Nito Souji
Seeking isolation can lead to creativity and a deeper understanding of oneself, as these artworks show.
A frugal and ascetic life: a shrine to the hermit Rishu Sennin.
Alon Adika via Shutterstock
Medieval Japanese poets and philosophers sought different ways of dealing with disasters and tragedies.
Screengrab/MTV via YouTube
The tradition of performing in a mask, from china to France, shows how it can be just as evocative and entertaining.
Totes Adorbs ❤ Hurricane is ‘a euphoric spectacle amid pop-culture icons and idols’.
OzAsia
A reliance on visual elements to create the world of performance in Japan traces back hundreds of years through kabuki dance-drama. Two new shows keep that tradition alive.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s Mitsukuni defies the skeleton spectre.
conjured up by Princess Takiyasha
(1845–46)
Art Gallery of NSW
A new exhibition surveys the haunting Japanese traditions and beliefs that connect the supernatural with the everyday.
Takehiro Hira as Kenzo Mori in Giri/Haji, a BBC co-production with Netflix.
Robert Viglasky, BBC/Sister Pictures
An increasing amount of the BBC’s content comes via collaborations with international production houses.
Ballet should not need to be linked to narrow male stereotypes to appeal to boys. Pictured: UK company BalletBoyz.
AAP Image/Sydney Opera House, Michele Mossop
While male dancers in the US and Australia seek to combat bullying with #boysdancetoo, Japanese culture accepts and embraces male ballet dancing.
Japan’s new Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako make their first public appearance to at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan, May 4, 2019.
EPA-EFE/Franck Robichon
History tells us there were eight women who ruled as empresses of Japan, but since reforms of the constitution in 1947, only a man can inherit the throne.
Grill, a 19-year-old female California sea lion, holds a brush in her jaws after writing the calligraphy ‘Reiwa’ to mark the beginning of a new era for Japan.
EPA-EFE/Jiji Press Japan
The country has reached back more than a thousand years into its early literary heritage for an auspicious name for a new era under a new emperor.
An illustration by Tosa Mitsuoki of The Tale of Genji, late 17th century.
Wikimedia
Murasaki Shikibu, the author of The Tale of Genji, served in the Japanese imperial court. She transformed her experiences into an intricate narrative fusing fiction, history, and poetry.
Universal Pictures
Monster movies are currently rampaging across the globe. Their popularity shows us how Hollywood’s place in world cinema is changing.
President Donald Trump, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
US-Japan relations are under pressure. As leaders of the two countries meet this week, a scholar tells the story of the exchange program that made such a difference to American attitudes toward Japan.
An illustration of Japanese courtesans by Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825), with one courtesan showing another the
tattoo on her upper arm.
Prints of Japan
The curse of the tattooed ex was well-known in 18th-century Japan.
Coming on the heels of ‘gold’, ‘blond’ and ‘wealthy’, ‘north’ is a telling symbol of how Japan saw 2017.
Shutterstock
It’s a multi-lingual effect.
EPA/Kimimasa Mayama
Court ruling casts shadow on Japan’s tattoo industry.
Genking, a male-born Japanese TV personality and ‘genderless’ pioneer.
_genking_/Instagram
In Japanese popular culture, new trends come and go. But the Japanese have toyed with gender norms for generations.
Traditional Japanese tattoo.
Save Tattooing in Japan/Facebook
Japanese tattoos have been popular in the UK since King George V. But things are different in Japan.
Studiocanal
The film is a powerful reworking of the novel by Japanese novelist Endō Shūsaku.
Who’s the moss?
Andreas Altenburger/Shutterstock.com
In a country known for its eccentric tastes, is this simply another flash-in-the-pan fad?