The tradition of bijinga (美人画, “beautiful person picture”) is said to have originated in Kyoto around the mid-Edo period as an art form that portrayed not only external beauty, but inner beauty. The style continued to evolve through the Meiji and Taisho periods of Japanese modernity but now, a group of young Kyoto-based painters are taking the genre and adding a fresh coat of paint. One of those is Kazuho Imaoka.
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As we wind down our 12th (!) year of blogging, we embark on the annual exercise of ranking our most popular posts based on viewership. Ironically, these most-popular roundups are never very popular. But we enjoy reflecting on the past 12 months, if only for ourselves, so if you’ll indulge us again in this tradition of reviewing the stories that captivated our readers the most. Hopefully we’ve been able add a little bit of beauty and intrigue to your daily lives by delivering stories about Japan through an art & design lens.
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If you have some time to kill at Narita Airport (I mean, who doesn’t?) head up to the 4th floor of Terminal 1 where you’ll find a newly opened LEGO store. And not only will you find a toy to entertain little ones on the long flight to come but you’ll also find a specially-commissioned mural, made entirely of LEGO, that replicates a famous 18th-century Japanese painting.
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At a dimly lit ceremony hall in Osaka this week, a Buddhist monk sat at the front of a large room chanting, surrounded by 300 lanterns. The chants, however, were not Buddhist scriptures. They were the regrets and remorse of individuals who had been unable to take their paid-time-off.
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As the sun set on Taketa City last month, tourists and locals alike gathered together near the Oka Castle ruins. And as darkness took hold, a stream of lights gradually faded into focus, twisting and turning as they appeared to extend towards the sky. This is Taketa City’s Chikuraku Festival.
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It’s been a little over a year now since the Tsukiji Fish Market relocated to Toyosu and officially closed their doors forever. The site has since been demolished and the only thing that now remains are photographs and other documentation of the iconic fish market. Using thousands of those archival photographs, a team of designers have created an immersive artwork that explores what was once the world’s largest fish market.
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As the year comes to an end, we’re afforded several opportunities to reflect on the past 12 months. One of those opportunities is the Kansai Photojournalism Awards, which were announced this week. Exceptional photojournalism and videography from 2019 were recognized by the Kansai Photojournalism Association, which is made up of 76 news organizations with offices in the Kansai region.
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The Japanese visual artist Atsushi Adachi creates miniature replicas of objects from the past using old newspaper clippings and articles sourced from the same period. Artifacts from history like battleships and Neil Armstrong’s space suit come alive in what Adachi describes as a meditation on memories of our collective memory.
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For more than 100 years, a town in Nara Prefecture has been using leftover, high-quality cypress wood from the home construction process to create disposable chopsticks. But even in this process there are leftovers: slices of wood called hamidashimono that were simply collected and burned. So a team of designers worked with local craftspeople to upcycle these leftovers to create an izakaya-grade DIY chopsptick set.
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In April of 2016, a powerful earthquake rocked Kumamoto, toppling parts of Kumamoto Castle and damaging many other historical sites. One of those was 200-year old Soy Sauce maker Hamada Shoyu. Their oldest kura, or storehouse, had survived through the Edo, Meiji, Taisho, Showa and Heisei periods. So this earthquake wasn’t going to stop them. And, they had a powerful ally. When the earthquake struck, architect Kengo Kuma was one of the first to raise his hands and offer assistance.
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The 2024 Toyama Kei-Truck Gardening Contest
Myaku-Myaku Footwear, Inspired by the Googly-Eyed Mascot for the Osaka Expo
‘Puddle’ Are a Series of Flower Vessels Inspired by Puddles of Water
Shunga: Japanese Erotic Art from the 1600s – 1800s
Five Unique Experiences at Harajuku’s Latest Development Harakado
