Welcome to NOTEBOOK, a cultural guide to art, design and architecture along with a resource of local news and information in English giving a realistic view of Tokyo and further afield.
Farewell 2022.
Revisiting December
12/02
Reflecting on events and people while looking for stability amid unstable surroundings, Mars was at its closest to Earth this week, furyu-odori folk dances were added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage, and following the previous week’s note on Christo and Jeanne-Claude at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT and the late film director Yoichi Sai, today reviewed the exhibition series “Roppongi Crossing” at the Mori Art Museum, reflecting on a post-pandemic world with its latest edition “Coming and Going”.
12/05
Indonesia villages were evacuated following the volcanic eruption of Mount Semeru in East Java, while three British men were arrested in Britain over their alleged robbery of over 100 million yen worth of jewelry from central Tokyo in 2015. Shifting tectonic plates and stolen gems aside, two lost gems of Japanese cinema returned to the cinema screen, with “2/Duo” (1997) directed by Nobuhiro Suwa celebrating its 25th anniversary at Metrograph in New York and “Neko-mimi” (1994) directed by experimental filmmaker Jun Kurosawa screened at Center, an Alternative Space and Hostel in Kanuma city near Nikko .
12/07
The Japanese government held off to raise taxes funding the defense of its southwestern region but planned to triple the number of Self Defense Force troops in the region at a later date. Not far from the action on the main island of Kyushu, a two-story wooden building was engulfed by flames close to the old Nagasaki Streetcar and Sofukuji Temple built in 1673. The grand Chinese-style entrance gate has survived its more than a fair share of fires including the last fire in 1849. And with the year-end just weeks away, thoughts turned to food and O-den, a decision-making dish eaten on the way to eating out. Eating O-den is the perfect way to bid this year farewell … soul food for thinking of the year ahead.
12/09
Away from news of the Japanese government training members of the Myanmar military or Hokkaido's Shirogane Blue Pond illuminated for the first time this season, Monday's note looked forward to today's screening of “2/Duo” (1997) by Nobuhiro Suwa in New York and “Neko-mimi” by Jun Kurosawa in Tochigi, while Wednesday's note looked back at the history of the winter dish O-den alongside a house fire in Nagasaki. Today's note looked at the work of two photographers; Go Itami with his exhibition "Don Quixote" at CAVE-Ayumi Gallery and Mikiko Hara with her photo book "Small Myths" published by Chose Commune, both capturing moments of happenstance, focusing on everything and nothing at the same time.
12/12
The Hakuto 1 lunar lander developed by Tokyo-based venture company iSpace hoped to become the world's first of its kind while algae developed by a Japanese research team was put into use to extract gold from hot spring water. Other older innovations also made a pottery town on the southern Aichi coast of central Japan the very epicenter of modern innovation, from surface-scratched ceramics and the pottery kilns of Tokoname which fired ceramics on the incline of a slope.
12/14
Japan’s annual Kotoshi-no-kanji (or Character of the Year) was unveiled during a traditional ceremony at the Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto. And following news that the American composer Angelo Badalamenti had just passed away, an exhibition of “Film History in Horror Film Posters” opened at the National Film Archive of Japan in Kyobashi, along with a program of films by the late filmmaker and poet Shiroyasu Suzuki being screened with English subtitles at Shibuya's Image Forum Theatre.
12/16
Looking back at a week of Boxing success and a man who climbed the peaks of Nara only to be attacked by bears, Monday's note visited Tokoname and the ceramics company INAX, while Wednesday's note visited an exhibition on Film Posters and Horror Cinema at the National Film Archive of Japan. Today's note visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum in Meguro and a new exhibition on Modernism and the Moderne style of Art Deco, along with Fuyumi Murata whose exhibitions "Hang" at 4649 in Sugamo and "Down" at Decameron in Shinjuku, both opened this weekend charting two very different stylistic paths.
12/19
North Korea launched two more ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan, while international cruise ships operated by Japanese shipping companies finally left harbour and set sail on their first voyage in almost three-years. End-of-year festivities with comedy are a regular feature of the holiday season and Suehirotei theatre in Shinjuku-sanchome remains one of the few remaining places in Tokyo devoted to both the stand-up double act of Manzai comedy and the solitary storytelling skill of Rakugo.
12/21
Japan's Foreign Ministry revealed Tokyo had joined other cities in unknowingly playing host to a secret Chinese police station, monitoring Chinese citizens living abroad. Meanwhile, a ceremony that centers on the traditional New Year’s Eve dish of soba was given at a shrine in Uozu City, Toyama Prefecture. And while not its unusual for different days of the week to carry some extra significance, December 20th otherwise known on as “buri-no-hi” is no different named after the Japanese species of Yellowtail fish.
12/23
Foreign travelers to Japan increased two-fold since borders reopened in October. Heavy snow hampering winter skiing routes in Niigata with roads closed throughout the prefecture. And while tourism slowly returns to normal, some took their love for the country a little too far: "I Love You" was found reportedly carved into the historic Kintai Bridge of Yamaguchi Prefecture. The monthly festival Shimai-Kobo meanwhile took place for the final time of 2022 at Kyoto's To-ji Temple. And with this episode of NOTEBOOK being the last this year, we looked at the year ahead for art and culture in 2023.
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