Posted in crafts, travel and places, museums, news on Mar 19th, 2007 No Comments »
March is the time of dolls (hina ningyo, the dolls for Girl’s Day) in Japan and there are four ongoing exhibitions in Kyoto:
At the Kyoto National Museum “Girl’s Day and Dolls” (until April 8);
At Hokyoji Imperial Convent the annual spring exhibition, this year for the 100th time (until April 3; take bus no. 9 from […]
Posted in Japan, crafts, museums, kyoto on Aug 6th, 2006 No Comments »
The Yasui Konpira Shrine stands in an area full of bars and love hotels just south of Gion. In Japan that is not an unlikely spot for a shrine or temple as the sacred and profane were always mixed and devout pilgrims would after saying their prayers spend the night in the nearby red light […]
Posted in crafts, art and photography, intercultural, kyoto on Aug 5th, 2006 No Comments »
Ema are votive plates dedicated to shrines and temples. Usually, they consist of a flat piece of wood decorated with a picture. People buy them during shrine and temple visits, especially at the New Year, inscribe them with wishes for a prosperous year and hang them on special racks as petitions to the gods. Common […]
Posted in Japan, crafts, art and photography on Jul 16th, 2006 No Comments »
This summer, two interesting temporary events in the field of Japanese art are held in Tokyo, both fitting in the category “restored art.”
The first concerns a rediscovered mural by 20th century avant-garde painter Okamoto Taro called The Myth of Tomorrow. This work measuring 5.5 by 30 meters was created in 1968/1969 for the walls of […]
Posted in crafts, travel and places, museums on Jul 2nd, 2006 No Comments »
Talking about weaving maidens… the city of Kiryu in eastern Gunma (about 90 km from Tokyo) is already since the seventh century known for its textiles. In the Edo period there was the saying: “For the west, it is Nishijin, for the east, it is Kiryu,” bringing the two major weaving centers of the country […]
Posted in crafts, history, travel and places, museums on Jun 25th, 2006 No Comments »
The Silk Museum in Yokohama is housed in a somewhat dated office building, established in 1959 on the site of British trading firm Jardine Matheson & Co. Silk was Japan’s main export item in the late 19th c. and many merchants in Yokohama thrived thanks to the silk trade (until the bust of the 1930s). […]
Posted in crafts, nature, architecture, history, art and photography, travel and places, museums on Jun 23rd, 2006 1 Comment »
Long before it became known as the site of Tokyo’s international airport, Narita was famous as the temple town that grew up around the imposing Narita-san Shinshoji Temple. One of eastern Japan’s most important temples, Shinshoji is approached along a street lined with shops, restaurants and inns. Although the main hall is modern concrete construction, […]
Posted in crafts, travel and places, museums on Jun 15th, 2006 No Comments »
The first modern paper manufacture in Japan started in Oji (then a village at the perimeter of Tokyo) in 1873 by a company later named after the place, Oji Paper. The factory was established by entrepreneur Shibusawa Eiichi and still is (after several mergers and split-ups) one of Japan’s largest paper manufacturers. The Paper Museum […]
Posted in culture, crafts, history, travel and places, museums on Jun 13th, 2006 No Comments »
On the bank of Shinobazu Pond, below Ueno Park, we encounter the Shitamachi Museum, which is quite popular among foreign visitors. It is indeed a friendly place, providing an atmospheric evocation of ‘downtown’ Tokyo (called ‘shitamachi’ in Japanese) in the Ueno and Asakusa wards in the 1920s, before this bustling area was largely destroyed by […]
Posted in culture, crafts, technology, history, travel and places, museums, intercultural on Jun 8th, 2006 2 Comments »
Nezu lies adjacent to Yanaka, on the inside of the ring of the Yamanote line, and is an area where still some traces of an older Tokyo can be found. It is famous for the Nezu Shrine, which has beautiful azaleas in late April-early May.
Within easy walking distance from the Nezu subway station on the […]
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