Search - collection

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 23, 2007

Cut 'n' paste chaos on a stage near you

A seldom discussed reality of the indie-rock life is the day job, since most bands cannot afford to quit work and spend all their time on music. Take The Go! Team, the sextet from Brighton, England, whose debut album, "Thunder, Lightning, Strike," was an instant hit in Britain on release in 2004 and...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 23, 2007

Top taiko player marks 25th anniversary

The leading taiko (Japanese drum) player Eitetsu Hayashi will play Solo Career 25th Anniversary Concerts in Kansai and Tokyo in December. He will perform four pieces by contemporary Japanese composers accompanied by an orchestra. Before the concerts, he will also release some new CDs to mark the 25th...
Reader Mail
Nov 22, 2007

Rocking the fingerprint boat

Grant Mahood is entirely right in his Nov. 18 letter, "Magic feeling of being exempt," to want "no more exemptions, no more discrimination, no more unequal application of the law -- just (the) repeal" (of the Justice Ministry's biometric data collection program for foreign arrivals at Japanese ports...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 22, 2007

Tea and swords for the Shogun

As with all military leaders of the preceding Momoyama Period (1573-1615), the Tokugawa were celebrated patrons of the arts. The sheer output of the craftsmen they employed reveals an indefatigable support of the arts that extended to the amassing of beautifully crafted swords, armor, art and tea-ceremony...
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2007

Rally targets Justice Ministry

the collection of very personal information, (have) been violated in the name of antiterrorism measures," said Makoto Teranaka, secretary general of AI Japan. "We want to strongly point out the fact that these foreigners are being targeted and discriminated" against by the government. One protester,...
Reader Mail
Nov 18, 2007

Magic feeling of being exempt

Both Susan Menadue-Chun's letter, "SPRs have suffered enough," and William Wetherall's letter, "Exemptions not based on nationality," on Nov. 15 provided thought-provoking information and context to the Ministry of Justice's biometric data-collection program directed at "terrorists" trying to enter...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 16, 2007

Jane Birkin

Jane Birkin
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 15, 2007

Ullens gets the private party started in Beijing

"Rarely has there been such an extravagant press tour," commented one of the 40-plus foreign journalists invited earlier this month to witness the opening of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing's newest and, for the moment, most important contemporary-art venue.
Reader Mail
Nov 15, 2007

Don't sweat the waiting time

Of all the arguments that have been forwarded against the impending photographing and fingerprinting of foreigners upon arrival in Japan, the one that strikes me as the most ill-thought out concerns the increase in waiting times in immigration queues. Immigration at Narita airport is lightning fast;...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Nov 14, 2007

Online music store helps Japanese music go global

You've heard the stories: The music industry is in crisis, CD sales are dropping year on year, iTunes is taking over the world, the future is digital, the revolution is here. While a lot of this may be true, music fans could be forgiven for some cynicism when all about them the music industry seeks to...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Nov 13, 2007

Goh Hotoda

JUDIT KAWAGUCHI
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 7, 2007

Ochiai's Dragons aim to capture Asia Series championship

Fresh off conquering Japanese baseball, the Chunichi Dragons are turning their attention to Asian supremacy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Nov 2, 2007

Well-heeled in Chuo Ward

From the opulence of world-renown Ginza emporiums, to the glittering scales on the fish auctioned from slick palettes in Tsukiji market, Chuo Ward wheels and deals precious commodities.
BUSINESS
Nov 2, 2007

Promise back in black for first half

Promise Co., the country's largest consumer lender by assets, reported Thursday a return to profit for the first half as costs for bad loans decline.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 28, 2007

A friendship's influence across Asia

Another Asia: Rabindranath Tagore and Okakura Tenshin, by Rustom Bharucha, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006, 236 pp., $35 (cloth) This book examines the friendship engendered between two significant thinkers — one Indian and the other Japanese — who were highly representative of their time...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 26, 2007

Don't go for the gov, go for the good grub

Since comedian-turned-politican Hideo Higashikokubaru was elected governor of Miyazaki Prefecture in January, the previously nondescript, countryside region of 1.14 million people on the southeastern coast of Kyushu, southern Japan, has had its profile dramatically boosted.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 25, 2007

A feel for beauty

English potter-artist-writer Bernard Leach (1887-1979) was lucky to have lived in Japan — during his early childhood and on later occasions — when, even though change was coming rapidly, many centuries-old traditions continued unaltered.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 21, 2007

The not-so-secret market potential of bubble-wrap bubbles

Ask your friends what handy fun items they carry around and most of them will mention their Nintendo DS or their mobile phone, on which they can watch TV, play games and read a novel. But more and more these days, they may also grin and say, "puchipuchi" — referring to the pleasure — and the sound...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 19, 2007

Berlin-based artists unite

Writer Yoko Tawada and jazz pianist Aki Takase will perform together on Nov. 2 as part of Art Complex 2007, a new project held by Kanagawa Kenmin Hall, which combines chamber music, art, theater and contemporary dance.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 18, 2007

A country caught in the grip of a regime

MYANMAR — Rangoon (or Yangon as it is now called) seen from the air seems subdued, at least after brilliant nighttime Bangkok. Just a light here and there, otherwise a carpet of darkness. This extends even down into the new and otherwise imposing "national" airport where the light is so dim that officials...
CULTURE / Art
Oct 18, 2007

Design meets art at 'Roppongi Crossing'

The world loves Japanese design. Because of this, Design Week, coming up next month, is arguably one of the most successful international events in Tokyo. By contrast, Tokyo Fashion Week and Tokyo International Film Festival hardly generate in those fields' fans the rabid excitement that the designers'...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 16, 2007

The faces behind the numbers: A day feeding Tokyo's hungry

Last in a two-part series O n a typical Saturday evening, I stroll around the bustling streets of Shibuya with my friends, dressed up, heels clicking, ready to hit a couple of trendy shops. The chilly breeze puffs up the hairs on my arms and I shudder — winter is approaching. We chat about school,...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 14, 2007

Reappraising the Asian endgame in World War II

The End of the Pacific War: Reappraisals, edited by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007, 331 pp., $60 (cloth) Former Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma discovered to his regret that public discourse in Japan concerning the atomic bombings does not accommodate dissent or nuance. The...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 11, 2007

Zen direct to you

Perhaps the most celebrated of the late-Edo Period Zen artist-priests, Sengai Gibon (1750-1837) left a large number of ink paintings on Zen-related subjects, of which by far the largest collection is in the Idemitsu Museum opposite the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 4, 2007

East and West in mists of gold

Most people outside of Japan demonstrate their wealth and success by living in ever-larger spaces and by accumulating more and more stuff to fill them. Contrast walls covered with paintings and every level surface cluttered with objects to the traditional Japanese ideal of an empty room in which artworks...

Longform

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