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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 22, 2009

Rothkos reunited in Chiba

The surfaces of Mark Rothko's canvases loom large, impenetrable and formidable, inviting you in but simultaneously denying you entry. Their deceptive simplicity has long posed a riddle to those who stand before them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 15, 2009

Lights, mirror . . . reaction

S ometimes the cutting-edge is five years old. Take the current exhibition at the Mori Art Museum, "The Kaleidoscopic Eye: Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection." Featuring some of the best of what the contemporary art world has to offer, by the time it's made it to the museum, the art world...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 24, 2008

Julian Opie: Great rooms, blank faces

Julian Opie's work is about signals. In his portraits, a pair of dots signals the eyes, a single line signals the mouth — his imagery is a distillation of reality that presents you only with the essential elements needed for your brain to fill in the rest.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 31, 2008

Tilting the balance back to darkness

In the minds of casual observers, Japan is simple. Between lovers of tradition and those enraptured by Japan's quirky window into an urban future, it's either the former land of austere, honorable warriors or the current one of air-headed, emotionally overwrought manga characters.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 10, 2008

Expat artists 'making a home' in NYC have little in common

For many Japanese artists who want to make it in the art world, New York City has yet to shake its image of being an art utopia where anyone can succeed: You'll find representation by a hip gallery! Share cerebral discourses with art star Jeff Koons! And work in a loft of immense dimensions in the Lower...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 27, 2007

Tokyo gallery walkabout

Tokyo's galleries have woken from their summer slumbers — or, more likely, beach naps — with a vengeance. The current wave of openings started out in the east, at the complex of galleries in Kiyosumi, with shows that are set to close this Saturday (two were reviewed here this month).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 21, 2007

Asian artists echo biennale director's themes

VENICE, Italy — By the light of the setting sun, a skateboarder practices tricks on the edge of a seaside jetty. Heavy waves roll in and break against the shore in a constant motion in the background. The skateboarder keeps to a narrow radius and his movements are rhythmic and supple. The board appears...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Dec 7, 2006

New forms of old traditions at the Japan Society

Over the past several years there have been quite a few exhibitions of Japanese ceramics overseas, but "Contemporary Clay/Japanese Ceramics for the New Century," which is now at the Japan Society Gallery in New York, is the most brilliant by far.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2005

Kodansha creates Kenzaburo Oe literary award

Publishing house Kodansha Ltd. has created a literary award named after Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe to promote Japanese novels worldwide.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 3, 2005

Ryu Murakami: Straight-talking wordsmith wields his pen like a sword

For nearly three decades since his seismic debut with "Almost Transparent Blue," which delved into the sex- and drug-fueled lives of Japanese youths in a town hosting a huge U.S. military base, author Ryu Murakami has often used his trademark explicit, offensive and guiltlessly cheerful language to dig...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Feb 16, 2005

Former prime minister's pride of pots

"On a sunny day I go to the fields, and, when it rains, I read. Simple enough, isn't it?" Sounds like the words of a cute obachan out in the countryside, but these are the words of former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa who now leads a quiet, secluded life.
Events
Oct 17, 2004

Autumn sage festival in Kobe's herb park

Nunobiki Herb Park in Chuo Ward, Kobe, is holding an autumn sage festival through Nov. 21.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Mar 10, 2004

Hold your breath and turn the wheel

Kyoto. The name conjures up images of courtly nobles and stoic Zen temples -- and yet so much more of Japan's cultural identity was born in that ancient city. In the world of ceramics, one of its glorious contributions has been Kyo-yaki, or Kyoto pottery.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Nov 26, 2003

Pottery to get on a plane for

Two unprecedented Japanese ceramic exhibitions now taking place far from Japan's shores show just how influential are the artistic ripples from this grand potting paradise. Distanced by centuries, but just a dozen New York City blocks, are two of the greatest Japanese definers of clay: eclectic Furuta...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Oct 8, 2003

Soaring on the clay wings of inspiration

The mind and soul of a genius often seeks solace in cold, lonely places. In the intense stillness he works deep into the night like one possessed of a vision he knows will burn out with the coming rays of dawn.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 3, 2003

POLA star shines bright in Hakone

The POLA Museum of Art is celebrating its first anniversary, and its excellent exhibition -- "Paris, City of Artists" -- capitalizes on the museum's fine standing collection, proving just what an asset the POLA is to the the hot-spring resort area of Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / AFTER 2 1/2 YEARS
Sep 2, 2003

Koizumi's failings linked to inflexible fiscal policy

Some economists compare it to trying to lose weight by fasting when the real solution is exercise, while others talk about repairing an airplane's altimeter when it's the engine that needs attention.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jul 9, 2003

Goro Suzuki: Honored to live in his time

Wrapped in flickering candlelight, koto master Tamiko Asai spoke to the audience in a hushed voice:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Jul 6, 2003

The straight shooter

Nobuyoshi Araki was born in Tokyo in 1940 and was given his first camera by his father in junior high. He studied photography and film at Chiba University and went into commercial photography soon after graduating. Four decades and over 250 photo publications later, the 63-year-old artist stands a long...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jun 11, 2003

Why perfection isn't enough

Light, cool, sleek and refined describe the large celadon bowl that won 1 million yen and the Grand Prix Katsura-no-Miya Prize at the 17th Biennial Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition. This juried exhibition showcases some of the finest works in this "pottery oasis" of Japan and offers a tasty smorgasbord for...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2003

Welcome to the terrordome

"Terror" is much on our minds these days. Whether we believe that terrorist activity has made the world a more dangerous place to live, or condemn the "war on terror" as a mere cover for U.S. President George W. Bush's political ambition, the concept of terror has saturated our daily life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 5, 2003

Artists in search of absolute painting

"We call together all young people and -- as young people who bear the future -- we want to acquire freedom for our hands and lives, against the well-established older forces. Everyone belongs to us who renders in an unfalsified way everything that compels him to be creative."
COMMENTARY
Jan 28, 2003

Court sends LDP a message

Two recent moves by judiciary and law-enforcement authorities are a grave warning against the Liberal Democratic Party's pork-barrel politics. One is the Supreme Court rejection of an appeal by former Construction Minister Kishiro Nakamura against a Tokyo High Court ruling that found him guilty of taking...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 13, 2002

The garden of Escher delights

"Mathematicians," wrote M.C. Escher in a 1958 essay, "have opened the gate leading to an extensive domain, but they have not entered this domain themselves. By their very nature they are more interested in the way in which the gate is opened than in the garden lying behind it."
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Sep 15, 2002

Pro Music Nipponia gives new life to contemporary hogaku

For the past 40 years, Pro Musica Nipponia has taken an active role in the contemporary hogaku music scene by commissioning and performing new works for traditional instruments. The highly professional and talented ensemble has premiered dozens of works by both Japanese and foreign composers and has...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Sep 11, 2002

A dream of living pots

Koichi Takita looks more like a Zen monk than a world-renowned ceramic artist. His shaven head and glowing demeanor exude the sense of a man who has attained enlightenment while playing with mud.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 13, 2002

The power and the glory of the Prado

It was the age of Spain's Inquisition and its Age of Gold. King Felipe II, who ascended the throne in 1556, lost an "invincible" armada to the fleet of Protestant England, but he also built the breathtaking palace of El Escorial near Madrid. In swift succession, he married four wives from the four great...
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2002

Ozaki tied to rigged hospital bid

Construction company Kajima Corp. and two political secretaries named in recent scandals competed for work on the same hospital building project in Yamagata Prefecture in the late 1990s, industry sources said Thursday.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Sep 12, 2001

Power and purity both old and new

The colorful ceramic culture of Kyoto meets the darker, subdued world of Karatsu potter Jinenbo Nakagawa this week at the Tachikichi department store in Kyoto.

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.