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How one woman is rewriting kabuki’s ‘all-male’ narrative in Japan
Out of the backstage shadows, an onnagata – the traditional female role in the Japanese traditional theatre art of kabuki – steals into the light. Her hair is swept high into a voluminous bun, framing a face veiled in a thin layer of porcelain-white powder. Touches of cherry blossom flush across her eyelids and lips. She glides across the starkly lit stage so weightlessly that her steps leave silence behind. With precision, she turns, twirls and looks into the distance, face perfectly...
When centuries of Chinese knowledge were destroyed by a warlord who burned the capital
Before I went to Warsaw, I knew little of the city beyond the fact that it was Poland’s capital. I had not realised that much of present-day Warsaw, including its beautiful historic centre, was rebuilt after World War II. Warsaw’s wartime destruction was not merely the consequence of battle, but a deliberate campaign by its Nazi German occupiers to erase much of the city. In August 1944, the Warsaw Uprising – a Polish armed revolt by the city’s underground resistance against German occupation –...
From punk to Gothic: how Singapore’s Ask & Embla built a global jewellery brand
You’d likely never guess that a jewellery brand which leans into everything from punk rock aesthetics to Gothic art, and is worn by everyone from Teyana Taylor to Chappell Roan, is actually from Singapore. That brand is Ask & Embla, the brainchild of life and business partners Ryan Gomes and Olivia Eleazar, who started the brand in 2013 first by selling a curated edit of body jewellery products procured from other suppliers before Eleazar transitioned to creating her own designs. “I was 19 years...
Anantara Siam Bangkok debuts a fresh look and Jim Thompson Suite
In 2015, Anantara Hotels & Resorts turned a building formerly occupied by the Four Seasons Bangkok into Anantara Siam Bangkok. Located in the city’s Ratchaprasong district, a stone’s throw from the famous Erawan Shrine, the structure – which dates back to 1983 and was designed by American architect George “Pete” Wimberly – has a long history housing luxury hotels, including the Peninsula in its first incarnation and later the Regent. More than 10 years after the most recent rebranding, Anantara...
What I learned from 230km ultra-marathon race in Kenya over 5 exhausting days
Halfway up a long hill in the Kenyan wilderness, a photographer pointed towards the bush. Just 20 metres (66 feet) away, a hyena was running through the undergrowth, chasing its prey. It was exhilarating – and a little terrifying. I was taking part in Beyond the Ultimate’s For Rangers Ultra, a five-day, 230km (143-mile) race through five Kenyan wildlife conservancies, where encounters like this were all part of the unique experience. Armed rangers were stationed around 300 metres apart along the...
Most Americans Don’t Know Much About Countries Outside Their Own, So I’ll Be Very, Very, Very, VERY Impressed If You Can Pass This UK Citizenship Test
Fancy becoming an honorary Brit? View Entire Post ›
Edmund Bartlett calls for US$10bn Global Tourism Resilience Fund as Jamaica champions Tourism 3.0
Jamaica Tourism 3.0 and the Case for a Global Tourism Resilience Fund
Marineland belugas that died in Chicago had chronic inflammatory disease, preliminary necropsy findings show
Post-mortem examinations for two former Marineland belugas indicate the whales were sick when they arrived at their new home at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. Peekachu, 23, and Rain, 20, were part of a massive operation to rehome 30 belugas and four dolphins from Niagara Falls, Ont., to aquariums in the U.S. and Spain this summer.
Hiking With Reindeer on the Kungsleden Trail, Sweden’s Royal Arctic Road
On a hike along the Kungsleden Trail, or “king’s trail,” in Swedish Lapland, a writer encounters majestic animals, challenging terrain and communal moments of sheer wonder.
