Kurashi - News From Japan

An Anagama is a wood fire kiln used in traditional Japanese pottery where the gas and ash act as a natural glazing agent for ceramics. This short documentary features Clayton Amemiya, a Hawaii-born artist who was originally taught in Okinawa by sensei Seisho Kuniyoshi. Clayton has been perfecting his Anagama technique for 40 years and become a master craftsman of this Japanese art form.

I had the great pleasure of getting a personal tour of the restoration that is going on at a famous temple in Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, which was partially damaged by the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. In fact, the tsunami didn't reach all the way up to the temple buildings, but just meters from the main gate. Did the ancient founders of this holy place know something that we don't? I guess so. Zuiganji dates back to 828 when Ennin founded Enpukuji (Matsushimadera) in these parts. There are still huge living trees that are at least 800 years old on the premises. And there are religious art from as far back as the Heian period, i e before those trees were first grown. The main building of the Zuiganji temple is currently covered by a tent-like construction cover, so if you do visit Matsushima, you can see other interesting buildings like the kitchen and the museum, which are well worth your time. Imagine you are in the early 1600s and...

Time - we have no concept of it. Eggs, about a week. Milk and cream, we can get in about three months if we have a couple of cows, and if we know how to deal with them (including the bull). Wheat and rice, about six or seven months, but a lot more if we consider all the history from back way before. Other veggies, well, it depends on where you get your seeds from. Most seed sold in small bags are imported. We talk about farming, but if we don't acknowledge that there are people out there, who know how to work the soil, and who understand the concept of time, then how are we going to feed ourselves? I really liked this article in The Guardian about Irene, a 1907 sail ship that will be chartered to ship food slowly... Organic beer from the UK, olive oil from Spain, and then cocoa, coffee - and rum - back from South America. The whole point is to "blaze a trail for wind-powered cargo ships." For Pike, this trip, which begins on Valentine's Day, is about romance but also ...

Winifred Bird has written a great article about biodiversity over at Japan Times, glad to see these issues being taken seriously. She notes that biodiversity is threatened not just by the loss of virgin nature but by changes in Japan's satoyama — the carefully managed forests/fields that make up Japan's traditional rural landscape: Humans have been shaping the natural environment in Japan for a very long time. Starting with the advent of rice cultivation more than 2,000 years ago, virtually every accessible patch of land on these small and crowded islands has had its vegetation cut, cleared, burned, tilled or otherwise transformed. But surprisingly, say those who study the ecology of Japan's traditional rural areas, that may not have been such a bad thing for the archipelago's biological diversity. Back before humans settled down in villages and learned about agriculture, Japan's wet and mountainous terrain was mostly wooded. "Japan was a land of trees," ...

Really old trees are really amazing! If I get a chance this weekend, I will go hiking somewhere nice with old-growth forest northwest of Tokyo. Could be tricky to find though, as much of what we see today is planted or restored forest areas, and you’ll rarely see magnificent trees with huge trunks and foliage reaching for the clouds. Near many shrines in Japan however, there are special, sacred trees decorated with hemp ropes and white paper ornaments. David Lister at the British Origami Society has tried to find out more about these Zigag papers in Shinto shrines : The origins of these zigzags is lost in antiquity. My first impression was that they stood for lightning, but when I was in Kyoto I asked a Buddhist priest about this and the idea had never occurred to him. Although he was a Buddhist and not a Shinto priest. If it had been an idea that was known in Japan, I am sure he would have been familiar with it. The other suggestion I have come across is that the zigzags originated as...

Takeshi Kobayashi has an unusual hobby - or maybe passion is a better word. He designs treehouses. Here in Japan, that is just not very common, to say the least. His treehouses are appearing all over the country, even as a cafe in Harajuku, Tokyo, called Hideaway . I'm impressed. If your computer is ok with Flash graphics, I recommend the Japan Treehouse Network website. Treehouse.jp see this as a "road to freedom". Lots of photos at Treehouse Creator They say, since Japan has a lot of forest, it is possible to live with the forest. This is a way of protecting the forests and a way to experience living with nature. Lumber is also a sustainable resource, if forests are maintained well...

Consumers Union of Japan and other groups here are concerned about the clear-cutting of old growth forest in Tasmania, Australia. This fall, a group of activists went there and met with Green Party representatives Bob Brown and Christina Milne. Yasuaki Yamaura has written a report about his impressions from the trip. He notes that most Japanese consumers have no way of knowing where their tissue paper and office paper comes from. Australian Wilderness Society in Tasmania is a NGO with a great website, do have a look. Do read his report, What is happening to Tasmanian Forests? My five cents? The road from this: To this: is paved with the best intentions. More about Tasmania's amazing biodiversity here . Update: On November 22, Australia's Federal Court dismissed the appeal against Gunn's $1.7 billion pulp mill in Tasmania. Activists vow to keep on fighting , as the Wilderness Society issued a call for law reform in response to the dismissal of its...

Toys by US company Thomas have been recalled due to lead in the paint. "Lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects", notes the American Consumer Product Safety Commission , in charge of the huge recall. Name of Products: Various Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Toys Units: About 1.5 million Importer/Distributor: RC2 Corp., of Oak Brook, Ill. In other words, over a million toys were imported from China and noone paid attention until now? I like wooden toys that don't have lead in the paint. Hey, lets do away with the paint alltogether. I know I do like this : The products of the Take-g Toy’s are produced by a unique mixture of the traditional craft skill, or Yosegi-Mokuzougan, and modern designs that optimizes original texture of high-quality material...

Stuff made of wood, desire.

I should be getting paid to do these plugs (I don't) but they are too good to pass up. Who wouldn't want wooden speakers made from old whiskey barrels... A Pioneer engineer with the responsibility of developing new products had a unique idea about capitalizing on the maturation of wood from a whiskey barrel by making it into a speaker cabinet. “When I tapped a piece of this timber to get an idea of the sound it would make, it produced a soft, mellow tone that lingered in the air.” There were those in his product development team that were skeptical but he proceeded forth with his project. “The sound spoke for itself. Once I had fashioned a prototype and compared its sound to that of a conventional speaker, my detractors were finally convinced that I was on to something. This was the mysterious product of nature, a sound that a piece of timber was only able to produce after 50 years of contact with whiskey.” So began Pioneer's pure malt speaker.

A wooden watch made in Russia in the year of 1900. Isn't it lovely. All parts are made of wood, apparently. Found on Boing Boing , with a link to a French page called Odd Watches . Internet at its best. You can give it to me on my birthday, or any day of the year. Or, probably a lot cheaper, how about this wooden LED clock, Made in Japan? When it’s turned off, this wooden LED clock just looks like a block of wood but when you switch it on the digital red numbers magically tell you the time through a thin layer of wood. (From Treehugger )