Customers of world-renowned French chef Joel Robuchon, dining at the Chateau Joel Robuchon at Ebisu Garden Place or any other establishments under his name in Tokyo or other countries, obviously marvel at the great cook’s success and uniqueness. Little do they know that in order to carve out a niche for himself here in the…

Welcome to the world of Nobuyoshi Araki, Japan’s infamous bad boy of photography. When one meets renowned artists for the first time, one often notices a disparity in expectation and reality, where the individual they are meeting is in actual fact nothing like the person they imagined beforehand. In the case of Araki, however, the…

Comparisons between Harumi Kurihara -Japan’s premier celebrity homemaker -and a certain famous American counterpart (referred to hereafter as simply “M’) are almost inevitable, so let’s get the subject out of the way from the outset. Admittedly, there are similarities between the two -both have found tremendous success as lifestyle trendsetters, publishing books and magazines, and…

Despite the fact that SOIL & DESPIMP” SESSIONS “agitator” goes by the nickname Shacho – which translates to company president in Japanese – it doesnt seem quite right packing the band into the ultra-plain white walled conference room to be used for this interview. As the four out of six members present – trumpeter Tabu…

It is October 28, 1993, a date indelibly stamped on the memory of every football fan in Japan. At Al-Ahly Stadium in Doha, Qatar, the Japanese players are lying helpless and broken on the field. Just moments earlier, Iraq, Japan’s opponents in a match they had to win to be sure of qualifying for the…

Most five-year-old boys in Japan harbor an ambition of becoming a doctor, pop star or professional baseball player but relatively few are able to pursue such dreams throughout their school years and beyond. One individual who has managed to buck this trend is up-and-coming pianist Takashi Yamamoto, who started piano lessons at the age of…

With his lavish silk mandarin jackets and trademark long blond locks of hair, celebrated flower arranger Shogo Kariyazaki looks for all intents and purposes to be the embodiment of his own maxim, ﾔbeauty begets beautyﾕ. And yet this self-proclaimed badge of honor was fostered long before he made regular appearances on TV chat shows, giggling…

The image I had conjured up of Miss Universe Japan was of an exquisite creature cocooned in an ornate Rococo setting complete with a Greco-Roman water fountain and dainty nibbling sweets from a silver platter. But the office of IBG Japan was on the fifth floor of a non-descript building in Omotesando. Construction of the…

If you expect this creator of breathtaking aesthetic spaces to be coiffed in the same sensibility as his works, you will be in for a surprise. Takashi Sugimoto has little regard for superficial appearances. No matter who he is meeting with, he dresses in the same casual manner. He wears Birkenstocks with socks, a charcoal…

Occasionally something happens in the art world that is so truly fresh and ground breaking that it creates something of a revolution. When “girl photographer” Hiromix burst onto the scene in the 90s, her unpretentious, natural documentary-style snap shots had a charm and simplicity that immediately mesmerized Japan. Her fans ranged from young Japanese girls…