Perched on the top of a cliff in Japan’s resort town of Atami is the Risonare Hotel. It’s a luxurious location that is surrounded by both the bounty of the sea and the lushness of the forest. But how to better illustrate this gift of nature to visitors of the hotel? The answer was, through art.
all photos by Christoffer Rudquist
If you’re looking for something fun and different to do in Tokyo this summer to escape the heat, consider Tokyo’s “Underground Temple.” But maybe plan your visit around clear weather or you may find yourself evacuating.
For the last several years, digital art collective teamLab has staged impressive installations all around Japan and abroad. Various museums have played host and fans have lined up for hours to immerse themselves in the short-lived digital projections that are often as interactive as they are colorful. Now, teamLab is getting their own museum of digital art thanks to a collaboration between real estate company Mori Building.
The wave of modernity began to sweep Japan during the Taisho period (1912-1926) when Japanese society and the political system significantly opened up. Economic prosperity created a class of people that had more money to spend and increasingly lived in cities where they came into contact with influences from abroad. The terms Mobo and Moga (Modern Boy and Modern Girl) were coined to refer to those “it” boys and girls who sported western fashion and were often spotted in glamorous Ginza.
the Inome-Window at Shojuin Buddhist temple in Kyoto
The Shojuin Buddhist temple, which is roughly an hour drive from central Kyoto, is home to one of Japan’s most popular windows. Unlike Genko-an temple, where the round “Window of Enlightenment” and the square “Window of Confusion” offers a manifestation of Buddhist teachings, visitors don’t flock to Shojuin for enlightenment. Rather, they go in search of love. Well, not exactly.
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“Variations of time.” Nendo designed 4 different types of hourglasses that question how we perceive time
The hourglass, despite dating back hundreds of years, has remained largely unchanged in shape and form. In fact, with the advent of clocks, wristwatches and digital timepieces, the hourglass has ceased as a functional object and, instead, has been rendered a symbol of time itself. For Japanese design studio Nendo, this presented itself as an ideal opportunity to rethink how we perceive the concept of time.
unless otherwise noted, all photos by Vincent Hecht
The Japanese architect Akihisa Hirata (previously) has always been interested in the tangled, organic structure of trees. A tree consists of roots, a trunk, branches, leaves and flowers. And it is made unique and beautiful by the moss and fungi that grows on it, and the bugs and birds and squirrels that inhabit it. For Hirata, who worked for the luminary architect Toyo Ito for 8 years before establishing his own office in 2005, his latest work, “Tree-ness House” in Tokyo, may very well be the perfect embodiment – a metamorphosis, if you will – of Hirata’s philosophy.
“Kujaku” (2018), which depicts a peacock, measures 240 x 175 cm and is Sasada’s largest work to date
Armed with a collection of ultra-thin 0.3 mm colored pens, Japanese artist Yasuto Sasada creates dense and imaginative compositions that often blend elements of mythology, technology and fantasy. At a recent exhibition in Tokyo, some of his latest and largest works were on display.
“Dolly Varden” (2018). An ukiyoe woodblock print created by artist James Jean and Adachi Woodcut Prints
For 90 years The Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints has carried on the tradition of Japan’s woodcut print techniques. But the Tokyo-based studio is not beholden to the past. Rather, they’ve been actively collaborating with contemporary artists to create contemporary ukiyoe woodblock prints using the same 17th century techniques. Their latest is a collaboration with American-Taiwanese artist James Jean.
