Spoon & Tamago

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Papelants: Collapsible Paper Plants for the Home

August 28, 2021 / Johnny / Comments Off

If you’re like us and have trouble keeping houseplants alive, here’s a beautiful alternative. Inspired by papercraft and Japanese origami folding techniques, Papelants are paper plants that spring to life without the use of glue, tape, scissors or any tools at all. Intrinsically maintenance-free, they come in a number of different varieties and can stand upright or be hung from walls.

Neo-Sushi is Heating up Tokyo’s Culinary Scene

August 26, 2021 / Johnny / Comments Off

Sushi comes in a variety of styles. And to tell the difference, sometimes all you have to do is look at how sushi is written in Japanese. By far the most common is 寿司, a two-character phonetic representation of sushi that is all encompassing and can include dishes that aren’t necessarily fish such as california rolls. Your local mom-and-pop sushi shops, as well as high-volume, affordable kaiten-zushi chains will often use this form. Then there is the more traditional and singular 鮨. This kanji uses the radicals 魚 (sakana; fish) and 旨 (umai; delicious) and are often used by high-end sushi shops that command several hundred dollars per person. Then there is すし written in hiragana that connotes accessibility and affordability. Now, meet the katakana-written スシ, an innovative, Instagram-friendly neo-sushi that has seemingly emerged from a culinary collision of genres.

Music Monday: 4s4ki

August 23, 2021 / Johnny / 2 Comments

The annual Japanese music festival Fuji Rock was cancelled last year. And in the midst of a 5th wave surge in Covid-19 cases, this year seemed precarious as well. But the festival pressed on over the weekend with domestic acts only, limited capacity, YouTube livestreams and other precautionary measures. One of the stand-out acts for us was the 23-year old hyperpop artist 4s4ki (pronounced ‘Asaki’).

Studson Studio Transforms Trash into Magical Ghibli-Inspired Miniature Models

August 20, 2021 / Johnny / 4 Comments

Miniature model-maker Studson Studio first got into model-making by way of plastic Gundam kits. Fast forward 20 years later and this crafty creator is now taking plastic and other trash out of the environment—everything from plastic containers to cereal boxes—and using them to create impressive miniature models inspired by Studio Ghibli and the films of Hayao Miyazaki.

This Cat Table Gives Your Feline a Seat in the Table

August 16, 2021 / Johnny / 15 Comments

Japanese online retailer dinos has released a new line of cat furniture and part of their line-up includes this all-natural oak wood table. With a perch underneath and a hole in the middle, it gives your feline friend a seat, right in the middle of the table. Expertly crafted with high-quality wood, the fashionable table is beautiful both with or without your kitty.

‘Nude’ Photos of Pastel-Colored Urban Tokyo by Rumi Ando

August 16, 2021 / Johnny / Comments Off

Tokyo-based photographer and retoucher Rumi Ando creates unsettling urban landscape photography of Tokyo. Seemingly nostalgic yet out-of-place, Ando has retouched each of her photographs, painstakingly removing all evidence of human life except for the buildings they’ve built. All windows, A/C units, antennas, ducts—”noise” as Ando calls them—have vanished, leaving only the skin of a city: a nude Tokyo.

Installation at Tokyo’s National Art Center Made From Brochures of Pandemic-Related Cancelled Events

August 11, 2021 / Johnny / Comments Off

PAN- PROJECTS, The Matter of Facts, Mixed media, 2021, The National Art Center, Tokyo, Installation view

The global pandemic has hit the pause button on life. Everything that brought us together—art shows and festivals to trade shows and symposiums—have all been cancelled. But memorializing these events and re-contextualizing them as a city’s collective urban memory is Yuriko Yagi and Kazumasa Takada, the duo behind the architectural design studio PAN- PROJECTS.

Yayoi Kusama’s Yellow Pumpkin, Symbol of Naoshima, Washed Away by Storm

August 9, 2021 / Johnny / Comments Off

strong waves slam into Yayoi Kusama’s “Yellow Pumpkin” moments before it is washed away | screenshot of video by taka aoki

Yayoi Kusama’s “Yellow Pumpkin,” a symbol of Naoshima island that sits at the tip of an abandoned pier, was washed away by strong winds and waves generated by Typhoon No. 9 on August 9th. The iconic artwork was installed back in 1994 and was partly responsible for the large influx of tourists to the remote islands of Kagawa prefecture. The pumpkin has since been retrieved but it is badly damaged and will likely have to be replaced.

London-Based Illustrator Edward Luper’s 36 Views of the BT Tower

August 5, 2021 / Johnny / Comments Off

In the early 1830s, Katsushika Hokusai created 36 Views of Mt. Fuji. Images from the series would go on to becomes some of the most iconic images Japan has ever produced, their vast reach and influence being almost impossible to measure. And 190 years later, they continue to inspire. The London-based artist Edward Luper grew up looking at one of his city’s landmarks: the BT Tower. And his love and admiration for Japanese prints eventually led him to create an homage to his artist hero Hokusai. “London is my Edo,” says the artist. “And although I don’t have a Mt Fuji, I do have the BT tower.”

Creepy & Crawly Plush Sculptures by Hine Mizushima

August 4, 2021 / Johnny / Comments Off

Among the many skills of Vancouver-based Japanese artist Hine Mizushima is slow crafter, needlefelter and miniature collage artist. Her work often manifests itself in animals, sea life, parts of the human body and other curiosities of the natural world. For a recent exhibition in Tokyo she turned her eye, and needle, to the world of creepy and crawly insects, creating plush specimens of mosquitos, fleas and centipedes that would otherwise make our skin crawl.