Arts

6 September 2024
Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara's "Puff Marshie (Hirosaki Version, Shanghai Version)" is displayed at the Tokyo Gendai international art fair in July. Strong demand among Japanese collectors at this year's event bodes well for the city's future as a global art hub. (Courtesy of Tokyo Gendai 2024)
Works are displayed at Frieze Seoul 2023: More than 70,000 visitors are expected at this year's edition, which will feature 110 galleries spanning 32 countries. (Courtesy of Frieze Seoul)
Arts

Frieze Seoul returns as South Korea deepens its art hub drive

Latest in a series of international art fairs showcases local and global artists

3 September 2024
Australian furniture designers are winning international acclaim for creating pieces that focus on sustainable, organic materials and reflect the country's diverse landscape and broad mix of cultures. (Source photos by Duncan Meerding, Manapan Furniture, Pier Carthew)
Arts

Australian furniture designers carve out sustainable future

Homegrown industry reflects landscape and cultural diversity

1 September 2024
Hayao Miyazaki's works include the Oscar-winning films "The Boy and the Heron" and "Spirited Away."
Arts

Hayao Miyazaki among five Magsaysay awardees for 2024

Foundation praises animator's gift for making complex issues relatable to kids

31 August 2024
Art and food are key pillars of Thailand's soft-power push backed by new Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, pictured here at a Bangkok forum in June that showcased the government's vision. (Source photos Thai Ministry of Commerce, Getty Images)
Arts

New Thai PM spearheads economy-orientated 'soft power' drive

Paetongtarn Shinawatra has promised a creative boom, but critics point to daunting bureaucracy and confusing vision

31 August 2024
The Hara Cafe is located in Hong Kong's bustling Tsim Sha Tsui district. (Photo obtained by Nikkei)
Life

All aboard: Life-size Japanese model trains debut at Hong Kong cafe

Retro railcars by world-renowned modeler Hara transport guests to 1920s Japan

25 August 2024
With his book, historian Frederik Cryns wanted to write an accurate, faithful biography of William Adams, the English sailor who inspired the "Shogun" story. (Source photos Reaktion Books, Getty Images)
Books

Books: William Adams, 'blue-eyed samurai' who never was

Japan-based historian and author pieces together puzzle of the would-be English shogun

24 August 2024
"Bahar," a remake of a South Korean drama, has enjoyed huge popularity in Turkey. (MF Yapim)
Media & Entertainment

Asian dramas spread across the world through Turkish remakes

South Korean and Japanese content is turning up in over 100 countries

10 August 2024
Electronicos Fantasticos founder Ei Wada rocks out on a converted fan. The collective's members range from primary school kids to engineers at appliance companies. 
Tea Leaves

Japan's reverence for past gives new musical meaning to old appliances

Improbable avant-garde artists' collective Electronicos Fantasticos celebrates a retro-future

7 August 2024
Not A Hotel's Irori, a glass-walled villa in a forest near Karuizawa, Nagano prefecture, opened on July 16. (Not A Hotel)
Travel & Leisure

Japan's latest pitch to wealthy tourists: Timeshare designer palaces

A Bathing Ape's Nigo curates Not A Hotel's new villa on Tokyo Bay

7 August 2024
Artist and filmmaker Angus McDonald has been a finalist in Australia's most prestigious portrait competition, the Archibald Prize, seven times. "The Archibald transcends the art world," McDonald says. "It has so much power to engage people," (Photo by Nolan Verheij)
Arts

Acclaimed Australian painter spotlights art of human rights

From economics to campaigns for asylum seekers, Angus McDonald makes a mark in diverse worlds

4 August 2024
The front entrance of the new Toyota City Museum, which opened in late April and was designed by the Japanese contemporary architect Shigeru Ban. (Courtesy of Toyota City Museum)
Arts

Toyota city's new museum tells multifaceted story

From nature and history to fine art, architectural showcase celebrates much more than the local carmaker

3 August 2024
Shanghai's fashionable West Bund district is luring art lovers from China and beyond. (All photos by John Krich)
Arts

Shanghai repositions as cutting-edge art hub

West Bund development includes four big museums plus private galleries and cafes

2 August 2024
In "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman," the magic of animation enables director Pierre Foldes to convey the surreal qualities of Haruki Murakami's fiction: A character known as Frog suddenly flattens his body into a paper-thin sheet to slide through a train carriage window, while other passengers are rendered transparent. (Pierre Foldes Defacto/Miyu)
Arts

Movie animates Murakami's portraits of empty lives

'Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman' elevates celebrated author's genre fantasies

25 July 2024
French architects Melanie Heresbach and Sebastien Renauld made this old farmhouse in Kyoto their home. (Photo by Akira Takemura)
Life

Searching Japan's abandoned houses for the ultimate fixer-upper

Foreigners are preserving old architecture -- and even taking it home

21 July 2024
"Shogun" star Hiroyuki Sanada arrives for the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington on April 27.
Media & Entertainment

'Shogun' nabs 25 Emmy nominations, led by Japan's Hiroyuki Sanada

Anna Sawai earns nod for lead role, as series competes for best drama

18 July 2024
Opening scene of Netflix's "3 Body Problem." (Netflix)
Arts

How family trauma played a role in '3 Body Problem'

Cultural revolution scenes haunt show's co-creator Alexander Woo

15 July 2024
Dalisa Pigram, left, and Miranda Wheen perform during "Cut the Sky," a production from Australian dance company Marrugeku. (Photo by Marina Levitskaya)
Arts

Australian contemporary dance eyes center stage

Nationwide, troupes embrace the languages of the body in motion

7 July 2024
A portrait of I.M. Pei taken in 1965 when he was selected to design the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Dorchester, Massachusetts. (© John Loengard/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock)
Arts

'Superstar' architect I.M. Pei gets first retrospective

Hong Kong exhibition presents a hoard of previously unseen material

6 July 2024
Zhou Yongjiu's shop in Dafen, with reproductions of famous Van Gogh and other paintings lined up out front. (Photo by Shizuka Tanabe)
Arts

China's 'art factory' goes from Van Gogh copies to originals

Painters village in Shenzhen adapts to shifting economic conditions

15 June 2024
Artist Oh Sung-cheol speaks at a press conference on June 13. "I'm grateful to live in a place where I can think and express myself freely," he said. (Source photos by Ahn Seong-bok)
North Korea tensions

North Korean defector artist relishes freedom in time of tensions

Pyongyang and Seoul step up psychological warfare across divided border

15 June 2024
Mist and mystique: Sunrise over the Golden Triangle at the spot where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos converge. In the foreground is the Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort, in the northern Thai province of Chiang Rai. (Courtesy of Anantara Hotels and Resorts).
Arts

Exploring Thailand's edgy, artistic northern borderland

Art festival draws millions to Chiang Rai, but hidden gems remain to be found

15 June 2024
A scene from "All We Imagine as Light." (Festival de Cannes)
Arts

India's Cannes prizewinner finds inspiration in female friendships

Payal Kapadia's 'All We Imagine as Light' tale of 3 health care workers wins Grand Prix

14 June 2024
Music sensation Yoasobi stole the show at the Bubbling & Boiling Music & Arts Festival in Tianjin, China, on May 2. (Photo by Shunsuke Tabeta)
Media & Entertainment

More Japanese musicians perform in China as live events return

Chinese promoters favor cost-effective Yoasobi, King Gnu, Radwimps and more

9 June 2024
Sydney-based sisters Briony and Savannah Osei, who perform as Kinder, are part of the wave of artists who have made Australia a global electronic music hot spot. (Photo by Billy Zammit)
Arts

Electronic dance music booms Down Under

Australia is the world's third-largest consumer, behind Germany and the US

9 June 2024