On the day Kaori Yamada was born, a centuries-old ume bonsai in her father’s garden flowered for the first time in over a century. It has blossomed every spring since then. “It seems a little strange, but it came alive when I did, so I guess this tree and I are soul mates,” she said…

It’s hard to imagine a pair of mild-mannered tsugaru shamisen players from Hokkaido being able to whip difficult crowds in the United States into a frenzy, and yet that’s precisely what happened during a recent tour of America by the Yoshida Brothers, Japan’s answer to the Everly Brothers of the late fifties and early sixties….

©︎2020 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved Grand Hyatt Tokyo is pleased to introduce a new afternoon tea menu in collaboration with Takashi Murakami, one of six artists currently featured in the “STARS: Six Contemporary Artists from Japan to the World” exhibition showing at Mori Art Museum until January 3, 2021. Fiorentina Pastry…

Brett Bull speaks to an American gentleman who has spent more than 26 years sharpening his knowledge of the art of traditional sword polishing. When Jon Bowhay picks up a Japanese sword, samurai fantasies of hacking at armor and crushing bone – probably standard visions for most – are not what come to mind. Rather,…

Eri Yaegashi draws inspiration from the creative freedom that exists in Tokyo, writes, Laura Fitch. TOKYO IS A CITY THAT’S KNOWN FOR its style. The metropolis has spawned artists and designers of international fame and boasts some of the most architecturally creative buildings in the world. But for every Hanae Mori or Hiroshi Sugimoto, there…

Drum troupe Kodo has been putting on supersonic taiko performances around the world for more than 30 years. Judit Kawaguchi heads backstage to find out what makes its members tick. It is all but impossible to describe in words the sheer power and intensity generated by traditional drum troupe Kodo during a performance.  A typical…

The rainy season is over and the summer heat is in full swing. The year 2020 has already seen the cancellation of many summer fireworks festivals. It is said, originally the tradition of yearly fireworks began during the “Kyoho Famine”. Prices rose due to the famine and epidemics such as cholera had become epidemic. It…

Thomasina Larkin stumbles across a local artist who likes to mix and match. Armed with phat magic markers, acrylic paints and his computer, Shibuya Tadaomi can transform anything that catches his eye into a soulful and lifelike image of robotic funk. Influenced by a childhood spent watching Transformers and Power Rangers, and surrounded by the…

Mari Mari, quite contrary, how does your Japanese garden grow?  With large flat stones and no garden gnomes, and temple tiles all in a row, writes Stephen Mansfield. Having accumulated a small library of books and magazines devoted to the subject of Japanese gardens as well as having visited more than 150 gardens stretching from…

The kimono is one of Japan’s most iconic symbols, its colors and designs exemplifying Japanese cultural sensibilities and aesthetics. Lesser known, however, is that, the kimono originated as an undergarment. The predecessor to today’s kimono is a robe called the kosode (literally, “small sleeve openings”). The kosode first came into its own as an outer…