On April 1, 1945, 75,000 American troops landed at Hagushi Bay, on the west coast of Okinawa. Eighty-two days of fighting followed in what became known as the “Typhoon of Steel,” resulting in 200,000 deaths and a decimated island. The last major campaign of World War II, the Battle of Okinawa persists in the minds […]
Japanese screen collection explores five centuries of beauty
October 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment
The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco offers glimpses of the elegant world of Japanese folding screens through an exhibit that opened Oct. 15 called “Beyond Golden Clouds: Five Centuries of Japanese Screens.” The collection displays traditional Japanese art, starting from the Muromachi period (1392-1573) through the innovative and modern era of the late 20th […]
Story of Nikkei nurseries told at Richmond Museum of History
September 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment
RICHMOND, Calif. — For Nisei Tom Oishi, the Sept. 12 opening ceremony at the Richmond Museum of History was cathartic. “I couldn’t believe what the U.S. government did to us when they sent us to the camp,” said the 88-year-old Oishi, who during World War II was sent to Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, […]
A New Relationship, Unfolding Through Art ‘Japan’s Early Ambassadors’ at the Asian Art Museum
July 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment
In 1927, 58 young women arrived from Japan, toting newly issued passports, clad in elaborate silk kimono, their trunks filled with tea sets and painted fans, with the goal of teaching Americans about Japanese culture. They just didn’t know it. These representatives from Japan were a group of dolls sent as part of a friendship […]
SFMOMA’s First Postwar Japanese Photography Exhibit Charts the Evolution of Japanese Art and Society
October 1, 2009 by Leave a Comment
A young woman sitting in a garden, her kimono pulled back defiantly to reveal a single naked breast. A stray dog, glaring menacingly, teeth bared. A woman’s head, eyes gaping, jammed beneath the armpit of a muscular man, seemingly detached from her body but very much alive. These are images from postwar Japan as seen […]
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