A show of outlandish sculptures by a cult Japanese artist in the historic Chateau of Versailles near Paris has enraged traditionalists who say it dishonours France’s past.
From September 14 to December 12, visitors to Versailles will see eye-grabbing multicoloured statues in silver, fibreglass and metal by Takashi Murakami alongside the chateau’s ornate murals and chandeliers.
"The Chateau de Versailles is one of the greatest symbols of Western history," Murakami said in a statement on the museum’s website.
"The Versailles of my imagination… has become a kind of completely separate and unreal world," …

(or, Home is Where the Mat Is)
This summer I came to the multi-culti realization that, for me, home is where the mat is.
After living in Oita City the same number of years (past the decade mark) as New York City (where I resided before Japan), I realize that home is no longer a country or a town.
I found that a 60 cm X 180 cm space that I can roll up and carry with me does the trick to let me find my center, and to be at home wherever …

Riko Miyagi’s popular manga series "Mei-chan no Shitsuji" is going to be adapted as a stage musical next year, performed by the all-female Takarazuka Revue. Yuzuru Kurenai, the current otokoyaku of the Star Troupe, will play the lead role.
Akiko Kodama will write the script and direct. The musical’s working title at the moment is "Mei-chan no Shitsuji -Watakushi no Inochi ni Kaete Omamori Itashimasu-." More details about the story and cast will be announced in future issues of Shueisha’s magazine Margaret, in which the manga is serialized.
The original manga tells …

A stage musical version of Isao Takahata and Studio Ghibli’s Only Yesterday (Omohide Poro Poro) film will run in Tokyo’s Ginga Gekijō theater from April 16 to 29, 2011. It is the first stage play adaptation of any Studio Ghibli work.
The 1991 film follows a 27-year-old Tokyo office lady named Taeko as she takes a sabbatical to visit her brother-in-law’s hometown in the countryside. The journey invokes nostalgic memories of her childhood and leads her to reconsider her path in life. The film was Takahata’s second Ghibli work after Grave …

The Japanese have long endured crowded cities and scarce living space, with homes so humble a scornful European official once branded them rabbit hutches.But in recent years, Japanese architects have turned necessity into virtue, vying to design unorthodox and visually stunning houses on remarkably narrow pieces of land. In the process, they are also redefining the rules of home design.Few Americans would consider a parking-space-sized lot as an adequate site to build a house. But in Japan, homes are rising on odd parcels of land, some as tiny as 300 …

Actor Shun Oguri (27) will star in a stage version of the Anthony Burgess novel "A Clockwork Orange," set to be performed early next year. This will be the first time that the story is adapted for the stage in Japan.
The best known adaptation of "A Clockwork Orange" is Stanley Kubrick’s film in 1971. However, it has also received multiple theatrical adaptations in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
According to Horipro, which is handling the production of the play, there have been plans to adapt the book to …

Next year, the Imperial Garden Theater in Tokyo will celebrate its 100th birthday. The theater has announced its 2011 schedule, which includes a performance of “Gone with the Wind” starring actress Ryoko Yonekura (34) as Scarlett O’Hara. This will be Yonekura’s first time performing at the historic venue.
“Gone with the Wind” was most recently performed in Japan as a musical in 2003, starring Mao Daichi (54). Yonekura, however, will be appearing in a non-musical version of the play, which was last done by Daichi in 1987.
Yasufumi Terawaki (48) will play …

The seven members of Berryz Koubou will star in a stage production titled “San Oku En Shoujo,” though they will take turns playing the story’s lead character. The play is described as a love story bridging the past and the present, using the infamous “300 million yen robbery” as its motif.
A promotional flyer for the play was displayed during a press event on Wednesday. The flyer resembles a “wanted suspect” notice and includes a photo of a girl’s face, which is actually a composite using different facial features from each …

Enter to Win!

BionicBong, publisher of Things Japanese, a literary magazine on anything to do with Japan, is accepting submissions for its next issue. One Grand prize winner will receive $100 for best submission.*

Plenty of actresses with good lungs and great legs have played Velma Kelly, the publicity-hungry killer in “Chicago,” now the longest-running revival in Broadway history. But Amra-Faye Wright, who has been in and out of the New York cast since 2006, will be the first to do the part in English on Broadway and then in Japanese overseas.