Posts by lucinda
Carving new paths for Tokyo artisan culture
Many artisans of traditional Japanese crafts are facing a growing problem: difficulty attracting apprentices to carry on the work in addition to decreasing sales as younger populations eschew traditional items for cheaper, trendier alternatives.
Read MoreOyako: An Interview with Bruce Osborn
Bruce Osborn’s Oyako (parent and child) series of portraits led to the establishment of an annual ‘Oyako Day’ (Oyako-no-hi), celebrated on the fourth Sunday of July in Japan.
Read MoreJapanese Craft: Our Five Most-Read
Our five most popular articles on the subject of Japanese crafts.
Read MoreKyoto City relaunches kyoto.travel, the definitive guide for foreign visitors to the old capital
If you have ever connected to the Kyoto WIFI network at one of the more than 1,000 access points around the city, you will be familiar by now with the Kyoto Official Travel Guide at kyoto.travel, which is the first page to pop up on your screen. Now, Kyoto City has launched a highly anticipated…
Read MoreKyoto’s Gion Festival: Warding Off Epidemics for 1,150 Years
Thanks to their treasures, the Gion Festival floats have been famously referred to as “Moving Museums.” Like any museum, to stay vibrant the Gion Festival requires a quest, an investigation. Otherwise they risk becoming morgues of artifacts, meaningless to most people.
Read MoreKyoto Time Slip: Reliving Japanese History in 3rd Grade
In apparent contrast to ongoing governmental campaigns to internationalize its citizenry and promote futuristic technologies, Japan’s primary education has long endeavored to prepare students to face present-day challenges by imbuing them with mores and practices from a century or more ago.
Read MoreEncounters with Japan: Asia Art Tours interviews KJ’s John Einarsen
In the two videos below: Kyoto Journal‘s founder and publisher, John Einarsen, talks to Asia Art Tours‘ Matthew Dagher-Margosian about the circumstances in which he first set foot in, and fell in love with, Japan in the 70s; his introduction to Harada Shokei and the beginnings of Kyoto Journal; and also about the technique of…
Read MoreAfuru Nagatome: Ryokan owner
Afuru didn’t set out to simply create a comfortable, authentic space, she wants to bring the people staying in her guesthouse together, as well as introduce them to the locals of the area, who often pop in to chat or drop off some produce.
Read MoreKYOEN in pictures
Over three weeks this winter season, Kyoto Journal, with the help of some wonderful sponsors (Kyoto City Tourism Association 京都市観光協会, SunM Color サンエムカラー, Shoyeido Incense 松栄堂, Shimaya Stays シマ屋, Kyoto Distillery and Alishan Organics) and the Terminal Kyoto, was able to bring together the work of 25 artists in what was a rather unusual but…
Read MoreWalking the Kumano Kodo
The Kumano region was long considered to be one of the most sacred regions in Japan, its three shrines attracting pilgrims so numerous that they were said to resemble a line of ants…
Read MoreLand and Money
“When my mother burns incense to honor the ancestors, it’s for those of my father’s family, the Wang, not her own, the Liu,” Shuyuan said as we mounted the steps of the factory. “She feels that neither she nor any of us children ever got anything from the Liu, its village or its land. Everything we have came from my father and this factory.”
Read MoreFood from beyond the bridge of dreams
Although most people think of the ‘traditional’ Japanese cuisine as having its roots in the kaiseki of the late Muromachi and early Edo (1603-1868) periods, Japan and its way of eating are far older. To find out how and why the Japanese came to ‘eat with their eyes,’ it is necessary to cross a bridge of dreams.
Read MoreTalking Architects
This collection of interviews, artwork, and newly-translated essays by and about 12 diverse postwar Japanese architects provides a fascinating “oral history” of Japanese society during the 1960s and 1970s, a period when the nation’s attention shifted from rebuilding from the ashes of war to finding its place in the international community.
Read More“I thought we were China”: Ketagalan Media’s Chieh-Ting Yeh
It’s easy to assume that Chieh-Ting would be cynical about Taiwan’s future. But despite the many challenges he’s faced during the years he’s worked to support it, Chieh-Ting is cautiously hopeful, a fact that only further accentuates his affection for the small island he still calls home.
Read MorePruning the Branch: Pruning the Mind
Reading Cutting Back taught my untrained eye to more fully appreciate the complexities of Japanese formal gardens and the folks who are entrusted to maintain them.
Read MoreWu Wei-Cheng and the laissez-faire world of Taiwanese Tea
Wu insists that for a ceramic artist engaged primarily in making tea pots, the time spent imbibing tea far exceeds that of fashioning clay.
Read MoreTaiwan, the hot spring paradise you never knew existed
Densely packed into an area barely the size of Switzerland are an astonishing one hundred hot springs that invite you to indulge in their restorative, mineral-rich waters.
Read MoreUncovering Japanese Gardens Outside of Japan
A selection of some of the most beautiful Japanese gardens outside of Japan.
Read MoreInvitations to Stillness: Japanese Gardens as Metaphorical Journeys of Solace
The practice of garden-making in Japan has a long history and over the last 1500 years, there have been many changes in perceptions of what constitutes a garden.
Read MoreSix Thousand Lessons
During these years of travel, my understanding of what diversity means has changed. I began with an intuition, that the world was, from place to place and from culture to culture, far more different than I had been led to believe. Later, I began to understand that to ignore these differences was not simply insensitive but unjust and perilous.
Read MoreWhere can I find special Taiwan issue KJ96 in Taiwan?
Looking to get hold of a copy of our latest issue in Taiwan? Pop by these retailers in Taipei and Taichung.
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