Decisive Weapons: The Soul of the Samurai- the Japanese Sword

For a girl (although not as a historian), swords fascinate me. One day I should very much like to become proficient at kendo. Can you tell that I'm a fan of Kill Bill, a film essentially about revenge that really can be seen as a love story to the katana.

The BBC are running a piece on katana on iPlayer right now, which goes into some detail about the history and craftsmanship involved with the Japanese sword.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0077bl6/Decisive_Weapons_Series_2_The_Soul_of_the_Samurai_the_Japanese_Sword/

Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama is one of my favourite living Japanese artists, I am really rather excited to see her new retrospective at Tate Modern soon!

Here are two reviews by Guardian art critics:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/12/yayoi-kusama-tate-modern-review
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/07/yayoi-kusuma-tate-modern-review

And some photos too:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2012/feb/07/yayoi-kusama-tate-modern-in-pictures

My own thoughts to follow soon.

The Culture Show: Cash in China's attic.

Anyone with but a passing interest in Chinese art or the antiques trade could not have noticed the astronomical prices being fetched in the last few years. Here is an insightful documentary from the BBC reporting on how Chinese wealthy new citizens are busy buying:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01bbvvs/The_Culture_Show_Cash_in_Chinas_Attic_A_Culture_Show_Special/

Charlie Brooker on Japan

I love Brooker. All that cynicism and abject resignation that life is truly terrible. He's written a charming article for The Guardian on how baffling he is finding Japan. Although I do wonder as to the level of real insight he has gained so far into Japanese culture, as his time in the country appears to have been spent contemplating toilets and cable television (actually quite typical of Brooker in general, the two areas often converge). Humorous nonetheless:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/22/charlie-brooker-japan-another-planet  

The Politics of Pandas

Here is another enlightening radio show from the BBC investigating the more nuanced aspects of international relations that Edinburgh's recently acquired pandas signify:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b019h2b8/The_Politics_of_Pandas/

Ken Hom

Who doesn't love Ken Hom? He's one of the first chefs to popularise authentic Chinese food in Britain, in honour of Chinese New Year The Guardian has published firstly a live chat with the chef and a few of his recipes including ones for chilli pork spare ribs and fish in hot sauce. Haochi!

Witness: The death of Emperor Hirohito

An insightful radio documentary by the BBC on the passing of such an enigmatic player in twentieth century Japanese history and how the Japanese people responded to it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00mqsm2/Witness_The_death_of_Emperor_Hirohito/

Man Asian Literary Prize

I'm going to challenge myself to read all seven of the shortlisted books over the year. The world is far too small to not know more about other cultures.

• Amitav Ghosh- River of Smoke
• Banana Yoshimoto- The Lake
• Jahnavi Barua- Rebirth
• Jamil Ahmed- The Wandering Falcon
• Yan Lianke- Dream of Ding Village
• Rahul Bhattacharya- The Sly Company of People Who Care
• Kyung-Sook Shin- Please Look After Mom

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2012/jan/12/man-asian-literary-prize-2011-in-pictures  

Unfinished

On such a cold January evening as tonight, what greater pleasure is there than a decent book or a television drama? But how awful that it's unfinished! I cannot be the only one watching The Mystery of Edwin Drood on the BBC.

Unfinished is a wonderful documentary exploring our fascination with English Literature's incomplete masterpieces from Dickens, to Austen and Coleridge.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b019gcdf/Unfinished/

A new Guggenheim Museum for Helsinki?

The Guggenheim maybe expanding in Helsinki. How exciting! I've had the pleasure of going to the New York Guggenheim but never to either the Bilbao- what an invigorating building- or Venice site.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/9004578/Guggenheim-museum-planned-for-Helsinki.html

In The Balance:Chinese Property

An intriguing programme, again from the BBC World Service, about the state of the Chinese property market:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00mn5kw/In_The_Balance_Chinese_property/

Chihuly

Yesterday I popped into the rather busy Chihuly show at the Halycon Gallery on New Bond Street. When I think of Dale Chihuly's work I almost always think first of all of the Chandeliers at the V & A. The V & A of course being the world's premier museum of decorative art, it would only be natural to have a work by Chihuly - who has done so much to bring blown glass to the attention of the art world- in their foyer. To me it looks like an organic organism, that if I were to turn around one of those slender green tentacles might, in true cartoon style, tap a rather bewildered me on the shoulder. 

This feeling of life, light and transparency, is what really struck about the Halcyon exhibition. Many of the sculptures were reminiscent of scenes from a nature documentary on bio-luminescent sea creatures. Whilst others reminded me of some strange fantasy garden that you might come across in a Tim Burton film.

http://www.halcyongallery.com/news/bbc-london-news-interview-dale-chihuly

Kawaii

Kawaii is the Japanese word for cute, although it goes far beyond the English comprehension of the term as it could be considered an aesthetic in its own right. The most obvious scion of kawaii embedded in pop culture -world over- is Hello Kitty. The extent to which kawaii pervades Japanese culture is so extensively mainstream; from everyday items to youth tribes i.e. Gothic Lolita . One can not help but observe it to be the predominant aesthetic of goods imported from the country and its popularity in Britain is for all to see on the high street, which is adorned with anthropomorphic pieces of cake (the cute cupcake phenomenon).  From a feminist point of view I find kawaisa and its adoption by grown women slightly peculiar, yet it is fascinating.

Takashi Murakami, about who it is near impossible not to draw comparisons with Andy Warhol for his awareness of pop culture whilst contributing to it significantly, is obviously influenced by the kawaii aesthetic. Commercially the first example that springs to my mind is Murakami's collaboration with Louis Vuitton. Here is the Superflat First Love video, which celebrates this union:

Here also is a video clip from Adam and Joe Go Tokyo, where the pair discuss kawaii and have quite a typically British reaction to it:

Ronald Searle

I was sad to hear that the illustrator Ronald Searle, of St. Trinian's fame, has  passed away. I do very much love his witty work, it's so terribly British to be scared of school girls. 

http://ronaldsearle.blogspot.com/