Kimono expert and author Sheila Cliffe interviews the young American studying to be a Nihon Buyo dancer about the comfort and attraction of men wearing kimono,...
Between the threading, the dyeing, the weaving, the sewing, and everything in between “the complexity of each step is mind boggling”, explains Sheila Cliffe.
Indigo is often associated with the color blue, and with denim blue jeans. But this natural dye is much more healthy and versatile than these common...
Sheila Cliffe traces the routes of Japan’s silk road and its path to becoming an industrialized nation.
The Japanese traditional comedic art form called rakugo has only grown in popularity in the 21st Century. Are there stylistic factors behind this success, or is...
The pandemic has dealt a body blow to the kimono industry as a whole. This was true for most of the weavers in the Tango area...
Although many other ceremonies were canceled or postponed due to COVID-19, several local municipalities held gatherings, with some taking place outside or online – marking the...
~ I tried to imagine what stylish woman wore this beautiful hat before me. I paired it with a kimono from the Taisho period ~ 2020...
~What is Amabie anyway? You will be forgiven for not knowing, as many Japanese themselves were unaware of the mythical being before the start of...
~It was in March, during the state of emergency, that Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the new game for Nintendo Switch came out, and it hit the...
I have previously written about the Tansu-Ya chain of used kimono shops. Tansu-Ya was the dream child of Nakamura Kenichi, whose family had a kimono...
Bookmark is a JAPAN Forward feature that gives you long reads for the weekend. Each edition introduces one overarching thought that branches off to a...
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