Shogun Ieyasu Offers Lesson for Modern Politics, Says Lee Ahead of His 1st Presidential Visit to Japan
Lee is known for having made harsh remarks about Japan in the past. In fact, he said, 'there were times when I did not have a good impression of Japan.' However, during a visit here when he was a lawyer, he was struck by people's cheery expressions, humble attitudes, modesty and diligence, as well as by the picturesque landscapes. 'It completely changed my perspective and reversed my previous image of Japan,' he said.
Lee has traveled to Japan several times, visiting such places as Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture, but his visit on Saturday and Sunday will be his first to central Tokyo.
Lee also said that spending several years reading a book about Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, left a strong impression on him. Touching on how a long period of peace followed the turmoil of the Sengoku period (mid 15 century–late 16 century), he said, 'My understanding of Japan deepened.'
'I have come to respect Tokugawa Ieyasu's patience. There are many lessons there that can be applied in the political world,' Lee added.
He stressed that 'there is much to learn from Japanese culture, which values respecting others and contributing to the community.' He expressed a hope of deepening Japan-South Korea relations through expanded cultural exchange, saying, 'If cultural exchange becomes more active and we can understand each other, it will lead to beneficial results.'
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Japan Times
44 minutes ago
- Japan Times
Seri Yanai: ‘We mix modern and analog to create something new'
Seri Yanai, 41, is the co-founder of Mochinosha, an award-winning shadow puppetry company based in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture. With her Canadian partner, Daniel Wishes, whom she met in the U.K. while at the London School of Puppetry, Yanai has performed at festivals and in theaters in more than 50 cities around the world. 1. What is shadow puppetry? It's a type of puppetry where the lead characters are the shadows cast by manipulating puppets. In other words, the shadows tell the story. 2. Were you interested in theater from a young age? In high school, I was deeply moved by Hideki Noda's play 'Hanshin: Half-God,' based on the manga by Moto Hagio. It made me realize theater is an all-embracing art form of music, story and bodily movement. I went on to do theater at university for four years and wanted to pursue a career in directing, but the chances of founding a theater company to direct and making it professionally in Japan were very thin, so I decided to try a different path in the U.K. 3. Why did you choose puppets over humans? Among the many plays I watched in the U.K. was an amazing puppetry show by the company Blind Summit Theatre. Using techniques from bunraku, three people manipulated cardboard puppets to make them come alive, and portrayed the human-puppet relationship with humor and depth. When a puppet flew through the sky, it was so believable and captivating. I knew I wanted to do puppetry there and then. 4. Did you and Daniel have any initial struggles after you co-founded Mochinosha in 2012? We founded the company while at school and once we graduated we both had to return to our home countries. It was hard communicating via Skype and email to figure out how we would work together. When we put on our first show in Canada in 2013, the reviews were horrible. It took us about three years to find our vision through trial and error. 5. What's unique about Mochinosha's shows? We manipulate the puppets in front of the screen, making ourselves visible to the audience. That's rare for a shadow puppetry company in Japan. Our style also mixes modern and analog techniques to create something new. 6. Is there a long history of shadow puppetry in Japan? Shadow plays in Japan were popular in the Edo Period (1603-1867), particularly utsushi-e, a traditional form of shadow play using slide projectors originally from Europe. The style of shadow puppetry common in Japan today, however, developed after World War II, so it's quite new. 7. Does Mochinosha draw inspiration from other cultures outside of Japan? We've been strongly influenced by the Balinese wayang kulit, where audiences enjoy performances from both sides of the screen ー something we found appealing. 8. Mochinosha's shows have been described as 'anime-like.' Would you say this is accurate? We do draw storyboards as would be done in an anime production and our paper puppets work kind of like celluloid sheets. We typically use 200 to 400 puppets for a 60-minute show in order to move the characters dynamically and introduce different angles and expressions. 9. What goes into making those hand-crafted paper puppets? Once we've created a storyboard, we count roughly how many puppets we need. We take about three months, night and day, to draw the figures, cut, color and put them together. Frankly, it's a daunting task. 10. How do you and Daniel divide your roles? Daniel comes up with the story ideas and writes the scripts. I like to draw, so I handle the storyboards, which is essentially directing, and do other artwork. 11. What themes do you explore in your shows? Daniel's scripts are mostly fantasy and sci-fi. We deal with issues like war and environmental destruction, but not straightforwardly. We want our audience to empathize with an isekai (otherworld) story that has a message of hope about the world we live in. 12. Can you describe a story from your popular shows? One of our longest-running shows, 'Space Hippo,' which began in 2016, is an absurd story that opens with a Donald Trump-like politician and a scientist arguing over what to do with the end of the world approaching. Out of desperation and as a way to distract people's attention, the politician decides to send a hippopotamus to space, acting on the scientist's metaphorical suggestion meant to ridicule any belated effort to save the planet. That's the premise. The main story is the hippo's space journey, including an alien encounter. 13. Do you have an all-time favorite performance? That would have to be our recent show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The organizers saw us in Edinburgh and invited us to perform in their magnificent Raphael Gallery, surrounded by the Italian master's paintings. Seri Yanai makes hundreds of puppets by hand for every 60-minute performance that Mochinosha puts on. | COURTESY OF SERI YANAI 14. Do audience reactions differ between Japan and other countries? Yes, there is a stark difference. Japanese audiences are quiet and it seems they may be waiting for a cue to laugh, but we're busy manipulating our puppets and unable to give them those cues. By contrast, American or Brazilian audiences burst out laughing unexpectedly. 15. Have there been any disasters during shows? Last year in Canada, the venue's speakers broke 30 minutes into the show and we had to go on performing in a panic, without sound or music. The audience was kind but I cried afterward for the first time. It was the worst experience ever. 16. Who are your artistic influences? I love the writer Ango Sakaguchi, especially his short story "In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom." The story's unsettling imagery of the unknown and inexplicable continues to fascinate me. The other is manga artist Rumiko Takahashi, whom I love and respect. Her drawings have a way of capturing an invisible atmosphere with simple lines. 17. How do you perceive light and shadow in your daily life? I do react acutely to shadows. If I spot a cool-looking shadow walking down the street, I have to stop and examine where the source of light is, why it's shaped a certain way or in a certain color. 18. What are you most proud of from your performing career as Mochinosha? When we started, we could only dream of getting an invitation to perform in the U.K., where we first met, but it has come true. We were invited to perform in London again this summer. I look back and see how far we've come, and it makes me proud. 19. Any plans to be based outside Japan? It's been our lifelong dream to have a base both in Japan and the U.K. Hopefully we can make it happen within the next 10 years. 20. Can you tell us about your latest show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe? It's an adults-only play about shunga (Japanese erotic art) made with another Japanese company from Osaka. I'm happy to say that we are getting very good reception. Some media outlets gave us four- or five-star reviews and we've had some sold-out shows. The show touches on contemporary Japanese culture, which I hope will further interest our attendees. For more information, visit or follow @mochinoshapuppet on Instagram.
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Forget the late-night headliners — Summer Sonic 2025's wildest moment came at 11 a.m. Sunday, when Mrs. Green Apple turned Chiba's Zozo Marine Stadium into a wall-to-wall sing-along. The trio is arguably Japan's biggest pop act, a claim bolstered by the line of fans stretching far outside the venue where the festival was held, hours before gates opened. Mrs. Green Apple's set did not disappoint them. Pyrotechnics and water cannons punctuated rock-leaning songs, with the packed stadium — fans in the upper decks standing in the aisles — bobbing along to hits such as 'Lilac.' Festival organizer Creativeman even enforced entry restrictions due to the crush of fans, a rarity that had singer Motoki Omori taking to social media to express his surprise. For the rest of Summer Sonic, held at Makuhari Messe in Tokyo (technically Chiba) and Expo '70 Commemorative Park in Osaka over the past weekend, nothing came close to matching the size of Mrs. Green Apple's crowd. In fact, other domestic acts across the lineup attracted huge crowds, often dwarfing the 'proper' headliners of Chicago rock act Fall Out Boy and New York singer-songwriter Alicia Keys. The takeaway? Summer Sonic's real moneymakers weren't listed at the top of the festival's poster. It felt like Creativeman was experimenting, testing whether a major summer music festival could thrive without a 'classic' headliner. But by the numbers, the formula isn't there yet. Attendance in Tokyo totaled 112,000 over two days, down from 130,000 in 2024, though Osaka once again sold out. It seems star power at the top still matters — as Fuji Rock's boost in attendance this summer demonstrated, thanks in part to the presence of Tatsuro Yamashita. Still, the weekend showed Summer Sonic's strength: showcasing the latest in J-pop. Saturday morning saw SixTones open the Marine Stage to a sea of fans sporting green-and-black towels before rocker LiSA delivered a raucous set of 'Demon Slayer' anthems. Fruits Zipper's whirlwind performance doubled as a manifesto for its 'new kawaii' aesthetic, while arena rockers Official Hige Dandism drew the weekend's second-largest crowd with a triumphant, long-awaited performance on the main stage. Higedan was originally meant to perform at Summer Sonic in 2023, but canceled due to vocalist Satoshi Fujihara's throat issues. Once the quartet hit the stage this time, Fujihara slammed away at his keyboard, delivering riveting versions of hits such as 'Pretender' and 'Cry Baby.' Rockers Official Hige Dandism delivered a long-awaited performance on the main stage after having to cancel their 2023 appearance. | © SUMMER SONIC All Copyrights Reserved By comparison, Fall Out Boy's Saturday headlining set felt flat. Space opened up in the nosebleeds, though the mosh pit was full for tracks like when the band ripped into hits such as "Sugar, We're Going Down' and 'This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race.' 'Ever since we saw Linkin Park and Metallica here, we wanted to headline Summer Sonic,' bassist Pete Wentz told the crowd halfway into the performance, a sweet moment coupled with between-song video packages that highlighted the band during its sprightly Y2K-era peak. The nostalgia only highlighted instances in which the members seemed to be showing their middle-age selves, though, like when Wentz brought up recently throwing his back out. At one point, a grand piano appeared on stage and vocalist Patrick Stump began playing 'What A Catch, Donnie,' but messed it up — twice. He apologized, but it clearly threw him off. 'I'm an idiot, it's all my fault,' he said afterward, despite following the flubs with a genuinely lovely rendition of 'Golden.' The energy for the rest of the night felt weird and somewhat uncomfortable. Traditionally, Summer Sonic has brought Western acts to Japan every summer, but climate change and dwindling headliner options are proving a challenge. Creativeman addressed the heat with mist sprays, hydration stations and even a massive air-conditioned rest area by the Pacific Stage inside Makuhari Messe. Confectionary company Kabaya gave out free samples of its salt-rich dehydration-preventing tablets. The Pacific Stage also hosted the weekend's biggest newcomer: Hana, the seven-member group from rapper Chanmina's reality show 'No No Girls.' Hana's performance was short — just four songs — but each one had the crowd popping off. The set was an opportunity to show off the group's performance chops, via high-tempo tracks like 'Rose' and vocally centric cuts like 'Blue Jeans.' This is the type of concert experience that Summer Sonic excels at, giving young acts a platform before they reach stadium status. When Hana's teenage fans began hugging one another excitedly as 'Blue Jeans' started, it was easy to imagine the group moving up to a more prominent stage in the future — similar to what the trio Babymetal did this year by commanding the Mountain Stage in front of frenzied fans more than a decade since their Summer Sonic debut. Overseas acts still found space to shine, though. 'Are you ready to lose your minds, Tokyo?' bellowed Hannah Mee, vocalist for English rock band Hot Milk, after pouring a whole bottle of water on herself early into the group's mosh pit-worthy performance. Meanwhile, American Porter Robinson dazzled fans with his trademark genre-hopping tracks, a giant inflatable cat and bursts of confetti. 'Playing Summer Sonic has been a dream of mine for a decade,' he said. The festival's most viral moment came Friday at Sonicmania, the Tokyo leg's all-night dance-centric pre-party. British producer Floating Points had already delivered the night's sharpest set when J-pop titan Hikaru Utada emerged to perform 'Somewhere Near Marseilles' — a surprise cameo that sent the venue into a state of euphoria. 'How's everyone doing tonight?' Utada shouted before the song. 'Let's have fun!' Elsewhere, Summer Sonic leaned into contemporary Latin pop. Camila Cabello turned in a highlight with a set that mixed intricate staging with moments of intimacy, but her Latin-leaning numbers sparked the biggest crowd response, despite weekend temperatures hitting their highest during her set. Summer Sonic leaned into contemporary Latin pop this year, with Colombian singer Feid curating a block on the Beach Stage. | © SUMMER SONIC All Copyrights Reserved Camila Cabello drew a lively response from the crowd at the Marine Stage. | © SUMMER SONIC All Copyrights Reserved The Beach Stage carried the vibe further. Colombian singer Feid curated a block that included Bomba Estereo's electro-tropical workout and Puerto Rican producer Tainy's Latin-focused DJ set, which drew heavy representation from the Kanto region's young Latin community. Feid closed things off with a real exclamation point — a surprise appearance from Japanese rapper Yuki Chiba, underlining Latin music's growing pull in the country. For most of the weekend, Summer Sonic felt less like a traditional festival — an undercard leading to a huge name — and more like a gathering of miniature headliners. Afternoon slots carried as much weight as closing sets, suggesting a possible new model. Still, the weekend's finale underscored why true headliners matter. Alicia Keys may not have seemed like the obvious choice to close, but she proved otherwise. Backed by a live band, she tore through 'Fallin',' 'Girl on Fire' and 'Empire State of Mind' (with a Tokyo shoutout), moving between piano and catwalk. 'It's very hot in Tokyo today ... and I like it,' she told the crowd. 'It matches how I feel.' Keys also knew how to make her set feel like a moment. A day after bringing out Chanmina in Osaka, she sent the Chiba crowd into a frenzy by welcoming Awich, Nene, Lana, Mari and Ai to her stage for a fiery performance of 'Bad Bitch Bigaku.' As fireworks lit up the sky, it was the kind of headlining moment that still makes a festival weekend feel complete.
The Mainichi
2 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Golden living statues in Osaka raise awareness about hazard of long periods in same posture
OSAKA -- Golden human statues appeared in an underground street in Osaka's Umeda district on Aug. 18 to raise awareness about how remaining in the same posture for long periods can lead to shoulder pain and other issues. The exhibition "Chokoku na Shisei Ten" -- a pun on the Japanese words "chokoku" (sculpture) and "cho koku" (super tough) -- began in the underground passage in front of Osaka Station in the city's Kita Ward. It features performers who paint their faces and costumes to mimic statues or sculptures. Additional performances are scheduled for Aug. 23 and 24. The exhibition promotes pain relief medications from the pharmaceutical company SSP Co., highlighting they not only alleviate headaches and menstrual pain but also shoulder pain. The statue performers re-create everyday postures that contribute to shoulder pain, such as using smartphones while commuting and doing desk work, while others include sitting on the ground to watch fireworks and standing over grills to make "takoyaki" octopus balls -- a well-known Osaka street food. When visitors insert coins into a nearby box, the performers come to life, rotating their shoulders or stretching. Statue performances like these are a form of street art said to have originated in France and are a familiar sight in tourist areas across Europe and the United States. The event features five professional statue performers, mainly from western Japan's Kansai region. Passersby were surprised by the sudden movements of the performers, often smiling and taking photos with their smartphones. The event will be held four times each on Aug. 23 and 24, with each session lasting one hour. (Japanese original and video by Takao Kitamura, Osaka Photo and Video Department)
