tom Haar, 71, who spent several years of his childhood in wartime Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, says he wants to help promote the resort area once again "as an international cultural community."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 2, 2012

"Mary Blair: A Life's Choice, A Mother's Job, from Studio Ghibli Collection"

Mary Blair (1911-1978) is probably best remembered for her work for the Walt Disney Studios. She is known to have influenced the blockbuster animations "Cinderella," "Alice In Wonderland" and "Peter Pan." After leaving Disney, Blair continued to work as a graphic designer and illustrator. She illustrated...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 2, 2012

Fuji Rock gets a blast of sunshine, and a wave of Cool Britannia from Radiohead, Noel Gallagher, The Stone Roses

Chances are that anyone who regularly makes it out to the valleys of Naeba, Niigata Prefecture, for the annual Fuji Rock Festival will tell you that it's not for the weather. If there's one thing every year that punters will cross their fingers and hope for more than quality performances from their favored...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUJI ROCKERS
Aug 2, 2012

Purity Ring's secret? Start your morning right

How does Fuji Rock compare with other festivals around the world?
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 2, 2012

Phelps most decorated Olympian in history

The first truly transcendent sports moment of the London Olympics took place around 9 p.m. Tuesday.
OLYMPICS
Jul 30, 2012

Lochte takes gold as Phelps misses medal

He made it look easy, and he made history in the process, beating the greatest swimmer of all time.
OLYMPICS / LONDON POSTCARD
Jul 29, 2012

Sports pub provides for a delightful night

There are — believe it or not — a few instances of non-Olympic routines on display in England.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 27, 2012

Sisi stars in new exhibition

More than a century after her death, Austria's Empress Elisabeth (1837-1898) has built a big fan base in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 26, 2012

Rembrandt still outshines Vermeer

The first exhibition at the newly renovated Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art (TMMA) was always going to be an important one. After a two-year closure to let the builders in, it wouldn't have sufficed to just have a run-of-the-mill exhibition. Something special was required, and with "Masterpieces from...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jul 25, 2012

Making the move away from smartphone snaps

For aspiring photographers looking to step up their game from a point-and-shoot camera or smartphone, there have been a number of exciting new options released in recent weeks. Whether you want to take the leap to your first DSLR, opt for a more evolved point-and-shoot, or go with something in between...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 22, 2012

Power spots and prehistory in beautiful Aomori Prefecture

The government of Aomori Prefecture which straddles the whole of the northern end of Japan's main island of Honshu — and is best known as the nation's apple capital — broke new ground in its tourism promotion campaign late last year, when it announced it would start selling the prefecture as the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Jul 16, 2012

Rickshaws roll back into style

The trendiest way to get around town on two wheels without breaking a sweat? Hand-pulled rickshaw.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.