By mid-year, 2020 was shaping up to become the biggest collective challenge we had faced in our lives. And now that we are nearing the end of this pivotal year, many of us gaze at the future with hopeful eyes. But could 2021 offer something better? Does the near future look bright? Or in the very least, less bad? We decided to turn to...
During a whirlwind tour of western Japan in spring 2019, I interviewed several craftsmen who work with sap from the Asian lacquer tree to make exquisite pieces of lacquerware. I imagined these craftsmen working in well-lit art studios or museum-like surroundings. Instead, I found them working out of their homes or in a warehouse-like office, their work aprons stained coal black from the urushi...
From ORIGAMI Magazine Interesting and slightly exotic spice mixes sit on your grocery store shelves (especially your Asian grocery store shelves) waiting for you to discover them. These spice blends, called furikake, are staples of Japanese cooking but still relatively unknown to most of us, even those of us who love to go out for Japanese food. In most cases, you have to cook...
A royal warrant is issued to purveyors of food and goods used regularly by His Imperial Majesty and the Japanese Imperial Family. The Imperial Household Ministry (predecessor to today’s Imperial Household Agency) established guidelines for the royal warrants in 1891. Only suppliers that met the Imperial Household Ministry’s standards were eligible to receive a warrant. Contrary to what you might expect from such a...
On May 1, a new emperor ascended the throne in Japan, officially ending the Heisei era and beginning the Reiwa era. This reset the count on the Japanese imperial year, or wareki. In Japan, the year is now Reiwa 1. What does this all mean? We’ll explain. The Japanese imperial-year system has been used since emperor Jinmu was enthroned in BC 660. That’s 2,459...
Picture this: It’s the morning of February 14 at M High School, a private school in the Tokyo suburbs. The school is in total chaos. About half of the 300 students are female. They arrived earlier than usual on this day to line up by the school’s grand staircase. They form lines on both sides of the stairs extending to the third floor. As...
