Yesterday, in Osaka, a new library opened. Designed specifically for children, the space is filled, wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling, with outward-facing books. This is Nakanoshima Children’s Book Forrest.
Continue readingYesterday, in Osaka, a new library opened. Designed specifically for children, the space is filled, wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling, with outward-facing books. This is Nakanoshima Children’s Book Forrest.
Continue reading
The relationship between human and flame is one that is older than time, and without it we wouldn’t be who we are today. Indeed, the flame can destroy but it can also be controlled. And when it is, provides irreplaceable nourishment and comfort. For over 100 years, Daiyo has contemplated this relationship, producing a series of handmade Japanese candles, or warousoku, intended to be brought inside the home to supplement our lifestyles.
Continue reading
We’ve all seen them. And perhaps we’ve been them? The man or woman who has had a few too many drinks, and is now at that place of no return, where they’re regretting all their bad decisions that led to this. Now, Japanese toy maker Tama-Kyu has come out with a series of capsule figurines portraying different booze-induced meltdowns.
Continue reading
Japanese artist Yoshihiro Suda creates hyper-realistic sculptures of plants and flowers in the tradition of Japanese woodcarving. Born and raised near the foot of Mt. Fuji, Suda had been immersed in an environment of rich nature, which went on to inspire his work after moving to Tokyo in the 1990s.
Continue reading
all photos by Osamu Watanabe courtesy the 21st Century Museum of Art
The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa is a renowned art museum known for its unique architecture and innovative exhibition design. Designed by the Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of the firm SANAA, the museum was completed in 2004 and has since become a landmark in Kanazawa.
Continue reading
Ryugon is a 50-year old ryokan nestled within the mountains of Minami-Uonuma (Niigata prefecture). Two hours by train from Tokyo, it’s a region known for rice and sake production but also heavy snowfall. A recent renovation, subtractive in nature, set out to strip the pre-existing fortress like elements that, in their bid to keep the snow out, had also disconnected the inn from its habitat.
Continue reading
Founded in 2007, Sansan is a Japanese company that offers a cloud-based contact/business card management solution. Headquartered in Tokyo with offices around Japan, since 2010 the company has been renovating a traditional Japanese townhouse in the countryside town of Kamiyama (Tokushima Prefecture) for their 600+ employees to use as a satellite office.
Continue reading
Uguisudani is a neighborhood in Tokyo located slightly North of Ueno Park. Although it doesn’t have many famous tourist attractions to it’s name, the area is known as a center of the arts and academia, thanks to its proximity to art schools and the Tokyo National Museum. Last month in January, a new hotel called the Landabout opened just steps from Uguisudani Station.
Continue reading
Japanese student and bicycle enthusiast Hiroto has merged traditional Japanese craftwork with bicycle-making to create what he calls a wa-modern bicycle. Borrowing both the technique and naming of Japan’s traditional wooden latticework, Hiroto is calling his piece “Kitsure.”
Continue reading
Daigoro Yonekura is a Japanese artist who creates abstract paintings that resemble billowing plumes of smoke or ink. At once both mysterious and beautiful, they pull the viewer in, offering familiar shapes and forms but leave us at that: a question-mark, asking ourselves, what exactly are they?
Continue reading
