Art and design
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Next stop – infinity! My transcendental experience on Japan’s ‘art island’ guided by its master Lee Ufan
Is this the ultimate location for contemplative art? Our writer travels to the legendary island of Naoshima – …
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‘Sensitive, sexy and surreal’: Japan’s Kyotographie festival
Highlights of this year’s international photography festival in Kyoto include Linder Sterling’s exclamatory co…
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Preparations for the Miyako Odori, Kyoto’s spring dance festival – in pictures
Geisha rehearse for a traditional dance that has been performed annually for more than 150 years Continue read…
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Beneath the Great Wave: Hokusai and Hiroshige review – how two Japanese masters reinvented art
Whitworth, ManchesterHokusai’s breathtaking woodblock print may be ubiquitous today but, as this startling sho…
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‘Letting the sound happen around you’: powerful sonic memorial remembers the dead
Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork has created a sound installation emulating second world war spaces: a Japanese internme…
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Samurai review: Japan’s lethal warrior class are shown in all their sexy, demonic glory
British Museum, London Extraordinary battle armour, complete with moustachioed masks, enlivens this scintillat…
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The world’s most sublime dinner set – for 2,000 guests! Hyakkō: 100+ Makers from Japan review
Japan House, LondonThe fruit of a two-year odyssey through the workshops of artisans using ancient techniques,…
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‘Like a rock star’: the global reverence for Martin Parr’s class-conscious photography
Unfettered love for late photographer in France and elsewhere stands in contrast to occasional reservations in…
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Wild swimming and TikTok dances: Hiroshima today – in pictures
Aya Fujioka set out to shake the weight of history from her home city and capture her own relationship with it…
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‘As thrilling as driving a sports car’: the Tokyo capsule tower that gave pod-living penthouse chic
They had portholes, cutting edge mod cons – and the ultra luxurious models even came with a free calculator. A…
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Yoshitomo Nara review: cutesy terrors swear, smoke, play guitar and burn down houses
Hayward Gallery, LondonThe Japanese artist’s instantly recognisable delinquent infants fill a huge show that a…
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Embroidered silks to Adidas collabs: the evolution of the kimono – in pictures
Opening on 4 June, the National Gallery of Victoria’s (NGV) exhibition Kimono features hundreds of garments, p…
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‘A knife crime waiting to happen’: how Yoshitomo Nara became Japan’s most expensive artist
The veteran punk painter’s twisted cherubs are a far cry from the tasteful, beautiful Japanese art that usuall…
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‘A form of meditation’: a photographic haiku to Japan – in pictures
A poetic new exhibition of dreamlike black and white images captures the country’s contemplative beauty, from …
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Hiroshige: Artist of the Open Road review – ‘I could look forever at these passing moments in cosmic colours’
British Museum, LondonThe Japanese master’s weightless gaze birthed not only French impressionism but also the…
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‘Monks, politicians, drag queens – all life is here’: a trip to Japan’s Kyotographie festival
The theme of this year’s celebrated photo bonanza is ‘humanity’ – and Kyoto is bursting with images – from fam…
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Bog standard? Tokyo’s spectacular public toilets – in pictures
Public toilets are rarely thought of fondly – that is unless you’re talking about those in Tokyo’s Shibuya dis…
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Yayoi Kusama: why this 96-year-old artist’s show is the most popular in Australian history
By the time the NGV exhibition of works by the Japanese favourite ends, more than half a million people will h…
- Japan, MANGA, Fashion, Comics and graphic novels, Life and style, Sony world photography awards, Photography, Anime, Art and design, Culture
Monaka wears her cyclops mask to work: Niccolò Rastrelli’s best photograph
‘Japan is the mecca of cosplay. Monaka runs a cafe in Tokyo called Monster Party, where people go dressed as c…
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‘Like a game of black-belt level Jenga’: inside the ancient art of Japanese carpentry
From the earthquake-defying joints that support a 13th-century temple to the delicacy of sashimono puzzle boxe…