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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 28, 2014

The 'Great Wave' that reached the West

Ukiyo-e prints could be found in Europe from at least 1795 at the Cabinet des Estampes at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. It was not until the 1850s, however, when trade between Japan and Europe began to flourish, that the craze for things Japanese began to crescendo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 26, 2014

Roll with it: Tama-chan on the art of making maki zushi

With often hilarious and shocking results, Takako Kiyota, aka Tama-chan, embeds illustrations into rice, wraps them in seaweed and presents them as both dishes and artworks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 24, 2014

Small presses fill a niche in books about Japan

Isobar Press (Tokyo)Speciality: Poetry
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 14, 2014

Before the vividness of France came the simplicity of Holland

It must be something of a Faustian bargain buying a Post-Impressionist painting for a record-breaking price. In 1987, Yasuo Goto, president of Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co., bought Van Gogh's "Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers" (1888) for $39 million. Perhaps due to that daring purchase, his company,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 9, 2014

Art on the brink of fragmentation

You can't go wrong by calling a show "Fragments," as the curators of this year's "MOT Annual" exhibition have done. With a name like that, whatever bits and pieces visitors encounter at the annual group show of Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art, they can't say they were cheated because a name like that...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 6, 2014

Making the invisible visible at the Japan Media Arts Festival

In 1965, artist Nam June Paik (1932-2006) attached a strong magnet to the top of a television. The crisp image, overpowered by the magnet, folded onto itself in beautiful geometric waves. But it wasn't meant to be beautiful; it was an attack.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 3, 2014

Workers stumble while 'Abenomics' soars

Japanese stocks and profits are soaring under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to revive the economy. Even shop prices are up, a key step after years of deflation kept pocketbooks shut tight. None of that matters to Shuzo Matsui.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 22, 2014

The Onodera enigma

The name of the late great Pina Bausch's acclaimed Tanztheater in the German city of Wuppertal may translate as "Dancetheater," but its works often owe more to abstract emotional action and snatched dialogue than to dance. Over in London, meanwhile, Simon McBurney's Complicite company has long been at...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 31, 2013

Abe's quest to revive, reshape nation rides on the economy

Just six months ago, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was riding high after his party swept the Upper House election. Now things aren't looking so rosy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 6, 2013

'Absence' makes Mroué's ghostly work even stronger

Rabih Mroué is an internationally renowned Lebanese actor, director and playwright whose work often probes into representations of the real in an age of digital narratives — particularly in the context of conflict and revolution in the Middle East. His work is marked by its continual reworking of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 16, 2013

'Masterpieces from Yamadera Goto Museum of Art'

Every era of European history has produced significant and innovative works of art. And as genres and styles evolved over time, unique trends added a richness to art in general.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 16, 2013

Kyoto Experiment 2013: 'Do as you like'

Language, memory and identity politics are at the core of the fourth edition of Kyoto Experiment, the annual feast of progressive and experimental theater now being served up by organizers the Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 9, 2013

A Michelangelo appetizer

This has been quite a year for fans of Renaissance art in Japan, with all three of its giants — Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and now Michelangelo — featuring in exhibitions. While the da Vinci show was weak in content and the Raphael quite well stocked, the latest show "Michelangelo Buonarroti" seems...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 2, 2013

The Towada Art Center expands its landscape

Ever since the Towada Art Center opened five years ago, the city in Aomori Prefecture has seen its prospects dramatically alter. Not only by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, but by the subsequent devastation of neighboring areas, all of which compounded the dwindling prosperity of Towada....
EDITORIALS
Sep 21, 2013

Questions surround sales tax raise

As the April 2014 consumption tax increase nears, the Abe has yet to come up with a convincing reform plan to reduce people's worries about their lives in the future.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 4, 2013

Japanese collectors take a conceptual turn

Echoing the choice of Koki Tanaka — a conceptual artist — for the Japanese pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale this year, "Why Not Live For Art? II: 9 collectors reveal their treasures" at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery suggests that art collecting in Japan has taken a conceptual turn.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 3, 2013

Revealing the landscaped gems of North America

North America is not a land mass one immediately associates with gardens. China, Japan, Britain and France, perhaps, lay claim to the mind's strongest landscape associations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 17, 2013

The different brush strokes of Tani Buncho

The latest exhibition at the Suntory Museum of Art commemorates the 250th anniversary of the birth of Tani Buncho — a painter, connoisseur and art historian of formidable energy and with an insatiable drive for knowledge. Of samurai lineage, Buncho underwent foundational art training in Kano School...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 18, 2013

The 'Sunny' side of Taiyo Matsumoto

The Toronto Comics Arts Festival, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, has of late made its name bringing over cutting-edge Japanese artists for signings, live drawing sessions and speaking events. The atmosphere at this year's event, held in May, in many ways like an independent film festival,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2013

Sometimes it's hard for Leonardo to impress

The reputation of Leonardo da Vinci is like an inverted pyramid — a massive, impressive structure that can draw a vast audience, but stands on an extremely narrow base. Although regarded as one of the "Big Three" artists of the Renaissance — along with Michelangelo and Raphael — the paintings on...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2013

Finding an artistic home for fashion

Almost everything in the room is transparent. From the ceiling dangle two clear plastic jackets. Against the glass walls are empty glass display cases. Past the jackets on the opposite side of the room are four flat-screen TVs set to static.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 9, 2013

Replaying people's actions with a twist

Much of Belgian artist Francis Alu00ffs' work and life have been determined by chance.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 21, 2013

Nature art: It's in the 'I' of the beholder

When a thing of beauty is perceived, the observer experiences some kind of a reaction; but what defines “beauty”? Is it art?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 4, 2013

Rubens' best work is collaborative

The 17th-century Flemish baroque artist Peter Paul Rubens is a great historical painter, not because of the scenes from ancient Roman history that he sometimes painted, but because, when we encounter his works, we find ourselves trying to understand what kind of society could possibly have produced art...
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 25, 2013

U.S. gun deaths — and tougher laws — shaped by race

Gun deaths are shaped by race in the United States: Whites are far more likely to shoot themselves, and blacks are far more likely to be shot by someone else.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 7, 2013

Such sweet strokes of the Impressionists

A horde of Renoirs and other works from the high-water mark of Impressionism have descended on Tokyo — rampaging in their quiet, colorful way through the labyrinthine exhibition spaces of Tokyo's Mitsubishi Ichigokan.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Feb 22, 2013

'Grotesque' organist hits town

Organist Cameron Carpenter, known for his wild performances and appearance, plays the organ like no one else — hitting the keys with frantic energy and a rockstar-like attitude.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 14, 2013

Pianist Yazawa looks to the past to find security in the future

Pianist Tomoko Yazawa always thinks about her music with the future in mind. However, for her latest album, "Playing in the Dark," she made a rare diversion into the past — specifically, France at the end of the 19th century.

Longform

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