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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 14, 2013

Go with the flow from representational to abstract

For five years starting in 2007, Shinpei Kusanagi (b.1973) made monthly serialized paintings to accompany installments of Teru Miyamoto's novel "Mizu no Katachi" ("The Shape of Water") in the magazine éclat. Text and image had little to do with one another, though the small, standard format paintings...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 8, 2013

The unexpected awaits at Media Arts Festival

When asked to describe his latest film in one word, director Shunichiro Miki repeated what most cinema critics worldwide had said after their own somewhat botched attempts to describe it: 'Indescribable.'
COMMENTARY / Japan / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 4, 2013

Abe's 15-month reversal budget fudges cost of swapping people and butter for concrete and guns

The government of Shinzo Abe has just unveiled its budget for fiscal 2013 starting in April. Abe's stated intention was to “radically reset” spending priorities.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Jan 25, 2013

Snacking on squid guts and soybeans

Doritos and Budweiser, canapes and Champagne, jamon and Tempranillo — when it comes to happy hour, everyone has their favorite combination of booze and umami-infused treats.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 23, 2013

"Wang Xizhi: Master Calligrapher"

Wang Xizhi (303-361) is remembered for his major influence on Chinese calligraphic style. After his death, his works continued to be revered by emperors in China, including Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, who publicly proclaimed a fascination with the calligrapher.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 10, 2013

Looking out for the sound of art

In Titian's "Bacchus and Ariadne," the riotous clash of cymbals and blowing of trumpets in the hands of the revelers can almost be heard. In similar ways, artists from at least the Renaissance onward, have attempted to suggest the presence of music in their paintings. By the modern period, many artists...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 9, 2013

Abe kicks off economic revitalization HQ, stimulus efforts

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday convened the first meeting of the Economic Revitalization Headquarters, endorsing the outline of the government's emergency stimulus package totaling some ¥20 trillion in a bid to steer Japan out of deflation and prop up the economy with massive public works spending....
EDITORIALS
Jan 9, 2013

Wasteful spending must be avoided

The Abe administration will soon compile an around ¥12 trillion supplementary budget for fiscal 2012 and the fiscal 2013 initial budget. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing for a bold economic policy to pull the Japanese economy out of a long period of deflation, including unlimited monetary easing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 4, 2013

'Freelancers'

To everything there is a season, even for Hollywood superstars such as Robert De Niro. Having starred in some of the best and most memorable American films of the 20th century, De Niro has remained enthroned in the Hollywood kingdom — but the time when he can walk into any scene and take immediate...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Dec 30, 2012

The wonderful worlds of 100 waka

The scene: England, Boxing Day 2012. The archetypical Carters are relaxing after a cold turkey lunch (with bread sauce) and are watching the Royal Family's latest sonnets being read on the goggle-box. Time for a game!
EDITORIALS
Dec 27, 2012

Mr. Abe has his work cut out

Liberal Democratic Party leader Mr. Shinzo Abe on Wednesday formed his Cabinet after the Diet nominated him as Japan's new prime minister. This is his second tenure as prime minister, with the LDP returning to power after an absence of three years and three months.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 13, 2012

Tadanori Yokoo unearths a future from personal past

The establishment of a museum in the name of an individual is always, to a degree, a memorializing issue in preparation for the inevitable. The inauguration of the Yokoo Tadanori Museum of Contemporary Art in many ways heralds such, and Yokoo's oeuvre has often been a dialogue with death.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 11, 2012

Some election campaign rules outdated, quirky

From Hokkaido to Okinawa Prefecture, 1,504 candidates are campaigning for the 480 seats up for grabs in Sunday's Lower House election.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 29, 2012

"Nami Tsujikawa: Uncommonness Fantasy"

Nami Tsujikawa is a self-taught artist whose wild and fantastical works have been described by critics as a hybrid of Western and Eastern influences. Her works reject homogeneity and use unusual mixes of ethnical elements as she pursues excessive ornateness.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 23, 2012

Williams says changing Saitama track record not easy

Tracy Williams is the Saitama Broncos' eighth head coach since the team entered the bj-league in 2005. Only ex-NBA forward David Benoit lasted more than one season during his time at the helm — 2006-08 — and the Broncos were 36-48 in those two campaigns.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 22, 2012

Isao Tomita

Turning 80 this year hasn't interrupted Isao Tomita in his search for new musical possibilities. Known to many as the father of Japanese electronic music, the artist is about to turn his latest dream into a (virtual) reality, by collaborating with computer-generated diva Hatsune Miku. This weekend, Tomita...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 4, 2012

Windmills on the poetic mind

FAREWELL TO NUCLEAR, WELCOME TO RENEWABLE ENERGY: A Collection of Poems by 218 Poets. Coal Sack Publishing, 2012, 321 pp., ¥3,150 Japan in many ways is the land of myth, of cozy self-assurances, national delusions and unfounded assertions. Incredulous claims, such as racial homogeneity and the absence...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 26, 2012

Festival/Tokyo theater event to give Asia a starring role

Japan has been on a bit of a losing streak for a while now. In 2010, it was overtaken as the world's second-largest economy by China, and in 2011 the nation was rocked by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the ensuing tsunami and nuclear crisis.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 25, 2012

"Art Walk: Selections from the Collection of the Bridgestone Museum of Art"

The Bridgestone Museum of Art boasts a broad collection of works that runs the gamut from the ancient to the contemporary.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 11, 2012

The princely state of Liechtenstein's collection

Liechtenstein is the kind of place that philatelists and tax lawyers know best. Although an insignificant dot on the map, it has its own set of stamps and its small size allows it to offer tax advantages to thousands of holding companies. The latest exhibition at the National Art Center Tokyo (NACT)...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 23, 2012

Timely fictional war scenarios that play out in Asian waters

Tiger's Claw, by Dale Brown. William Morrow, 2012, 432 pp., $26.99 (hardcover) Red Cell, by Mark Henshaw. Touchstone, 2012, 336 pp., $24.99 (hardcover) Future war fiction — also known as alternate history or military science fiction — has been around a long time. Occasionally such books have proved...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 2, 2012

Prescient work of writer Sawako Ariyoshi begs for rediscovery

Aug. 30 marked the day, 28 years ago, that Japan and the world lost a writer of immense importance. Sawako Ariyoshi's works of fiction and nonfiction took up many social issues that came into prominence in the years after her death. To my mind, she is not only one of the greatest authors of modern Japan,...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Aug 19, 2012

Politics taint Ahn Sehong's 'comfort women' photo exhibition

Visitors to a photo exhibition would not typically be asked to open their bags or walk through a metal detector before entering the exhibition site. Nor would they expect to catch the inquisitive gazes of various plainclothes police officers lurking in the crowd once inside.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2012

Photographer finds dignity in a dark time

When Hiroshi Watanabe went looking for traces of the disappearing Japantown in San Jose, California, the Los Angeles-based photographer was not drawn to the neighborhood's old storefronts but to a flower brooch made with tiny shells.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 3, 2012

World Ballet Festival shows how Japan has jetéd its way onto the world stage

Ballet lovers faced a difficult choice this week when two productions of "Don Quixote" were performed in Tokyo. The shows heralded the opening of the 13th World Ballet Festival, whose main program began Thursday and closes with a Special Gala on Aug. 16.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 26, 2012

Japan's one-time rebellious artistic vanguard

The term "art group" barely does justice to the collective of artists in postwar Japan known as Gutai. Founded in 1954 by Jiro Yoshihara, the group renegotiated the borders of art, incorporating performance, installation and even the natural environment into their creations.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
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