J1 Radio / Ｊ１ラジオ

Shanghai duo Birdhead flips photography

At the back of Kondaya Genbei, a 280-year-old obi wholesaler in Kyoto, slippered art-goers ascend a winding stairwell just wide enough for one. At the top of the narrow tower, a chamber shrouded in darkness is lit from overhead by a thin circle of natural light. The fixture resembles a solar eclipse hanging over the scene: Sculptures, presented like idols, made of collaged body parts, camera components and tiny picture frames. They represent not humanity’s devotion to any particular gods, but its unshakeable faith in photography. Cryptic and sardonic, this is Birdhead’s world.

Sumitomo to bolster shareholder returns in new midterm plan

Trading firm Sumitomo said it will buy back its stock and adopt a progressive dividend policy, bringing it in line with the other four major peers in an effort to boost shareholder returns.

Japan's May 1 intervention may have cost ¥3.66 trillion, BOJ data suggests

Japanese officials may have spent some ¥3.66 trillion ($23.59 billion) on Wednesday to pull the yen back from near 34-year lows, Bank of Japan data suggested Thursday.

Art award show offers trippy scenes of seeing and being seen

If you’re not fazed by the possibility of being deeply unsettled, catching a performance by the Japanese artist known as Saeborg (a self-styled “imperfect cyborg that is half human and half toy”), at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, should be a good Golden Week outing.