Living Legend (20)
Living Legend - Noam Chomsky
Saving the World from Self-Destruction
Linguist, cognitive scientist, philosopher, logician and political commentator– all of these have been used to describe Noam Chomsky, one of the greatest minds in the world today. Born in 1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Avram Noam Chomsky studied linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania where he earned his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. He was later appointed as a professor of foreign languages and linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He became a pioneer in the field of psycholinguistics, helping to establish a relationship between linguistics and psychology. Today, he is one of the world’s most highly influential academic figures, being cited in the Arts & Humanities Citation Index more often than any other living scholar between 1980 and 1992, influencing such fields as mathematics, computer science, artificial intelligence, logic, cognitive science, music theory and analysis, political science, programming language theory and psychology. Outside of academia, Chomsky is internationally recognized as a political activist for his writing and speaking on U.S. foreign policy, capitalism and the mainstream news media. In 2005, he was named the most important public intellectual in the FP Top 100 Global Thinkers poll conducted by Foreign Policy magazine. Tokyo Journal Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie spoke with Professor Noam Chomsky about his views on Japan and some of the greatest threats to the survival of the human race.
Living Legend - Tadao Ando
Tadao Ando
Self-Taught Architect
Tadao Ando, born in 1941, is a former boxer who became one of Japan’s most renowned architects. His projects, which can be found in Japan, the U.S., the U.K., Spain, Germany, France, and Italy, are known for having large expanses of unadorned architectural concrete walls combined with large windows and wooden or stone floors. He has received such awards as the Pritzker Prize, Gold Medal of Architecture from the French Academy of Architecture, Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects and Gold Medal of the Union Internationale des Architects. He is a visiting professor at Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, and University of California, Berkeley.
Tatsuya Nakadai Featured
Tatsuya Nakadai
Sixty years of Film, Television and Theater
Tatsuya Nakadai is a shining star of post-war Japan. Still active in the entertainment business as an octogenarian, the legendary actor’s work in film and theater has been acknowledged worldwide. The films he has appeared in have won awards at the Oscars and the “Big Three” film festivals in Berlin, Cannes and Venice. Nakadai’s career defies easy categorization because of the wide variety of characters he has portrayed in films and plays. His dynamic performance on screen is unforgettable, especially his work with Japan’s cream-of-the-crop film directors, including Akira Kurosawa, Masaki Kobayashi and Kon Ichikawa. His appearances in Kurosawa films such as Kagemusha and Ran have etched his name into the history of world film and in 2015 he was awarded the Order of Culture by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. Tokyo Journal Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie sat down with Tatsuya Nakadai at his acting school, Mumeijuku, to hear about his career and experiences working with Kurosawa.
Tito Time in Tokyo Featured
Tito Time in Tokyo
Legendary Jackson Brother on The Jacksons’ 50 Years in Entertainment and his Solo Album Debut in Japan
The legacy of the Jackson family is phenomenal. The Jackson 5 was the first group to debut with four consecutive number-one hits on the Hot 100, where they also had 16 Top 40 singles. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. Two of their recordings — “ABC” and “I Want You Back” — are among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. They had their own family variety and animated TV series in the 1970s and returned to TV in 2009 for a reality show called The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty. Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Michael and Marlon Jackson began performing as The Jackson 5 in Gary, Indiana in 1965. Their father, Joe Jackson, booked his sons in talent contests, high school functions and then larger venues until they won the Amateur Night competition in August 1967 at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. In 1975, the brothers renamed themselves The Jacksons, which later included the youngest brother, Randy. Their sisters Janet and Latoya also had sensational solo careers of their own. In 1984, Michael Jackson left The Jacksons at the end of their Victory tour. Dubbed the King of Pop, Michael was the best-selling music artist of all time when he died in 2009. He was the first artist in history to have a top 10 single in the Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades and was the most-awarded recording artist of all time. Guinness World Records recognized Michael as the most successful entertainer of all time and for supporting more charities than any other entertainer. It may be surprising to learn that it took the second eldest Jackson brother, Tito, 50 years to release his first solo album, Tito Time, initially in Japan in December 2016, and then with a global debut in 2017. Tokyo Journal Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie talked to Tito while he was in Tokyo about being in the entertainment business for half-a-century, Michael and his brothers, his new album and his love for Japan.
