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November 22, 2024
 

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CLASSICAL

The Tubassadors are (from left) Tomohiro Sosogi, Kazuto Shikada, Soen Tamura and Keisuke Nishibu.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 5, 2024
The Tubassadors hope to change the tuba’s tune
Orchestras aren't known for tuba solos in their performances. However, this Tokyo-based quartet puts the instrument front and center.
Maestro Seiji Ozawa (center) lays flowers at the cenotaph for atomic bomb victims at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in October 2005.
JAPAN / History / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Sep 9, 2024
Maestro Seiji Ozawa’s prayer for peace lives on in Hiroshima
His musical roots — and passion — can be traced back to the city where the first atomic bomb was detonated.
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Longform
Jul 14, 2024
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Great pianists aren't made overnight, it takes years of practice. It can all be undone in a matter of days, however, due to a medical condition called dystonia.
A screencap of a performance of Hiroto Nagai's “String Quartet No. 1 ‘Polar Energy Budget’” by the PRT Quartet
CULTURE / Music / OUR PLANET
May 7, 2024
How a Japanese scientist is turning the climate crisis into music
Hiroto Nagai has sonified polar climate data, resulting in a string quartet piece that he thinks can get people to care more about what the data expresses.
Pianist Fuzjko Hemming shot to fame after a documentary program about her life was aired on NHK in 1999. Her debut album released the same year, "La Campanella," sold over 2 million copies.
CULTURE / Music
May 2, 2024
Renowned pianist Fuzjko Hemming dies at 92
Born in Berlin to a Swedish architect father and a Japanese pianist mother, Hemming began learning the piano from her mother at the age of 5.
Experimentation seemed to be a driving force throughout conductor Seiji Ozawa’s life as he pushed the boundaries of what a Japanese artist could achieve with classical music to magnificent heights.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 13, 2024
Seiji Ozawa’s boundless experiment
The influential conductor was not only a man of extraordinary talent, his warm character had the power to unite people as one.
Seiji Ozawa shows his humorous side during a photo shoot with The Japan Times in 2017. The influential conductor died Feb. 6.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 10, 2024
The story behind my favorite photo of Seiji Ozawa
A lot of photography comes down to luck and reflexes. Once you get that magic shot, though, it can stay with you forever.
Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa during a rehearsal in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, in September 2005.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 9, 2024
Seiji Ozawa, Japan’s trailblazing maestro, dies at 88
Throughout his illustrious career, Ozawa was instrumental in popularizing classical music for mainstream audiences in Japan and abroad.
Hiroko Higashino, who was born with three fingers on her right hand, plays an AI-powered piano during a rehearsal for a Christmas concert in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2023
AI-assisted piano allows disabled Tokyo musicians to perform Beethoven
To assist players, the Anybody's Piano tracks the notes of the music and augments the performance by adding whatever keys are needed but not pressed.
Janos Cegledy sits in a park in Tokyo's Nerima Ward. The pianist says Japan suits him, “There is a certain civility and politeness here which you don’t find anywhere else.”
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / Longform
Dec 11, 2023
The extraordinary life of a Holocaust survivor living in Japan
Janos Cegledy tours schools, telling his story. If the students ever meet a Holocaust denier, he says, they can reply, "I met someone who was there."
Pianist Yukie Nishimura plays a piano repaired from the 3/11 tsunami damage in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2023
Pianist Yukie Nishimura performs in former no-go zone in Fukushima
The event took place in the Tsushima district in the Fukushima town of Namie after the government's evacuation order was lifted in March this year.
John Williams (right) and Seiji Ozawa (center) have been friends for decades. Their long-awaited reunion in Japan comes courtesy of a musical collaboration between Williams and the Saito Kinen Orchestra for the 31st edition of Ozawa’s annual music festival.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 24, 2023
Music legends John Williams and Seiji Ozawa reunite at Matsumoto festival
The American composer and conductor led a special program featuring his famous film scores at his long-time friend's annual event in Nagano Prefecture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 14, 2023
'Honeybees and Distant Thunder' is an ode to nature informing art and life
Riku Onda's vibrant novel follows four characters as they navigate the pressures and joys of competing in a piano contest and examines the idea of genius in the world of classical music.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 27, 2023
Japan-based Holocaust survivor honors historic Jewish revolt with piano performance
Pianist Janos Cegledy's three pieces at a commemorative event in Tokyo for the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in Poland were a moving tribute to the Jewish people’s acts of bravery.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 3, 2023
Ryuichi Sakamoto, trailblazing musician and film composer, dies at 71
Ryuichi Sakamoto, an award-winning composer and member of pioneering electronic act Yellow Magic Orchestra, has died. He was 71 years old.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 20, 2023
Mao Fujita makes Mozart's sonatas his own
The 24-year-old concert pianist adds flourish to familiar melodies ahead of his debut recital at New York’s hallowed Carnegie Hall.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Dec 4, 2022
Ryuichi Sakamoto keeps the music going with a 'profound' concert
The upcoming “Playing the Piano 2022” concert will showcase a musician still exploring new horizons while contemplating the finiteness of life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 14, 2022
Japanese pianists win first and fourth prizes in Paris contest
Japanese musicians won the first and fourth prizes in the piano category of the Long-Thibaud-Crespin international music competition in Paris.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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