Despite today’s date, this is not an April Fool’s prank. At a press conference in Tokyo last weekend, professor Hiroshi Yoshida from the Tohoku University Research Center for Aged Economy and Society, sounded the alarm bell for a looming crisis. By the year 2531, everyone in Japan will have the surname Sato.
March 30, 2024 / Johnny / Comments Off on Japan’s Stationery Award Offers a Return to the Primitive
Early civilizations had it all figured out. At least according to the Kokuyo Design Awards, arguably Japan’s most-influential stationery design award, which this year asked designers to look to the past. “If we return to the idea of ‘primitive’ in order to create the future,” they proposed, “what form of evolution can we imagine?” This year, the awards received nearly 1500 entries for proposed stationery products, each inspired by materials and methods of the past. Earlier this month, one grand prize and three runner-ups were selected.
The Day I Couldn’t Write a Poem is a short, playable game in which the reader moves a character through text, interacting with obstacles and making their way through a narrative. It’s the work of Zennyan (Zeni Tainaka), a Japanese pixel artist who has been experimenting with digital art mediums.
March 7, 2024 / Johnny / Comments Off on Satoshi Odagiri Creates One-of-a-Kind Organic Mobiles from Found Material
Located in the wilderness of of Hanno City (Saitama), about an hour outside of Tokyo, is Saturday Factory, a design studio founded by Satoshi Odagiri in 2015. Inspired by the surrounding forests, rivers and wildflowers, Odagiri creates balancing mobiles that incorporate materials that he finds near his studio and along walks in the forest.
March 5, 2024 / Johnny / Comments Off on Japan’s Tiniest Botanical Garden is in Shibuya
photos by Kenta Hasegawa courtesy Suppose Design Office
Walk south from Shibuya station and within 10 minutes you’ll come across a glass dome-shaped building sandwiched between several nondescript buildings. Hidden in plain sight is the Shibuya City Botanical Garden, Japan’s smallest indoor arboretum.
February 28, 2024 / Kushal Jain / Comments Off on A Glimpse Inside the Whimsical Wooden Miniature Homes of Yukihiro Akama
images courtesy of Yukihiro Akama
Artist Yukihiro Akama is set to unveil his largest exhibition to date, ‘Basho no Kankaku – A Sense of Place,’ at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP). The display will feature 52 wooden houses, each crafted from a single piece of wood, ranging from a mere 4cm to a grand 105cm and accompanied by architectural drawings and mini prints.
February 26, 2024 / Johnny / Comments Off on Past, Present and Future of Tokyo on Full Display in World’s Largest Architectural Projection-Mapping
From the deep forests of Okutama and the vibrant coral reefs of Ogasawara, to the sleepless neon lights of Shinjuku, Tokyo truly is one of the most diverse cities. And while one could argue that it has enough night lights, a new nightly projection mapping display will light up the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s headquarters building on a daily basis.
This series of enamel pins, with each representing one of Japan’s 47 prefectures, are the perfect way to show love for your hometown, or simply keep as mementos from your travels. Not only do they accurately capture the shape of each prefecture but the colors were also carefully selected to align with what the prefecture is known for.
February 22, 2024 / sponsor / Comments Off on Director Ryota Nakano to be Special Guest at Japan Society’s Family Portrait: Japanese Family in Flux
this post is sponsored by Japan Society
Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan and Japan Society are proud to announce the eighth installment of the ACA Cinema Project film series, Family Portrait: Japanese Family in Flux. The series examines the shifting dynamics and struggles of the Japanese household in contemporary cinema. Showcasing 10 features, including premieres and revivals, Family Portrait celebrates the complexities of familial bonds in the face of adversity—bringing to question what truly defines a family and its values in the modern world.
Limited tickets are still available for the final weekend of Japan Society’s Family Portrait: Japanese Family in Flux—showcasing three films from director Ryota Nakano (Her Love Boils Bathwater, A Long Goodbye and The Asadas) on Feb. 23 and 24. Nakano will attend all three of his films in person—Her Love Boils Bathwater on Feb. 23 will feature a post screening Q&A and reception and The Asadas on Feb. 24 will conclude with a post-screening panel discussion.
To learn more and purchase tickets, please visit japansociety.org.
a series of washi paper prints by artist takayuki. o
“Stepping Into A World” is a the 5th in a series of juried open call exhibitions aimed at showcasing undiscovered Japanese artists and integrating them into the forefront of the global art scene. The exhibition, which includes paintings, digital prints, and sculptures, is on view at Gallery Max in Soho and was curated by New York-based curator Kyoko Sato and television writer Motoichi Adachi.