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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 29, 2006

Japanese artists meet Duchamp's 'bride'

Given Marcel Duchamp's pivotal role in the history of modern art, you could say that connections could be drawn between his work and that of any other artist. In Japan, his controversial ideas have definitely had a strong influence on modern art, both before and since World War II.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 18, 2006

The lore and legend of Asian lawmen

"The Calf Strung Up beneath The Cart" will cause you agony profound; "The Ass tied tightly to The Post" will make you scream and leap around; "The Phoenix drying both her Wings" to death itself will bring you near; "The Boy who Sits and Contemplates," the stoutest soul will cause to fear; And if "The...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 4, 2006

Big in France

There's a good reason that the artists given the moniker the Ecole de Paris were called a "school" -- in the early 20th century they had flocked from all over the World to Paris to learn the styles, techniques, and attitudes that had put the French capital at the cutting edge of art.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 9, 2006

Young, fresh and traditional Japanese artists

Some people complain that poetry has never been the same since poets were absolved of their obligations to rhyme and rhythm. The same people also think that since the 1968 scrapping of the Hollywood Production Code that regulated sexual content, movies have lost a lot of their sexual sizzle.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 23, 2006

The real Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The genius, the divinely inspired child, the idiot savant, the skilled populist craftsman, the underappreciated artist in his time who died tragically young in anonymous penury. Every generation makes of him what they will; the legends abound. And 250 years after his birth in...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 22, 2006

S. Korean wetland faces doom

For those readers long ago numbed to the fraud, waste and environmental abuse that accompanies public works projects in Japan, here's one that might jump-start your ire: A project by the South Korean government to landfill and develop 40,100 hectares (almost 100,000 acres) of coastal waters and wetlands...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 16, 2006

Teppei Ujiyama: Ad hoc accumulations create musical universes

While the exuberance of youth has played its part in countless artistic breakthroughs, the power of the midlife crisis should not be underestimated either, especially in a society where the wisdom or follies of age are afforded much more respect (or tolerance, as the case may be) than those of youth....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 9, 2006

Aya Kondo : Rock 'n' roll with manners

What can you say about Aya Kondo, a woodblock-print artist who has taken staid wafu -- traditional Japanese style -- and turned it into girly sass? In doing so, Kondo encapsulates everything we love about Japanese youth culture at its best: well-mannered rock 'n' roll, cultural self-consciousness, the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 5, 2006

Meissen porcelain: Europa's bulls in the China shop

Fragility can sometimes add to beauty -- one of the reasons for the affection for the short-lived cherry blossom. The more fleeting, unstable, or breakable something is, the less likely its beauty will be taken for granted.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 22, 2005

Completely useless objects

It's 6 p.m., it's the end of the work day at a busy Kanda office block. OLs have been furiously tapping away at their keyboards, and connections have been made in the meeting rooms. Power players in their suits have been clinching make-or-break, win-win deals. Suddenly, the doors of the elevator open...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 10, 2005

The thing itself

In October 1968 Nobuo Sekine dug a hole in the ground, shaped the extracted dirt into a large cylinder and called the work "Phase -- Mother Earth." It was probably an experiment, influenced by discussions of the new Land Art and Minimalist works taking place in the United States.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 2, 2005

Timeless complement of form and function

INSPIRED SHAPES: Contemporary Designs for Japan's Ancient Crafts, by Ori Koyama, translated by Charles Whipple, photographs by Mizuho Kuwata. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2005, 112 pp., 3,900 yen (cloth). Life in urban Japan is so suffused with artificial, factory-produced materials that the soul can...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 31, 2005

The nature of the mind

Shunmyo Masuno calls his works "expressions of my mind," and they have the power to stir up depths of emotion and even tap into the subconscious. They are not psychedelic paintings, however, nor are they virtual reality installations -- they are gardens. And the man who creates them is a Buddhist priest....
EDITORIALS
Aug 28, 2005

Win-win in a downloading culture

The start of Apple Computer Inc.'s music-downloading service Aug. 4 heralds big changes in the landscape of Japan's music business and culture. Music lovers can now choose their favorite songs from among 1 million songs offered by iTunes Music Store. With Apple's entry into the Japanese market, an increasing...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2005

Koizumi turns new residence into exclusive art museum

If the new Prime Minister's Official Residence was opened to the public, unknowing visitors would think they had stumbled into an art museum.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 14, 2005

Serving the best slice of modern Japanese literature

THE COLUMBIA ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN JAPANESE LITERATURE, Volume I: From Restoration to Occupation, 1868-1945, edited by J. Thomas Rimer and Van C. Gessel, with poetry selections by Amy Vladeck Heinrich and Leith Morton, introduction by J. Thomas Rimer. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005, 864 pp.,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jul 27, 2005

Liberating Japan's world of ceramics

In the ceramic world of early 20th-century Kyoto, Chinese ceramics, not Kyo-yaki (Kyoto-style pottery) were the rage of the day, and any potter worth a spin on the wheel strove to emulate them. In form and color, the ability to perfectly copy an ancient Sung dynasty vase was held up as the highest peak...
CULTURE / Art
Jul 6, 2005

Consciously painting the subconscious

One of my favorite paintings is one by a trained elephant that I picked up on holiday in Thailand daubed by a trained elephant. It's not a very good one, but the story behind it makes it special -- highlighting one of the aspects by which art has come to be judged.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jun 29, 2005

Hidden gems in clay

Any new publication on Japanese ceramic art in English is a welcome addition to the few books on the subject. Like "Masterpieces of Modern Japanese Pottery from the Gisela Freudenberg Collection" currently showing in Frankfurt, Germany, many of these publications coincide with exhibitions and serve to...
Japan Times
Features
Jun 19, 2005

Tomb raver

Teenage years are often a time of confusion. But for one 37-year-old who goes by the pen name Kajipon Maruko Zangetsu, it was a time of torment due to family problems and a majorly broken heart.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
May 26, 2005

Parenting book gets princely praise

Parenting expert Dorothy Law Nolte enjoys a huge following worldwide; her 1998 book, "Children Learn What They Live," sold over 700,000 copies in her native U.S. and has been translated into 36 languages. The Japanese version was a steady seller -- until February this year, when the father of a certain...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 30, 2005

The influence of a literary titan lasts for 200 years

Renowned as a poet, novelist, dramatist and critic, Victor Hugo was a figure of legendary proportions whose funeral procession through Paris in 1885 attracted more than 2 million devotees.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 27, 2005

Where there's magic, there's Buddha

THE DHARMA OF DRAGONS AND DAEMONS: Buddhist Themes in Modern Fantasy, by David R. Loy and Linda Goodhew, foreword by Jane Hirshfield. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004, 155 pp., $14.95 (paper). David R. Loy and Linda Goodhew's "The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons" is subtitled "Buddhist Themes in Modern...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 24, 2004

A view through the looking-glass

The stories of her terrible childhood and of haunting hallucinations have created the widely accepted view that Yayoi Kusama's art emerges from unimaginable suffering. It is difficult to find anything said about Kusama that does not dwell on her mental illness and she herself does little to dispel this...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Oct 13, 2004

Mino for the modern world

The traditional Mino pottery styles of Shino, Oribe, Yellow Seto and Black Seto have been the pride of the Japanese ceramic world since the Momoyama Period (1568-1615). However, Mino pottery just isn't what it used to be. Gone are its chadogu (tea wares) days of the 17th-19th century, when it was used...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 29, 2004

An Eastern art show to rival Venice

On May 18, 1980, the city of Gwangju, South Korea, hit the headlines with an explosion of civilian dissent against the military junta that had seized power the day before. The junta's brutal crackdown culminated in the Gwangju Massacre of hundreds of students and civilians. The uprising would spark South...
CULTURE / Music
Sep 5, 2004

Russian pays tribute to music of motherland

Novelist Leo Tolstoy, poet and novelist Boris Pasternak, dance impresario Sergei Diaghilev and choreographer George Balanchine were all distinguished Russians in their own fields. Although they lived in different times, they are bound together by their deep love for music.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 11, 2004

National treasures of Bizen-ware pots

The city and pottery style of Bizen hold a special place in my heart; in a sense, Bizen was my "first love" in the ceramic world. When I was first given a Bizen yunomi (tea cup) twenty years ago I had never held something so earthy and "alive" -- a vessel for use in daily life, to enhance drinking pleasure,...

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