Tokyo

The Rainbow Bridge is a suspension bridge crossing northern Tokyo Bay between Shibaura Pier and the Odaiba waterfront development in Minato, Tokyo,... Japan. Construction started in 1987 and was completed in 1993. The bridge is 798 metres long with a main span of 580 metres . Officially called the "Shuto Expressway No. 11 Daiba Route - Port of Tokyo Connector Bridge," the name "'Rainbow Bridge" was decided by the public. The towers supporting the bridge are white in color, designed to harmonize with the skyline of central Tokyo seen from Odaiba. There are lamps placed on the wires supporting the bridge, which are illuminated into three different colors, red, white and green every night using solar energy obtained during the day. The bridge can be accessed by foot from Tamachi Station or Shibaura-futō Station on the mainland side. Rainbow bridge carries three transportation lines on two decks. The upper deck carries the Shuto Expressway's Daiba Route, while the lower deck carries the Yurikamome rapid transit system in the centre, walkways on the outer side, and Tokyo Prefectural Route 482 in-between.
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Sensō-ji is an ancient Buddhist temple located in Asakusa, Taitō, Tokyo. It is Tokyo's oldest temple, and one of its most significant.... Formerly associated with the Tendai sect, it became independent after World War II. Adjacent to the temple is a Shinto shrine, the Asakusa Shrine. The temple is dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon, also known as Guan Yin or the Goddess of Mercy. According to legend, a statue of the Kannon was found in the Sumida River in 628 by two fishermen, the brothers Hinokuma Hamanari and Hinokuma Takenari. The chief of their village, Hajino Nakamoto, recognized the sanctity of the statue and enshrined it by remodeling his own house into a small temple in Asakusa, so that the villagers could worship the Kannon. The first temple was built on the site in 645, which makes it the oldest temple in Tokyo. In the early years of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu designated Sensō-ji as tutelary temple of the Tokugawa clan. The Nishinomiya Inari Shrine is located within the precincts of Sensō-ji; and a torii identifies the entry into the hallowed ground of a Shinto shrine.
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The Museum of Contemporary Art is a contemporary art museum in Tokyo, Japan. The museum is located in Kiba Park. It was opened in 1995.

The National Museum of Western Art is the premier public art gallery in Japan specializing in art from the Western tradition. The Museum is located... in the museum and zoo complex in Ueno Park in Taito, central Tokyo. This popular Tokyo museum is also known by the English acronym NMWA . The NMWA was established on June 10, 1959. The museum developed around the core art collection of Matsukata Kojiro , whose thinking is mirrored in the museum he anticipated. Matsukata's acquisition strategies were designed to create the nucleus of what he hoped would become an evolving national museum specializing in Western art. The museum exhibits works from the Renaissance to the early 20th century, many having been acquired since the museum's opening. The museum's purpose is to provide the public with opportunities to appreciate Western art. Since its opening, the museum, as Japan's only national institution devoted to Western art, has been involved in exhibitions, art work and document acquisition, research, restoration and conservation, education and the publication of materials related to Western art.
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The Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, Japan, is the foremost museum collecting and exhibiting contemporary Japanese art. This Tokyo... museum is also known by the English acronym MOMAT . MOMAT is known for its collection of 20th century art and includes Western-style and Nihonga artists. The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, was the first National Museum of Art in Japan and dates back to 1952, when it was established as an institution governed by the Ministry of Education. The architect of the building was Kunio Maekawa. On two later occasions, neighbouring premises were purchased and the Museum was further enlarged. The most recent re-design of MOMAT was conceived by Yoshiro Taniguchi . The collection contains many notable Japanese artists since the Meiji period as well as a few contemporary Western prints. In the early years of the 20th century, Matsukata Kojiro collected Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints which had been scattered throughout the world.
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Hiroyuki Sanada, MBE on October 12, 1960 is a Japanese actor. Sanada was born in Tokyo. Originally aiming to be an action star, starting with... Shorinji Kempo, he eventually took up Kyokushin kaikan. Sanada began training at age 11 with actor and martial arts star Sonny Chiba's Japan Action Club where he developed good all-round martial arts ability, and soon became Chiba's protégé. Sanada's martial arts film career led him in contact with Michelle Yeoh, whom he later starred with in Danny Boyle's Sunshine. He also has a long-standing friendship with Jackie Chan, although he did not star in a film with him before Rush Hour 3 in 2007. Sanada has often been credited, in his younger days, as either Henry, Harry or Duke Sanada. Sanada has established himself as a character actor who is adept at playing a variety of roles. Sanada was first noticed as a serious actor in the movie Mahjong Hourouki directed by Makoto Wada. Wada and Sanada's relationship may be similar to that of John Huston and Humphrey Bogart.
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Ayako Kawasumi is a Japanese voice actress and J-pop singer. She is affectionately referred to by her fellow voice actors and fans as "Ayachii ",... "Ayasumi " and "Aya-nē ". She is a skilled pianist, having practiced the piano since childhood. She composed and performed "To You", the opening theme to Piano, and played pianists in the anime Piano and Nodame Cantabile. Leading roles in bold.
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Akiji Kobayashi , sometimes credited as Shōji Kobayashi or Issei Mori, was a Japanese actor. He is best known in the West for portraying the... role of Captain Mura in the 1966-1967 television series, Ultraman. Another notable television role was Tōbei Tachibana in the 1971 series, Kamen Rider. Kobayashi died of lung cancer in Yokohama at the age of 65.
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Ataru Nakamura is a Japanese pop singer and songwriter. Born in Tokyo on 28 June 1985, Nakamura began studying music at a young age. She taught... herself to play the piano, guitar, and the drums at age ten, and began to write her own songs at the age of thirteen. In 1999, at the age of fourteen, she released an indie label album called Shouchikubai as her prize. In 2006, she switched to a major label, the popular Avex Trax. Her first major label single, "Yogoreta Shitagi", was released on her birthday, and received minor attention. "Yogoreta Shitagi" was written about an ex-boyfriend who was cheating on her and is written from the former boyfriend's point of view. Nakamura called this individual on the telephone to explain that the song she had written about him was to be her debut single. Her second single, "Tomodachi no Uta", received greater attention, and placed at number 150 on the Oricon charts. However, it was not until Nakamura revealed on the talk-radio program All Night Nippon that she was a transsexual and had undergone sex reassignment surgery that she received major attention.
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Kou Shibasaki , born Yukie Yamamura, on August 5, 1981 in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan is a Japanese singer and actress. Shibasaki made her debut in the... music industry in 2002 with her first single Trust My Feelings, but she became recognized for her second single Tsuki no shizuku which was used for the movie Yomigaeri. The song was one of the most successful J-Pop hits of 2003. Her first album peaked at number 2 and spent 68 weeks on the Oricon charts. Her second album was considered to be a commercial disappointment, in comparison to her first album, lasting 9 weeks and reaching a peak position of #5. Shibasaki's first Christmas song, "Actuality", was released in December 2006. "At Home" was released later on February 21, 2007. Both failed to reach the top 10 on the Oricon charts. "Hito Koi Meguri", released on March 28, 2007, reached number 8 on the charts. It became her first single to reach the top 10 since "Invitation". On April 25, 2007, Shibasaki's third album Kiki♥ was released and went straight to number one. On August 3 and 5, Shibasaki held her first concerts - "Kou Shibasaki Premium Live" in Osaka and Tokyo.
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Eiji Wentz is a Japanese singer, entertainer, and actor. He is a member of the singer-songwriter duo WaT, and belongs to the production company... Burning Productions. Born in Mitaka, Tokyo to a German-American father and Japanese mother, Wentz became involved in the entertainment industry at a very young age. Wentz initially started as a model at age 4, and made his acting debut as the role of Chip in the Four Seasons Musical Troupe Production of Beauty and the Beast. He became famous as a child actor as a regular on the NHK television show Tensai Terebi-kun where he played bass guitar and piano at age 10. During live performances, he played the acoustic bass as well as the keyboard. He started learning the guitar from age 17. He originally wanted to be a fashion model, but he was too short to become one. When he terminated his contract with Tensai Terebi-kun, he decided to get away from show-business, but after the recommendation of Hiromi Go, he entered Burning Productions and became a tarento. He began his acting career at the age of 18, when he played a minor role in the NHK television series Toshiie To Matsu.
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Hiroshi Teshigahara was an avant-garde Japanese filmmaker. He was born in Tokyo, son of Sofu Teshigahara, founder and grand master of the Sogetsu... School of ikebana. He graduated in 1950 from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and began working in documentary film. He directed his first feature film, Pitfall , in collaboration with author Kōbō Abe and musician Tōru Takemitsu. The film won the NHK New Director's award, and throughout the 1960s, he continued to collaborate on films with Abe and Takemitsu while simultaneously pursuing his interest in ikebana and sculpture on a professional level. In 1965, the Teshigahara/Abe film Woman in the Dunes was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1972, he worked with Japanese researcher and translator John Nathan to make the movie Summer Soldiers, a film set during the Vietnam War about American deserters living on the fringe of Japanese society.
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Katsuhisa Hattori is a Japanese classical composer who also writes music for anime movies, TV series and OVAs. He is best known for his soundtrack... compositions for Argento Soma and Hiroyuki Morioka's "Seikai" anime series. Hattori was born in Tokyo, Japan. He is an extremely respected composer in Japan; his style is classical, although he is experienced and respected in many other genres, such as New Age, Jazz, etc. He is the son of Ryoichi Hattori and father of Takayuki Hattori, who both are musical composers as well. In 2000 his life and musical works were honored in an hour-long Japanese television special. He has conducted many famous orchestras, but most of his own compositions are performed by the acclaimed "Tokyo Pops Orchestra". Besides being a composer, he has been a producer and music supervisor for many years, and now has his own publishing company, "Hattori Music Publishing". He is also pianist, judge and a chairman for the Tokyo music festivals.
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Yōsuke Yamashita is an acclaimed jazz pianist, composer, essayist, and writer from Tokyo, Japan. He is praised by critics for his unique piano... style. In 2003 he was conferred the Imperial Medal of Honor by the Japanese government for his contributions to the arts and academia. Yosuke first began to play professionally at the age of 17 in 1959, and attended the Kunitachi College of Music from 1962 to 1967. His first printed recording was released in 1963, and he became a pioneer of avant-garde and free jazz. In 1969, Yosuke formed the Yosuke Yamashita Trio, which has been through various incarnations, each introducing and highlighting the skill of the new member. In the 1980s, Yosuke formed the "New York Trio" with bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Pheeroan akLaff. In 1990, he was awarded the prestigious Fumio Nanri award. In 1994 he was invited to perform at the 50th anniversary concert of jazz label Verve, held at Carnegie Hall. Yosuke moved into film scoring in 1998, scoring the Shohei Imamura film Kanzo Sensei, and his work earned him the "Minister of Education Award," amongst others.
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Hideki Tōjō was a general of the Imperial Japanese Army , the leader of the Taisei Yokusankai, and the 40th Prime Minister of Japan... during most of World War II, from 17 October 1941 to 22 July 1944. As Prime Minister, he was directly responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor, which led to the war between Japan and the United States. After the end of the war, Tōjō was arrested, sentenced to death for Japanese war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, and was hanged on 23 December 1948. Eiki Tōjō was born in the Kōjimachi district of Tokyo in 1884 as the third son of Hidenori Tōjō, a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army. He would later change his given name from the Chinese-inspired "Eiki" to the more traditionally-Japanese "Hideki" . In 1899, Tojo entered the Army Cadet School. When he graduated from the Japanese Military Academy in March 1905 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infantry of the IJA. In 1909, he married Katsuko Ito, with whom he would have three sons and four daughters.
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Liv Johanne Ullmann is a Norwegian actress and film director, as well as one of the "muses" of the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. A winner of the... Golden Globe, Ullmann has also been nominated for the Palme d'Or, two times for the Academy Award, and a BAFTA Award. Ullmann was born in Tokyo, Japan, the daughter of Janna and Viggo Ullmann, an aircraft engineer who was working in Tokyo at the time. Ullmann grew up in Trondheim, Norway. She lived in Canada as a child during World War II. She resides in Miami, Florida. Ullmann began her acting career on the Norwegian stage in the mid 1950s. She continued to act in the theatre for most of her career, and became noted for her portrayal of Nora in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, but became wider known once she started to work with eminent Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman. She went on to act to significant acclaim in 10 of his most admired films, including Persona in 1966, The Passion of Anna in 1969, Cries and Whispers in 1972 and Autumn Sonata, in which her co-star, Ingrid Bergman, made her return to Swedish cinema.
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Keiko Matsuzaka is an actress. Born in Ōta, Tokyo, her father was a naturalized South Korean while her mother was Japanese. Active as a child... actress in the 1960s, she came into her own as an adult with Daiei, then in 1972 with Shochiku. Keiko played the "Madonna" role in the 1981 film Naniwa no Koi no Torajirō, the 27th in the Otoko wa Tsurai yo series. The producers called on her again for that role in Torajirō no Endan, the 46th of the 49 installments . Keiko also appeared in Legend of the Eight Samurai , Shin Izakaya Yūrei , Dr. Akagi by Shōhei Imamura , Runin: Banished by Eiji Okuda , and Inugamike no Ichizoku . She won the award for best actress at the 6th Hochi Film Award for The Gate of Youth and Tora-san's Love in Osaka, and at the 15th Hochi Film Award for The Sting of Death. Her early television appearances have included the tokusatsu superhero series Ultra Seven . She portrayed Nohime, wife of Oda Nobunaga, in the 1973 NHK Taiga drama Kunitori Monogatari. From 1973 to 1981, she appeared in Edo o Kiru, including five seasons as the character Oyuki.
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