For hundreds of years the alchemists toiled away in their secret labs concocting chemicals and pigments they hoped would turn metal to gold. But for Miya Ando, the New York-based artist who’s a descendant of Bizen sword makers, she’s found her own way to make metals shine.
“As every Japanese has realized, the waves can take away a great deal from us,” says artist Tomomi Kamoshita. “But it is also true that we greatly benefit from it.” Using broken pieces of ceramics that she picked up on the shore, and combining it with pieces of her own broken ceramics, the Tokyo-based potter uses the ancient kintsugi method of repairing ceramics to turn the shards into one-of-a-kind chopstick rests.
the largest of the murals can be seen from the other side of the shore
Tennozu Isle is a small island in Tokyo Bay that was built over a period of 14 years in the early 1900s by dredging sand and sediment from the bottom of the bay. It became primarily an industrial hub for warehouses and storage. But in the early 2000s a new train station that connected the island with major stations like Shinjuku and Shibuya kicked off a massive redevelopment. Now it’s become a hip town with a fancy website that hosts art shows and performances.
“Water” Mineral pigments, sumi ink, gold-leafed on paper
The quietude that seems almost deafening after a violent storm. Water, despite having washed so much away, seems to rest carelessly, harmlessly. These are some of the images that come across in the work of artist Yoshihito Kawase, who paints stunningly quiet water ripple paintings that reflect on the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Architectural models are an essential part of architecture and the city planning process – a concrete means by which the architect communicates and visualizes a plan before it is built and, effectively, becomes permanent. But these miniature models are works of art in their own right. But these models are only occasionally made available to the public: they’re pulled out of storage only when an architect is featured in an exhibition. But finally, Japan is getting its first museum dedicated to miniature architecture models.
Klezmer funk meets circus Chic. At least, that’s how we would describe the music of Charan Po Rantan in 5 words or less. The band of sisters, Koharu and Momo, have been rocking out since 2009 but their history dates back to a when elder sister Koharu went to see a circus at age 7. Impressed and astounded by the accordion player, she immediately ask for one too and has never looked back.
One of the rites of passage for Japanese kids entering elementary school is the randoseru. Parents will typically spend several hundred dollars on these leather backpacks, which are pricey but used throughout all 6 years of elementary school. In recent years the uniquely stylish backpacks have become something of a fashion icon overseas. But a new, never-before-seen collaboration is putting an artsy twist on the utilitarian kids bags.
hermit crabs professionally seek out better homes their entire lives
There’s a shortage of housing in Japan among a large community of house hunters. But you wouldn’t know it unless you were a marine biologist. When it comes to Hermit Crabs, “professional house hunters” who are constantly outgrowing and replacing their shells, “they are always short of shells” says professor Katsuyuki Hamasaki. The primary cause is environmental degradation, which has resulted in large numbers of hermit crabs living inside trash like bottle tops.
An unlikely savior emerged, or maybe it’s totally likely. Suumo, a Japanese real estate listing company (like Streateasy) teamed up with professor Hamasaki and a group of students at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology in an attempt to fix the housing crisis.
all photos by Yoichi Onoda
It’s an odd location for a coffee shop. But last month, on May 1, a stylish cafe opened its doors in the small Kobuke district of Chiba. Roughly an hour east of Tokyo, the area is predominantly residential homes and industrial factories. But that didn’t stop the owner of Cobuke Coffee, which borrows its name from its district, in attempting to carry the 3rd wave coffee business model from away from more populated neighborhoods.
“The images of the 33 Reincarnations of Kannon Wave – The Spirit of Tomorrow”
Numerous contorted hands rise up to form a wave that references the iconic “Great Wave” woodblock print by Hokusai. This powerful image, created by artist Keisuke Yamaguchi, evokes the events of March 11, 2011. Yamaguchi goes by the name OZ (尾頭), which translates as head to tail. But it’s a phrase the means ‘entirety,’ or ‘from beginning to end,’ and it’s helpful in understanding the artist, who was born and raised in the mountainous region of Nagano prefecture.
His work is inherently connected to ancient concepts of Shintoism but he uses Japan’s rich history of art and culture, not as a crutch, but as a key to unlocking unique and subtle forms of contemporary Japanese art.
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