The centennial of the planting of Japanese cherry trees on the Tidal Basin will be marked with a celebration of the trees' origin, as well as remembrances of the earthquake and tsunami last year that ravaged Japan. more ›

Are you hungover? Need some greasy food and some hair of the dog? Want to do it all in the name of a good cause? Stop by the Passenger on 7th Street in Mount Vernon Square, between 2 p.m. and midnight (that's right, you can brunch until midnight). The bar is serving up their great brunch food as well as cocktails inspired by Japan and cherry blossoms. Ten percent of all sales from the brunch, along with 2 dollars from every Japanese inspired cocktail, and all the money from sales of the "Sushi Cocktail" will benefit the Red Cross. more ›

This morning, the Virginia Task Force 1 rescue team from Fairfax County returned from helping with USAID efforts in Japan. Despite a week's worth of searching, earthquake damage and weather conditions proved too extensive to find survivors around the seaport city of Ofunato. Previously we linked to this video, released by the Department of Defense, of the search and rescuers laboring through rubble and helping with recovery efforts. According to WTOP, over $145,000 worth of gear, supplies and vehicles was left behind for the continuing effort. The Embassy of Japan has setup a website with information of agencies collecting donations. more ›

While several local Japanese businesses have started to reach out to help support relief efforts in Japan, KAZ Sushi Bistro Chef Kaz Okochi, who was born in Nagoya, Japan, has called upon his fellow brethren in the DC Chefs’ Club to chip in. Starting yesterday, several D.C. restaurants are donating meals, classes and other packages to be auctioned on eBay. According to WeLoveDC, more than 20 restaurants will be participating in the auctions, with proceeds going to the American Red Cross. more ›

We linked to some photographs of Fairfax Urban Search and Rescue team members helping with Japanese recovery efforts in this morning's roundup, but this Department of Defense footage of the local rescuers making their way through the Japanese port city of Ofunato, meeting with the mayor of the city and searching through the massive rubble, is incredibly humbling. more ›

In the eyes of a Westerner, all those things that make the Japanese culture so intriguing -- the mastery of complex technologies, the embrace of natural elements and environmental sustainability, the obsession over all things "cute" -- are on display in interactive exhibits throughout the Kennedy Center in Japan! Culture + Hyperculture. Filling the inside halls and spilling over to the exterior grounds and even the parking garage, the exhibition gives us a taste of many art forms, from visual art exhibits and theater, to Manga reading rooms and collections of robot toys. Except for a few ticketed performances, the exhibit is otherwise free, running daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. through Feb. 17. more ›

Man, I had the craziest hallucination last night. Thing is, about 2,000 other people had it, too, and to give due credit, it wasn’t really my hallucination. It was Yukio Ninagawa’s. The multi-Olivier-award winning director, who picked up a knighthood from Her Majesty’s Government in 2002 for his bold reinterpretations of the likes of Twelfth Night and Medea (making him, um, Sir Yukio, we guess), has brought his Shintoku-Maru to the Kennedy Center for a brief run as part of the Japan! Culture + Hyperculture festival. more ›

Victory — not the concept, but the statue at State Place and 17th Street NW — is the Ghost of Christmas Past. Freedom — the Eastward-facing statue atop the Capitol Dome; not that thing that The Terrorists hate us for — is the Ghost of Christmas Present. And the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives draped in the inky robes of Grief. more ›

>> A solid small local show at the Red and the Black tonight, with the pleasing rock of The Charm Offensive, Cheverly Hot Noodle, and Baltimore's Lawnchair. $8, 9:30 p.m. >> It might be easy to dismiss Galactic as some frat boy-friendly jam band, but the funk and jazz-influenced quintet are practically royalty in their hometown of New Orleans, and tonight they'll perform with a series of well-respected MCs in support of their latest... more ›

>> The 1900s are playing the Rock and Roll Hotel, not to be confused with the 1990s. Three Stars alum Shortstack will join them on the bill, along with The Dead Trees and Kitty Hawk. $10, 8:30 p.m. >> Tonight at Blues Alley one of the area's finest jazz drummers, Nasar Abadey, takes the stage with SuperNova, featuring Allyn Johnson on piano, Gary Thomas, Jazz Studies Chair at Peabody, altoist Joe Ford, and bassist... more ›

The big news this week came on Tuesday, as the Washington Project for the Arts announced it was officially splitting from the Corcoran Gallery of Art at the end of 2007. The success of the partnership has boosted the WPA to a place where they can function solo once more, and are currently setting up shop in Dupont Circle. The Post has an excellent summary of WPA\C's history. >> The Arlington Arts Center is our... more ›

MONDAY >> This ain’t not J-Pop, we swear. If you want good old-fashioned Japanese rock ‘n’ roll (OK, it’s true, we don’t really know what that’s supposed to sound like either), The Captains from some place in Japan (the city name on their MySpace page uses Japanese characters) will drop by The Red & The Black tonight. They will be supported by Sugarcane Crawl, formerly known as Blues Hammer, and D.C.'s The Bourbon Dynasty. 9... more ›

Via Gothamist, the New York Post reports on what looks to be a prank involving the American University alumni magazine, American Magazine, on two graduates of the D.C. school who later lived together in New York. In the spring edition of the magazine, it was apparently falsely reported that Ross Weil, 29, and Brett Royce, 28 were "life partners" who had been gay married, adding that they were leaders of a fake group called the... more ›

The thing about mellow bands is no matter how good they are on record, they can be less than ideal to watch live. Unfortunately that was the case with Au Revoir Simone last night at the Rock and Roll Hotel. The three woman, three keyboard band from Brooklyn (none of whom are named Simone), play poppy, sweet indie that's light on vocals. They're busy these days, touring Japan in December and writing about it for... more ›

“If I do my job as an actor, you won't notice that I'm South Asian or that I'm a woman, or even that I'm playing one of the most controversial political figures of all time. I'm portraying a person at a crossroads struggling with a difficult decision.” So says Zehra Fazal (pictured right) of her striking portrayal of Adolf Hitler in her self-produced, one-woman adaptation of Yukio Mishima’s play, My Friend Hitler, currently running at... more ›

The most recent exhibition at the Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, organized with help from the National Museum of African Art, Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries, is as much a chronicle of history as it is a document for how art records history. Trying to pigeonhole this exhibition into a one category is difficult. It is more than just the fact the exhibition displays more than 260 objects, from several nations, which were created over the span of two centuries. Partly, it is that a gallery typically focused on the art of Asia is featuring a show about Portugal. Partly it is a remark made by Portugal’s Minister of Economy and Innovation positioning Portugal as the leader of the first age of globalization. The explanations layer like an onion. more ›

During a private dinner ceremony at the Arts Club of Washington (in the historic home of President James Monroe) on Monday night, the S&R Foundation conferred its Washington Awards on five deserving young musicians. For the four runners-up, we heard a brief recorded excerpt of their work: pianist Naoko Takao, Special Committee Award Winner (Persichetti's 7th sonata); marimbist Naoko Takada (a concerto by Ney Rosauro); composer Moto Osada (his own Take the Six for Marimba and Electronics); and violinist Shunské Sato, Grand Prize, 2nd place (the third Ysaÿe sonata). more ›

>> Two quality offerings from the Black Cat tonight: Japan's uber-weird noise outfit Melt-Banana take the mainstage with Hex Machine at 8:30 p.m., $13. Plus Falls Church native and now Richmond-based newgrass singer Josh Small is in the Backstage tonight, with Tim Barry and The Wading Girl, for a paltry $8 at 8 p.m. >> Campus Progress is calling all summer interns and other young folks to head over to Science Club tonight for... more ›

Bringing their iMacs, electronics and creativity tomorrow night are local graphic artists Apple Rochez, Devin Byrnes and Motaki. They will be given themes and words, and between 6 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., we novices get to watch their process as their computer screens are alternately projected on a large wall. We are most intrigued by an interactive drawing game for the audience this month -- called exquisit corpse, which was created and played by surrealists in the 1920s. more ›

MONDAY >> You may not be able to pronounce their name, but !!! (chk, chk, chk)’s disco enfused indie pop will leave you speechless. The former band members from The Yah Mos, Black Liquorice and Popesmashers are on tour promoting their recent release Myth Takes. Catch them at the 9:30 Club tonight with Canadian experimental rockers, Holy Fuck. $18. TUESDAY >> Velvet Revolver kicked off their Re-evolution tour on May 3rd the same way they... more ›

Review and photos by DCist contributor Paul Ghosh-Roy more ›

By DCist Contributor Paul Ghosh-Roy Northern Virginia heard madness and murder this weekend, as jazz met Japan in Rosslyn. Billy Fox’s Kaidan Suite, as performed by improvising chamber group the Kitsune Ensemble, explored themes of Japanese ghost-story telling, jazz and tonal music, from light to dark, at the Rosslyn Spectrum. On Saturday night the Kitsune Ensemble took the stage at the Rosslyn Spectrum to debut Kaidan Suite. Composer/director Billy Fox deftly guided the improvising... more ›

TUESDAY >> There isn't much going on today, but you might want to check out Black Cat's backstage screening of the 2005 documentary New York Dolls: All Dolled Up. Photographer Bob Gruen followed the band during the early 1970s and shot performances in venues all across the U.S. We expect plenty of sex, drugs and that other thing that comes after drugs. Kittens? $3, 9 p.m. WEDNESDAY >> The Alphabetical Order let us know that... more ›

Large Sewage Spill Sours Potomac River: Some 17 million gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Potomac River on Saturday, reports NBC 4. The spill was caused by a three-hour power failure at the Blue Plains sewage treatment plant on the eastern back of the river. And though 17 million gallons sounds like a lot, the EPA has predicted that the spill won't have a major impact, a claim countered by the Anacostia Watershed... more ›

From ambassadors of China's goodwill to international webcam sensations, the pandas at the National Zoo are used to the white-hot spotlight of celebrity. But now, some in D.C. want to take that fame a step further and elevate them to the lofty heights of becoming the city's official symbol. Today's Christian Science Monitor reports (echoing very closely a March 15 article in the Washington Times that we somehow missed) that members of the D.C. City... more ›

It’s hard to find reliable information on the reputation of Japanese playwright Yasuhiko Ohashi in English. According to press materials put together by the Landless Theatre company, currently staging Ohashi’s Godzilla at DCAC, the play was a huge hit in Japan when it debuted in the late 1980s. Ohashi was awarded a Kishida Kunio Award for the play, which is in fact a prestigious prize intended to recognize young Japanese playwrights who have achieved a major professional breakthrough. So if we assume that Godzilla is actually a really good play, the only conclusion one can draw from its U.S. premiere here in D.C. is that director Melissa Baughman and company are in way over their heads. more ›

It's no secret that this Thursday and Friday afternoon thousands of area employees will "run errands," sneak off to the office TV lounge, or otherwise alt-tab their way through the day as NCAA conference tournament play blesses us all with daytime television that doesn't suck. March Madness isn't the only productivity killer available this week, however. more ›

FRIDAY: more ›

FRIDAY more ›

It may not look or feel like it, but spring really is in the air. Sure the calender's moved past winter, but a more tell-tale sign is that cherry blossom fever has hit the city. more ›