All About Japan

Spoon & Tamago

Spoon & Tamago

All About Spoon & Tamago
Drawing from an extensive multicultural database and resources, Spoon & Tamago attempts to comprehensively cover all aspects of Japanese design, from fine art and architecture to product and graphic design.
Ever Seen a Paper Book Sculpture?

Ever Seen a Paper Book Sculpture?

Discover how these books map out existing landscapes in order to give life to an inventive art form!

This Home Brings the Urban Experience Indoors

This Home Brings the Urban Experience Indoors

Makiko Tsukada Architects created a space that echoes the slick surfaces of the Tokyo cityscape in an interior environment. It's like taking a stroll through the city while staying indoors!

Kindergarten Made from Shipping Containers

Kindergarten Made from Shipping Containers

This Saitama kindergarten upcycled stacked shipping containers into an earthquake-resistant and environmentally friendly new structure.

The Portable Paternal Playgound!

The Portable Paternal Playgound!

This wearable prototype turns dads into jungle gyms!

100 Yen: The Japanese Arcade Experience

100 Yen: The Japanese Arcade Experience

In a culture famous for miniaturization, arcades in Japan conversely seem to go bigger, brighter, louder and increasingly diverse—as this documentary on the history of arcade games reveals.

New York Bagel with a Japanese Twist

New York Bagel with a Japanese Twist

Thanks to a close association to New York, the unassuming bagel has seen a surge in popularity in the picturesque town of Miyagawa. Call it 'The Land of the Rising Bagel!'

Sea-Inspired Miniature Newspaper Collages

Sea-Inspired Miniature Newspaper Collages

This artist uses a wide range of multimedia—everything from snippets of foreign newspapers and magazines to 'nihonga' materials to create collages that illustrate the ocean that connects all.

20 Japanese Words for Rain, in Art Form

20 Japanese Words for Rain, in Art Form

How would you depict 'autumn rain' in a bottle? How about 'sudden rainfall'? Check out this design troupe's dioramas creating snapshots of 20 Japanese words for rain!

Creating Digital Rain, One Drop at a Time

Creating Digital Rain, One Drop at a Time

Extraordinary designer Yugo Nakamura 'makes it rain' in this unique video, a digital effort to explain where the sound of rain comes from.

Japan's Miniature Architecture Model Museum

Japan's Miniature Architecture Model Museum

Miniature models are only occasionally made available to the public, and usually pulled out of storage when an architect is featured in an exhibition. But finally, Japan's getting its first museum dedicated to miniature architecture models.

Reflective Paintings of Water Ripples

Reflective Paintings of Water Ripples

Artist Yoshihito Kawase creates stunningly quiet water ripple paintings that reflect on the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Portraits of Tokyo’s Stray Cats

Portraits of Tokyo’s Stray Cats

There's definitely not a shortage of cat photographs. But for some reason, Masayuki Oki's photographs of street cats stand out in a way that others don’t.

New Homes for Hermit Crabs

New Homes for Hermit Crabs

It seems hermit crabs are always short of shells. A Japanese real estate listing company decided to step in and find a model solution.

An Industrial Warehouse Converted to a Café

An Industrial Warehouse Converted to a Café

You don't have to be in a populated center to find a third-wave coffee shop—and this one might be worth the trip for the decor alone.

Otaku Tattoos Gaining Traction in Japan

Otaku Tattoos Gaining Traction in Japan

While tattoos remain largely taboo in Japan, a new form of tattooing that draws on anime and otaku culture is helping change the local image of ink.

Merging Traditional Technique & Modern Imagery

Merging Traditional Technique & Modern Imagery

Get to know Keisuke Yamaguchi, an artist who recreates 'ema' paintings for Shinto shrines, as well as creating his own stunning works inherently connected to the ancient concepts of Shintoism.

Andy Warhol 'Randoseru'

Andy Warhol 'Randoseru'

With Japanese kids' backpacks becoming fashion icons in their own right, why not up the ante with a splash of Andy?

Realistic Fake Food Bookmarks

Realistic Fake Food Bookmarks

If these bookmarks were any more real, you could eat them!

Hydroponic Greens Grown Under the Tokyo Metro

Hydroponic Greens Grown Under the Tokyo Metro

Tokyo's elevated train spaces might be shaded from the sun, dreary and have most often been turned into bicycle and car parking, but surprisingly, where the sun doesn’t shine turns out to be an ideal setting for a garden.

Stunning Photos of Japan in 1908

Stunning Photos of Japan in 1908

Have a look at rare photographs of japan during a time when simply using a camera required special permission.

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