Food cultures around the world employ various aromatic herbs and spices to stimulate the appetite and promote healthful eating. Japan has a long history of using yakumi, best translated as “condiments,” that enhance flavor while providing a benefit to the body in some manner. Indeed, the Japanese word yakumi is written with calligraphy for “medicine” and “flavor,” suggesting…

Textiles artist Maki Aizawa’s original line of kimono-inspired jackets are featured in the prestigious Santa Fe International Folk Arts festival this month. She’s humbled to be sharing kimono-making techniques which she applies to the modern-designed jackets, her way of giving visibility to what she describes as “a dying art form.” But despite designing and sewing…

From the February 2022 issue of Apollo. Preview and subscribe here. About 400 years ago, the first sparks of a new art-form could have been seen just five minutes’ walk from where I now sit writing in Kyoto. The date was almost certainly 1603, though it is not clearly recorded. It was probably a blazing…

The long-awaited lifting of the ban on foreign tourists coincides with the launch of striking new works — and a new hotel — on Naoshima Island. Just in front of the Park building of Benesse House, the sleek and art-filled hotel-cum-museum at the heart of Japan’s Naoshima Art Site, I spot something new. A transparent…

“Kimono Style: The John C. Weber Collection,” opening today in the Metropolitan Museum’s Japanese Wing, is an immersive, must-see exhibition that considers the evolution of this foundational garment within Japan and its relation to the West. There are many ways to explain the cross-cultural appeal of the kimono. One of the most persuasive is the…

A kind of traditional Japanese paper known for its quality, delicacy and resistance, washi paper has its noble origins in the village of Kurotani, where this unique craft has been honed and developed since 1593. While the production of washi paper originates from China, the manual manufacturing technique was brought to Japan by Buddhist monks in around 610….

Takashi Kobayashi, founder of Japanese company TreeHouse Creations, is fascinated by the vitality and aura of trees. It was while admiring the beauty of a Himalayan cedar that he felt this spark, one that would never leave him and that would inspire him to build his first treehouse. This was in 1994, somewhere in a little…

With their pink hue, sakura mochi instantly evoke the colour of cherry blossom, and indeed this is the origin of their name, as sakura is the term for cherry trees and their flowers in Japan. Mathilda Motte, founder of La Maison du Mochi, shares the recipe to make them in her book Mochis. In it, she groups the recipes according to the…

KYOTO, Japan — Yoshinaga Nakamura’s family has specialized in kazari-sho, or metal art, for seven generations. But the items have changed with the times over the last 200 years, and now, as Japan looks forward to welcoming tourists again, he is preparing for the future. “We used to make decorative parts — metal carvings of…

Rakugo, which literally translates as ‘art of fallen words’, is making a comeback on Japanese stages. Dating back to the 17th century and originating from Buddhist tradition, rakugo experienced its heyday in the Meiji era (1868-1912) and particularly following the Second World War, when it adopted its current form. This also marked the period when it left…