The humble kokeshi were said to be invented in the Tohoku region of Japan as souvenirs for travelers coming to enjoy the regional hot springs. The simple design of traditional kokeshi is a round “head” attached to a cylinder body, created from cherry or mizuki wood by an artisan using a lathe. If the faces…
Category: Arts+Design
Ghibli at Tokyo City View
Here’s a deal that’s hard to pass up: buy admission to the 52nd floor viewing platform of Roppongi Hills known as Tokyo City View and get admission to a huge exclusive Studio Ghibli exhibition for free! Thousands of Ghibli artifacts are on display from original posters and advertising to storyboards to 3D models suspended from…
Hummer Bicycles
Seeing a General Motors Hummer SUV squeezing down the streets of suburban Japan is a rare sight, but seeing a Hummer bicycle being casually pedaled down same street? Not so much. No, General Motors does not have a secret bicycle division exporting low cost bikes to Japan. These bikes, available as Hummer, Chevrolet, and Cadillac are the…
Miraikan
Miraikan, also known the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (probably why people call it “Miraikan”), is located on the man-made island of Odaiba in Tokyo Bay. Suspended above the entry hall is the Geo-Cosmos, a one-of-a-kind globe covered with OLED panels that displays real time weather patterns and other important geographic data. Miraikan is…
National Art Center
One of Tokyo’s modern architectural masterpieces, the National Art Center in Roppongi is best known for its huge front facade resembling a huge glass wave. To most people’s surprise, it is not a museum, but a space for hosting temporary exhibitions of art. Many important exhibitions of historic artists as well as contemporary designers (like Issey…
Kiyosumi Garden
Perhaps one of the most under-rated Japanese traditional gardens in Tokyo, Kiyosumi Garden is a beauty of a park in Eastern Tokyo. Originally the property of an Edo period merchant family, it became a public park in 1932. Kiyosumi gardens best feature are its plentiful landscape rocks, highly valued in Japanese landscaping. Many of these…
Hotel Okura
The historic lobby and main wing of the Hotel Okura is already gone, in the process of an extended renovation ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. From the time the hotel opened in 1962, it has been an iconic building, hosting U.S. Presidents and heads of states from around the world. The hotel’s Orchid Room…
Moerenuma Park
In the world of man-made parks, few can rival the beauty of Moerenuma Park in Sapporo. Artist Isamu Noguchi designed the park as one huge sculpture, built on the site of a waste treatment plant. Vast areas of green space are broken up by amazing geometric play structures, water features and even a 100m hill that…
Higashi
Higashi 干菓子 are a type of wagashi, a Japanese sweet made specifically for tea ceremony. Though you could eat wagashi without tea, they tend to be very sweet to balance the bitterness of the strong Japanese green tea served at tea ceremony. Higashi are “dry” versions of wagashi, usually made with sugar and rice flour, though…
Nippori Fabric Town
For those with crafty leanings, Nippori Fabric Town is a neighborhood of northern Tokyo populated by over 100 shops selling all sorts of fabrics, ribbons and buttons and as well as over a dozen shops specializing in leather. Fabrics ranging from simple cotton to silk, from plain and printless to elaborate Japanese traditional designs are…
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