Although government-level relations between Japan and China remain tense, growing numbers of Japanese people have put down roots in China and are flourishing at the forefront of their fields. Beijing-based writer Kobayashi Sayuri talks to two of them about the challenges they have faced.
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Abe Shinzō’s new administration has made a promising start in its dealings with the United States, including an inaugural summit with President Barack Obama that laid the groundwork for Japan’s participation in negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. The bilateral relationship faces numerous issues, though, whose outcome remains to be seen. We asked former ambassador to the United States Fujisaki Ichirō to share his thoughts.
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In March 2013 the world-renowned Price Collection returns to Japan with “Jakuchū’s Here,” a six-month show that will bring more than 100 artistic masterpieces of the Edo period (1603–1868) to museums in the three prefectures worst affected by the triple disaster of March 2011. We spoke to Joe and Etsuko Price about their hopes for the exhibition and the joys of Edo period art.
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The art of Arabic calligraphy has been honed over more than a millennium, reaching an astounding level of artistic perfection. One renowned practitioner of the art today is Honda Kōichi, who first encountered Arabic calligraphy while working in the Middle East. We interviewed Honda to learn more about the art and how he has lent it a new vitality.
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Ikebana flower arranging has a history stretching back over 500 years. One world-renowned practioner of the art today is Kariyazaki Shōgo, who brings his own unique style to this traditional art. In this interview, we discuss his recent projects and the aesthetics of flowering arranging.
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Tsuji Kazuhiro is one of top prosthetic makeup artists in Hollywood, where he has worked for the past 17 years. We sat down to talk to him about his career there and his most recent work on the film Looper starring Bruce Willis.
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The Aichi Triennale, which debuted in 2010, is wide-ranging art exhibition held in Nagoya. The theme of the event to be held in 2013 is “Awakening.” We sat down with the artistic director of the exhibition, Igarashi Tarō, to find out more about this theme and discuss the potential of art in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami of 2011.
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The documentary film Japan in a Day weaves together video footage taken by amateurs on the same day—March 11, 2012, exactly one year after the devastating earthquake and tsunami. We talk to the British and Japanese directors to find out more.
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Japan is now home to many sumō wrestlers from Mongolia and Eastern Europe, but there were none from the Middle East until 2011. That was the year that an Egyptian entered the sumō world, wrestling under the name Ōsunaarashi (“great sandstorm”). In our exclusive interview with this up-and-coming talent, we find out what has fueled his sumō ambitions.
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Irene Hirano Inouye, president of the US-Japan Council, has worked to build people-to-people relations between the United States and Japan for a quarter-century. In this interview she gives a Japanese American perspective on the importance of strengthening bilateral ties.
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