Articles

Art & Culture

WAGASHI for every season

If there is one symbol of seasonal food, Japan’s wagashi must be it. Wagashi is the collective term for the delicate Japanese confections that come in a myriad of shapes, colours, forms and flavours. ...

READ MORE
  • Tokoname tour at INAX MUSEUMS -Fir...

    A place worthy of more than a few hours is INAX MUSEUMS, which is a compound featuring six buildings. Three of them — the Architectural Terracotta Museum, Tile Museum and Kiln Plaza — showcase the ric...

  • The Sapporo Snow Festival –...

    Japan’s northernmost city, Sapporo, host of the 1972 Winter Olympics, is a freezing place in winter. If you can’t ski or ice skate, there isn’t much to do except watch snow fall, dig your driveway cle...

  • Extremely loud, incredibly close

    The castle town of Kishiwada City in Osaka Prefecture is usually tranquil, famed for its many ancient tumuli (burial mounds) and its iconic Kishiwada Castle keep, dating back to 1585. In late Septembe...

  • A magnificent restoration

    More than a year after reopening to the public in June 2018, Nagoya Castle’s authentically restored Honmaru Goten Palace still draws the crowds for its historic interior architecture and lavish, gold-...

  • NEW Japanese restaurant openings i...

  • HUNGRY FOR MUSEUMS

  • Here’s a Tip

    Twenty-eight-year-old Yuki Tatsumi was working as a waiter in a restaurant in 2012 when he came across something interesting while clearing a table. “A customer had folded the chopstick sleeve into a ...

  • More mochi, please

    Here’s your Japanese rice cake cheat sheet, from kagami mochi to pillowy soft habutae mochi and crispy, crunchy okaki. Smooth, sticky and chewy—it is hard not to love mochi! One of Japan’s quintess...

  • Get your salt fix

    In Japan, salt is used in cooking as well as cultural practices. Let’s take a closer look at the ancient tradition of morijio. If you’ve ever passed a sushi restaurant in Japan, chances are you’v...

  • Face Off

    Ceramics artist Takahiro Koga has designed a unique style of sake cups inspired by samurai armour. If you’ve ever had sake, you would have noticed that sake cups, or ochoko, come in different s...

  • That’s a Wrap

    Try your hand at furoshiki, the long-lost art of cloth wrapping that is making a comeback in Japan. Have you heard of furoshiki? The traditional Japanese fabric has long been used as an elegant...

  • Bending towards the future

    Learn how magewappa artisan Yoshimasa Shibata is keeping Akita woodcraft tradition alive in everyday modern life. If you’ve travelled to Japan, chances are you’ve seen the uncoated cedar wood b...