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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 15, 2007

Testing nihonga's limits

Finding their personal voice, something an artist can call their own, is a sublime achievement. The nihonga (Japanese-style) painter Insho Domoto (1891-1975) channeled the voices of at least a dozen others to forge his own unique one and create an exhaustive and encyclopedic body of work.
JAPAN
May 30, 2006

Two painters in battle over plagiarism

The Cultural Affairs Agency is looking into allegations that works by noted Italian artist Alberto Sughi were plagiarized by a Japanese painter who received a government award this spring, agency officials said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
May 18, 2005

Spectacular diversity of clay

As noted in this column last month, Japanese ceramic art is finding a wider audience overseas. Many collectors search out the great potters of the past, such as Shoji Hamada (1894-1978) or Kanjiro Kawai (1890-1966), while more savvy collectors are looking to find out who's hot in Japan today.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 3, 2004

And never the twain shall meet, on canvas

Modernism, which was born in Paris and came of age in New York after World War II, was one of Europe's most successful cultural exports of the 20th century, making it to South Africa, Vietnam, Brazil . . . and Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 18, 2004

We just can't get enough

With Valentine's Day just past, let's pay tribute to one of the most enduring love affairs of our time -- that between Japan's gallery-going public and France's Impressionist artists. It's the Real Thing.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2003

Publishers pitching Japanese books overseas

Compared with the influx of translated foreign books into Japan, the amount of Japanese books translated for overseas readers is a mere trickle, with the ratio standing at 20-to-1.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2003

Publishers pitching Japanese books overseas

Compared with the influx of translated foreign books into Japan, the amount of Japanese books translated for overseas readers is a mere trickle, with the ratio standing at 20-to-1.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2003

Publishers pitching Japanese books overseas

Compared with the influx of translated foreign books into Japan, the amount of Japanese books translated for overseas readers is a mere trickle, with the ratio standing at 20-to-1.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Apr 9, 2003

Sun, sea, sand and . . . ceramics

The Izu Peninsula, just an hour out of Tokyo, has some of the finest scenery in all of Japan. Rugged coastlines, clear views of Mount Fuji, pristine forests with rivers and waterfalls, not to mention the many soothing hot-spring resorts dotting the land, shape Izu into a very attractive destination....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Feb 12, 2003

Mountain man who walked the path of art

"Born alone, will die alone; come alone, will be gone alone; study alone, walk alone": This is said to have been the mantra of one of Japan's greatest 20th-century artists, the boisterous, arrogant and brilliant Rosanjin Kitaoji (1883-1959).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Nov 13, 2002

Look again at potting traditions

In the world of Japanese ceramics, certain styles have clearly defined identities that have been appreciated down the centuries. Mere mention of Bizen pottery will likely bring to mind a rustic, brown, natural ash-glazed style.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Apr 10, 2002

Remaking form, recapturing spirit

Hand grenades, gas burners and patio furniture are not items usually associated with ancient potting centers, yet in Shigaraki, southern Shiga Prefecture, even these odd items have been fired.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 27, 2002

Getting back to where it began

The career of Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1919), as it unfolds in a new retrospective at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, is like watching art history run backward. Its culmination -- the glowing colors and dynamic abstraction he made his own -- introduced a whole new visual vocabulary to Western...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 20, 2002

When the personal reveals the political

YANAIHARA TADAO AND JAPANESE COLONIAL POLICY, by Susan C. Townsend. Richmond, Surrey, U.K.: Curzon Press, 2000, 360 pp., 50 British pounds (cloth) Recent years have witnessed a new wave of scholarly works in English on Japan's colonial past. Monographs and edited volumes by Mark Peattie, Peter Duus,...
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jul 11, 2001

Pottering in a forest of memory

"A magnificent sunset burns beyond the horizon. Trees are ablaze against the fiery sky. The beauty of the dark silhouettes left an everlasting sensation." These are the words of potter Moriyoshi Saeki from a book published in 1995 titled "The Vibrant Potters of Tochigi."
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 26, 2001

New land law still ignores public voice

Owning property in Japan is a constitutional right, but it has its limits. The government can take private property for uses that advance the public welfare.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 3, 2001

The critical mass

The current exhibition of 127 sculptures at the Yokohama Museum of Art is not only interesting from an artistic point of view, but also provides a fascinating insight into much of the intellectual Sturm und Drang of the 20th century.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 31, 2000

Art and history intersect in U.S. ambassador's residence

Most of us only dream of being able to pick out our favorite pieces of art from museums to display in our homes.
BUSINESS
Aug 5, 2000

Construction bonds may be used for other projects: Mori

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori indicated his qualified support Friday for a Liberal Democratic Party plan to allow construction bonds to be issued to fund outlays on projects other than public works.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 6, 2000

86-year-old composer going strong

At 86, Saburo Takata may be the oldest working composer of classical music in the world. Not that he feels like it.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Nov 27, 1999

The potter who set the scene on fire

In a brief span of time a few decades ago, one Japanese potter set the ceramic scene on fire, and as quickly as a brilliant meteor shooting across a night sky, disappeared. Yet his name and influence still circle the wheel that spins in most potters' studios; his immense impact on contemporary ceramics...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Apr 16, 2023

Japan springs into action for Salone del Mobile Milan 2023

The world’s largest annual furniture and design trade fair is back in full force, and Japanese designers are well represented.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Oct 7, 2022

Yoshio Osakabe: ‘There are probably a lot of old fans who actually don't want Murakami to win the Nobel’

Coined 'Harukisuto,' or 'Haruki-ists,' for their passionate devotion to Haruki Murakami, one fan talks about the joy he gets from the work of one of Japan's most-treasured authors.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 21, 2022

The Aichi Triennale as seen through four textures

The arts festival's conceptual works stand in stark contrast to its tactile pieces, from marimba-like instruments to ceramic interpretations of bombs, presented at the Aichi Arts Center.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 14, 2019

Kanjiro Kawai: Pots of incredible talent

The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto's 'Potter Kawai Kanjiro: Works from the Kawakatsu Collection' is just the fourth time it has presented such a substantial selection of works from its renowned Kawakatsu Collection of over 400 pieces.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 8, 2019

'Beyond the End: Ruins in Art History': What kind of beauty lies beneath ruins?

The exploration of the subject of ruins — their romanticization and fantasization — raises questions about the relationship between art, beauty and disaster.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 5, 2017

Scandal-hit Kobe Steel has 'look the other way' culture, they say in its hometown

A retired Kobe Steel employee says the company's corporate culture was to look the other way even while you saw what was going on.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 13, 2017

At 104, Toko Shinoda talks about a life in art

The only living Japanese on a postage stamp, 104-year-old Toko Shinoda reflects on a lifetime devoted to art.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jul 16, 2016

Anime discovers a rural outpost

For the past few years, the beginning of July has found me on a flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles to attend Anime Expo (AX), the largest annual North American convention devoted to Japanese popular culture, and its related industry-only event, Project Anime (PA). Both continue to break attendance records....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 5, 2016

Richard Aldrich on the plurality of painting

Richard Aldrich's "Eight Paintings" is his third solo exhibition with Misako & Rosen, but his first in their current exhibition space in Tokyo's Otsuka district. As the title suggests, it comprises eight small-scale works. It opens as his show "Time Stopped, Time Started" closes at Gladstone Gallery...

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