When Yuki Sakamoto joined Horiguchi Kiriko in 2017 at the age of 18, he was at the time Japan’s youngest Edo Kiriko apprentice. Drawn to “jewels, gems and shiny bright things,” as a kid, Sakamoto was inspired to move from Hokkaido to Tokyo straight after high school to study the decorative art of glass cutting. First made…

Tatsuo Morikawa rarely makes the same thing twice. Trained as a traditional Japanese woodworker but embracing new modes of practice, he works together with his clients to bring even the most experimental ideas to life. He has worked independently in Kawagoe, Saitama since 2011. His clients seek him out for his depth of expertise and his…

In a little coastal village in Chiba Prefecture, the ceramicist creates pieces marked by their territory and by time and its effects. Natural clay from Shiga Prefecture, simple, natural materials from the soil, using both ancient and contemporary techniques. Kazunori Hamana’s ceramics are the work of a self-taught artist who draws upon the history of…

Despite being far less visited than the other islands of Okinawa, Kumejima offers natural treasures and invaluable craftsmanship. When travellers think about the island of Okinawa, it’s the eponymous island that comes to mind first, or the traditional Taketomi. Kumejima, however, which covers an area of 59 km2 and has 8000 residents, has its fair share…

Through the initiation story of a young city dweller, this graphic novel pays homage to the community of the ‘women of the sea’. Japan in the late 1960s. Nagisa, a young, chaste Tokyoite, meets her aunt Isoé on Hegura Island to escape from her past and family dramas. Far from the frantic pace of life…

A mainstay of the Japanese home kitchen, ichiya-boshi, literally “one-night dried” are fresh fish that have been dipped in brine and then air-dried. The generic term is himono, literally “dried thing.” In the old days, mineral-rich sea water was routinely used to wash freshly caught fish after splitting them down the back (seibiraki style) or belly (hara-biraki style) and…

Sociologist Muriel Jolivet’s book offers an analysis combined with a travelogue and interviews with these women with supernatural powers. They are known as the itako, yuta or noro. They are dispersed all over Japan, from the northern island of Hokkaido to tropical Okinawa and the urban environment of Tokyo. These shamans, all of whom are female, possess special powers…

The Adachi Museum of Art in Shimane Prefecture has greatly expanded its holdings of ceramics and other other works by the great 20th-century epicure Kitaoji Rosanjin (1883–1959).  In a dedicated building that opened in April 2020 the museum shares Rosanjin’s dishes and lacquerware, of course, but also his calligraphy, carved seals and even metalwork lanterns….

In this book, Shigeru Mizuki offers an artistic interpretation of these supernatural beings found in Japanese legends. They are known as Bakki, Waira, Zan and Tenaga Baba, and they take the form of an ogre, a strange beast, a mermaid or a witch with white hair. Sometimes they live in lakes and sometimes in the…

The reader is immersed in the enormity of a chameleon city, from contemporary architecture to the ancient art of the Asakusa district. Since 1998, Louis Vuitton has been sharing his nomadic spirit through his City Guides. Eagerly awaited each year and met with high acclaim from travellers all over the world, they reveal the spirit of…