Tag - festival

 
 

FESTIVAL

Japan Times
JAPAN
May 29, 2017
Yakuza photo-bombs Kishiwada Danjiri Festival poster
The organizer of the famous Kishiwada Danjiri Festival in Osaka will remake its poster for this year's event because a yakuza appeared on it.
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...
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.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Oct 26, 2016
Stars sparkle on the red carpet of the Tokyo International Film Festival 2016
The 29th Tokyo International Film Festival marked its opening Tuesday afternoon with a traditional red carpet ceremony that was heavy on Asian stars and filmmakers.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Oct 26, 2016
Japanese film 'Your Name.' bags awards at South Korea animation festival
The film "Your Name." by Japanese director Makoto Shinkai has won the special distinction and audiences prizes in the feature category at the Bucheon International Animation Festival, its distributor said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Oct 22, 2016
Welcome home, Okinawa
Under the slogan "Let the whole world move to the Uchina beat," Okinawa will host the prefecture's largest international event, the sixth Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival from Thursday, Oct. 27, to Sunday, Oct. 30. (Uchina means Okinawa in the island's language, while Uchinanchu means an Okinawan person)....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 18, 2016
Getting site-specific installations down to a fine art
Kenpoku Art 2016! is one of the latest projects to appear in an area for which art has been a relatively niche concern. Despite the fact that Okakura Tenshin, one of the central figures of Japanese art history, set up shop in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1906, and Art Tower Mito consistently provides top-class...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 13, 2016
Despite controversy, the Busan International Film Festival is as strong as ever
The 21st edition of Asia's biggest movie event, the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), which took place from Oct. 6 to 15, almost didn't happen; or, at least, that's the story being told. Actually, considering how important the festival is for South Korea's movie industry, one of the most vital...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 4, 2016
Reconnecting Japan's ancient cultural hub
"When I visited Todaiji Temple in Nara, just after I arrived as a Chinese student in Japan about 30 years ago, I felt somehow nostalgic as it had an atmosphere of old China," says Cai Guo-Qiang, as he explains his work for Culture City of East Asia 2016, Nara, a cultural project that launched in March....
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 3, 2016
Dozens killed in Ethiopia stampede after police fire warning shots at protesters attending festival
More than 50 people were killed in a stampede in Ethiopia's Oromiya region on Sunday that was triggered when police used teargas and shot guns into the air to disperse anti-government protesters at a religious festival.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 20, 2016
Out of the ordinary comes a new art festival
I've never been comfortable with the idea that Japan has three "most beautiful" places. It's a tradition, or a received wisdom, if you like, to rank the triad of the land bridge Ama-no Hashidate, the rocky islands of Matsushima and the sacred torii in the water at Miyajima as the indisputable height...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Sep 14, 2016
Director Naomi Kawase celebrates her hometown with the Nara Film Festival
Film festivals can be the product of one person's passion, but that person is rarely a regular invitee to that most prestigious of festivals: Cannes. Director Naomi Kawase, who has both won Cannes prizes and sat on Cannes juries, fits that description as the executive director of the Nara International...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 8, 2016
The UNHCR Refugee Film Festival finds increased focus on Europe for 11th edition
The status of refugees and displaced people continues to worsen since the European refugee crisis first gained widespread attention in 2015. In the news refugees may be portrayed as powerless victims, but the tremendous strength they show in taking strides toward a better future is anything but. The...

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals