art
June 14, 2013
There's nothing wrong with wanting to look beautiful. The problem for most of us, though, is that we don't start off with the same features as the models and...
May 21, 2013
What is design? If you have ever pondered that question, the “Design Ah!” Exhibition now showing at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT facility in the Tokyo Midtown complex in Tokyo's...
April 26, 2013
Hot on the heels of his directorial debut, contemporary artist Takashi Murakami is currently holding a solo art exhibition in Los Angeles until May 25.
April 11, 2013
NUMATA, Gunma Prefecture--Although Shiro Kotobuki became paralyzed from the neck down in a motorcycle accident 22 years ago, the illustrator refused to give up and didn't want...
April 06, 2013
NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Prefecture--A painting of a tiger by Maruyama Okyo (1733-1795), one of the masters of 18th-century Japan, has been rediscovered after more than 80 years, a...
March 26, 2013
Enduring one of the coldest winters of the past 10 years and an equally chilly economy, a lot of people in Japan made up their minds to stay home bundled up in recent months....
March 23, 2013
MATSUBARA, Osaka--In the traditional Shinto faith, there is often little room for innovation. But Narihito Terauchi, the 64-year-old head priest of the Nunosejinja shrine here, ...
March 22, 2013
SAPPORO--Ainu artworks, from early traditional crafts to contemporary pieces, are on display in the first full-scale project by a museum to spotlight “Ainu art and expression....
March 17, 2013
YOKOHAMA--Instead of taking the usual bland baby photos that fill albums rarely opened in later life, proud mums can now post pictures of their infants sleeping against exotic...
March 08, 2013
KASHIWA, Chiba Prefecture--Dozens of original sketches by renowned paper cut-out artist Jiro Takidaira have turned up four years after his death.
March 07, 2013
OSAKA--Plain and utilitarian to many people, to one enthusiast the offertory boxes at Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines are exquisite works of art.
February 18, 2013
The stable years of the Edo Period (1603-1868) gave rise to a prosperous merchant class and a burgeoning "townsman" culture. For that reason, Edo art is often epitomized by...
January 25, 2013
MITO--Though it's not an association most people would make, Tadasu Takamine's latest exhibition links anime with atomic energy as examples of the "systematic oppression...
January 05, 2013
The Tokyo National Museum's newly renovated Toyokan (Asian Gallery) reopened Jan. 2, after being closed for about three and a half years.
October 29, 2012
Japan’s pictorial arts underwent an unprecedented blossoming during the Edo Period (1603-1867), when various distinct schools of Japanese painting refined and perpetuated...
September 11, 2012
NARA--When Yoshikazu Senkoji gets a present, he's happy even before he opens it and sees what's inside.
September 08, 2012
Passers-by are doing a double take after seeing statues of Ai Fukuhara, a London Olympic table tennis medalist, and Ryoma Sakamoto, who engineered the Meiji Restoration in the...
September 02, 2012
An art festival in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward is showcasing pictures drawn by kids living in disaster-stricken areas of the Tohoku region, and the organizers have arranged a...
September 01, 2012
Welcome to the fourth dimension. Museums across Japan are increasingly offering computer-driven displays to let curious visitors step behind an exhibit and discover more about...
August 31, 2012
When Hiroki Terai visits a stationery store, he is drawn straight to the pens.