eta are perhaps Japan’s most iconic footwear, despite actually being a Chinese creation, and a piece of the cultural heritage still widely used today in modern Japan. Available in different forms and shapes, the traditional geta here is, thanks to Sano-san and his daughter Hitomi, given a little make-over where both tradition and modernity meet […]
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ansa Odori is an amazing festival held every August in the city of Morioka. The origins of this festival lie in the legend of Mitsuishi, which gave Iwate its name. There was a demon that was causing problems for the villagers but the god Mitsuishi captured the demon and forced it to swear that it […]
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ach year, the Tokyo branch of Yasaka Jinja from Kyoto, located in Hino-Machi, organizes a little matsuri where some of Tokyo’s most famous Iaido schools offer a very rare chance for local people to enjoy the beauty of this martial art. Among these famous schools, one, the Toudou-Renmei School, dominated the whole matsuri with impressive […]
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ocated an hour or so up north of Tokyo, in Chichibu Saitama, Chichibu Distillery is Japan’s next generation of whisky distillery. It was founded in 2004 by Ichiro Akuto and the first new Japanese distillery opened since 1973! Ichiro Akuto and his team are, despite the small size of the distillery, winning rave reviews from […]
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reated in the seventies, COEDO is a craft beer made in Saitama prefecture, and more precisely in Kawagoe, one hour north of Tokyo by train. The peculiarity of COEDO beers, is that they are made of Japanese sweet potatoes! COEDO was not always in the beer-brewing business, starting instead as an agricultural company specializing in […]
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hat used to be one of the most amazing matsuri in Tokyo, has now become one of the saddest. Mitama Matsuri, first held in 1947, takes place annually at Yasukuni Shrine, and features around 30,000 lanterns. The purpose of this festival is to pray for the fallen soldiers of the past and for a more […]
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do Kiriko is a 180 year old Japanese craft founded during the Edo period. It originated from the skillful hands of a Japanese craftman, Kyubei Kagaya, who started exploring a unique technique of cutting patterns into the glass surface of different objects. It was only during the Meiji period, or roughly 130 years ago, that […]
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The Omiya Bonsai Village is the general name for the area on the north side of Omiya Park enclosed within the Tobu Noda Line and JR Utsunomiya Line. Known as one of the most outstanding bonsai cultivating areas in Japan, visitors can take delight in the bonsai all year round, as they change from one […]
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Also known as Chichibu Yomatsuri, the Chichibu Night Festival in Saitama, is considered one of Japan’s top three festivals to feature floats, and it is the principal festival at Chichibu Shrine, the main shrine in Saitama’s Chichibu region. Taking place annually on the 3rd of December, the Chichibu Night Festival is an astonishing matsuri, with […]
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Tsukiji Market, or Tsukiji Fish Market as we know and love it, is scheduled to close up and move to a new location in Toyosu by November 2016. While this decision will most probably have a beneficial impact on the business itself, it is on the other hand sad news for anyone who loved the […]
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It was in the 12th Century, that Kamakura quickly became a city of both Japanese politics and culture, as influential as Kyoto, with the iconic Tsurugaoka Hachimangu temple at its center. Because of its influence, Kamakura gathered a powerful army and as such had to train its troops and samurais in the latest combat techniques […]
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Japanese lacquer is one of the most famous and amazing craftworks that one can enjoy or, better still, own. Most often delivered in a simple form like a bowl or a cup, Japanese lacquer is one of the most complex forms of craft, or shall we say art, that you can imagine. While Japan offers […]
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