by Simon Pilling, specialist in Japanese lacquer ware Lacquer – the most perfect and finest objects ever issued from the hand of man (Louis Gonse, L’Art Japonais, 1900) Lacquer ware has traditionally defined arts of Japan in the West – the western name  ‘japanning’ once having as powerful a resonance as ‘china’ still has in defining the…

From the Japan Times https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2018/04/03/arts/art-met-craft-meiji-era-japan/#.W3LUWMJ9jIU  

by Dasha Klyachko, specialist in Japanese contemporary glass                                                                     Contemporary glass art combined with Japanese sensibility philosophy and aesthetic Although records show that…

by Russel Wong in an article from the Kyoto Journal The announcement that the Hotel Okura was slated for demolition in the summer of 2015 reverberated around the world, and was duly met with harsh criticism. Architects, designers and historians, not to mention the hotel’s former patrons — including heads of state, world-class actors and…

Historically, the most popular musical in Japan  

by Robert Yellin, specialist in Japanese ceramics The perks and pressures of being the son of someone famous can be enormous. In Japan,

by Amy Katoh, author, lecturer

Hands & Earth: Six Perspectives on Japanese Contemporary Ceramics  .   . Now open at the Lowe Art Museum More than 40 important works created by 35 leading contemporary Japanese ceramic artists will be on view at the Lowe Art Museum from June 20 to September 23, 2018. All of the works are drawn from the…

Koho Tatsumura Nishiki Weaving for the 21st Century. Japanese weaving is so intricate and thus so stunningly beautiful that experts worldwide have come to both describe it and distinguish it from ordinary brocade simply by using its Japanese name, Nishiki (pronounced as in knee-she-key.)

6 minutes:  Tsuru no Sugomori (Nesting of Cranes) is performed by Kohachiro MIYATA on the shakuhachi bamboo flute.  This programmatic piece describes the life of the crane, a bird with great symbolic cultural significance in Japan, including building a nest, laying and hatching an egg and raising a baby crane until it flies away from…