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November 22, 2024
 

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Tokyo-based artist Jumadiba says he forgoes the label of simply “rap” for his music because the Japanese rap scene isn’t confined to a particular sound.
CULTURE / Music
May 16, 2024

Japanese rap creates its mecca in Pop Yours

The two-day music festival showcases Japan's growing and diversifying hip-hop scene through local acts such as Awich and Jumadiba.
Yasuke, a historical Black samurai, will star in the newly announced Assassin's Creed Shadows — a choice that has riled some critics online.
LIFE / Digital
May 25, 2024

Gaming's latest culture war targets Yasuke, Japan's Black samurai

For a vocal minority of gamers, a Black protagonist of a game set in feudal Japan was a call to war.
“Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective,” currently exhibiting in Helsinki at The Finnish Museum of Photography’s K1 gallery, features 200 works, two video installations and some of the photographer’s rare photobooks and magazines.
CULTURE / Art
May 25, 2024

Daido Moriyama’s sweeping retrospective brings Tokyo streets to Helsinki

Local artists hope the Japanese photographer's raw approach inspires change in the way Finns view the medium.
The documentary short “Now and Then" traces how the Beatles honored John Lennon after his death by crafting a tune he wrote into the “last Beatles song.”
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2024

Eight standout films to catch at this year's Short Shorts Film Festival

The event will screen roughly 270 films that range from dramas about current social issues to animations that push the limits of the imagination.
Pop project Kirinji was featured on the second episode of Tiny Desk Concerts Japan, an offshoot of NPR’s long-running web series that features artists performing stripped-down sets inside the cozy offices of the organization’s music department.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Jun 1, 2024

The best-case scenario for Tiny Desk Concerts Japan

NHK's new project, an offshoot of NPR's web series that shows artists performing stripped-down sets, could become a place for the full spectrum of Japanese music to shine.
The cast of “Megalopolis” joins director Francis Ford Coppola on the red carpet at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 6, 2024

‘Megalopolis’ got the Hollywood treatment. The bad kind.

The real issue is that the American film industry, in its current condition, cannot make heads or tails of a movie like "Megalopolis."
Eschewing the comfort of Tokyo’s air-conditioned museums, the inconvenient art movement draws viewers into the countryside to see artworks such as Christian Boltanski’s “Les Regards.”
CULTURE / Art
Jun 7, 2024

A list of Japan’s remote art sites

Get off the beaten path this summer and discover art tucked away in the farthest reaches of Japan.
Why is Sayoko (Ko Shibasaki), a psychiatrist, helping a journalist torture people for revenge? Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “Serpent’s Path” leaves you wondering which way is up as the sinister plot unfolds.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 13, 2024

Kurosawa’s cult classic gets a French makeover in ‘Serpent’s Path’

Ko Shibasaki’s basilisk-like stare underpins a remake which leaves the audience unable to solve the whodunit.
Installation view of Calder: Un effet du japonais, Azabudai Hills Gallery, 2024 Photo: Tadayuki Minamoto
CULTURE / Art
Jun 16, 2024

Alexander Calder’s kinetic sculptures arrive to full Japanese embrace

With the first Calder solo exhibition in Tokyo in 35 years, it feels like the artist and his works have finally arrived.
Richard Katz argues in his new book that the key to Japan emerging from decades of economic sluggishness depends on stimulating companies with high energy and dynamism, over the lumbering, older firms.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 20, 2024

Hope for Japan, if the elephants get out of the way

Protecting older companies, the jobs they have produced and the political and financial relationships they have nurtured, starves newer, more innovative businesses.
Atarashii Gakko! released its third album, “AG! Calling,” on June 7. The group is currently touring Asia with songs from the new release featured in its set
CULTURE / Music
Jun 21, 2024

Atarashii Gakko! schools crowds overseas on just how bananas J-pop can get

With appearances at major festivals, on U.S. television and new album "AG! Calling," this sailor-suited rapping four-piece is on quite a roll.
Film director Hirokazu Kore-eda (left) and actor Lily Franky arrive for a photocall to promote the Official Selection feature film "Shoplifters" at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain in September 2018.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 21, 2024

Japanese film startup aims to change industry working conditions

K2 Pictures is seeking to raise the money from domestic and foreign investors.
American sprinter Noah Lyles poses with a "Yu-Gi-Oh!" card after winning at the U.S. Olympic track-and-field finals on Sunday. The image went viral, once again showing the popularity of Japanese cultural exports like manga.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 28, 2024

Blackstone sees billions in manga. You should too.

Investment firm Blackstone's move to buy manga platform Mecha Comics, betting on the strength of Japan's soft power, looks further ahead than other players have.
Horror artist Junji Ito adds just a dash of comedy to his work, though he aims for it to be understated. “If it’s truly a horror story, the humor must be restrained and more veiled,” he says.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 29, 2024

Fear still matters to Junji Ito

Currently on view at Tokyo's Setagaya Literary Museum is an extensive collection of the horror master's work, the first large-scale exhibition of it's kind in Japan.
Japan skateboarding national team coach Daisuke Hayakawa performs at a skateboard training area in Tokyo on June 12.
OLYMPICS / Skateboarding
Jul 2, 2024

Japan's skateboarding youth turn street culture into Olympic gold

National team coach Daisuke Hayakawa said that the number of skaters in Japan had tripled since the Tokyo Games.
In addition to standup comedy, Anthony Jeselnik co-hosts the podcast “The Jeselnik and Rosenthal Vanity Project” with NFL analyst Gregg Rosenthal.
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 11, 2024

Standup comic Anthony Jeselnik, known for fierce roasts, to play first Japan show

The comedian will hit Tokyo as part of the Asia stretch of his worldwide “Bones and All” tour.
Durian Lollobrigida and his co-hosts — actors Megumi and Chiaki Horan, singer Thelma Aoyama and former “Terrace House” panelist Yoshimi Tokui — offer in-studio commentary on the contestants’ footage in Netflix’s new reality dating show, “The Boyfriend.”
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jul 13, 2024

'The Boyfriend' host Durian Lollobrigida puts a face to queer joy

Involvement in Netflix's new reality dating show is just the latest success in the Japanese drag queen's rise.
NewJeans members (from left) Hanni, Haerin, Danielle and Minji attend an event at which they were named tourism ambassadors to South Korea.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jul 13, 2024

South Korea names K-pop group NewJeans tourism ambassadors

The quartet take on the role previously held by "Squid Game" star Lee Jung-jae and K-pop megastars BTS.
“Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman” incorporates six Murakami short stories from three books into a single intertwined narrative that centers on a trio of lonely Tokyoites.
CULTURE / Film / CULTURE SMASH
Jul 20, 2024

'Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman' is an immersive journey into Murakami's world

Pierre Foldes' beautiful adaptation of six Haruki Murakami stories features one of the author's most memorable characters, who injects the film with self-aware humor.
The Hengshan Calligraphy Art Center (HCAC) aims to serve as a base for calligraphy research and education and function as a hub for calligraphy art in Asia.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 25, 2024

In uncertain times, Taiwanese art flourishes

New museums and a lively creative scene reflect an evolving, forward-looking society.
American musician and visual artist Kim Gordon released her second solo album, “The Collective,” earlier this year, and it’s a bona fide banger.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 25, 2024

Ahead of her Fuji Rock set, Kim Gordon weighs in on punk and U.S. politics

The former Sonic Youth bassist, guitarist and vocalist is in Japan for the first time in over 10 years to promote her latest album, "The Collective."
Talented radio announcer Nobutaka Wada (Go Morita) becomes conscience-stricken about pushing the Japanese government’s propaganda during World War II in “The Voices at War.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 1, 2024

‘The Voices at War’ shines light on wartime radio announcers

The NHK film holds up a smudged mirror to the role its predecessor, Radio Japan, and its employees played in serving as government mouthpieces during World War II.
Utagawa Hiroshige produced several highly successful series of landscape prints over the course of his career, including “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo” — the largest collection of his career.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 8, 2024

The definitive guide to Utagawa Hiroshige's masterwork is a feast for the eyes

Ukiyo-e expert Andreas Marks' new book is a rare compendium of the Japanese artist’s landscapes, even by local standards.  
For centuries, Japanese people have been scaring themselves with horror stories as a way of cooling down during the stifling summer months.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 16, 2024

New tales in translation to give you chills and thrills this summer

Recent fright-filled releases with supernatural creatures, shrewd sleuths and creepy killers provide welcome relief from the sweltering heat.
Anna Sawai's performance as Lady Mariko in the FX series "Shogun" landed the actor an Emmy nomination for best actress in a drama.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Aug 29, 2024

In ‘Shogun,’ Anna Sawai drew on the power of silence. And Mozart.

“It gives me confidence,” Sawai says about her first Emmy nomination, for best actress in a drama. “I have such bad impostor syndrome.”
The Tokyo leg of Magical Mirai 2024, a gathering centered on a concert starring the aqua-haired Hatsune Miku and other avatars created by Sapporo-based company Crypton Future Media, kicked off on Aug. 30.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 9, 2024

Magical Mirai 2024 shows that the future is bright for Hatsune Miku

Thousands of visitors helped kick off the Tokyo leg of the gathering, which offers an immersive dive into every part of the aqua-haired anime avatar's world.
The team behind "Shogun" sought out the advice of Kyoto-based historian Frederik Cryns for the hit TV series.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 15, 2024

'Groundbreaking' realism key to 'Shogun' success

The cast of the hit TV show learned how to walk without swinging their arms and rise from a seated position without crouching first.
"Shogun" star Hiroyuki Sanada attends the premiere for "John Wick: Chapter 4" in March 2023.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 15, 2024

Hiroyuki Sanada: the actor and producer driving TV's 'Shogun'

Having started his acting career in Japan at the age of 5, the actor, now 63, is seeing decades of hard work pay off in the U.S. TV series "Shogun."
Japanese actress Anna Sawai, winner of the outstanding lead actress in a drama series award for "Shogun," and Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada, winner of the outstanding lead actor in a drama series award for the show, pose in the press room during the 76th Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 16, 2024

'Shogun' becomes first non-English-language winner of best drama Emmy

Veteran leading man Hiroyuki Sanada and co-lead Anna Sawai also took home acting awards for their roles in the show.
Hiroyuki Sanada and the cast and crew of "Shogun" accept the award for best drama series at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 16, 2024

‘Shogun’ and the painstaking art of ‘getting it right’

The Emmys-sweeping period drama went to great lengths to achieve historical accuracy — but that's just one piece of a bigger puzzle.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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

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