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August 13, 2026
 

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JAPANESE CRAFTS

Several times a year, workers and paying guests at the Tanabe Tataranosato build up and continuously tend to a traditional "tatara" (furnace) over 24 hours.
LIFE / Travel
Jul 25, 2026
In the hills of Shimane, Â鶹´«Ã½ steelworking tradition forges on
The remote communities of Unnan, Okuizumo and Yasugi were once historical centers of steel production for katana. Today, artisans and experts are keeping that history alive.
<i>Kokeshi</i> craftsman Toshio Takada uses a potter&#039;s wheel to shave wood into the shape of a doll.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jul 20, 2026
Craftsman strives to hand down traditional kokeshi making skills
Toshio Takada quit his job and began training to eventually become an award-winning craftsman.
Karakuri ningyo craftsman Tamaya Shobei IX demonstrates his work in London on Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2026
Traditional Japanese mechanical dolls showcased in London
Karakuri ningyo, or wooden automata powered without electricity, became popular in Japan during the Edo Period
¡°A Dictionary of Color Combinations¡± is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 27, 2026
¡®The colors speak for themselves¡¯: How Â鶹´«Ã½ chroma bible went global
Originally published as a six-volume series in the 1930s, ¡°A Dictionary of Color Combinations¡± has become a go-to for creatives in Japan and around the world.
The latest head of one of Japan&#039;s most acclaimed ceramicist families believes that to preserve traditional crafts, they must adapt in some ways to the present.
LIFE / Style & Design
May 12, 2026
Ohi Chozaemon XI: ¡®We cannot make tradition the absolute rule¡¯
The 11th head of the Ohi ware school of ceramics believes his craft can only survive if history is a set of guidelines, not laws.
Traditional Japanese needlework has exploded in popularity, but a book from a third-generation artisan aims to bring more context to the craft&#039;s newfound popularity.
LIFE / Style & Design
May 2, 2026
¡®Sashiko¡¯ needlework artisan says craft is about ¡®the stories behind the stitching¡¯
In a new book, a third-generation craftsman explores how the origins of his art are at risk of being lost in an upswell of popularity.
The Sui Collection, a Cabinet Office-backed showcase of traditional Japanese artisanship, is visually stunning, but what is lost in translation when the state is a partner in cultural communication?
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 28, 2026
What happens when Japan curates its aesthetic for the world?
The Sui Collection of traditional artistry demonstrates how Japan wants to be seen ¡ª both domestically and abroad.
Akinosuke Owada, a graduating student at Akan Ainu Craft Center Harikiki, poses next to one of his works at the school in Kushiro, Hokkaido.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 26, 2026
Ainu craft school aims to pass on culture to students
Students in the Hokkaido center¡¯s inaugural class are set to graduate soon, after completing their training to acquire skills of the Indigenous ethnic group.
Sparks fly as swordsmith Akihira Kawasaki forges a katana blade with a mechanical hammer at his workshop in Misato, Saitama Prefecture.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2026
¡®Artists of steel¡¯: Japanese swords forge new fanbase
Despite the rapidly shrinking population of blademakers in Japan, their fine steel swords known as katana are amassing a new generation of fans, particularly younger women.
The British Museum in London
CULTURE / Art
Feb 9, 2026
British Museum in London holds samurai exhibition
The exhibition, set to run until May 4, showcases some 280 items collected in and outside Britain, including those from the museum¡¯s own collection.
X-iS staff work on a commissioned custom mosaic for a client in January in Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Feb 2, 2026
Natural treasure: Tile company finds global audience with Gifu Prefecture clay
In lush Gifu Prefecture lays a distinct kind of buried treasure: clay, upon which tile manufacturer X-iS is building an internationally facing business.
Since all 22 kilns in Suzu were destroyed in the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake, many of the local potters came together for a joint firing in the municipal kiln.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 1, 2026
Noto¡¯s Suzu ware reemerges from the earthquake rubble
Two years after the 2024 earthquake and tsunami, Noto potters find purpose in carrying on their craft.
Toshiyuki Namigai (left) shows tatami sheets of varying thickness to a client, Swedish entrepreneur Anton Wormann, at Namigai's store in Tokyo in December.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 30, 2025
Amid uncertainty at home, tatami-makers find a new market: foreign buyers
Businesses focused on the traditional flooring material are evolving product offerings and marketing goods overseas, hoping to keep their craft alive.
In 2025, the 20 Questions column had 26 total interviews that offered insights into the professional, creative and personal backgrounds of people from various careers and walks of life.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 27, 2025
Finding a balance between tradition and innovation in 2025
With more than two dozen interviews throughout the year, our 20 Questions column highlighted diverse views on creativity, tradition and cultural hybridity.
Designtide Tokyo returns for a final weekend of a designer-run marketplace, including one student exhibitor chosen to join the main field of professionals.
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 20, 2025
Designtide Tokyo 2025 closes this weekend with a creator-led marketplace
After returning in 2025 following a 12-year break, the event finished with a chance for designers and buyers to meet face to face.
The Murakami Festival, held in the city of Murakami, Niigata Prefecture, has been added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list along with five other items from Japan.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2025
Six Japanese items added to UNESCO intangible heritage list
Four of the six new items will be registered under the category of ¡°Yama, Hoko, Yatai, float festivals in Japan.¡±
Kaihara Chair Junji Kaihara holds a pair of jeans made of Kaihara Denim in its initial stage at the company¡¯s museum in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture. A panel behind him shows a photo of the company¡¯s first dyeing machine, ¡°Nintai-go.¡±
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Dec 8, 2025
Hiroshima¡¯s textile industry lives on through quality and new techniques
From a company becoming one of the top global denim brands to a son repairing machines himself to keep his family¡¯s business going, the prefecture¡¯s textile industry lives on.
Despite the advance of synthetic alternatives and declines in the available workforce, some textile workers still see the potential of traditional persimmon dyeing.
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 1, 2025
Sun-dried and sustainable, Â鶹´«Ã½ persimmon dye lives on
Thanks to Â鶹´«Ã½ largest freshwater lake, Shiga Prefecture has long thrived as a production center of persimmon tannin dyeing.
Workers in Okinawa oxidize a pool of indigo dye, one of many regional textile craft traditions examined in Charlotte Linton's new book.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2025
New book scrutinizes sustainability of traditional Japanese textiles
In ¡°Dyeing with the Earth,¡± an Oxford research fellow examines how Â鶹´«Ã½ age-old textile traditions sometimes run counter to modern ideas of eco-friendly processes.
A Japanese-style teacup featuring a caricature of new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, on Wednesday in the city of Toki, Gifu Prefecture
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 23, 2025
Orders surge for popular caricature teacups featuring Takaichi
Preorders for the Takaichi teacup, which will also show past Japanese prime ministers, surpassed 4,000 even before she was sworn in.
Gut bacteria may be behind many of Â鶹´«Ã½ colorectal cancer cases
A Japanese research team found that a toxin produced by certain E. coli strains, colibactin, caused genetic mutations in nearly half of colorectal cancer cases studied
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
She is Russia¡¯s richest woman. Her business empire is going up in flames.
Tatyana Kim, the head and co-founder of Wildberries, speaks about Ukrainian drone attacks on the company&#039;s warehouses in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, at an unidentified location, in this still image from a handout video released on July 31.
Severe tropical storm Chan-hom makes landfall near Tokyo
Severe Tropical Storm Chan-hom made landfall around Ibaraki Prefecture, near Tokyo, on Tuesday night.
What Â鶹´«Ã½ language rules for permanent residency should look like
Potential health care workers hoping to find work in Japan take Japanese language instruction in Jakarta. Not all applicants for permanent residency should be expected to reach this level of proficiency.
Where do foreign residents in Japan want to die?
The Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery is one of the few cemeteries in Japan that allows burials, albeit with conditions for the deceased, including foreign nationality and permanent residency in Kanagawa Prefecture.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
As Â鶹´«Ã½ concrete jungles sizzle, urban forestry offers an all-natural fix
People and birds find relief from the sun in Tokyo&#039;s Nakano Ward earlier this month. While experts agree that urban greening is crucial to mitigating the impact of climate change, trees are becoming even more scarce in Japanese cities.
Â鶹´«Ã½ brewers experiment with a secret ingredient: music
At Smoke Craft, a craft beer brewery in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, music isn&#039;t just a background to the brewing process ¡ª it&#039;s an ingredient.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Â鶹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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