‘Tokyo: Art and Photography’ at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

29 July 2021 – 3 January 2022

Ahhh… Edo, Edo, Edo… …city of dreams, and occasional nightmares… …as Kumagai Jiro Naozane in the final part of the Kabuki play ‘Kumagai Jinya’ (Kumagai’s Battle Camp) says about the fragility of human existence “Juroku nen wa hito mukashi, aa, yume da yume da” (Sixteen years, like a day. Ahhh! It’s a dream, a dream). And if any phrase best represents both the negative and positive potentialities that have emerged from the natural and man-made adversities that have afflicted Tokyo and best reflect, at least in the mind of this reviewer, its impermanence, of almost continual destruction and re-construction since its inception as Edo, it is this one.

Event Review: Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk at the V&A

Until Sunday 25th October 2020

(left to right) kimono bought by Freddy Mercury whilst on tour in Japan, Madonna outfit by Jean-Paul Gautier , Bjork outfit by Alexander McQueen

Corona virus information:

Book ahead to get a time slot and do get there at least 15 – 20 minutes beforehand because of the queues to get into the museum. Entry is via the Sackler Courtyard.

Exhibition Review: ‘Sakubei Yamamoto and the Rich Seams of Japan’s Coal Mining History’

4^th Oct – 15^th November 2019 at the Japanese Embassy in London

It was Monday 30^th July 1973 when, just before 620 am, Colin Burton (a maternal uncle), who had moved from Bolsover Colliery to work at Markham Colliery at Stavely in Derbyshire, stepped off the pit cage having had to ascend back to the surface during the early part of the shift. As he moved away twenty-nine fellow coal miners boarded the double decker pit cage to begin the journey down the shaft to join their shift mates on

Review: ‘Manga マンガ’at the British Museum 23 May – 26 August 2019

Dedicated to the victims of the Kyoto Animation fire in Uji City!

Belonging to Kōzan-ji temple in Kyōto the Japanese National Treasures the eight ‘Scrolls of Frolicking Animals’ and the ‘Scrolls of Frolicking Animals and Humans’ called ‘Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga’ (animal-person caricatures) were painted between the 12^th and 13^th centuries by, it is thought, the artist-monk Toba Sōjō. They are credited by many as the earliest form of manga.

Fast forward nearly a thousand years and the Citi Exhibition ‘Manga マンガ’ at the British Museum (supported by CITI with logistics partner IAGCargo) is touted as the biggest

Art Review: Hokusai: Beyond The Great Wave – An Exhibition At The British Museum

Exhibition dates: 25^th May – 13^th August 2017

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/hokusai.aspx

 

Katsushika Hokusai was born Tokitarō in 1760 in Honjo Warigesui, the present-day Kamezawa area of Sumida City. He was adopted by Ise Nakajima, an artisan, who made and supplied metal mirrors to the Shōgun’s court and, according to “Katsushika Hokusai Den” (Biography of Katsushika Hokusai) by Kyoshin Iijima, a mother who was granddaughter to Kobayashi Heihachirō, an expert swordsman and high ranking retainer of

Review: The Newly Refurbished Toshiba Gallery At The Victoria And Albert Museum

‘Design is not for philosophy, it’s for life’ (Issey Miyake)

After the post Second World War attempt by the Allies in occupied Japan to disband the zaibatsu business conglomerates, which was partially successful, Japanese industry began setting itself strategies at regular intervals for the development and manufacture of products. Each revolved around particular group of five facets of design and manufacture – for instance a single strategic phase might involve something like:

Event: Hyper Japan 2015 In Pictures

The UK’s biggest celebration of Japanese culture!

Hyper Japan, the UK’s biggest and best-loved annual J-Culture convention, returned on 11th – 13th July for another weekend extravaganza of all things Japanese from the authentic and traditional to the contemporary. Thousands of Japanophiles descended upon London’s O2 in Greenwich over the three days for an exciting time of live music, fashion shows, videogames, manga/anime activities, martial arts demonstrations and

FestivalAsia 2015 – Three Days Of Exotic Fun & Excitement

London’s largest indoor festival on all things Asia!

Date: 15 – 17 May 2015

Venue: Tobacco Dock, 50 Porters Walk, London E1W 2SF

Tickets: Adult £12.50 adv – £15 door

Children (up to 10 years old, accompanied by one adult with an Adult Ticket) £8 adv – £10 door

Indulge your senses and experience the exotic cultures of Asia under one roof.

Exhibition: Riusuke Fukahori “Goldfish Salvation 2”

ICN Press Release

Date: 11 – 21 December 2014

Times: Open daily from 12 – 6pm

Venue: 93-95 Sclater Street London E1 6HR

ICN Gallery proudly presents Goldfish Salvation 2 by Riusuke Fukahori, an artist internationally acclaimed for his 2012 video on his creative process. This is his second solo exhibition in the UK. The “Fukahori Goldfish” is a painting yet it grasps the ephemeral beauty of the goldfish captured in a flat plane of resin, and is vibrant and almost three-dimensional.

Hyper Japan 2014 In Pictures

The UK’s biggest celebration of Japanese culture!

Every year since it first began back in 2010, the annual London event Hyper Japan keeps getting better and better, not to mention bigger and bigger, and this year’s extravaganza held on 25 – 27 July at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre was no exception.

The fantastic line-up catered to all tastes in Japanese pop-culture from traditional dancers and musicians like the very popular Hyper Japan regulars Hibiki Ichikawa and Akari Mochizuki, who this time around were accompanied by guitarist Hide Takemoto, to contemporary

Dressed to Impress – Netsuke And Japanese Men’s Fashion

An exhibition at the British Museum in Room 3 supported by The Asahi Shimbun. 19 June – 17 August 2014

To coincide with the publication of the British Museum’s new book, ‘Netsuke: 100 miniature masterpieces from Japan’, by Noriko Tsuchiya, the museum is hosting a small exhibition, ‘Dressed to Impress: Netsuke and Japanese men’s Fashion’ sponsored by the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.

As traditional Japanese men’s clothing had no pockets personal effects had to be carried in containers (inrō) hung from the belt (obi). To hang the inrō from the obi a long cord (himo) was threaded

Netsuke: 100 Miniature Masterpieces From Japan

A lecture by Noriko Tsuchiya and Max Rutherston, 3^rd July 2014

The Japan Society in association with the British Museum hosted a joint lecture at the Swedenborg Society by Max Rutherston, an Asian Art dealer specialising in netsuke, and Noriko Tsuchiya, the author of the British Museum’s new publication, ‘Netsuke: 100 miniature masterpieces from Japan’, a selection from the museum’s 2,300 strong netsuke collection.

The Grammy Museum Unveils X Japan Founder Member Yoshiki Exhibit And World Tour Announced

Opening night hosted by comic book legend Stan Lee!

On February 19th, the GRAMMY Museum unveiled their Yoshiki exhibit which puts the influential rock icon’s signature crystal piano, flamboyant wardrobes, and other items on display. The exhibition explores Yoshiki’s fascinating career and follows the museum’s unique collection on Ringo Starr. Yoshiki is the first Asian artist to be honored with an

Art Exhibition: Kabuki – Japanese Theatre Prints

Come face to face with Kabuki theatre’s most famous characters!

Venue: National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

Date: 4^th October 2013 – 2^nd February 2014

The opening up of Japan to the rest of the world after Commodore Perry’s 1853 visit sparked a craze in the West for Japanese art and design. Called Japonisme it began in the late 1850s and peaked with and after what is considered by some the most pivotal event in the history of Japanese art in the West; the exhibition of Sir Rutherford Alcock’s collection of

Japan Promotes Its Events Industry In Thailand

Japan aims to revive it’s economy through hosting Asian and International events!

Singapore, 12 August 2013 – Japanese MICE exhibitors are returning to IT&CMA and CTW Asia-Pacific with the largest delegation from the country since 2010.

Comprising of Convention Visitors Bureaus (CVBs), Destination Management Companies (DMCs), corporate companies and hospitality chains, the Japan cluster includes

Netsuke Exhibitions In London And Budapest

All great art should evoke reaction and the netsuke in these collections certainly are evocative!

Invented in 17^th century Japan netsuke are miniature sculptures carved in a variety of mediums such as ivory, wood and bone that were used to secure the cords attached to small boxes, sagemono (the most popular of which were called inrō) which were hung from the sash, or obi, of a kimono and in which were

Art Exhibition: Seijiro Niwa “The Way Of Mending Holes” ICN Gallery London

Artist Talk  “Frame and picture story”: May 4 14:00 – 15:30

ICN gallery proudly presents “the way of mending holes” by artist Seijiro Niwa from May 2 – 25 2013.  

NIwa has been consistently producing photos and 3D works under the theme of picture boundary and human eyesight’s end. The exhibition will feature his latest 2D and 3D works. 

Art Exhibition Review: Works On Nature & Dance/Movement By Hiroko Imada

Expressive moods in colour!

Riverside Studios Gallery London – 16 March – 7 April 2013

On Monday, 18 March Diverse Japan attended a private viewing of the exhibition Works on Nature & Dance/Movement by Japanese artist Hiroko Imada, which is being held at the Riverside Studios Gallery in London from 16 March until 7 April (see foot of post for opening times). The exhibition is registered with

Exhibition: The Great East Japan Earthquake Press Photo Exhibition London

“Photography is the art of visually carving out a primary moment and making it eternal!” His Excellency Mr Keiichi Hayashi, Ambassador of Japan to the UK

March 2013 marks the second anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated eastern Japan. To celebrate the nation’s courage and international support the Asahi Shimbun, widely regarded as one of Japan’s most respected daily newspapers, and Mitsubishi Corporation have come together to host the Great East Japan Earthquake Press photo Exhibition which