Happy New Year of the Dog! Many readers will be familiar with our annual tradition here at Spoon & Tamago of choosing some of our favorite designer New Year’s cards of 2018. We began this tradition in 2010 (if you’re interested in going back in time, here are the archives) so we’re slowly making our way to having a full 12-zodiac animal archive! Now prepare yourself for lots of tail-wagging and howling as we post our favorites, in no particular order.
2017 marked the 4th-year of running our little shop alongside our blog, which this year turned 10. Both continue to be entirely bootstrapped and operated internally for maintaining both quality and experience. Doing everything in-house poses several challenges but it enables us to form relationships with our favorite artists, makers and designers and be the bridge between them and the world. That gives us so much joy and is what keeps us going. With that said, here are the top 5 products we carry that our readers and customers loved the most.
Do you have a million yen to blow on your cat? Well boy do we have the cat tree for you. Reconsidered and redesigned from the bottom up, the Neko Cat Tree looks like a modernist architectural sculpture that wouldn’t appear out of place in a museum or gallery.
Kenji Yanobe’s “Ship’s Cat” on display at Tsutaya Books within the Ginza Six department store
The Japanese sculptor Kenji Yanobe is known for his large-scale robotic and nightmarish toys. But animals too have always played an important role in Yanobe’s work too. And in his latest work titled Ship’s Cat, Yanobe has created a series of large-scale cat sculptures in various positions wearing protective helmets.
all photos by Tetsuya Emura
Amongst a group of finalists who had submitted proposals for a world heritage center to be built at the foot of Japan’s Mt. Fuji, one proposal clearly stood out from the rest. All the architects had proposed a roof that mimics Mt. Fuji except for one, which had the shape of a mountain but inverted; turned upside down on its head. Thinking it would be impossible to compete with Mt. Fuji no matter what kind of beautiful roof he proposed, Shigeru Ban decided to peruse a different, opposite path. His proposal was selected and, on December 22, 2017, the Fujisan World Heritage Center opened.
The Microsoft Excel program, which comes pre-installed on most PCs, is typically reserved for financial analysis, or bookkeeping. But for Tatsuo Horiuchi, a 77-year old retired man living in Japan, it’s his acrylic paints; his watercolors; his canvas.
“The Gateway” (Season 2)
Ukiyo-e has inspired countless numbers of spinoffs that have riffed on everything from Star Wars and Nintendo characters to animated gifs. But one mashup we did not see coming was Edo Ball, a series of artworks by Australia-based art director Andrew Archer and “inspired by basketball, Japan, NBA and culture.”
all photos by Hirota Kiriyama courtesy Sankei News
In a previous series on Mt. Fuji we talked about the many niche subcategories of photographing Mt. There’s Mt. Fuji with clouds, Mt. Fuji from afar, Mt. Fuji from the city and Mt. Fuji framed by various objects and sculptures. There’s even a dedicated group of photographers who get their kicks by shooting Mt. Fuji from different train stations. Now there’s one more subcategory: photographs that capture factories against a Mt. Fuji backdrop.
Yuki Tatsumi was working as a waiter in a restaurant when one day, as he was cleaning up a table, he noticed that a customer had intricately folded up the paper chopstick sleeve and left it behind. Japan doesn’t have a culture of tipping but Tatsumi imagined that this was a discreet , subconscious method of showing appreciation. He began paying attention and sure enough noticed that other customers were doing the same thing. Tatsumi began collecting these “tips” which eventually led to his art project: Japanese Tip.
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
Five Unique Experiences at Harajuku’s Latest Development Harakado
Shunga: Japanese Erotic Art from the 1600s – 1800s
