Dear friends, colleagues and those who have expressed an interest in the FOOD & CULTURE of Japan: Throughout the world, oysters have been a popular food source since ancient times. Archeologists have found scorch marks on archaic oyster shells suggesting that oysters had been placed over fire or heated stones and cooked until they opened….

At New Years’ time, the Japanese decorate their homes with a special display called KAGAMI MOCHI. There are many regional variations on the theme but typically two large rounds of omochirice taffy are stacked with a daidai 橙 (bitter orange) on top. The arrangement is placed on a ritual display stand decorated with leaves and…

Ai and Hiroyuki Tokeshi work with Okinawan wood, an exacting material, drawing on a local tradition of woodworking and lacquerware. Based in Nago, in the northern part of Okinawa Island, Hiroyuki and Ai Tokeshi run the atelier Mokushikkō Tokeshi. The bowls, utensils and everyday objects shaped by their hands appear imbued with the generous, untamed…

Dear friends, colleagues and those who have expressed an interest in the FOOD & CULTURE of Japan: Pine trees are iconic in Japan, with the two most common types being the Japanese black pine kuro matsu 黒松 (Pinus thunbergii), left, and the Japanese red pine aka matsu 赤松 (Pinus densiflora), right. Japanese black pines are…

──Steve Beimel on the Mission to Carry Tradition into the Future Introduction Fifty-four years ago, a young American stepped off a train in northern Japan with little more than a job offer and a sense of curiosity. Japan had not been his intended destination — India or any number of other places could just as…

Dear friends, colleagues and those who have expressed an interest in the FOOD & CULTURE of Japan: One of the most basic skills in a Japanese kitchen is the ability to make long, continuous, seemingly impossibly thin peels known as katsura muki. It typically takes months (if not years) of daily practice to master the…

Dear friends, colleagues and those who have expressed an interest in the FOOD & CULTURE of Japan: 包む　TSUTSUMU… wrapping, enclosing, enveloping In Japan, wrapping is an art, one with many “rules” about how to enclose objects. The degree of formality, the season, and the occasion (whether celebratory or conveying condolences) are some of the parameters…

Sketches are my half-baked ideas, projects and notes for articles. I scribble them on napkins, random notebook pages or in my phone’s notes app. Today’s missive is from several activities I took part in during London Design Festival in September 2025. The common denominator was Japanese craftsmanship with practical lessons about choosing place over prestige,…

残暑 ZANSHO Lingering Heat On the ancient, lunar-based koyomi almanac, risshū 立秋 marks the start of autumn. This year (2025) on the Gregorian calendar, risshū arrived on August 7. When hot weather continues beyond risshū the phenomenon is referred to as zansho 残暑, literally “lingering heat.” No doubt about it, brutal heat has lingered well…

Designer David Tonge on the Essence of Japanese Craft Introduction — Craft as a Form of Thought Craft is not merely about making things. So says David Tonge, a London-based designer who has worked with Japanese companies and craftspeople for over two decades. What captivates Tonge is not simply the finished object, but the thinking…