Fujiland

A Test of Characters: The True Story of the War in the Pacific

December 15, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Distinguished historians, many of them with high school graduation diplomas, are reeling in shock following the discovery of a series of...

Book Review: "A Tractate on Japanese Aesthetics" by Donald Richie

November 29, 2011 Add Comment Edit

THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF FOREIGNERS: The one who visits the holiest zen garden and sees nothing but a dirty pond, a bit of gravel, and some s...

Manga: Haramaki Kitty

October 31, 2011 Add Comment Edit

My own creation - Haramaki Kitty! He is loosely based on the famous Sanrio character Hello Kitty and is actually supposed to be Hell...

Ten Great Things About the Japanese

October 18, 2011 Add Comment Edit

People around the world were deeply impressed by the manner in which the Japanese handled the big quake earlier this year. By "hand...

Exhibition: Hiroshi Teshigahara

September 20, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Hiroshi Teshigahara, who died in 2001, is chiefly remembered as the avant-garde film director who gave celluloid form to author Kobo Abe...

Exhibition: Taro Okamoto

September 18, 2011 Add Comment Edit

The second part of the 100th anniversary show honors the legacy of an artistic phenomenon Visiting the Taro Okamoto Museum of Art is...

Photo: Game Show Hostesses

September 18, 2011 Add Comment Edit

These two lovely ladies were snapped at the Tokyo Game Show 2011, held at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture. Along with Gamescom in G...

Lady Gaga on Japanese TV

June 28, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Lady Gaga with her new Hello Kitty look appearing on Japanese breakfast TV, 29th of June, 2011. The subititles say, "The reason fo...

Photo: Educational Toilet Paper

June 19, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Because Japan is an exporting country that is heavily reliant on its overseas business, much emphasis is put on learning English. New me...

Exhibition: Chikanobu Yoshu

June 02, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Edo to Meiji: Ukiyo-e artist Chikanobu Yoshu tracked the transformation of Japanese culture The popularity of ukiyo-e woodblock pri...

Photo: Sleeping on the Train

June 01, 2011 Add Comment Edit

One of the things that stands out when you arrive in Fujiland are all the people sleeping in public. In libraries, parks, schools, col...

Video: Tadasu Takamine's "Too Far To See"

May 21, 2011 Add Comment Edit

This is a short film I took of Tadasu Takamine's installation "Too Far To See," the centrepiece of his large solo show, w...

Growing Neck Buddha Keeps His Head

April 23, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Japan became a slightly less mysterious place earlier this year, when one of its most interesting Fortean conundrums passed into the re...

Hawaiians Not Welcome

April 17, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Have the former giants of sumo secretly been shut out? Imagine an Olympic Games where the IOC decided that Blacks could not compete ...

Exhibition: Japanese Posters of the 1930s

April 03, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Ideas from left, right and center For those of us living today, the 1930s seem a rather scary period. Following the Wall Street cras...

Roppongi Art Night

March 31, 2011 Add Comment Edit

The all-night art festival puts a cute, nostalgic, pagan spin on Roppongi's area rebranding Roppongi Art Night is more than just a coll...

Interview: Wakiro Sumi

March 19, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Evidence, 2006 Wakiro Sumi's works invite quiet contemplation Maybe it's just as well that the Kamakura Museum of Moder...

Photo: The Great Earthquake of 11th March, 2011

March 11, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Damage outside the author's home in Urawa, Saitama Prefecture. This is about 250 miles from the centre of the earthquake, which stru...

FICTION: PHIRIP MALROWE - PRIVATE ENGLISH TEACHER

March 06, 2011 Add Comment Edit

It was a hot night in the city. I sat in my office on the 9th floor of the "Let's Building" looking out over the neon ...