Art Jun 3, 2018

Architecture in Japan: A storied history built firmly on wooden foundations

"Japan in Architecture: Genealogies of its Transformation" is now showing at the Mori Art Museum.

Art Jan 28, 2018

Minakata: Japan's pioneer of ecology

In an old black-and-white photograph on show at the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Minakata Kumagusu — with a shaved head and dressed only in a waistcloth — stands by a huge tree, arms crossed in seeming defiance. He could easily be ...

Style & Design Feb 25, 2017

Naoto Fukasawa: Between craft and design

Naoto Fukasawa is probably best known internationally for his designs for Muji, in particular for the wall-mounted CD player he created in 1999, which was featured in Gary Hustwit's popular 2009 documentary "Objectified." Now he remains a creative adviser for Muji, while still designing ...

Art Dec 20, 2016

Raku: A traditional contemporary art form

At the opening of "The Cosmos in a Tea Bowl: Transmitting a Secret Art Across Generations of the Raku Family" at The National Museum of Modern Art, in Kyoto, the current head of the Raku family, Kichizaemon XV (b. 1949), explained that the event ...

Art Oct 4, 2016

Reconnecting Japan's ancient cultural hub

"When I visited Todaiji Temple in Nara, just after I arrived as a Chinese student in Japan about 30 years ago, I felt somehow nostalgic as it had an atmosphere of old China," says Cai Guo-Qiang, as he explains his work for Culture City ...

Style & Design Sep 24, 2016

Hiroshi Sambuichi: The nature of architecture

What is most remarkable about Hiroshi Sambuichi's work is the sensation of air and wind movement that the shapes of the architect's buildings encourage. The experience is testament to Sambuichi's philosophy that architecture should work in harmony with the environment surrounding it so that ...

Style & Design Jun 27, 2015

Kou-an glass teahouse gives tradition clarity

Tokujin Yoshioka is a familiar name in the design world, but it's hard to say which discipline he belongs to. His oeuvre spans products, including a mobile phone, watch and chandelier; architecture and interiors, such as his Rainbow Church (2010, 2013) and Swarovski Ginza ...

Art Jun 16, 2015

Just one collector can make all the difference

When Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery opened "Takahashi Collection: Mirror Neuron," it was packed with people keen to see Ryutaro Takahashi's selection of 140 contemporary artworks by 52 artists. It's only the second major showing of pieces owned by Takahashi, a psychiatrist and one ...

Art May 5, 2015

Korin: the late bloomer with innovative in style

One of the joys of visiting Tokyo's Nezu Museum in early May, is to catch the annual showing of one of the museum's most famous works, Ogata Korin's "Irises," before stepping outside to appreciate the real irises blooming in its garden. This spring, Korin's "Red ...

Style & Design Jan 30, 2015

Building social change after the earthquake

In 2011, the devastation of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami forced Japanese architects to rethink their understanding of architecture at a fundamental level — to consider closely society's systems and the affect buildings had on not only the life of, but also ...