Arts

A bonsai tree, left, in a pot made by ceramic artist Masanobu Ando, was part of an exhibition in Gifu Prefecture that came together out of a sense of crisis Ando feels as the rest of the world takes the Japanese art in fresh directions. (Photo by Akira Takemura)
Arts

Bonsai: Japan's living art evolves as it emigrates to rest of Asia

In its home country, young artists try to free the craft from ancient traditions

29 May 2022
Song Kang-ho accepts the award for best actor for "Broker" during the awards ceremony of the 75th international film festival, Cannes, southern France on May 28.
Arts

Korea's Song Kang-ho named best actor at Cannes

The star performed in Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda's film 'Broker'

29 May 2022
In Southeast Asia, home to some of the world's most authoritarian and straight-laced societies, heavy metal, punk and hip-hop music still functions as a loudspeaker for protest. (Nikkei montage/Source photos from Defying Decay, Terror, YouTube)
Arts

Rebel music is alive and kicking in Southeast Asia

Musicians are still making risky protests against repressive governments

13 May 2022
A work by Afghan street artist Milad Mohammadi. Once commissioned by the U.S.-backed government and foreign embassies to paint murals, Milad says his work is "against the rules" of the new Taliban regime, making it hard for him to earn enough money to feed his children. (Courtesy of the artist)
Arts

The art of surviving under the Taliban

Lack of work hits Afghan artists more than direct repression

29 April 2022
The ReMaker -- aka Yuttana Anothaisintawee -- at his Bangkok workshop. (Courtesy of Artery)
Arts

Thai designers elevate cool side of 'trashion'

Upcycling trend forges a more sustainable future for the fashion industry

20 April 2022
Thai artist Natee Utarit’s current exhibition "Deja vu: When the Sun Rises in the West" fuses Greco-Roman and Buddhist art forms in an attempt to address Western cultural imperialism in the East. “It’s very important that we are the same; not one higher than the other or one lower. It’s about equality,” he says. (Courtesy of artist and Art Centre Silpakorn University)
Arts

Thai artist combines classical and Buddhist cultures

Natee Utarit puts East and West on equal footing in memorable exhibition

18 April 2022
In Thailand, its "boys love" or BL dramas are popular mainly among young women, as the country is more accepting of the LGBTQ community than most other Asian countries.
10 April 2022
A detail of one of the 17 sections that made up Yuichiro Ukai’s long, scroll-like “Monsters” drawing (2021, marker and colored pencil on cardboard), which was on view in the recent exhibition “Genius: The Human Gift for Creating and Living” at the Shiga Museum of Art. (Photo by Edward M. Gomez)
Arts

Japanese museum puts spotlight on self-taught artists

In Shiga, innovation and a new director's fresh ideas point to a promising, post-pandemic period

6 April 2022
A former baseball player shows his batting form in this still from the 2021 documentary "Taste of Wild Tomato," about the 38 years in which Taiwan was gripped by the "White Terror." (Courtesy of Lau Kek Huat)
Arts

Memories of bloody past push Taiwanese arts forward

Documentary highlights efforts to make sense of the island's 'White Terror'

3 April 2022
Stream article image
Podcast

Asia Stream: And the Oscar Doesn't Go To...

First they were too white. Now they're too violent. But there's a larger problem with the Oscars: They're also, well, too American

2 April 2022
Recent portrait of Yohji Yamamoto. (Photo by Kazumi Kurigami)
Yohji Yamamoto

Shattering authorities, prejudices and customs: Yohji Yamamoto (1)

Wandering through a wilderness -- anger and a father's regret

1 April 2022
"Squid Game" star Park Hae-soo: "Becoming an international actor wasn't really at the forefront of my mind," says Park.  
Arts

'Squid Game' star reflects on the global allure of South Korean culture

Park Hae-soo was working at a BBQ restaurant when the 'hallyu' boom hit

30 March 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, presents a medal to Valery Gergiev in 2016. The two are known to be friends.
Politics

Sudden disharmony: Pro-Putin maestros get the boot in Europe

Ukraine invasion poses moral dilemma for Russian musicians abroad

29 March 2022
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, director of the Oscar-winning "Drive My Car," poses in the press room at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 27.
Media & Entertainment

'Drive My Car' scores big, but Hollywood budgets a distant dream

Japanese film industry faces pressure to embrace streaming

29 March 2022
Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi accepts the Oscar for best international feature film "Drive My Car" at the 94th Academy Awards on March 27.
Arts

Japan's 'Drive My Car' wins Oscar for best international film

'CODA' becomes first streamed movie to take home best picture

28 March 2022
"We love asking questions to ourselves, to each other, and to go into a set of facts with an open mind and allow it to evolve into a story," Sushmit Ghosh, left, and Rintu Thomas told Nikkei Asia.
Arts

A win for this Indian documentary would make Oscars history

'Writing With Fire' chronicles how a group of Dalit women became investigative reporters

27 March 2022
"Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom," by first-time director Pawo Chonying Dorji, was shot on location in Bhutan's Lunana Valley, 4,000 meters above sea level and an eight-day walk from the nearest road.
Arts

Oscar buzz builds for breakthrough Bhutanese film

'Lunana,' kingdom's first-ever nomination, captures a country in transition

26 March 2022
Hidetoshi Nishijima, left, and Toko Miura in "Drive My Car," directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Arts

'Drive My Car' to Hiroshima: Oscar buzz revives tourism hopes

Acclaimed film brings tourists to a small island on Inland Sea

26 March 2022
Author Shane Bunnag says his book "ended up as more than a chronology of a family; it became a compendium of Siamese knowledge, charting the patterns and repetitions, the seasons of a people." (Nikkei montage/Source photos by River Books, Shane Bunnag)
Arts

Books: A Siamese family's story across the centuries

'Chariot of the Sun' traces remarkable journey from 16th-century Persia to Greece and contemporary Thailand

25 March 2022
Much of the "The Serpent," a 2021 true-crime drama series that became a global hit on Netflix, was filmed on location in Bangkok. (BBC/Mammoth Screen/courtesy of Netflix)
Arts

Thailand makes it big(ger) in the movies

Higher production subsidies needed to compete with global competitors

18 March 2022
A still from "Myanmar Diaries." To make the documentary, an anonymous group of filmmakers called the Myanmar Film Collective collected raw footage that had been filmed by citizens on the streets and combined it with reconstructions of events experienced by members of the collective or their family and friends. (All photos courtesy of the Myanmar Film Collective)
Arts

Myanmar documentary brings country's angst and courage to big screens

Award-winning film highlights risks in life under military regime

4 March 2022
Documentary by director Kiwi Chow, right, now in self-exile from Hong Kong, hit theaters across Taiwan last Friday.
Arts

Hong Kong protest film strikes a chord in Taiwan

Documentary, and Ukraine conflict, spur debate on island's readiness for war

3 March 2022
Though he never received formal training in the art of cinema, Paris-raised filmmaker Davy Chou has served as a guiding light for a new generation of Cambodian filmmakers. (Photo by Thibault Perrier)
Arts

Art-house filmmaker leads Cambodian movie renaissance

Success of 'White Building' highlights new generation of cinephiles

25 February 2022
Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” was nominated in four categories, including best picture, for this year’s Academy Awards.
Media & Entertainment

Can Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi follow renowned Kurosawa?

'Drive My Car' is first Japanese film ever to be nominated for best picture

11 February 2022
"Red Sands," Caroline Eden's travelogue-cum-cookbook focused on Central Asia, is elevated by her passion for her subject, a strong reportorial eye and arresting photography. (Nikkei montage; source photos courtesy of Quadrille Publishing) 
Arts

Books: Central Asian travelogue courts foodies and adventurers

Despite its title, 'Red Sands' is less about deserts than desserts

9 February 2022