Posted in life, architecture, art and photography, business, news on Apr 20th, 2007 No Comments »
With sadness we note the passing of Clifton Karhu on March 24 at age 79, the great American-born blockprint artist who made Kyoto his home. Karhu’s prints are known for their strong lines and vivid colors and his themes pay tribute to the beauty of Japan’s old capital. Norman Tolman, founder of the Tolman Collection […]
Posted in architecture, art and photography, museums, news on Mar 28th, 2007 No Comments »
Ai-mitsu is one of the most tortured (and fascinating) Japanese painters from the middle of the last century - he died in China during the war. He is undeservedly unknown outside of Japan, so the Ai-Mitsu Exhibition starting March 30 in the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, and lasting until May 27, is a […]
Posted in news on Mar 25th, 2007 No Comments »
This morning at 9:42 there was a rather large earthquake on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture (near Kanazawa). I visited this area last September (see my introduction of the region) and was shocked to learn about the quake this evening when I read the news on the internet. I hope all the friendly people […]
Posted in crafts, travel and places, museums, news on Mar 19th, 2007 No Comments »
March is the time of dolls (hina ningyo, the dolls for Girl’s Day) in Japan and there are four ongoing exhibitions in Kyoto:
At the Kyoto National Museum “Girl’s Day and Dolls” (until April 8);
At Hokyoji Imperial Convent the annual spring exhibition, this year for the 100th time (until April 3; take bus no. 9 from […]
Posted in internet, history, anime, news on Mar 19th, 2007 No Comments »
The Tokyo Anime Fair will start on Thursday in Tokyo Big Site and as a warming up Yomiuri.co.jp has published an interesting article about the state of the industry. One thing is that the domestic film boom of last year was fueled by anime. 100,000 visitors are expected, the public opening days are in the […]
Posted in writing and poetry, movies, art and photography, news on Mar 17th, 2007 No Comments »
Earlier this month the Akutagawa Prize for new writers of literary fiction was awarded to Aoyama Nanae for Being Alone. Here she is interviewed by the Japan Times (registration required).
Kadokawa’s latest overblown epic film, Aoki Okami (Blue Wolf), about Genghis Khan, is found “somewhat empty and soulless” by Daily Yomiuri’s Aaron Gerow. Although there are […]
Posted in internet, food, culture, art and photography, travel and places, museums, news on Mar 15th, 2007 No Comments »
From March 20 to June 17 the Tokyo National Museum will host The Mind of Leonardo, an exhibition with as its centerpiece The Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci. This exhibition is part of the Italian festival in Japan this spring called Primavera Italiana 2007. Not everyone in Italy was happy that this priceless work was […]
Posted in internet, culture, movies, travel and places, museums, news on Mar 14th, 2007 No Comments »
Despite the expected boost it will give the economy, not everybody in Nagasaki is happy with the government decision to register 20 Christian sites with the Unesco World Heritage List. As Asahi.com reports, the priests are afraid noisy tourists will disturb the peace of the believers by snapping their picture, leave graffitti on the walls […]