June.15

Longtime Japan tour planner recalls first summer in Kyoto, 1986

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Sept.06

Longtime Japan tour planner recalls first summer in Kyoto, 1986

Sept.06 Nancy Craft

My first teacher in Japan: Mari Horie by Nancy Craft The news headlines about this summer’s brutal heat wave in Kyoto reminded me of the first summer I spent there 32 years ago. I had spent a magical 3 weeks in Kyoto during cherry blossom season a few years before, and that had led to…

Sept.04

Stagiaire by David Israelow

Sept.04 David Israelow

Stagiaire, literally “trainee” in French, often refers to short kitchen stints where a cook works for free.  This labor exchange is generally to learn from a great chef or as part of the process to obtain a job.  I was in Tokyo for the former. The only issue was I had no contacts, knew no…

Sept.03

How Art Historians Cracked the Case of Enigmatic Japanese Painter Hasegawa Tōhaku

Sept.03 Allison Meier

From Artsy.net:  by Allison Meier Hasegawa Tōhaku’s legacy has played out like an art-historical whodunit—which is precisely why Dr. Miyeko Murase, former special consultant in Japanese art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and professor emerita at Columbia University, found it so fascinating. “I thought, this reads like a detective story,” she told Artsy, “and…

Sept.02

Lacquer artist, Seiichiro Fujino

Sept.02 Simon Pilling

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…

Sept.01

When Art Met Craft in Meiji Era Japan

Sept.01

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

Aug.26

Overlooked gems in Japan as seen through the eyes of artist Gail Rieke

Aug.26

by Gail Rieke,  Japan Living Arts, artist-at-large A joy like none other… returning to Japan over and over… camera in hand… eyes and heart wide open a stroll down Teramchi Street in Kyoto… collage of asking for blessing the collaboration of people and nature paints masterpieces on the walls… Kanazawa… the whole town seems asleep…

Aug.16

Master chef raises vegetables and creates magical lunches in an old farm house called Wappado

Aug.16

by Mora Chartrand, the Foodies’ Foodie Wappado, a haven for those who yearn for a meal that expresses the terroir of the northern Kyoto countryside. Ōhara, a sleepy, agricultural hamlet just outside of Kyoto, is best known to visitors as the home of Jakko-in and Sanzenin temples, among others. It’s hard to match the rural…

Aug.15

Contemporary Glass Artist Takeshi Sano

Aug.15

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

Aug.15

Checking Out: The Final Days of Hotel Okura

Aug.15

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…

Aug.15

“If I Were a Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof, Japanese version

Aug.15

Historically, the most popular musical in Japan