Joint Chopsticks Inspired by Japanese Joinery Techniques
Product designer Yuma Kano and Japanese carpenter Katsuhisa Toda collaborated to create a series of chopsticks inspired by traditional wood joinery techniques.
The archive
Art & Culture — page 13
Browse art & culture in the Akihabara archive.
Ninja birthplace cities jointly promote tourism
Two cities in central Japan regarded as the birthplace of ninjas, or feudal era secret agents, have launched a council to attract more tourists from home and abroad. The cultural assets related …
Origami-inspired architecture brings diamond lattices to Tokyo's shopping district
This lacy façade is made from 5,315 aluminium panels, capable of sliding on hidden rails. It's the frontage of Ginza Place, on a corner of Ginza Crossing, Tokyo's equivalent of Times Square…
Art of Figure Making: Overwatch, Good Smile Company and Nendoroids
Ryoma Enomoto, Planning Division United States Leader at Good Smile Company, talks about his job and their recent collaboration with Blizzard Entertainment for their Overwatch Nendoroid figures, Mei …
The Eerie Humanoid Driftwood Sculptures of Nagato Iwasaki
Artist Nagato Iwasaki‘s lifelike driftwood sculptures are perfect examples of the uncanny valley — the feelings of revulsion and uneasiness one experiences from non-human objects that appear a b…
Otherworldy Paintings of Vegetation by Asako Iwasawa
The Japanese painter Asako Iwasawa grew up in Tokyo’s Akabane district, an area, even for Tokyo standards, that particularly lacks green spaces. It’s for this reason that Iwasawa eventually decided t…
Cross-Sections Form a Technicolor Cubist Home in Tokyo
From the outside this nondescript Tokyo home, with its cream-colored façade, looks just like all its other neighbors. But inside it’s anything but. A vibrant palette of pastel-colored walle…
Beautiful carved artworks by Keisuke Tanaka
Japanese sculptor Keisuke Tanaka works specifically with wooden frames and pillars, “carcasses of wood” that are no longer living. He applies meticulous carvings to this wood and gives them new life …
The Eternal Soul of Yayoi Kusama
Walking into the enormous cavern of Yayoi Kusama at her National Art Center, Tokyo retrospective “My Eternal Soul,” you are greeted with a sensory overload. Her latest works are stacked floor to ceil…
Babies ink-stamped in traditional ritual
Babies have been stamped with ink on the forehead in a traditional ritual for their healthy growth at a Shinto shrine in Gunma Prefecture, north of Tokyo. The event which began at Fujitake shrin…