A Japanese restaurant has opened in the Sinmuro neighborhood, offering a new choice for the many office workers in the area jaded by the usual offerings of Korean eateries.Yamaya, which bills itself as “Hakata motsunabe dining and bar,” offers a choice of five set menus during lunch hour: Deep-fried chicken seasoned with Pollack roe; Hakata Gameni, chicken braised in soy-seasoned broth with chunks

Food May 13, 2011

LONDON (AP) ― Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has vanished. But look around, and he seems to be everywhere.More than a month after one of China’s best-known contemporary artist was arrested while trying to board a flight to Hong Kong, his name, his face and his art have popped up across the globe. China’s communist rulers have steadfastly refused to say where Ai is or who’s holding him, but his colleague

Performance May 12, 2011

Beastie Boys members (from left) Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz, Adam “MCA” Yauch and Michael “Mike D” Diamond. (AP-Yonhap News)WEST HOLLYWOOD (AP) ― On a wind-swept balcony at the posh Chateau Marmont hotel, Michael “Mike D” Diamond, one-third of the legendary hip-hop trio the Beastie Boys, is recounting to Adam “Ad-Rock” Horowitz what happened at a party that he departed early the night before. Among t

Performance May 12, 2011

MONTREAL (AFP) ― A museum in Montreal is showcasing the on-screen discoveries of Hollywood’s fictional adventurer Indiana Jones, in hopes of inspiring a new generation of young archaeologists.“Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology: The Exhibition,” marking the 30th anniversary of the famed character’s silver screen debut, takes visitors on a virtual tour of sites depicted in the adventure

Culture May 9, 2011

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ― On the final day of this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, fans camped out early Sunday to get a great spot to hear the closing day set of The Radiators ― one of the city’s funkiest blues rock bands ― who have been closing the fest along with the Neville Brothers for years.The band ― keyboardist Ed Volker, guitarists Dave Malone and Camile Baudoin, bassist Reggie Scan

Performance May 9, 2011

IMPHAL, India (AFP) ― When separatist rebels in the remote Indian state of Manipur banned Hindi movies a decade ago, they had little idea it would trigger a cultural invasion from a country more than 2,000 miles away.But when Bollywood was forced out, the Koreans moved in.In the markets of the state capital Imphal, shops are packed with DVDs of South Korean films and television soap operas, as wel

May 9, 2011

WILLOW GROVE, Pennsylvania (AP) ― Fans of comic books basked in a bounty of free issues as retailers from Los Angeles to London handed out thousands upon thousands of free copies Saturday for the 10th annual Free Comic Book Day.Some stores opened early while others arranged for artists and writers, including top names like DC Comics’ chief creative officer, Geoff Johns, Marvel writer Jonathan Hick

Books May 8, 2011

The Australian Embassy is holding the “Meet Australia at Ewha” festival in May at Ewha Womans University, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Australia. “Ewha Womans University was chosen as it frequently hosts popular cultural events for the younger generation,” said Ambassador Sam Gerovich. “This exchange with the university will hopefully become a steppin

Culture May 8, 2011

Exhibitions“Paulo Robersi: Photographs”: A retrospective exhibition on Italian photographer Paulo Robersi is under way at 10 CORSO COMO. Robersi is referred to as currently one of the three best fashion photographers in the world along with Steven Meisel and Peter Lindbergh. The exhibition runs through May 8 at 10 CORSO COMO SEOUL in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul. Admission is free. Minors are no

Performance May 6, 2011

INDIANAPOLIS ― Every year on Memorial Day weekend, a city lives, breathes, then seems to die ― a cycle that comes to a head in about four hours.That’s the approximate time it takes to run the Indianapolis 500 in this formerly ho-hum-hamlet-turned-real-city. It’s this last bit that’s surprising, because for some time, it wasn’t like that.But if you’ve been sleeping on Indy, know that it’s now prett

Travel May 6, 2011

SALINA ISLAND, Italy (AP) ― As I watch the sun set from my terrace on the west coast of Salina, one of Italy’s Aeolian Islands, I marvel again that the stone headrest I am lying against is so inexplicably comfortable.Its effect is like so much else on this harsh volcanic island, located in the clearest Mediterranean waters: Salina’s very starkness soothingly lulls you into contemplating its simple

Travel May 6, 2011

Review: Under the spell of ‘The Sandalwood Tree’“The Sandalwood Tree”  (Atria Books),  by Elle NewmarkIf you like your love stories sweeping and wrapped in history, “The Sandalwood Tree” by Elle Newmark has it all.The narrative switches between India in two generations, the mid-19th century and post-World War II. The 1947 narrator is Evie, an American whose marriage is on the rocks after her husba

Books May 6, 2011

I’ve outgrown J.D. Salinger, and I don’t know where that leaves me.I was 10 when my father handed me “The Catcher in the Rye,” and I found not just a voice for all the wild despair and sudden inexplicable elation of adolescence but an acknowledgement that these feelings did not occur in a vacuum. Salinger reached into the “vale of tears” catechism of my Irish Catholic upbringing and lifted me out

Books May 6, 2011

LOS ANGELES ― Shortly before Daniel Hernandez moved from Los Angeles to Mexico to write a book about its roiling capital, a friend gave him an order. “I don’t want to see you back from Mexico City until it’s physically altered you, until you are different,” Hernandez was told.The Western Hemisphere’s largest metropolitan area, with about 22 million people, has its existential challenges: toxic air

Books May 6, 2011