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JAPAN
Sep 13, 1999

Taiwanese youths becoming Japan fans

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 9, 1999

Exhibition displays horrors of Minamata disaster

Staff writer
CULTURE / Music
Aug 31, 1999

Songs you can hum on the Pavement

The opening act at Akasaka Blitz on Aug. 24 was an earnest Danish group called Thau, who offered a thumping and searing sound reminiscent of the Meat Puppets. The audience awarded their 20-minute set with a warm and noisy ovation, prompting effusive gratitude from the band's drummer, who mentioned what...
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 1999

Nihonga exhibit blossoming

To be able to admire paintings by the nation's top 120 nihonga artists in the confines of a single room sounds quite remarkable. Yet when the new assembly building of Zojoji Temple in Tokyo opens its doors in the spring of 2001, the coffered ceiling of its hall will be adorned with that number of Japanese-style...
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 28, 1999

Fall's ceramic finds fire up auction

The summer drought of pottery exhibitions is slowly ending and the wonderful autumn season, so full of good exhibitions, is about to start. Come September, exhibitions too numerous to list will fill gallery spaces throughout Japan and pottery enthusiasts will have their hands full -- with a few good...
JAPAN
Aug 26, 1999

Earthquake concerns Turkish restaurateur

Staff writer
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 24, 1999

Lively National Noh Theater possessed by colorful spirit

Noh has a disorientating history. It emerged from folk rites, developed into the most popular art of its day, and has since been refined out of all recognition. Devotees maintain its accessibility, but modern Japanese are far more likely to head for Tokyo Disneyland than any of the 60-odd principal stages....
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Aug 21, 1999

Cool sounds for a hot season at Japanese music recitals

Summertime is usually a slow time for hogaku performances. In the old days, the halls weren't air-conditioned, and neither the performers nor the audience cared to sit for hours in the heat. The serious hogaku performance season and music festivals began in the autumn months, along with the cool breezes...
CULTURE / Music
Aug 17, 1999

Latino culture bursts onto scene

Fans of Latin American culture, especially salsa dancing, will definitely not want to miss Isla de Salsa '99, which takes place in Fukuoka Aug. 22.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 1999

Kicking butt, collecting cards -- it's Magic

Staff writer
CULTURE / Art
Aug 7, 1999

Through the unflinching eye of realism

Most painters, whatever style they eventually adopt, generally start their career by setting their own likeness down on canvas. It is a kind of baptism by fire attempted once and usually abandoned. This we know because there are far fewer portraits of artists in middle or old age than in their youth....
CULTURE / Art
Jul 31, 1999

Time-honored craft may be blowing away

In Japan the sound of a furin (wind bell) tinkling in the breeze is believed to invoke a sense of coolness during a hot and humid summer.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 1999

Service helps toothbrush maker clean up

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 29, 1999

Namitei: small, but able to take the pressure

Staff writer
COMMENTARY
Jul 26, 1999

Bureaucrats block education

The first of two parts. The second part will appear on Wednesday's Opinion Page.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 20, 1999

'Neighbors' move from paper to screen

When I first heard that Studio Ghibli was going to base its next film on Hisaichi Ishii's "Hohokekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun (My Neighbors the Yamadas)" -- a must-read for millions in the Asahi Shimbun" -- I had my doubts.The best gag manga have a pinch of comic acid that often gets leached away in the...
CULTURE / Music
Jul 20, 1999

Lotus Sutra gets rhythm on Ono's 'Gyo'

As much as it is tempting to believe the adage "like father, like daughter," sometimes a person like Toshiro Ono comes along to turn the saying on its head.
COMMUNITY
Jul 15, 1999

Behold! The 'fashion bible' cometh

Long before there were Versace minis, Gucci stilettos and Chanel nail polish in Vamp, Vogue was there -- watching, documenting and dictating the trends to the fashion-savvy masses.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Jul 14, 1999

Sendai garden lets it all hang out

Garden designers around the country could take a few ideas from the Sendai Yasoen (Wild Flower Garden) by using more native plants in their own designs.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 8, 1999

'Wabi-sabi' with a modern edge

Wasabiya epitomizes the very 1990s genre that has come to be known in Japanese as "dining bars." That means you can treat it as a restaurant, as an izakaya or even as a kind of designer drinking hold; it just depends on how hungry or thirsty you are.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 1999

France's right on the run

PARIS -- The French political scene is presently -- and probably for sometime to come -- dominated by the results of the European parliamentary election held June 13. Many commentators spoke of an earthquake. Here are the reasons why.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 1, 1999

'Liberation' of birth control proves a bitter pill to swallow

On Aug. 16, the Health and Welfare Ministry announced that it had finally approved the low-dosage birth control pill, which will likely become available through prescription in the fall. Oral contraceptives for women have been available in the West for close to 40 years, but in Japan they've always been...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jun 23, 1999

On the fringe of the fray

I had dinner with two friends last week and eventually the conversation came around to the Web (I generally try to avoid the topic in polite conversation but what can you do?). Anyone overhearing our conversation might have thought we were a trio of hopeless geeks, or digerati wannabes, but the truth...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jun 19, 1999

From court to village across the centuries

During the upcoming early summer weeks, one can experience a wide variety of fine hogaku concerts, including sublime gagaku court music, a lively group of kagura performers from Iwate Prefecture, contemporary koto music played by several fine young women performers, a large-scale biwa presentation and...
CULTURE / Art
Jun 19, 1999

A little madness goes a long way

Madness sells.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 1999

Ainu women exhibit traditional handicrafts

An art exhibit put on by Ainu women opened this week in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, offering a rare opportunity for the public to see, touch and even buy some 500 traditional handicrafts of the indigenous Hokkaido minority.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 1999

Amnesty slams Japan for prison abuses

Amnesty International criticized Japan for mistreating prison inmates and suspects under police custody and in detention houses in its annual report on worldwide human rights concerns released Wednesday.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jun 12, 1999

Open door to a world of dreams

David Wheeler, shakuhachi performer, teacher and writer on Japanese music, will be presenting a shakuhachi recital June 19 at Hamarikyu Asahi Hall.
EDITORIALS
Jun 4, 1999

Ten years after Tiananmen

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the tragic climax of the 1989 demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. It has been a long decade. The world is much changed, as is China. Deng Xiaoping, "the Little Helmsman," the man who set China on the path to economic transformation, is dead. His legacy survives...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jun 2, 1999

But are you experienced?

Remember how online art used to be one of ballyhooed features of our new and improved lives on the Internet? We talked of visiting faraway museums, browsing rarely seen masterpieces, hyper-annotated with curatorial notes and historical contexts. Similarly enticing was the promise of new media and art...

Longform

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