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May 18, 2024
 

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Mio Yamada

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Mio Yamada
A freelance arts and lifestyle editor and writer, Mio Yamada focuses on design, crafts and architecture. When she’s not visiting galleries and trade fairs, you'll find her taking photos of everything and being distracted by shiny objects. She's also surprisingly British.
For Mio Yamada's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 11, 2016
Loosening and tightening the corset on women's liberation
When the historical significance of fashion is discussed, the multi-talented artist Jean Cocteau is often quoted as having said, "Style is a simple way of saying complicated things."
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Oct 1, 2016
Building new design ideas
This month looks at fresh materials — from industrial metals to cocoa-inspired leather — to spruce up the work space.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Sep 3, 2016
The cat's meow of creature comforts
This month, On: Design lets the cat out of the bag about The Japan Times' love of pets by allowing Chibi-chan, my adopted stray, to review a few products that she claims may persuade her to become a house pet.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Aug 20, 2016
Japan's architects are building a better future
Home-security AI cats; talking walls equipped with motion sensors; communal-living apartment blocks that promote harmonious relations; and outdoor living-room spaces powered by solar energy siphoned off hybrid cars — these previews of our future, currently on display at "House Vision 2," sound like...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 10, 2016
Wise Owl Hostels Tokyo
“What you need is a mediocre amount of sleep. It should be a good, short sleep from an exhausting, enriched experience. No time for sleep. Experience Tokyo.”
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Aug 6, 2016
Designs on summer
The Japanese summer is not for everyone. Unbearable temperatures, clammy humidity and glaring sunshine can leave you a dripping, squinting, frizzy-haired, hot mess. We can't help you — but here's a few Japanese designs that may make summer a bit 'cooler' for you.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NEW IN TOWN
Jul 21, 2016
Sakurai Japanese Tea Experience
New to the Spiral building in Omotesando is Sakurai Japanese Tea Experience, which has relocated from its original Nishi-Azabu location to a spot directly next door to Mina Perhonen’s newly opened Call.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / NEW IN TOWN
Jul 15, 2016
Call: Mina Perhonen's new store has it all
Mina Perhonen’s new Call store is a one-stop shop in Omotesando for anyone who loves Nordic-inspired fashion and interiors. Filled with simple, soft-hued ceramics, rolls of irregular geometrically patterned textiles, racks of floaty cotton garments and displays of elegant hand-crafted goods, Call takes...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN,HOME TRUTHS
Jul 2, 2016
Japan's new retro
This month we look at quintessentially Japanese objects re-invented as modern-retro designs.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Jun 4, 2016
Japanese design reveals all
Japan is clearly having some fun with transparent product design.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 14, 2016
The woman who spent seven years 'locked' in Issey Miyake's wardrobe
"I'm so sorry I'm late," Midori Kitamura says as she settles into her chair. "OK, let's take a break."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
May 4, 2016
Okonomiyaki gives you nutrients you need!
A pop-up hits fast-food rivals where it hurts.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Apr 30, 2016
Our picks from Salone del Mobile Milano 2016
As always, Japan was well-represented at Salone del Mobile Milano last month, with Sou Fujimoto creating a forest of spotlights for clothing retailer H&M's COS brand, Panasonic's "Kukan — The Invention of Space" installation, as well as separate exhibitions, including the Experimental Creations...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Apr 2, 2016
Bags of innovative design
Bags exist in that limbo between fashionable and functional. They carry a purpose but elements of design and style make all the difference.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 29, 2016
Stitches in time make fashion sublime
All artistic practices inevitably borrow from the past, but fashion, in particular, seems to revel in revivals. Whether skillfully appropriated or brazenly duplicated, the familiar frequently finds its way back to the runway, be it in 1940s wide pants, '50s flared skirts, '60s babydoll dresses, '70s...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 26, 2016
Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten sells the story of Japanese crafts
"I can't ask a craftsperson to make something cheaply, or to produce 1,000 items. I have to find 10 artisans to each create 100 quality items," says Jun Nakagawa, president of the crafts-revitalization business Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten. "That's what makes it tricky."
Mar 11, 2016
matchbaco
Mar 11, 2016
Ikebukuro Hearts Cafe
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Mar 5, 2016
For fine dining a la mode, Issey Miyake and kilns in Arita are putting Japanese aesthetics on the menu.
For fine dining a la mode, Issey Miyake and kilns in Arita are putting Japanese aesthetics on the menu.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Feb 6, 2016
Sweet design, from Japan, with love
As Valentine's Day approaches, stores are always looking to promote unusual sweet ideas — making it a great excuse for designers to rethink candy and, of course, for the rest of us to enjoy the results.
Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet
Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
Japan passes bill to introduce 'blue ticket' fines for cyclists
A new system under which bicycle riders pay fines for minor traffic violations to escape criminal punishment is expected to be introduced in Japan no later than 2026.
Japan changes law to allow joint custody after divorce
Legislation that allows the option of joint custody of children after divorce is passed at the Upper House plenary session on Friday.
U.S. envoy to Japan makes landmark visit to front-line island near Taiwan
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel meets with members of the Self-Defense Forces stationed on Yonaguni, Okinawa Prefecture, on Friday.
Japan to review romanization system for first time in 70 years
An advisory panel to the education ministry will consider how the Japanese language should be transcribed into the Latin alphabet, including unifying different romanization styles currently in use.
Can AI-generated inventions be patented? A Tokyo court says no.
The Tokyo court's ruling comes amid ongoing debates on how to regulate generative AI and is part of a transnational class action lawsuit.
A new initiative rethinks old Tohoku crafts
The colored patterns of Tsuguru "nuri," made in Aomori Prefecture, are achieved by applying multiple coatings of lacquer, which are later polished down to reveal layers of colors beneath.
Xi and Putin mark ‘new era’ amid efforts to counter U.S. ‘containment’
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend an event in Beijing on Thursday. During Putin's visit, the leaders showed off their growing alignment amid efforts to push back against the U.S.-led world order.
Unraveling the Japanese prose of Yukio Mishima
Author Yukio Mishima accepts the Arts Festival Award in the drama category at the 20th Arts Festival Award Ceremony on Jan. 22, 1966.
New Taiwan president to set tone for ties with China at inauguration
Taiwan President-elect Lai Ching-te arrives at the CyberSec 2024 Exhibition in Taipei on Wednesday.

Podcast

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By Mai Yoshikawa

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