Today we will be talking about Chisato Otomo, who specializes in two seemingly opposite professions. She is both a fashion designer and an instructor of new Japanese buyō, a genre of the traditional dance associated with geisha. The pictures provided are from one of the practice sessions, which we managed to sit in on.

Ms. Otomo, [...]

Taiko is a traditional Japanese instrument which has been passed down over the centuries. It’s often seen at local and religious festivals, and classical theatre such as kabuki and noh. Taiko is not only popular in Japan but across the world, and is practiced by many people in different areas.

Studio Hougaku Academy offers taiko [...]

Ninjas
Ninjas existed over 400 years ago and are what we would call a spy in present time. A ninja’s job consisted of infiltration, information gathering, and assassination. To conduct their espionage, ninjas carried different weapons and used special techniques; such as knowledge on explosives and poisons.
Ninjas were masters of deception, and in their daily [...]

Pilates
Pilates is a body conditioning workout in which you use the body’s central muscles.
Using the inner muscles, you are able to exercise while keeping the popular posture.
Pilates works your inner muscles, and corrects the placement of your pelvis and overall body balance while retouching your body into its beautiful shape. It is an exercise perfect [...]

No matter what happens, humans will always place themselves as the center.
Emotions such as anxiousness, anger, revenge, jealousy and greed naturally surface in our hearts, channeling through our ego. Worldly desires and egos arise because they have an opponent.
How to dismiss these emotions? Are we able to remove these desires and egos?
This is the purpose [...]

■Heart of Hospitality
Tea Ceremony is a cultural tradition that emerged from China into Japan’s own unique way of serving tea.
The goal of a tea ceremony is to put all your strength into hospitality.

A Japanese culture experience event called Setagaya Cool was held on September 17, 2011.
　Setagaya Cool is a Japanese culture experience event that anyone can participate. While enjoying the Japanese atmosphere in the space with an Irori, foreign people can experience Onsen, Shodou (calligraphy) and Sadou and discover the appeal of Japan. It was an attempt [...]

This time in collecting data based on Japan’s oldest most historic pottery, I went to Junko Yamamoto’s studio in Gunma prefecture Oota city.

Miss Yamamoto’s studio

“Some no Komichi “ is an event aimed to share the culture of dyeing. It is held around Kanda River and Myoshoji River, known as the home of Edo dyeing. This year is the third time being held since 2009. It was from February 18th (Fri) to 20th (Sun).
About 4,400 people visited over the three [...]

Japanese dyeing skills were greatly developed within the culture during the Edo period. From the early Showa period to 1950’s, the basin of the Kanda River and the Myoshoji River was known as a focal point of dyeing business, filled with more than 300 dyeing small factories, comparable to that of Kyoto and Kanazawa. Even [...]