paper

Yoshinao Sugihara, head of a traditional paper wholesaler in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, takes the use of washi paper to a new level in interior design.

Stone tablets were one of the earliest writing tools used by man before paper. One entrepreneur now plans to take things full circle by making paper out of stone. Nobuyoshi Yamasaki's venture TBM Co. makes paper from limestone, a rock it proclaims is "almost inexhaustible." ...

The next time you trek out to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, situated on the fringes of Shinagawa along Tokyo Bay, look around and you'll see a giant smokestack by the Konan Ohashi Bridge. The visa-dispensing center, essential for foreign nationals who want to ...

Growing numbers of artists and designers in Britain are exploring the potential of handmade Japanese paper as a new material with which to work, according to artist Elaine Cooper, one of the very few foreign experts in the field. Cooper, 55, spent 10 years in ...

UNESCO recently announced that Honminoshi, a traditional Japanese paper-making craft, is being considered for the organization's list of intangible cultural heritage. Honminoshi originates from Mino in Gifu Prefecture, and boasts more than 1,300 years of history. Masters of the "tesuki washi" (traditional handmade paper) technique are ...

At a little roadside store in rural Nagano, a foreign tourist is miming a rice bowl with her cupped left hand. Firm in the belief that Japanese washi (paper — wa meaning Japanese and shi meaning paper) was made from rice, she waves her ...

Yumiko Matsui's intricately crafted depictions of life in Japan look great on paper.

Designers realize their ideas by applying creativity to paper.