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 Akemi Koyama, Cultural Ambassador Restaurant in Hitachinaka city serves only one special prix fixe hamaguri meal.  Hamaguri is Japanese for clam, I mean a huge clam that is a size of the palm of a hand. I stopped with friends at Hamaguri-ya on the way to Fukushima from Haneda airport.  It was a pleasant…

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

by Dianne Vapnek, blogger                         . Never could I have imagined the impact that a short trip to accompany my husband on a business trip to Japan in the 1980’s would have on my life. The impact was profound and has continued to influence my life in ways small and large. Suddenly I was presented with…

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…

The Matsubas are to clothes what Alice Waters is to the Slow Food movement. Their 30-year old company, Gungendo, is dedicated to the principle of Slow Clothes, reflected in their strong commitment to supporting sustainable rural communities and retaining important textile-related skills in Japan. Their designs are not about fashion fads, but about timeless personal…