The marshlands of Chiba must have seemed a forbidding and pestilential place to a young girl peering out from the wretched discomfort of a palanquin as it made its passage back to Kyoto and civilization in the year 1021. Lady Sarashina’s father had just completed a term as Assistant Governor of what is now Chiba…

The long, long NHL season is drawing to a close and with each team having over seventy games in the books, the playoff picture is starting to shape up. With some teams having secured their place in the “second season” virtually months ago, others need every point to break their way into the finals for…

How many Japanese people does it take to operate a doll? If the doll happens to be one of the intricate dolls used traditional Japanese Bunraku, also called “Joruri Puppet Theater” or “ningyo joruri” in Japanese, the answer is three. These dolls that can weigh up to 15 kilograms (33 pounds) and are about one-half…

The street spills out from the station, a narrow and unassuming road. You probably know it well, in the mornings on the way to the train you may have noticed the rolled down garage-style doors at the front of the buildings, the sprays of bright plastic cherry blossoms bobbing with the wind, the small signs…

Until very recently, shochu has had the reputation for attracting a target audience of elderly or homeless people, due to its cheap price and high alcoholic content (around 25%).  But back in 2003, shochu not only caught up with the more sophisticated sake (rice wine), but actually outsold its grown up cousin for the first…

Walking with Andrea Masse Tognetti through the grounds of Narita-san is an enriching cultural experience. The temple becomes more than just a brief stop before checking into the international airport. Tognetti possesses the awe of a typical tourist, snapping away photos of gardens, statues — everything colorful and brightly painted is religiously recorded. But then…

Based in Roppongi, the office of Theatre Products is a multipurpose space–it is a showroom, meeting area, atelier and gallery all at the same time. The floor is unfinished wood, which in Tokyo gives it a distinct appeal. There is a white wooden country-inspired table and chair set to make up a small lounge. Racks…

It’s easy enough to forget that Mount Takao is technically part of Tokyo. The higher up you go, ascending into the trees and the distinctly fresher air, the more the tension of big city life becomes an afterthought. From certain vantage points you can distinguish Shinjuku or even Yokohama in the smoggy distance. Of course,…

Teppanyaki is a style of dining that came to be after World War II when Japanese chefs tried cooking Western foods on Teppan (literally iron plate or griddle.) This style of cooking became very popular with foreigners in Japan as the foods were more familiar to them than traditional Japanese fare. While most foreigners think…

If food is music, then this is the bass line. It underpins everything, holding the meal together as much as the seasonal theme of ingredients does. It runs through dishes and over your taste buds just on the edge of conscious thought. It makes your mouth water, but odds are that you seldom notice it….