On Japan Category (65)
Living Legend - Dr. Shuji Nakamura Featured
Nobel Physics Laureate Shuji Nakamura Sheds Light on How He Invented the Blue LED
Dr. Shuji Nakamura, along with two other Japanese researchers, Dr. Isamu Akasaki and Dr. Hiroshi Amano, received the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics in recognition of their major breakthrough in lighting technology with the invention of efficient blue light- emitting diodes (LED), which has enabled bright, energy-saving white light sources. Dr. Nakamura is a physicist and inventor specializing in semiconductor technology. He is a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara College of Engineering. Tokyo Journal’s Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie spoke with Dr. Nakamura about his career, the intellectual property legal battle he faced with his former company, Nichia Corp., and the impact of his invention on the world.
Garrity's Japan
Editor’s Insight
Garrity’s Japan
The Open Road
The following is a continuation of Robert Garrity’s story describing his walk across Japan; a journey replicating haiku poet Matsuo Basho’s 1,500-mile journey from Fukagawa, Tokyo to Japan’s northern wilderness, as detailed in Basho’s world-famous travel diary, “Oku no Hosomichi.” Garrity began the first leg of his journey in the summer of 1994, and continues walking different segments each time he returns to Japan.
The Legacy of Donald Richie
The Legacy of Donald Richie
The following is part of Tokyo Journal’s Living Tribute to Donald Richie who passed away on February 19, 2013. Donald Richie’s contribution was originally printed in the January 1995 edition of the Tokyo Journal. It was excerpted from Japan Journals 1947-2004 by Donald Richie (Stone Bridge Press. 2004). Donald Richie’s first visit to Japan took place in 1947. Since that time he became a celebrated film critic, author and composer, not to mention a journalist of many talents recording the changes of over half a century of life in Tokyo. Donald Richie contributed to the Tokyo Journal over the years and when asked about times in the ‘90s, Donald replied, “Frightening but exhilarating. I think everybody with a pencil should be out there taking notes.”
Some Autumn Days
Encounters with a world renowned sculptor, former ambassador and aged author in this excerpt from Donald Richie’s Japan Journals
On OCTOBER 18, 1982. At the conference, Isamu Noguchi, for the first time since I have known him, talked about himself. To be sure, he usually talks about his opinions, beliefs, etc., usually at length. But here he spoke of what it felt like to be him — of Japanese ancestry, born an American, back to Japan before the war, back to America, his work, then back to Japan after the war, then back and forth, back and forth. He spoke about what he discovered in Japan and in himself, talked about stone and rock.
Tokyo Street Fashion/Harajuku
Tokyo Journal Street Editor Kjeld Duits hits the streets with his lens to see what's hot in Harajuku
The complete article can be found in Issue #274 of the Tokyo Journal. Click here to order from Amazon.
Living Legend: Toyo Ito
2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Interview by Dr. Anthony Al-JamieIN March 2013, it was announced that 71-year old Tokyo-based Toyo Ito is the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize recipient.The Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually to a living architect whose “built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and com- mitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.” The laureates are awarded a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion.
Previous Japanese recipients were Kenzo Tange (1987), Fumihiko Maki (1993), Tadao Ando (1995), and Kazuyo Seijima & Ryue Nishizawa (2010).
TJ: Congratulations on winning the Pritzker Architecture Prize! It is the biggest award in architecture.
ITO: Yes. After it was announced, many architects from all over the world sent me congratulations. I was so surprised that it is such a big award!
TJ: Who congratulated you?
ITO: Yes. After it was announced, many architects from all over the world sent me congratulations. I was so surprised that it is such a big award!
Garrity's Japan
The Open Road
The following is a continuation of Robert Garrity’s story describing his walk across Japan replicating haiku poet Matsuo Bashō’s 1,500-mile journey from Fukagawa, Tokyo to Japan’s northern wilderness as detailed in Bashō’s world-famous travel diary “Oku no Hosomichi.” Robert Garrity began his journey in the summer of 1994 and broke it down into segments, walking different segments each time he returned to Japan.
Sumida-ku: Since I am undertaking this journey alone and cannot read detailed Kanji, I know I will be lost on occasion and perhaps take a different route than Bashō. But that is part of the fun of the journey. The journey is life.
Harajuku Fashion Walk
Tokyo Journal Street Photographer Malgorzata Dittmar hits the streets with her lens to see what's hot in Harajuku
The complete article can be found in Issue #277 of the Tokyo Journal. Click here to order from Amazon.
The Legacy of Donald Richie
The Legacy of Donald Richie
The following is part of Tokyo Journal’s Living Tribute to Donald Richie who passed away on February 19, 2013. Donald Richie’s contribution was originally printed in the January 1995 edition of the Tokyo Journal. It was excerpted from “Japan Journals 1947-2004” by Donald Richie (Stone Bridge Press. 2004). Donald Richie’s first visit to Japan took place in 1947. Since that time he became a celebrated film critic, author and composer, not to mention a journalist of many talents recording the changes of over half a century of life in Tokyo. Donald Richie contributed to the Tokyo Journal over the years and when asked about times in the nineties, Donald replied, “Frightening but exhilarating. I think everybody with a pencil should be out there taking notes.”
THE LAST SAMURAI
This fourth installment from his Japan Journals features Donald Richie’s elegy for Yukio Mishima,written shortly after the novelist’s suicide.
15 November 1970. It has been some days now since Mishima killed himself, yet the sense of loss continues. It is not that he did it. I guess we all expected that. It was the way in which he did it. It was like a rape. (So all of us victims are trying to account for it. I will write an essay and give it to the paper.)
The shock that so many felt at the manner of Yukio Mishima’s death was deepened by an equally strong sense of loss. No contemporary writer had more completely disclosed himself; none had more honestly shared his most deeply personal emotions. From Confessions of a Mask onwards, Mishima was himself his own subject and his varied works are all, to an extent, autobiographical.
Horiyoshi III
Horiyoshi III
Japan’s Legendary Tattoo Master
Interview by Kimo Friese and Horikichi
TJ: Can you introduce yourself to our readers?
HORIYOSHI: My real name is Yoshihito Nakano. I was born on March 9, 1946 in Shimada, Shizuoka. I am the eldest son with a sister and brother.
TJ: Tell us a little about Irezumi, the traditional art form of Japanese tattooing.
HORIYOSHI: It depends what you mean by traditional? Tattoo tradition, Japanese tradition or Asian tradition? If you say Asian tradition, it was most affected by Confucianism. But if you are obedient to Confucianism, you can’t get tattooed because the belief states that you should not hurt your body. But since tattoo culture had already existed before the ancient Chinese ideas that transformed into Samurai philosophy in Japan, Confucianism couldn’t exclude tattoo culture. The concept of the tattoo can translate into strength, religion, or many other things. But in Japan, it basically represents courage or strength, like the Samurai’s fighting spirit. On the other hand, tattoos also have artistic aspects. Actually, it’s difficult to talk about Irezumi tattoo and tradition because the scope is too wide.
Time Warp
Time Warp
Nijubashi, Imperial Palace
AMONG the most photographed spots in Tokyo is the entrance to the Imperial Palace. Every day thousands of people stand here, their backs to the castle, their legs slightly apart, to have themselves photographed. The stately stone bridge, the old castle gate, the traditional turret and the many trees make for an iconic photo.
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