It is Friday night at 11:30pm in September 2007 in Seattle. I am at my desk at this late hour for how many days in a row? And how many weekends have I spent in this office? The software company I have been running for the past 7 years signed a MOU with a possible …
November 15 is a holiday called Shichi Go San in Japan. Shichi means 7, Go means 5, and San means 3. When a girl becomes 3 and 7, and a boy becomes 5 years old, we celebrate it by visiting a shrine or temple dressed up. I don’t know much of the history, like why …
November 3rd is a national holiday in Japan called Bunka no Hi (文化の日). It literally means Cultural Day in Japanese. Every year around this day, Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington (JCCCW) has held an event dedicated to celebrating, commemorating, and educating the public about Japanese and Japanese American Culture in the Seattle area. …
I have stumbled upon this old video on Vimeo. This was my first time listening to Bernard Leach talk (he would be 133 if he were alive). He is talking so passionately about handmade pottery. What is mingei? Who is Bernard Leach? You may have a lot of questions. I will try to share with …
Watch This Video While It’s Free – What is Mingei Read More »
About this time of the year in the last five years, I had been busy wearing kimono and serving tea for 4 consecutive days, for the Senses from Japan event. Twice a year, in the spring and the fall, people would gather for a bowl of tea and Fran’s white chocolate truffle. Members of Urasenke …
Having read my blog post What is Kintsugi – Japanese Art of Broken Pottery, a friend of mine and a long-time tea ceremony practitioner Mr. John Dillon forwarded me this article. An artist Victor Solomon repaired a damaged baskeball court in LA utilizing the technique of kintsugi. Not only the surface of the pottery, but …
Artist Victor Solomon Repaired Basketball Court with Kintsugi Technique Read More »
When I broke the lid of my favorite ceramic bowl a couple of years ago, I just couldn’t throw it away. “I should repair it with kintsugi!” So I bought a DYI kintsugi set at a lacquer shop when I visited Kyoto. Lazy me, I never worked on it and forgot about it….. Today I …
What is Kintsugi- Japanese Art of Broken Pottery Read More »
According to Wikipedia, “tatami is a type of mat used as a flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms.” The surface of tatami is woven soft rush straw. Its fresh smell of straw, its soft/firm feeling… I like it so much that I spread 4 and a half tatami mats in my home office. On the …