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  • Candide
    The life of U.S. conductor Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) is being feted in Japan with the performance of his masterpiece, "Candide," under the baton of Japanese conductor Yutaka Sado, one of Berstein's pupils, in collaboration with Canadian director Robert Carsen.
    "This satire was born from anger," says Carsen.




  • Charismatic Chan makes 'Karate Kid' role his own
    HOLLYWOOD ? He's featured in more than 100 movies spanning six decades, holds the Guinness World Record for most stunts by a living actor, and has enjoyed a career as one of China's truly global superstars. And despite all this, Jackie Chan continues to dazzle audiences and critics alike ? well, most of the time. While recent Hollywood kids' flick "The Spy Next Door" was generally panned by critics, his latest foray, a remake of 1984's "The Karate Kid," has won praise for the natural chemistry between Chan and his costar, 12-year-old Jaden Smith.
    A remake of "The Karate Kid" seemed almost inevitable. The original hit movie spawned three sequels, made young actor Ralph Macchio a star ? for a while ? and brought new prominence to Japanese- American character actor Noriyuki "Pat" Morita (previously known for TV's "Happy Days"), playing the wise karate master Mr. Miyagi. The movie boasted a great kid's role and a powerful but lovable East Asian character, and it featured conflict, action, martial arts, a thwarted bully and innocent romance in bloom.




  • Bringing samurai spirit and business acumen to kabuki
    On July 1, 2009, Kenzaburo Mogi, 72, a former vice chairman of the soy sauce manufacturing giant Kikkoman Corporation, was appointed to direct the Japan Arts Council, which covers all traditional performing arts of Japan, including noh, kabuki and bunraku (puppet theater).
    A soy sauce executive might seem an odd choice to oversee Japan's traditional theater. But Itaru Takashio, the deputy commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs and his colleague, Yayoi Komatsu, director of the Policy Planning and Coordination Division, had good reasons for asking Mogi to join the Japan Arts Council.




  • Harp on Mouth Sextet "Kasane no Neiro"
    Hailing from Kyoto, Harp on Mouth Sextet create their own contemporary groove-oriented version of gagaku, a centuries-old form of Japanese court music. Among the stronger performers on the up-and-comer stage at last year's Fuji Rock Festival, their matching attire, which includes traditional bamboo hats fitted with veils to mask their identities, made them one of the most visually exciting as well.
    With their third album, "Kasane no Neiro," Harp on Mouth Sextet are at their best on the rollicking rump shaker "Acoustic Black Hole." A powerful, densely woven piece of dance music, the track utilizes the full talents of the eight-member ensemble. Laptop and Tenori-On artist Rubyorla and percussionist Arthand craft an explosive bed of cheery, beat-driven electronica. The sounds mesh brilliantly with the hypnotic blues notes turned out by the act's six female harmonica players.




  • Economic ideology abuse
    LONDON ? "The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than commonly understood. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.''
    So wrote John Maynard Keynes. I suspect, though, that a greater danger lies elsewhere ? that practical men and women employed in the policymaking functions of central banks, regulatory agencies, governments and financial institutions' risk-management departments tend to gravitate to simplified versions of the dominant beliefs of economists who are, in fact, very much alive.




  • Ferment within the SDP
    Ms. Kiyomi Tsujimoto, a Social Democratic Party stalwart and a star politician as much as party chief Mizuho Fukushima is, announced her departure from the party Tuesday. This could seriously damage the SDP unless it makes strenuous efforts to pursue idealism based on political realism ? a difficult endeavor.
    Her exit symbolizes the conflict within the SDP between idealism and realism, the former represented by Ms. Fukushima and the latter by Ms. Tsujimoto.




  • Posterity in action ? all's fair in war and softcore porn
    August is the season in Japan for a never-ending stream of films and TV programs about World War II. Quite naturally, from the Japanese perspective, most of this outpouring examines the war's closing days, particularly the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some outsiders (including this one) question this emphasis, which edits out most of the eight years Japan was at war, starting with China in 1937, while giving the impression that Japan was more victim than perpetrator.
    The latest film in this long line is "Nihon no Ichiban Nagai Natsu" ("Japan's Longest Summer"), a docu-drama directed by Hitoshi Kurauchi. The film is based on an eponymous novel by Kazutoshi Hando that Kihachi Okamoto made into the 1967 hit "Nihon no Ichiban Nagai Hi" (Japan's Longest Day).




  • Jolie makes 'Salt' hit of the season
    Never has an actress looked so good in a tank top under a sleek black pants suit ? with the exception of maybe Uma Thurman, Angelina Jolie proves she has the Hollywood femme action market cornered, and she even does a lot of her own stunts.
    "Salt" is destined to be the summer blockbuster despite sleeker but tepid male-oriented vehicles such as "Inception" ? hey guys, it's the truth. When it comes to sprinting on New York subway tracks, dodging bullets at the speed of light and other muscle-bound action fare, Jolie pulls no punches (pun fully intended).




  • LCD Soundsystem bring some edge to Fuji Rock Fest
    Share your experience at Fuji Rock with The Japan TimesBe sure to check out our live online coverage of the 2010 Fuji Rock Festival at tokyo.japantimes.co.jp. We'll feature interviews with some of the acts, reviews of all the major performances and lots of visuals.
    Feel free to take part in the coverage by sending us your comments via Twitter (make sure to include the #FRF hashtag), or e-mail your own reviews and photographs to frf@tokyo.japantimes.co.jp. Just remember to include a subject heading and text or a picture.




  • Who deserves to sit alongside Chagall?
    There are many ways to view the lush, colorful, dreamlike and apparently naive art of Marc Chagall, one of the undoubted greats of 20th-century painting. "Marc Chagall and the Russian Avant-garde, from the Collection of the Centre Pompidou" at The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of Arts, makes a brave attempt to set him within the context of his times, something that doesn't quite work with a painter who, more than most, unquestionably followed his own secret muse.
    The exhibition, which is certainly impressive to look at, presents several other Russian avant-garde artists from the time: Natalia Goncharova, a primitivist who later turned to cubo- futurism; Mikhail Larionov, the originator of the seldom-appreciated Rayonist movement; and the abstract painter Vassily Kandinsky, who, as the paintings here display, was also a fairly good figurative artist. There are also a few excellent cubist-inspired sculptural works by the likes of Alexander Archipenko, Jacques Lipchitz and Ossip Zadkine, and an odd selection of what look like futuristic architecture models by that incurable avant-gardist Kasimir Malevich.




  • Meat is murder, as the undead strike back
    "Jennifer's Body" is pretty straightforward in its intentions: mix this season's hot teen genre, the vampire flick, with that old standby the high-school movie. Cast smoking hot Megan Fox as the bitchy bodacious queen bee, Amanda Seyfried as her nerdy best friend, and throw in some snarky teen-speak by screenwriter Diablo Cody ("Juno"). There's your movie, no?
    Well, maybe. Let's start with Fox, an actress of great beauty and indeterminate talent (who at least has had the good sense to bail on Michael Bay after two "Transformers" paychecks): She's cast here as Jennifer, a rapacious piece of high-school jailbait deployed in low-riding jeans and cheerleader outfits. Jennifer's the type of girl who will grab the breasts of her mousy friend Needy (Seyfried) and tell her: "These are like smart bombs. You point 'em in the right direction and shake 'em, and things get real."




  • Mr. Kan and the DPJ under watch
    The Kan administration and the Democratic Party of Japan, which was beaten in the July 11 Upper House election, will be on the defensive during an extraordinary Diet session from Friday. Opposition forces, which now have 132 seats against the ruling coalition's 110 seats, control the Upper House in the divided Diet.
    In the ordinary Diet session that preceded the election, the DPJ forced voting without giving the opposition sufficient time for deliberations. The DPJ must reflect on this. Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Cabinet members must give scrupulous explanations on policy matters. The DPJ and the Kan Cabinet must not forget that people are watching their behavior in the Diet to determine whether the DPJ government can be trusted.




  • Making 'BioArt' a cultural practice
    At this year's Society for Social Studies Conference at the University of Tokyo, Aug. 25-29, there will be a session on "BioArt," which begs the question: What would that be?
    BioArt describes the variety of art forms emerging in the last two decades that use biotechnology or genetics to manipulate living things, altering food, plants, even livestock. In best do-it- yourself tradition, artists have started to swap their studios for laboratories and are using molecular biology to deliberately create hybrids, clones or mutations as artistic expressions.




  • Japanese dietary tips to prevent summer lethargy
    Anyone who has spent a summer in Japan will likely be well- acquainted with natsubate, or "summer fatigue" ? a general state of lethargy and tiredness, lack of concentration, sleeplessness and even mild depression.
    Dealing with the relentless heat and humidity, which only lets up slightly in the evenings, is enough to get anyone down. Air conditioning helps, but as it often blasts out unpleasantly over-chilly air in many public spaces, it sometimes ends up making you feel worse.




  • Various Artists "Bamboo Pirate presents Max Essa vs. John Daly"
    Technology has done strange things to dance music. It seems anybody these days can DJ (no matter how bad) because new equipment makes it easy. All a person really has to do now is change songs.
    Some DJs are exploring new territory with the technology. And, of course, some just have formidable record collections.