Tag - festival

 
 

FESTIVAL

Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 31, 2017
Drum prodigy Senri Kawaguchi doesn't put limits on her music
In 2010, the online encyclopedia Drummerworld added a 13-year-old Japanese schoolgirl to its list of the world's greatest players. Senri Kawaguchi had rocketed to fame after posting YouTube videos of herself drumming along to songs from the "K-On!" anime series, wearing the same sailor-suit school uniform...
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 28, 2017
Malta festival-goers climb the larded log for flags, glory, splashdown
For more than a century, locals in the small Maltese town of St. Julian's have celebrated their patron saint by running up a steeply angled log, smeared with lard, protruding over the sea.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Aug 10, 2017
Fuji Rock's closing act was a load of trash
By all accounts, this year's Fuji Rock Festival was a success. Punters of all ages and demographics enjoyed the laid-back vibe at the three-day music spectacular — give or take the constant rain — and most social media posts about the event focused on good times. Not everyone was happy, though.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 1, 2017
Fuji Rock Festival: It may not make sense on paper, but the end results are glorious
This year's Fuji Rock Festival was a damp and turbulent affair, albeit only in the most literal sense. Whatever the formula is for convincing people to blow their entire summer vacation budget on a few days in the Japan Alps — much of which will likely be spent lining up for the toilet, getting drenched...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jul 27, 2017
It's a bit out of the way, but Skip City festival makes up for the distance with great films and rare access
The location for the Skip City International D-Cinema Festival doesn't make it particularly easy for casual fans to pop in. The Skip City complex — which hosts studios for audiovisual production, as well as educational and entertainment facilities — is a fairly lengthy bus ride from Kawaguchi Station...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 27, 2017
Quruli has noticed a change in the way young people listen to music
Many musicians will admit to having a special affection for Fuji Rock Festival, which unfurls at Naeba Ski Resort in Niigata Prefecture this weekend. Few, however, have a history as tightly intertwined with the event as Quruli, the affable guitar-rock outfit from Kyoto.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 26, 2017
Figuring out who to watch at this year's Fuji Rock Festival
The 2017 edition of Fuji Rock Festival boasts one of the more eclectic lineups the long-running gathering has had in recent years. The headliners tell the tale: Cartoon rockers Gorillaz share the same font size as electronic pop star Bjork and dance music weirdo Aphex Twin. Dig deeper and you'll find...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 26, 2017
Be prepared before you head out for a weekend of music
With Fuji Rock happening this weekend, it's time to start making sure you've got everything you need to make the festival an unadulterated success. Here's a list of essential items you should consider trying to squeeze into your bags:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / Backstage Pass
Jul 20, 2017
Satoshi Miyagi makes history on a stage in France
The government's Cool Japan initiative may be focused on spreading anime around the world, but Japanese culture scored a significant victory in France earlier this month in the world of theater.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / CULTURE SMASH
Jun 25, 2017
Director Sunao Katabuchi shares his corner of this world
Last summer saw the release of what would become the highest grossing Japanese animation film to date, Makoto Shinkai's "Your Name.," which was also the country's top box-office draw of 2016. The surprise hit's main characters are a pair of body-swapping teenagers. A survey conducted by the Fields Research...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 25, 2017
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia teams up with Exile's Hiro to create a contemporary fusion of vision and sound
From its debut in 1999 as the passion project of actor Tetsuya Bessho, Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia has grown into a big event on the local and regional film calendar. Size is one reason: The 19th edition, which unspools from June 1 to 25 at six venues in Tokyo and Yokohama, features nearly 250...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 18, 2017
Japan's filmmakers expand their idea of overseas opportunity
The Japanese film industry has long been insular, making films by and for Japanese with little input from, or concern for, the outside world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 27, 2017
The ambiguous world of today's ventriloquists
Franco-Austrian choreographer and director Gisele Vienne is fascinated by puppets and brings a group of nine ventriloquists and their marionettes to the stage in her latest piece, "The Ventriloquists Convention." The play is part of the World Theatre Festival Shizuoka run by Shizuoka Performing Arts...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 27, 2017
All Shizuoka's a stage for SPAC's theater festival
At a recent news conference, Satoshi Miyagi, the artistic director of Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC), gave notice of an imminent invasion — by girigirijin.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 5, 2017
Passion rules in Japan's amateur orchestras
Classical music has always been a big part of Ikuo Nakajima's life. He never became a professional trumpeter, opting instead to become a managing engineer, but that hasn't stopped him from performing.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / PHOTO ESSAY
Jan 21, 2017
Purified by the water and fire of Japan in Wakayama
On the polished stones of Ojigahama Beach in Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture, a group of men stand in the February cold. Dressed in long athletic coats they look like a marooned football team. They've come for shiogori, a saltwater baptism to cleanse body and mind and the first act of one of Japan's two...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 11, 2017
'A Drop from Tomato': Planting the seeds of reconciliation
For independent filmmakers from elsewhere in Asia with high censorship or distribution hurdles, Japan must look like paradise. Last year, most of the 581 local films released here were low-budget indie titles. Hardly any of their makers got rich, but at least their films saw the theatrical light of day....
Japan Times
CULTURE
Dec 30, 2016
The top entertainment stories of 2016
The Japan Times newsroom selected these culture stories as the most important of 2016.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2016
Backlash over frozen fish in ice rink prompts rethink of Sapporo ice sculpture containing seafood
The recent harsh criticism against an ice skating rink in Fukuoka Prefecture that embedded thousands of frozen fish is prompting the organizer of a popular annual snow event in Hokkaido to rethink its exhibition of frozen marine products, the Asahi Shimbun said Monday.

Longform

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