“In that instant I knew that Kyoto had installed itself inside me much deeper than mere fancy. No other place I knew took me back so far and so deep, to what seemed like a better time and self. And as I wandered back in the dying light, lit up with a sense of rapture…

SORA MAMÉ Fava Beans Fava beans have been part of the eastern Mediterranean diet (Egypt, Greece, Italy) for at least 4000 years. There are stories of monks from India traveling through China bringing favas to Japan in the Nara Period (710-794 AD). However, the first written evidence they were consumed in Japan is mention in…

For National Geographic magazine’s Cities Issue, I walked across Tokyo, the world’s most populous city. The distance, from boundary to boundary, is about 60 miles. But photographers, like me, never walk in a straight line. Searching for pictures, we zigzag and we back-track. We wander in circles. We get lost. So, by the end of…

The foodie’s foodie, Mora Chartrand-Grant, shares about her donabe. Steve Beimel: Mora—So you finally bought a donabe??? Mora Chartrand-Grant: Yes, and I’m really proud of it. I always come back from Japan with yet another piece of rustic Japanese pottery to add to our home collection, which I regularly use in the kitchen…the crustier and…

By Ben Dooley, New York Times article Donald Keene, whose translations of Japanese literature into English and prodigious academic output helped define the study of the subject and made him a celebrity in Japan, died on Sunday in Tokyo. He was 96. The Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture at Columbia University confirmed his death….

節分 setsu (season) + bun (break) Setsubun is literally a break between seasons and occurs several times during the year. But the setsubun that is noted on calendars today in Japan is on February 3. In China and many other places in Asia it corresponds to the start of the lunar New Year. In Japan…

San Francisco Asian Art Museum explores impact of kimono on global fashion On view from Feb. 8 through May 5, 2019 Evening dress, Autumn/Winter 1991, by Rei Kawakubo (Japanese, b. 1942) for Comme des Garçons Noir. Silk taffeta with hand painting. Collection of The Kyoto Costume Institute. © The Kyoto Costume Institute, photo by Takashi…

NEW YORK TIMES:   The tidying guru is heir to a long tradition: Japan marketing itself as spiritual foil to a soulless West. By Christopher Harding Mr. Harding is a lecturer in Asian history and an author. A diminutive Japanese woman kneels, eyes closed, caressing a rug with open palms. She appears to be praying…

Dianne recalls her spring 2018 visit to her second home, Kyoto. Today we merged with a few of the thousands of Chinese tourists who come to Kyoto to view the cherry blossoms. There are droves of Chinese tourists who flock here eager to shop and have fun. Young Chinese women dress up in brightly colored…