Spoon & Tamago

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Getting your share of the Japanese Valentine’s Day Market

February 1, 2017 / Clara Kreft / Comments Off

from trains, noodles, sushi and strawberries, everyone gets in on Valentine’s Day in Japan

Depending on where you live, maybe couldn’t care less about Valentine’s Day. In some European countries, it’s just a day the flower shops are decorated with hearts trying to persuade you to buy flowers.

Not so in Japan where, if you are romantically inclined, it’s one of the most important days of the year, on par with even Christmas. Chocolate as a food associated with passion and romance is rooted in Mesoamerican history. But Richard Cadbury is largely credited with the commercialization and gift-giving aspect of Valentine’s.

MTRL Kyoto: a 120-year old studio converted into a coworking space

January 31, 2017 / Johnny / 1 Comment

the co-working space MTRL Kyoto (photos courtesy Fumihiko Sano)

Need an hour, a day, or even longer to work on a creative project, or make a presentation to a client? If you’re based in Kyoto you’re in luck because just the space exists. MTRL Kyoto is a co-working space that packs laser cutters, 3D printers and other tools, as well as meeting rooms that seat 10, 30 and 40 people.

Kaikado’s Tea and Coffee Cafe in Kyoto

January 30, 2017 / Johnny / Comments Off

For 40 years an old government building had remained vacant. Originally built in 1927, the Western-style concrete space had been used as a garage and administration office until it closed in the mid-1970s. But last year a group of young craftsmen decided to revitalize the space and turn it into a café that would also function as an outlet for showcasing the work of young Japanese craftsmanship.

Raw Meat, Cabbage, Moldy Bread, and other things that have inspired Japanese fashion label CUNE

January 26, 2017 / Johnny / 1 Comment

intestines (left), cabbage (middle) and moldy bready (right) are just some of the things that have inspired fashion designer Hironori Yasuda

Don’t call it fashion. At least that’s what Hironori Yasuda will tell you if you ask him about his label CUNE, which he started in 1994. If anything, they’re “barely clothes,” he says.

Yasuda isn’t swayed by trends. He makes what he wants, and each season he picks a seemingly arbitrary theme, one that typically has no place in the world of fashion, and designs his entire collection around it. He doesn’t think about who would wear his clothes, or how they would wear them. In fact, he even says “you don’t have to buy them.” But with two stores in Tokyo, one in Fukuoka and a thriving online shop, people seem to like his bizarre creations.

Chim↑Pom built a treehouse on the US-Mexico Border

January 25, 2017 / Johnny / Comments Off

photo by Carolina Miranda/ LA Times

Japanese art collective Chim↑Pom, known for their provocative, politically-charged artwork, has built a tree house along the U.S.-Mexico border. It was built in a private backyard in Tijuana’s Colonia Libertad neighborhood and offers views of the border separating Mexico from the United States

Nendo and Dentsu Form Alliance, Establish New Business Design Entity Cacdo

January 23, 2017 / Johnny / 1 Comment

Globally recognized design firm Nendo and ad agency Dentsu have entered into a strategic alliance, resulting in a new business design entity called Cacdo.

Tokyo is Sparkling and Shining with Exhibitions by Tokujin Yoshioka and Mika Aoki

January 23, 2017 / Johnny / Comments Off

left: Tokuijn Yoshioka | right: Mika Aoki

If you’re a fan of the sparkly and shiny, and you live in Tokyo, you’re in luck. Two (unrelated) exhibitions that opened in January are bringing a prismatic shine and a microscopic sparkle to Tokyo. And they’re just 10 minutes apart.

Music Monday: The Watanabes

January 23, 2017 / Johnny / 1 Comment

The Watanabes have about as much in common with the popular Japanese surname as the English band The Smiths have with, well, Smith. The 80s English band once said “[The Smiths] was the most ordinary name and I thought it was time that the ordinary folk of the world showed their faces.” And it’s with a similar dedication that British brothers Duncan and Selwyn Walsh decided to form the Watanabes and establish Japan as both their base and muse.

Kayashima: The Japanese Train Station Built Around a 700 Year Old Tree

January 21, 2017 / Johnny / 2 Comments

a 700-year old camphor tree pokes its head out of Kayashima Station (photo by Kosaku Mimura/Nikkei)

In the Northeast suburbs of central Osaka stands a curious train station unlike any other. Kayashima Station features a rectangular hole cut into the roof of the elevated platform and, from inside, a giant tree pokes its head out like a stalk of broccoli. It’s almost like a railway version of Laputa.

Anju Miyawaki Used Pressed Flowers to Create Flat Ikebana

January 20, 2017 / Johnny / 1 Comment

“Flat Ikebana” by Anju Miyawaki

If you’ve ever studied ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement, you’ll know that one of the most important principles in orienting your piece is that it must look beautiful from the front. Taking that restriction to heart, and reinterpreting it, Japanese art student Anju Miyawaki created a series of two-dimensional pressed flower arrangements.