Japanese Robes - Modern Japanese Culture News

Modern Japanese Culture News

'Anime' makes Japan superpower Monday, September 6, 2010 @ 4:06PMJapan may be on a slow decline as far as being a global economic force, but the "soft power" of its modern entertainment genres, from manga to "anime," has global appeal, especially among young people. Why and how did this entertainment media thrive? How popular is it overseas?
Skincare items popular in China despite cost Sunday, September 5, 2010 @ 10:23PMBeijing office worker Susie Zhang is a skincare manufacturers' dream come true. The 29-year-old routinely squanders half of her 4,000 yuan monthly salary on facial-care products alone.
All work and no play … Saturday, September 4, 2010 @ 4:11AMCanada's statutory vacation time is relatively stingy, and a lot of us don’t even bother to use it up
Ten bee-utiful years of great TIFF buzz Friday, September 3, 2010 @ 7:09PMThe world was very different 10 years ago, when Star movie critic Peter Howell began surveying fest-goers for their hot TIFF film picks.
The Crocker reopening tops fall art events, but other great shows are set for autumn Friday, September 3, 2010 @ 6:55PMThe big news for Sacramento art lovers this fall is the opening of the Crocker Art Museum's expansion Oct. 10.
Why The End Of The 'Equity Cult' Means Trillions In Upcoming Outflows From Stocks Friday, September 3, 2010 @ 2:39PMCiti's Robert Buckland is out with the must read report of the weekend, especially for all the optimists who believe that despite the ongoing depression (and as many have demonstrated, all the talk about a double dip is moot, as America has never left the depression, or as Rosie calls it a period of prolonged economic subpar activity: the latest NFP number merely reinforces the theme of economic ...
'Rakugo' pro crosses borders with humor Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 4:05PMHumor, it is said, rarely crosses borders. Culture-specific references and ingrained social norms often mean jokes that leave audiences rolling in the aisles in the country of origin are greeted with puzzlement, incomprehension and even hostility when translated for foreign audiences. The challenge of presenting Japanese humor in English is compounded by not only linguistic and cultural ...
Dead Wrestler Of The Week: Owen Hart [Rip] Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 3:53PM# rip Every week or so, the Masked Man, Deadspin's pro wrestling correspondent, honors the sport's fallen and examines their legacies — famous and obscure alike. Today: Owen Hart, who fell to his death in 1999 during a WWE pay-per-view event. More »
Would Patton survive in today's PowerPoint military? Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 3:12PMWould Patton or MacArthur survive in the modern military's PowerPoint culture? Some of our readers doubt it.
'Take Ivy' brings readers back to the golden age of Princeton style, 'True Prep' brings them up to date Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 1:24PMAn image from 'Take Ivy', one of several candids shot on the Princeton Campus in the early 1960s by T. Hayashida. The Engish edition of Japan's prep style bible will be released tomorrow.Tomorrow marks the release of 'Take Ivy,' a...
Wired youth forget how to write Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 5:34AMYoung adults in China and Japan have become so reliant on modern technology that they are forgetting how to create the thousands of intricate characters that make up their systems of writing.
Piedmont High exchange student returns from Japan Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 10:47AMElizabeth Solley will return to Piedmont High School definitely altered by her summer experiences, having spent four weeks in a student exchange program in Japan.
Fall arts 2010: Exhibits Thursday, August 26, 2010 @ 3:07AMPost-Impressionist masterpieces comes to de Young in S.F.
Goings on About Town: Art Sunday, August 22, 2010 @ 11:09PMPageBreak -- MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES METROPOLITAN MUSEUM Fifth Ave. at 82nd St. (212-535-7710)—“Doug + Mike Starn on the Roof: Big Bambú.” Through Oct. 31. | “Hipsters, Hustlers, and Handball Players: Leon Levinstein’s New York Photographs, 1950-1980.” Through Oct. 17. | “Side by Side . . .
Arts and crafts in old longtang Friday, August 20, 2010 @ 3:25AMThe renovated Jing'an Villa longtang community is filled with inviting galleries and nooks offering courses in flower making, jewelry designing, cookie baking, tea culture and wine tasting. Xu Wei reports.
Republicans, Religion and Racial Profiling Friday, August 20, 2010 @ 12:12AMAlienated and impoverished young African Americans are being recruited to radical Islam, and could yet produce black America’s version of 9/11, a Christian Community leader has warned.
A night of culture set to rock the nation Wednesday, August 18, 2010 @ 6:57PMUP TO 20 cities, towns, counties and islands across the land are to engage in a one-day blitz of activities on Friday, September 24th, to mark Culture Night 2010.
How to get that Harajuku look! Monday, August 16, 2010 @ 6:51PMHarajuku, Japan’s fashion capital, is renowned for its unique street fashion where trendy teens flock to on weekends to express their passion through fashion. Even Hollywood celebs like Gwen Stefani, Madonna and daughter Lourdes, Katy Perry, and Kim Kardashian have adapted the bold and quirky Harajuku fashion, putting together their own Harajuku look based on the various Japanese street styles ...
Downtown Dance Festival Bursts With Color Monday, August 16, 2010 @ 5:51PMWith the Hudson as the backdrop, the Battery Dance Company presented a multicultural program under the trees in Battery Park on Sunday.
Cultural wish list: 25 ways to reshape Toronto Friday, August 13, 2010 @ 9:01AMFrom all-night subways to swanky siphon bars, it's time to change Toronto's culture.
Nashville Last Stop for Whistler's Mother and Other Masterpieces Before Works Return to Paris Thursday, August 12, 2010 @ 7:34PMEdgar Degas. Ballet Rehearsal on Stage, 1874. Oil on canvas, 25 5/8 x 31 7/8 in. © RMN (Musée d'Orsay), Hervé Lewandowski. NASHVILLE, TN.- The Frist Center for the Visual Arts will open The Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay Friday, Oct. 15, 2010, and the exhibition will remain on view in Nashville through Jan. 23, 2011, when the works in the show return to Paris.
DINING GUIDE Thursday, August 12, 2010 @ 3:10PMGloss Cafe — Gloss cafe is the perfect place for those who appreciate fine food, a cozy atmosphere and good music. At Gloss Cafe's open kitchen, chefs work their magic to create Asian cuisine: sushi, rolls, temaki and phyto salads, while hot dishes are prepared in sizzling woks.
China's GDP Surge Looks A Lot Like Japan In The Eighties Wednesday, August 11, 2010 @ 10:19AMThere has been a lot of excited press commentary recently about China’s overtaking Japan as the world’s second largest economy. China’s GDP should be larger than Japan’s for the first time sometime this year, which in a similar context in 1987 the Italians called “il sorpasso”.
Tom Zirpoli: Whale population needs protection Wednesday, August 11, 2010 @ 3:11AMThe 62nd meeting of the International Whaling Commission was held in June in Agadir, Morocco. The IWC was formed in 1946 to manage the hunting of whales in our oceans. And while the IWC was first established as a pro-hunting organization - over 50,000 whales were killed per year during peak years - today the group's focus is to protect whales from extinction.
The Dweeb That Would Rule the World Wednesday, August 11, 2010 @ 12:08AMRuntime: 112 min. Midway through grinning at Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, I realized: this elation must be what Tarantino fans want to feel when watching one of his pop culture marathons.
The gym will totally still be there after you finish that creme brulee. Tuesday, August 10, 2010 @ 3:39PMJapanese BENIHANA VILLAGE Las Vegas Hilton, 732-5111. Japanese tabletop cooking at its finest. The chefs deliver great steaming-hot food, as well as an entertaining show.
Museums-San Francisco Through August 22 Tuesday, August 10, 2010 @ 2:44PMASIAN ART MUSEUM OF SAN FRANCISCO The Asian Art Museum-Chon-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture recently unveiled its new building in San Francisco's Civic Center.
In Japan, Is Technology Or Tradition The 'Villain'? Tuesday, August 10, 2010 @ 9:48AMJapanese novelist Shuichi Yoshida straddles the boundary between the pre- and post-Internet world, and his latest book is a crime thriller challenging assumptions about real and virtual identities. Villain contrasts Japan's welcoming embrace of the wired world with its strong roots in tradition.
Music review: A harp and the Huntington from Southwest Chamber Music Monday, August 9, 2010 @ 5:32PMThis Southwest festival happens to be the classiest summer music program in the southwest.
Jon Niermann fosters Pan-Asian dreams of stardom Monday, August 9, 2010 @ 5:02PMThrough his Project Lotus, the 'Asia Uncut' talk show host hopes to create a girl group that breaks into Western pop music charts. Call it a twist on 'American Idol.' Through his Project Lotus, the 'Asia Uncut' talk show host hopes to create a girl group that breaks into Western pop music charts. Call it a twist on 'American Idol.'
Makeup Japan-style: Dark to light Monday, August 9, 2010 @ 4:04PMMakeup for many women is a vital component of their appearance and one they take great pains to apply, even to the point of dolling themselves up during the crowded morning commute, working through the routine starting with a foundation, then eyebrows, mascara and finally lip gloss. But cosmetics is not just relegated to the world of women.
China's film ambitions Sunday, August 8, 2010 @ 7:55PMLast year when I was preparing for a new edition of my book Hollywood Politics and Economics, I not only updated the data, but made a major change in tone on Chinese cinema. The book was first published in 2005, when I did not have high hopes for China's film industry.
Lost worlds of Japan Saturday, August 7, 2010 @ 4:01PMThe sound of bells echoes through the monastery at Gion Shoja, telling all who hear it that nothing is permanent. The flowers of the sala trees show that all that flourishes must fade. Proud men, powerful men will fall, like dreams on a spring night, like dust before the wind. Those first few sentences of the 13th-century Japanese classic "The Tale of the Heike" speak movingly about mujo ...
Prairie zen Saturday, August 7, 2010 @ 4:18AMIn Alberta, a hidden pocket of Japan is revealed – a legacy of one community’s abiding roots
MFA Houston Commissions Artist Cai Guo-Qiang to Create Gunpowder Drawing Friday, August 6, 2010 @ 8:47PMCai Guo-Qiang making gunpowder drawing Unmanned Nature, Hiroshima, October 2008. Photo by Seiji Toyonaga, courtesy Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art.
The Big Six: Coastal hotels in California Friday, August 6, 2010 @ 6:37PMCavallo Point, San Francisco: City views don't get much more captivating than at Cavallo Point. Here, a former military fort overlooking Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco Bay has been remodelled as a luxury resort.
Southcenter is the place for Filipino food Thursday, August 5, 2010 @ 4:16PMEating on the Edge: Filipino cooking is the truest form of Asian soul food, enriched by wide borrowings from other cultures. The new Seafood City supermarket at Southcenter, where lines for the grill counter can run long, is a gift.
Breaking the chain of hatred: Japanese is ’10 RM awardee Wednesday, August 4, 2010 @ 9:21AMOn Aug. 6, 1945, a single atomic bomb reduced the Japanese city of Hiroshima to ashes, taking tens of thousands of precious lives. In its aftermath, the world’s first atomic bomb killed an estimated 140,000 more through radiation and other sicknesses.
Powell Street Festival celebrates Japanese-Canadian culture Monday, August 2, 2010 @ 1:49AMThe Powell Street Festival, Canada's largest celebration of Japanese-Canadian culture, featured martial arts, folk and modern dancing, traditional and contemporary music at Openheimer Park in Vancouver on Sunday, Aug. 1.
Message to the world: don't buy our land Sunday, August 1, 2010 @ 5:51PMIT appeared Chinese whispers had infiltrated the greater Asian region after expats living in Tokyo told me they’d heard (through the Japanese kiwifruit vines) John Key’s Government was going to stop foreigners buying land in New Zealand.
Depression takes hold as promises of Utopia fade away Saturday, July 31, 2010 @ 4:00PMWhy isn't this Utopia? Why, given material and technological advantages beyond the wildest dreams of our most visionary ancestors, are we floundering in a sea of despair? Well, let's call it "depression." The weekly magazine Shukan Toyo Keizai (July 24) devotes no fewer than 50 pages to its causes, its cures and, probably most significantly, the relentlessly soaring numbers of its victims. In ...
Do nations learn from their less than inglorious past? Saturday, July 31, 2010 @ 6:22AMIt's behind us now, again for this year, and probably ninety-nine per cent of us had no idea what was commemorated on July 28! Fire a volley of dates at all of us Canadians -July 1, November 11, February 14, March 17 and October 31 -and we'll fire back with meticulous accuracy, rhyming off their [...]
Scott Pilgrim Vol. 6 Review Thursday, July 29, 2010 @ 9:28PMFor the last six years, Brian Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim series has been one of the most important comic books on the market. Not necessarily for it's artistic contributions to the medium, but because of the sheer amount of commercial success it's received. Now with the release of the final volume and a movie less than a month away, Scott Pilgrim fever has taken over the country yet again.
'Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo': Capturing a culture crawling with bug lovers Thursday, July 29, 2010 @ 5:08PM"Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo" is Jessica Oreck's documentary about Japan's fascination with bugs.
Little bean changed a city Wednesday, July 28, 2010 @ 11:41PMCoffee has always been a popular pick-me-up for Melburnians. But it’s also the lifeblood of the city’s vibrant social and cultural life.
Jennifer Egan Does Avant-Garde Fiction -- Old School Monday, July 26, 2010 @ 4:18AMInfluenced by both The Sopranos and Marcel Proust, Jennifer Egan takes her readers on a swirling, playful ride through time in A Visit from the Goon Squad, a novel of linked short stories -- including one told as a PowerPoint presentation -- that defies categorization.
News Categories Saturday, July 24, 2010 @ 9:09AMThe 5th International Sana’a Summer Tourist Festival is still continuing its activities, with participation from various countries. The Japanese mission to Sana’a also participated this year by presenting different pieces of arts from Japan.
Splice AU Review Thursday, July 22, 2010 @ 11:31PMFear mongering about the pratfalls genetic tampering is nothing new to cinema – and Splice has nothing new to add to the discussion – but it certainly fills out the ranks of healthy schlock science fiction for 2010. It also pulls influences from all over the place – most transparently, Species and hints of The Fly. The premise was clearly enough to dazzle acclaimed director Guillermo Del Toro ...
Reflections of Chekhov's Russia in modern-day Japan Thursday, July 22, 2010 @ 3:59PM"People compare me with Bertolt Brecht, and I am glad to hear that — but why won't anyone call me Anton Inoue?" According to those who knew him, this was an oft-made remark by Hisashi Inoue — Japan's foremost contemporary dramatist and author, whose April 9 death is still a raw wound among theater lovers — in reference to Russian playwright and short-story author Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), whose ...
Los Angeles' Little Tokyo is a big attraction Monday, July 19, 2010 @ 3:48AMIt's amazing how culinary tastes have changed in the last 25 years. Back then, restaurants were mostly of the American kind with a few Mexican and Chinese ones around.