Search - culture

 
 
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 15, 2000

Roll out the mauve carpet and put the sake on ice

When I heard that the ambassador of Haiti and a voodoo priest would be visiting my house, I rushed around in a flurry to get things ready. After all, how often do you have an ambassador and a voodoo priest in your house at the same time?
COMMUNITY
Oct 14, 2000

Japan-Scottish Highland Games celebrates Scottish sport and culture

The 18th Japan-Scottish Highland Games, featuring music, sports, dancing and other entertainment, will take place 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Soka campus of Ueno Gakuen.
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Oct 12, 2000

What bulging waistline? Let's talk about cheese

When your 8-year-old son suddenly starts thumping your belly gleefully like a bongo drum, chances are it means you've put on some weight. I confess that I've added 2-3 kg to my 190-cm frame since arriving more than a year ago in Belgium, a gastronomic paradise blessed with a tremendous variety of wines,...
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Oct 9, 2000

Festival highlights the myriad sounds of Africa

The South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, I was told upon my arrival, has everything, from snowboarding in the morning to surfing in the afternoon. And from the itinerary that Swize, from the local tourist board, handed me, it looked like I would be doing it all: a trip to a game reserve and a Zulu...
CULTURE / Art
Oct 8, 2000

History and literature both enrobed

It is a mystery. How people took threads of silk and steeped them in poetry, passion and pride. How the line between art and life blurred in the weaver's hands. How, in short, Japanese artisans created garments that went far beyond fashion to enter the timeless realm of beauty.
COMMENTARY
Oct 8, 2000

The Japanese people really are different

This year there were two Olympics. One was for the world generally. The other was for Japan, with audiences glued to events where hysterical announcers could declare a Japanese victory.
EDITORIALS
Oct 7, 2000

The U.S. gets a real choice

There are complaints aplenty about U.S. politics, but the first debate between this year's presidential candidates was a reminder of what is right with the system. Rarely do voters anywhere have the opportunity to see their candidates square off and discuss issues in an intelligent and direct manner....
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2000

Panel eyes reform of state-conferred honors system

A government panel has proposed that the state-conferred decoration system be simplified and the government address the fact that more honors go to people in the public sector than in the private sector, government officials said.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 7, 2000

Ten of the best from Australia

Australian Nicola Townsend's Nanpeidai apartment looks different from my last visit. The furniture is the same, but there is a subtle change in the atmosphere and light. Then I realize that it's the paintings. After a sell-out show of works from her native soil earlier this year, the independent curator...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Oct 7, 2000

And now, the green peril?

Today, the green banner of Islam inspires almost as much fear as the red Soviet flag did several decades ago. This fear is not entirely unjustified. Of course, it would be silly to label Muslim culture "aggressive" or "intolerant"; yet too many acts of aggression and intolerance have been conducted under...
CULTURE / Music
Oct 6, 2000

Festival to celebrate composer Ikuma Dan

"Dan Year 2000," a nine-month festival featuring the works of Japanese composer Ikuma Dan, will begin Oct. 15.
COMMUNITY
Oct 5, 2000

Vanity, thy name is . . . Vince?

SAN FRANCISCO -- Clairol, the staid manufacturer of women's hair dyes, tried something new this year: It went after kids.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2000

Ex-JICA chief volunteers for the trenches

Upon retiring after a 38-year career with the Foreign Ministry followed by six years as head of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Kimio Fujita was naturally expected to accept an honorary post, such as on a government panel.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 5, 2000

Passionate affairs with flamenco

MADRID, Spain -- At a recent flamenco show in downtown Madrid, guitars strumming to furious crescendos and sudden stops, a spectator might have found himself thinking, "Hey, there's a long-haired guy clapping at the back of the stage who looks Japanese. Wait a second, he is Japanese!"
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Lage urges closer ties with Cuba

Visiting Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage on Tuesday called for strengthening bilateral relations with Japan on various fronts, ranging from tourism, sports and culture to business.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 4, 2000

We must interrupt our bowling for a thrilling Olympic moment

Equality of the sexes I generally accept as a fundamental truth -- as certain as sunrise in the east, the rhythm of the tides and bubbles in the o-furo.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2000

Museum buffs image of newspapers

YOKOHAMA -- A museum visit is not likely to raise the pulse rates of children these days, and a museum dedicated to newspapers seems certain to draw only yawns.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 3, 2000

Diners, look before you eat

AT THE JAPANESE TABLE, by Richard Hosking. Images of Asia. Oxford University Press, 2000, 70 pp., 22 color plates, 19 b/w, unpriced. THE ESSENCE OF JAPANESE CUISINE: An Essay on Food and Culture, by Michael Ashkenazi and Jeanne Jacob. Richmond/Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000, 252 pp., 11 b/w photos, 45 British...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2000

Japan must commence nuclear reforms

On Sept. 30, Japan commemorated the first anniversary of its worst nuclear disaster since the inception of its nuclear power industry. Tokaimura, approximately 150 km northwest of Tokyo, experienced a criticality accident around 10:30 a.m. when employees of JCO Co., a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 1, 2000

Elizabeth Handover

Elizabeth Handover explains that when in 1989 she was instrumental in helping establish the Tokyo Actors Repertory Company, she was undertaking a commitment. That was to promote women's theater, and to work toward bicultural understanding. With clear guiding principles, the company makes its presentations...
CULTURE / Art
Oct 1, 2000

Stringing a line through fashion and art

The 21st century in Tokyo is seeing a great migration of disciplines from one sphere into another. Fashion designers are collaborating with artists and exhibiting in galleries. Artists are collaborating with designers and exhibiting in shops.
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2000

Household outlays decline for fourth month

Spending by salaried workers' households fell 2.9 percent in August from a year earlier, the fourth straight month of decline, a preliminary report released Friday by the Management and Coordination Agency shows.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 30, 2000

Thomas Wolfe: 20th-century America's warped looking glass

"No one has ever written any books about America -- I mean the real America," he wrote to a friend in 1931.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2000

UNSC must change before Japan, Germany join

OSAKA -- The U.N. Security Council is not adequately dealing with global problems, according to former German President Richard von Weizsaecker, and the entry of Japan and Germany into the body as permanent members should only take place after major U.N. reforms.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2000

Japan's nonprofits carve out a space of their own

When the Nature Conservancy's Lori Forman addressed the College Women's Association of Japan at a luncheon earlier this year, the topic was supposed to be nongovernmental organizations in Japan. But instead of providing a nuanced description of Japan's not-for-profit movement, Forman seemed more interested...
OLYMPICS
Sep 27, 2000

Russian duo take synchro title

SYDNEY -- Japanese water-babes Miya Tachibana and Miho Takeda swam for the gold in the synchronized swimming duet final Tuesday, but were beaten by a Russian team whose routine drew on Japanese culture for inspiration.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Sep 26, 2000

Voices of power and purity lilting out of Africa

I seem to see certain of my favorite African musicians whenever I take a trip away from Japan. I have now seen Senegal's Cheikh Lo in several European cities and in Co^te d'Ivoire, and am about to see him again at a festival in South Africa.

Longform

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