Teapot by Keisuke Iwata
If there’s any major retailer that can authentically make the claim of an “artisan craft collection,” it’s the Japanese minimal lifestyle retailer MUJI. And that’s exactly what they’ve done with their new Tatazumai collection. In doing so, MUJI has pushed their “no brand” philosophy to the side just a bit by teaming up with 6 different Japanese artisans who will oversee the production of the wooden, ceramic, glass and fabrics pieces.
Ultraman Zero with his father, Ultra Seven
Ultraman is a long-running TV franchise that spawned movies, toys and perhaps Japan’s most well-known television family: the “ultra family.” The popular show was filmed using tokusatsu-style special effects and debuted on TV in 1966. One of the underlying themes of the generation-spanning show was the father-son relationships. If you or your Dad were fans of the show, this Ultraman father-son tumbler would make a great Father’s Day gift!
The Tokyo Metro opened Japan’s first Subway, the Ginza Line, in 1927. Almost 90 years have passed and the underground network of trains has grown to become one of the world’s most complex yet well-working subterranean infrastructure systems. But times have changed. Lifestyles have evolved and, naturally, the values that society looks for in public transportation have also shifted.
To keep up, Tokyo Metro enlisted Nikken Activity Design (NAD) Lab to rethink our relationship with public transportation and what a renewal of the Tokyo Metro might look like.
“Great Wave 2.” Mineral pigments (pearl, copper, brass), newspaper, magazine clippings, hemp paper board.
In 2009 the artist and designer Nao Morigo, after leaving her job at a women’s bags and accessories brand, took some time off and traveled the world. She collected all sorts of memorabilia on her trip from foreign newspapers and ads to magazines. But one observation that had a profound effect on her was the realization that the ocean, and all its treasures, connects the earth.
Two years later the traumatic earthquake and tsunami struck the Japanese region of Tohoku. And 5 years from then, Morigo has returned to the subject, looking at it face-to-face in a new series of miniature collages.
Call it the land of the rising bagel. Thanks to their close association to New York, an eternal fashion icon for Japan, the unassuming bagel has seen a surge in popularity over the last couple years. There’s Bagel Standard, Coo chan Bagel and Kepo Bagels, just to name a few. But last month a new bagel shop opened in the picturesque town of Miyagawa, located at the tip of the Miura Peninsula.
The district of Yoshiwara in Tokyo has a 400-year history of catering to our carnal cravings. In order to reign in widespread male and female prostitution, in 1617 the government restricted prostitution only to this area, located just North of Asakusa. To this day Yoshiwara remains both a historic landmark but also an active red-light district, and has gone on to inspire many popular works of cinema and literature.
But for designer Yayoi Okano, Yoshiwara was more than just a neighborhood known for its sex trade. It was home.
When Masayuki Oki calls the cats he photographs busanyan, he means it in the most affectionate way. Literally “ugly cat,” Oki is a master at catching the stray cats of Tokyo making funny faces, napping and even sometimes fighting. But whatever they’re doing when Oki snaps his shutter, each is imbued with character and personality that is instantly relatable.
For hundreds of years the alchemists toiled away in their secret labs concocting chemicals and pigments they hoped would turn metal to gold. But for Miya Ando, the New York-based artist who’s a descendant of Bizen sword makers, she’s found her own way to make metals shine.
“As every Japanese has realized, the waves can take away a great deal from us,” says artist Tomomi Kamoshita. “But it is also true that we greatly benefit from it.” Using broken pieces of ceramics that she picked up on the shore, and combining it with pieces of her own broken ceramics, the Tokyo-based potter uses the ancient kintsugi method of repairing ceramics to turn the shards into one-of-a-kind chopstick rests.
the largest of the murals can be seen from the other side of the shore
Tennozu Isle is a small island in Tokyo Bay that was built over a period of 14 years in the early 1900s by dredging sand and sediment from the bottom of the bay. It became primarily an industrial hub for warehouses and storage. But in the early 2000s a new train station that connected the island with major stations like Shinjuku and Shibuya kicked off a massive redevelopment. Now it’s become a hip town with a fancy website that hosts art shows and performances.
‘Puddle’ Are a Series of Flower Vessels Inspired by Puddles of Water
Myaku-Myaku Footwear, Inspired by the Googly-Eyed Mascot for the Osaka Expo
With No Entrance or Exit, a Train Station Designed Solely as a Lookout Spot
Five Unique Experiences at Harajuku’s Latest Development Harakado
Japan’s Stationery Award Offers a Return to the Primitive
