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Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / GAME OF NUMBERS
Jul 8, 2013

Hashimoto: from third force to political farce?

Third in a series One year ago, Toru Hashimoto was the toast of the nation's media, with many predicting the outspoken Osaka mayor, who was then laying plans for a new national party, would become prime minister after the next Lower House election. Politicians ranging from Shinzo Abe and Ichiro Ozawa...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 4, 2013

'New' Royal Ballet spans the frontiers of dance

For the first time in three years, one of the world's most esteemed ballet companies is bringing its talent to one of the world's most appreciative audiences, as part of a tour that explores the parameters of dance.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 20, 2013

For a nonverbal theater group, The Original Tempo has a lot to say

"The Yellow Raincoat Squad' is charming and engaging. This is another one of those productions that defies description but is a must-see for all ages," wrote Catherine Lamm in The British Theatre Guide in August, 2009. Lamm was reviewing one of Japan's best-kept theatrical secrets: The Original Tempo...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 30, 2013

'The Exhibition of Otani Collection'

The New Otani Art Museum has chosen 30 seasonal works from its own collection for this year's summer show. Known for acquiring impressive Edo Period and modern works, the museum is showcasing nihonga (Japanese-style) painting, such as Jippo Araki's "Swallows in Summer" and Gyokudo Kawai's "Breeze in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 22, 2013

Power and mastery of the blank space — Toko Shinoda

When speaking of Japanese art, people use words such as wabi and sabi, words that speak of a delicate sensibility and an ephemeral existence. Viewing the retrospective show of painter Toko Shinoda, the first word that comes to mind is 'power.'
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WEEK 3
May 19, 2013

The other costs of concrete

Where does concrete come from? The material has become such a pervasive symbol of human alienation from nature that it's tempting to assume it's just another brutish product of the 18th-century Industrial Revolution.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 16, 2013

'Graphic Trial 2013'

This is the eighth annual "Graphic Trial Exhibition," which explores the potential and future of graphic design and its relationship with printing. The series of exhibitions showcases works from progressive designers, revealing the development of works, from design conception through to the printing...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
May 14, 2013

Czech promoter sings way to cultural identity

For singer Eva Miklas Takamine, who also has been head of the Czech Center in Tokyo since March, singing both Czech and Japanese songs is a way of expressing her identity.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 9, 2013

The ghouls who played on the Japanese mind

“Japanese Ghosts and Eerie Creatures,” which features a selection of works from the mid-Edo Period to the Showa Era, is mostly play, with little horror.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 3, 2013

Roppongi Hills gets love on its 10th anniversary

Roppongi Hills was unlike anything Tokyo had ever seen before. Until it opened 10 years ago, Roppongi was more often seen as a 'High Touch Town,' where businessmen partied with foreign hostesses and off-duty soldiers packed the nightclubs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 2, 2013

An art expedition to Southeast Asia

Confronting the ongoing state of transformation that characterizes their native Singapore, two artists exhibiting at a new exhibition, "Welcome to the Jungle," adopt quite different approaches and media. Francis Ng in "Constructing Construction #1" turns his camera on an unfinished section of an ugly...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 25, 2013

In front and behind closed temple doors

While largely beneath the contemporary-art radar, painting for Japanese temples by the stars of the postwar art world is a relatively common activity, though largely restricted to nihonga.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Apr 18, 2013

"Odilon Redon, Les Origines de la Fantaisie"

Paintings were originally created as representations of the physical world. However, as technologies such as photography were developed, the role of painting changed to that of portraying concepts that went beyond physical representation. The Realism movement of the late 19th century giving way to the...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2013

It's the end of everything as we know it (perhaps)

I hope you had it while you could because, last week, sex ended.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 14, 2013

Takarazuka: Japan's newest 'traditional' theater turns 100

Ask your average Japanese person or non-native Japanophile to name a “traditional” form of domestic theater and the classics such as kabuki and noh would feature prominently.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 14, 2013

An era of Tokyo art worth another look

Like Britain, Japan is subject to the polarizing forces of the orthodox and radical, the two balancing the flabby middle.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 11, 2013

Welsh approach to 'national' theater is efficiently different

Always keen to break new ground, Keiko Miyata, artistic director of the New National Theatre Tokyo (NNTT), has created a series titled "With: linking theater" as the centerpiece of this season's program. In this, she has lined up three appetizing collaborations by asking playwrights from Wales, South...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 4, 2013

Exploring India's rapid urbanization, alienation

The art space now known as Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo was originally part of the luxury brand's store, designed by Jun Aoki and opened in 2002 in the fashionable Tokyo shopping district of Omotesando. It was reimagined in 2011 as a space for the company to showcase contemporary art, and is now holding...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 28, 2013

'Special Exhibition: Kano Sanraku and Sansetsu'

Established in the 15th century, the Kano School is one of Japan's most famous institutions of Japanese-style painting. Its particular set of aesthetics dominated the genre for more than three centuries.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 26, 2013

Yi Zhou: From the screen to the canvas of garments

"Hollowness" is not a word that often springs to mind in the context of a luxury fashion item. For the Shanghai-based multimedia artist Yi Zhou, however, this was the starting point for her Each x Other fashion collection.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 22, 2013

Tokyo art blossoms in spring

It seems that this year everything is coming together for the Tokyo art world, literally.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 21, 2013

Enjoy an art night out in Roppongi

Spring finally returns and with the change of weather comes a flurry of activity in and around Tokyo, as this year's Roppongi Art Night is welcomed back. Running from 10 a.m. on March 23 until 6 p.m. the next day, the festival hosts a diverse collection of new and established artists, some showing for...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 15, 2013

Classical community unites to celebrate bicentennials of Verdi and Wagner

This year marks the bicentennials of the births of two great composers: Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) and Richard Wagner (1813-83), both giants of the classical music world who brought opera to the peak of its artistic expression in the 19th century.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 8, 2013

Veteran coach Nash has Toyama poised for playoff run

Stable leadership is as important to a team's success as hard-working players.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 24, 2013

Osaka: Japan's latterday second city forever breaks the national mold

They're funny, finicky and feisty, not to mention being full of wicked mischief, with their own way of talking, too. Outside of Japan, think of Liverpool, not London; or Munich, not Berlin; or Mumbai, not Delhi. I'm talking about the people of Osaka.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 22, 2013

Tokyo literary festival writes its opening chapter

Every time David Karashima took a Japanese author to New York or London to do a reading, the local audiences would ask two questions: "Who's the next Haruki Murakami?" and "Why isn't there an international literary festival in Tokyo?"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 21, 2013

The future of fabrics woven with the past

The textile work of Junichi Arai is renowned for its complexity and innovation. Often three-dimensional in nature, his fabrics appear as undulating landscapes of puckering, crumpling, puffs, pleats and protruding felted yarns. Many of them glimmer with metallic or translucent sheens, some seem understated...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 21, 2013

Redefining conventions of the play

Without doubt, Takahiro Fujita is the most prominent newcomer in the world of Japanese contemporary theater. To a considerable extent that's because the 27-year-old playwright/director has an unusual trademark style — to create works that often have the same lyrical phrases and series of movements...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 18, 2013

Third branch of Abenomics

Fiscal and monetary policies will do little to stimulate economic growth in Japan. So, it is time for a strategy to encourage private-sector investments.

Longform

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