Teleri L-J goes to Japan
Although technically on holiday, I couldn't resist collecting a few pictures of my travels in Japan for the Crafts magazine blog. Along with my photographer/boyfriend, I spent two weeks on the main island of Honshu and here are some of the sights we saw.
Flew into Tokyo a bit dazed and confused – perhaps because I had watched 3 3/4 films on the flight instead of sleeping (I was far too excited). The city is all hustle and bustle, but to be honest what major city isn’t?
I must get off my chest the wonder that is travelling around Japan….I know it’s dull to repeat what everyone says but they only say it because it’s a revelation when everything works! Oh and the hi-tech toilets, they’re incredible…
This is a mosaic at the end of Ometesando in Tokyo. The street is full of high-end fashion shops, Chanel, Fendi, Dior etc and populated with polished women carrying toy dogs in handbags by said fashion houses. It’s a similar street to any other major fashion city, however there is a wonderful subterranean, asymetric mall designed by Tadao Ando and of course this mosaic, which helps remind you where you are .
In a forest in the Shibuya district of Tokyo sits the Meiji shrine. Built to venerate the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken who ruled Japan for the latter half of the nineteenth century. As we looked around the temple, a traditional ceremony snaked through the complex. Such a lucky fluke.
The outfits were incredible. The main focus, a middle-aged lady dressed in an intricate kimono, was shielded from the sun by a bright red parasol – which you would be able to see if the photographer had not been going through his ‘black and white phase’.
We stumbled across a vintage kimono shop called Gallery Kawano – all too expensive for my pockets, but there were piles of off-cut fabrics and I couldn’t resist.
It’s time to get the sewing machine out.
This was their business card – I almost like it more than the fabrics.
We took a trip into a quieter part of Tokyo to visit the Japan Folk Crafts Museum. An institution founded by Yanagi Soetsu, it celebrates the concept of the ‘unknown craftsman’ with a quiet dignity.
www.mingeikan.or.jp
Around the corner there was a house with plates fused into its boundary walls – pretty cool.
Back into town now, specifically Asakusa, a more traditional area of Tokyo. The road is famous for its giant red lantern at one of the gates to the Sensoji Temple – but I preferred this less spectacular sight just outside of the train station.
Moving onto from Tokyo into Nikko, a small town at the foot of a UNESCO world heritage site of temples. We stayed in a modern take on the traditional Japanese house made by NIKKO design – a design team made up of Akira Kimura and Tomoko Shibata.
The small houses combined tatami matts, stenciled sliding doors with ipod docks and surround-sound. They were incredulously lovely hosts, with every detail of their business exuding their own aesthetic style they were a good wake-up call that the metropolis doesn’t have the monopoly on good design.
www.nikko-design.jp
Some of Akira and Tomoko’s decorations.
We were ready for some serious temple going.
This is the Toshogu Shrine at Nikko… in the rain, which wasn’t as enjoyably atmospheric as it might look in this picture.
A lot of the structures were under scaffolding and tarpaulins due to conservation but even the details on the smaller buildings were pretty sumptuous.
Next it was Kyoto, a city that feels older and more dignified next to the cool trends of Tokyo. We headed to the International Manga Museum which was initially rather disappointing until the realisation that the majority of visitors were there to use the library and totally ignore the museum. People were choosing their favourite series from the ‘wall of manga’ and settling in for an afternoon of reading. From the English language section, I chose ‘Emma’ a manga melodrama set in 19th century London (it even included a rendition of The Barber of Seville) – what’s not to like?
Here are some manga stamps for designing your own bag.
www.kyotomm.com
Kyoto is littered with reminders of its age and prestige (the city was the capital of Japan and Emperor’s residence from 794 to 1868). There is a strong crafts tradition which you feel walking past the mixes of antique shops, contemporary fashion houses, calligraphers and galleries.
Final stop was Hakone, the playground for stressed Tokyoites, includes vistas of Mount Fuji, cablecars, a Lalique museum and a faux 17th century galleon made for sightseeing. With all this to navigate/avoid we spent a happy hour or two at the Open Air Museum which on such a beautiful day was idyllic. The museum holds one of the world’s largest collections of Henry Moore sculptures, an exhibition building dedicated to work by Picasso – mainly his ceramics and also this Gormley sculpture.
And by then it was time to go back to Tokyo for our homeward flight and even though I was tired I didn’t sleep a wink.
