JAPAN TRAVEL
Japanese Artifacts and Everything to do with Giraffes
The narrow streets hemmed by skyscrapers in Osaka have nothing in common with the wide African savanna. No sand, no zebra herds, and no hyenas howling at the moon. Nevertheless I suddenly found myself in a herd of giraffes! One wa...

More

JAPAN TRAVEL
A hand-Crafted Puppet Master in Yanaka
It all started for Mitsuaki Tsuyuki when he tried making his first finger puppet. That moment, however, marked a new chapter after working thirty years as a children’s art teacher. It was the beginning of his love affair with the craft of hand p...

More

JAPAN TRAVEL
Town in Tochigi Features Pottery & Indigo Dyeing
On a beautiful November weekend, I visited Mashiko in Tochigi prefecture, and spent time at two craftsperson's spots. One was an indigo dyeing studio and the other was a pottery museum. It was a 3 day holiday weekend, but Mashiko wasn'...

More

AJW ASAHI
The mountainous Yoshino region in southern Nara Prefecture is blessed with an abundance of forest resources. Cedar trees, first planted in the area about 500 years ago, are now widely known as one of the region’s main specialties.
 
The cultivation method was characterized by planting s...

More