Tokyo Weekender July 2016
Breaking the rules of kimono – a new book shatters antiquated views of this traditional garment. Plus: The boys for sale in Shinjuku Ni-chome, best sake of 2017, Japan's new emperor, and what really goes on inside "Terrace House."
Breaking the rules of kimono – a new book shatters antiquated views of this traditional garment. Plus: The boys for sale in Shinjuku Ni-chome, best sake of 2017, Japan's new emperor, and what really goes on inside "Terrace House."
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Lee Wen, Strange Fruit, 2003, C print, 42×59.4<br />
F<br />
FICTION<br />
SUNSHOWER: CONTEMPORARY ART FROM SOUTHEAST<br />
ASIA 1980S TO NOW<br />
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the creation of ASEAN (Association<br />
of Southeast Asian Nations), both the Mori Art Museum and the National Art<br />
Center, <strong>Tokyo</strong> will be showing a collection of works by leading creative figures<br />
from the art scenes of several different countries in Southeast Asia. The show<br />
gets its name from the common – in Southeast Asia at least – phenomenon<br />
of rain falling from clear skies, which organizers say is “a metaphor for the<br />
vicissitudes of the region.” Mori Art Museum and The National Art Center,<br />
<strong>Tokyo</strong> Until October 23 sunshower2017.jp/en/index.html<br />
GREAT COLLECTORS: MASTERPIECES FROM THE<br />
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON<br />
Vincent van Gogh, Lullaby: Madame Augustine Roulin Rocking a Cradle, 1889, Bequest of John T.<br />
Spaulding, 48.548 Photograph © 2017 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston<br />
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is renowned as one of the world’s top<br />
museums, in both quality and scale. Even more impressive is that the museum<br />
developed its collection entirely through the efforts of private citizens, collectors<br />
and companies, without any assistance from the state or federal government.<br />
This collection of 80 items from the MFA’s collection highlights the work of<br />
the individual collectors who helped the museum reach its global status,<br />
and features masterworks ranging from ancient Egyptian pieces to dazzling<br />
examples of contemporary art at its finest. <strong>Tokyo</strong> Metropolitan Art Museum<br />
<strong>July</strong> 20-October 9 www.tobikan.jp/en/exhibition/2017_boston.html<br />
You might think that writer Barry Lancet<br />
has a crystal ball somewhere around<br />
his writer’s desk, given how topical his<br />
most recent book, The Spy Across the<br />
Table, manages to be. Its plot wends its<br />
way into North Korea, and features a character<br />
who is a high level Chinese spy. But this is<br />
all in a day’s work for Lancet’s creation Jim<br />
Brodie, the art dealer/private detective who<br />
is sleuthing and fighting his way through his<br />
fourth novel.<br />
After two close friends of Brodie are<br />
murdered in Washington DC, he is drawn<br />
into action that takes him to one of the<br />
world’s most tense geopolitical regions –<br />
the demilitarized zone that lies between<br />
North and South Korea. He also delves into<br />
corners of Japan’s underworld, including the<br />
Chongryon, a Japanese Korean group with ties<br />
to North Korea, and the PSIA, Japan’s national<br />
intelligence agency.<br />
The “spy” of the title is Zhou, and as Lancet<br />
explains, “he's based on a real encounter I<br />
had in <strong>Tokyo</strong> years ago. He first appeared<br />
fictionally in the second Jim Brodie book, <strong>Tokyo</strong><br />
Kill, and a lot of people liked him as a character<br />
so I had planned to bring him back. I had a set<br />
scene in this book where he was just supposed<br />
to appear for just two or three chapters, but he<br />
sort of took over the book. I wasn't even really<br />
expecting it.”<br />
Expect plenty more surprises in this taut<br />
thriller, which hit shelves last month. Some<br />
of the standouts from the book are the fight<br />
scenes, which give the lie to anyone who<br />
thinks that brawlers are just dumb brutes;<br />
Lancet’s ability to introduce cultural details<br />
and deep history while still keeping the pace<br />
going; and the unflappable Jim Brodie, whose<br />
multifaceted background gives him what his<br />
creator sees as his greatest strength: “His<br />
ability to see both sides of the coin without<br />
making judgement – even when there are<br />
three sides to the coin, or four.”<br />
The Spy Across the Table is available on Amazon<br />
Japan and at some Kinokuniya Stores for ¥2,837<br />
TOKYO WEEKENDER | JULY 2017 | 41