Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent By Rieko Kimura / Special to Ryoko Yomiuri Publication a port town in Kanagawa Prefecture’s southwest is known as a “town of beauty” thanks in part to an ordinance enacted in 1993 that protects the town from resort condominium developments whose value is said to have been enhanced by the locals’ conservation efforts As I got off at Manazuru Station and left the one-story building allowing the sky to spread out wide before me I entered one of the narrow alleyways that weave between the houses locally called “setomichi,” are everywhere and invoke the particular spirit of the town Walls of locally quarried komatsuishi stones line the alleys and delicate flowers bloom here and there along the ground so indispensable to the soothing townscape are said to be tended to by locals in accordance with the ordinance a “publishing house where you can spend the night.” The business was launched by Shun Kawaguchi and Tomomi Kishi in 2015 after they moved to the town to promote its charms “I want people to experience the old-time feel and warmth of the people in Manazuru,” Kishi said I left Manazaru Publishing and headed for the seafront the fish special of the day at restaurant honohono I walked back to the station along alleys I had yet to traverse Often I was unsure of whether I was headed in the right direction but felt a curiosity about what might lay up ahead which made for an exquisite sense of exploration Such walks always surprise with some wonderful I can’t wait to see what lovely sights will greet me on my next visit Japan Tourism is presented in collaboration with The Japan News and Ryoko Yomiuri Publication, which publishes Ryoko Yomiuri, a monthly travel magazine. 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The page may not be displayed properly if the JavaScript is deactivated on your browser Japanese version Focus features two in-depth reviews each month of fine art architecture and design exhibitions and events at art museums galleries and alternative spaces around Japan The contributors are non-Japanese art critics living in Japan Sometimes a place becomes irrevocably linked with an artist who worked there The French city of Arles was immortalized by Vincent van Gogh The island of Tahiti immediately brings to mind Paul Gauguin the artist most closely associated with the small Japanese town of Manazuru is Kazumasa Nakagawa (1893-1991) a painter who made his base there for more than 40 years Manazuru is located about 70 kilometers southwest of Tokyo on a small peninsula that juts into the Pacific Ocean making it mostly unsuitable for agriculture the Tokyo-born Nakagawa fell in love with the area and in particular with a view of Fukuura harbor on the western side of the peninsula He moved his atelier to Manazuru in 1949 in order to paint that and other local scenes and ended up staying for the rest of his life the town returned the compliment by building a museum in his honor the Nakagawa Kazumasa Art Museum has the largest collection anywhere of Nakagawa's works The Nakagawa Kazumasa Art Museum in Manazuru Visiting the museum is an easy day-trip from Tokyo It can also be done as a stop on the way to the better known tourist destinations of Hakone and Atami although Manazuru offers plenty of its own amusements and pleasant walking trails along the coast through a protected forest Called the O-Hayashi (Great Wood) by locals this verdant grove boasts deciduous trees that are hundreds of years old a rarity in Japan where so many forests were ravaged for fuel during the Second World War Architecture aficionados will take special pleasure in the museum building which won important prizes for its architect and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo which were made by pouring concrete into wooden molds; the lines of the planks and the grain of the wood are visible in the finished surface The lobby is laid with a famous local stone called komatsuishi a type of andesite that was also used in building Edo Castle and in the construction of many Japanese gardens he is best known for his paintings in oil on canvas European painting was introduced to Japan centuries earlier by missionaries and traders but due to the country's policy of national isolation very few Japanese had an opportunity to work in this style paintings done in Japan with European materials and techniques such as perspective and shading came to be called yoga (Western paintings) a term coined to distinguish them from traditionally-rendered works which were then referred to as Nihonga (Japanese paintings) Nakagawa decided to become a painter after learning about the work of van Gogh and Paul Cézanne from the literary magazines that published his poetry He attracted notice quickly and was soon part of a modernist movement that began in Japan around the 1910s in which painters sought to express themselves as Japanese while working in the Western medium of oil paint Perhaps the most famous artist in this group was Ryuzaburo Umehara (1888-1986) and liberated spirit greatly influenced young painters of the time Nakagawa's earliest oil paintings are realistic and rather controlled but he quickly found his own style in semi-abstract images rendered in bold colors and energetic brushwork He painted the harbor at Fukuura again and again over a period of two decades giving it up only when his view was despoiled by the construction of concrete buildings which he painted more than 40 times in 16 years When he got older and could no longer walk to paint from nature outdoors he stayed in his atelier working on still lifes of roses or sunflowers and between sales of his paintings and commissions to illustrate books and magazines Nakagawa made a good living with enough money left over for collecting In 1975 Nakagawa's career got a significant boost when he received the Japanese government's Order of Culture award He could also count among his fans the Empress of Japan who kept a Nakagawa painting in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo in 2010 both the Emperor and Empress came to Manazuru and made a stop at the Nakagawa Museum His paintings continue to trade reasonably well when they come up for sale In his mother's birthplace in Ishikawa Prefecture there is a second museum devoted to his work Even while working in the Western medium of oil paint and remained strongly focused on Asian culture Throughout his life he practiced traditional arts including the tea ceremony He worked often in traditional Japanese mediums such as ink painting which are richly colored paints made with pulverized minerals such as lapis lazuli and malachite When Nakagawa collected he bought whatever inspired him the Nakagawa Museum will present a series of four exhibitions showcasing the four seasons -- spring autumn and winter -- as seen in Nakagawa's art be sure to stop afterwards at the municipal facility next door where people play the uniquely Japanese croquet-golf hybrid called "park golf." Inside Nakagawa's Manazuru atelier has been nicely re-created with furnishings and art supplies donated by his family after his death The café that shares the space offers tasty buckwheat galettes at window tables overlooking the sea allowing the visitor a glimpse of what it must have been about Manazuru that so charmed the artist Nakagawa All images courtesy of the Nakagawa Kazumasa Art Museum By Kenichi Osuga / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer Kanagawa — Driving out of a tunnel near a toll gate for the Manazuru Blue Line the 595-meter-long Iwa Ohashi bridge comes into view With Sagami Bay on the left and Iwa beach on the right Tokyo’s Izu Oshima island and Chiba Prefecture’s Boso Peninsula were visible in the distance The bridge — which stands 29 meters above sea level at its highest point — juts out of rocky cliffs and extends over the water resembling Kyoto Prefecture’s Amanohashidate area which is listed as one of the three most scenic spots in Japan “The bridge is sometimes featured on fishing and detective shows but the area is actually the location of a historical escape,” said a Manazuru town official in charge of commissioning films managing director of the town’s tourism association “the beach where Minamoto no Yoritomo sailed from” or “celebratory beach,” and consider it a place of good luck the warlord Minamoto no Yoritomo of the Genji clan was defeated by the Heike clan in the battle of Ishibashiyama in Odawara Yoritomo fled into the mountains and hid in the Shitodo Cave in Manazuru Yoritomo set sail from Iwa beach and escaped to the Boso Peninsula In an effort to attract tourists using the history of Yoritomo and the beach and also organized various events and walking tours “Although many people don’t stop in Manazuru these days when they travel between Hakone and Atami [hot springs resort] I want to make the entire town a celebratory beach [town],” Arisawa said Many of us must be rethinking the way we have lived in the past as various values and lifestyles have changed in the wake of Corona Perhaps it is time for us to seriously consider where and how we will live in the future we visited Kaito Yamamoto of "Son of the Cheese" at his home in Manazuru who is a master of fun and has realized a wealth of business ideas one after another has moved many times and has been living in two locations We believe there is much to be impressed by his affluent lifestyle which is distinctly different from the luxurious and opulent house he lives in A home in Manazuru standing on high ground A spacious lawn spreads out in front of the eaves Yugawara and Atami are just a stone's throw away Japanese version Yokohama (Jiji Press) — The mayor of Manazuru was ousted in Sunday’s referendum over a scandal in which he allegedly made an illegal copy of the town’s voter list for use in his own election campaign and the town will hold an election to choose his successor within 50 days 2,204 of the 3,582 valid votes were in favor of removing Matsumoto Matsumoto said he would not run in the upcoming mayoral election but resigned in November 2021 after the scandal came to light He was re-elected in a subsequent mayoral poll but the town then filed a criminal complaint against him for allegedly violating the public offices election law Japanese version By Shinobu Takanashi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer Visitors to the Nakagawa Kazumasa Art Museum in Manazuru are able to appreciate works by Kazumasa Nakagawa (1893-1992) who is also known in other art media such as book cover illustrations An acquaintance presented the Western-style painter Nakagawa used the items to paint “Sakagura” (sake storehouse) in Kobe where he was staying at the time He submitted the work to the Tatsumigakai Exhibition which at the time served as a gateway for young artists to make a name for themselves The painting was accepted and earned a prize acknowledged by artist Ryusei Kishida on the panel of judges the work Nakagawa submitted won the top prize at the same exhibition he became a leading figure in the Western art scene Nakagawa acquired a studio in the town of Manazuru and continued to produce paintings which were inspired by vast nature in the area In the exhibition space on the second floor of the museum visitors can see the large painting “Komagatake” (Mt which was completed in 1982 when Nakagawa was 89 which measures 162 centimeters wide and 130 centimeters high depicts a landscape in Hakone in the prefecture Nakagawa insisted on viewing the actual subject matter in person when painting anything refusing to rely on photographs or imagination He reportedly toted a heavy set of his paint utensils to the location and sketched the landscape for this project “He took ‘living art’ very seriously and always challenged himself to do better,” said museum curator Shiho Kato such as Saneatsu Mushanokoji and Kuniko Mukoda He also created many paintings featuring calligraphy “He used to proudly call them ‘a harmony of calligraphy and painting,’ and believed that his art wouldn’t stand with either paintings or calligraphy alone,” Kato explained Nakagawa’s pursuit of art extended into pottery The museum features his works from various genres putting them out for the public in displays that occasionally offer a fresh perspective The facility is currently exhibiting works selected under the theme “Gaku mo E no uchi!” (Frames are part of pictures) Visitors can also access a room for the tea ceremony that was added to the museum at Nakagawa’s request He was constantly with a paint brush in his hand until his last breath at 97 Even when he was hospitalized shortly before his death he apparently was observed maneuvering his hand as if he were painting something on the ceiling Hanging inside the tea ceremony room is a scroll written in calligraphy with the words “Manshin nenriki” (Full body thought power) brushed by himself The space is a place where visitors can feel the devotion and intensity of an artist who put all his body and soul into creating his art The museum opened in 1989 as a facility run by the town of Manazuru It is about a 15-minute bus ride from JR Manazuru Station unless those days are not a national holiday ¥350 for children high school age and younger Japanese version Koei Tecmo updated the official website for Toukiden 2 giving us details and screenshots on the game’s story a first look at two new character Touya and Manazuru The world has been destroyed by the disaster from the Awakening The “Front of History” which has gone undisturbed for so long has fallen while the “Backside of History,” swaggering with evil spirits A vast number of “Oni” began to appearing in the northern lands trampling villages while working their way southward In order to fight against the Oni in Yokohama warriors known as Slayers were deployed to fight against the Oni in order to defend the city of Yokohama and a single Slayer was consumed by the demon gate that was opened by the Oni In Mahoroba Village located in the western lands   The following is a look at recently introduced characters: He recruited various people while wandering around and formed a powerful military group His relation with Yakumo is like that between cats an dogs The vice-commander of the Samurai Corps that is led by Touya She’s an earnest character with respect for rules and they say she’s the second most strict of the leaders after Toshizo Hijikata It got its name from its huge blade-like tail   It uses its fan-like tail to create wind and lightning used for powerful attacks Toukiden 2 will release in Japan on July 28