In love with all things Japan or looking to absorb a little Japanese wisdom into your daily life?

From the philosophies of ikigai and wabi sabi to kitsch karaoke nights and futuristic robot restaurants; traditional tea ceremonies and tranquil onsen dwellings to cosplay culture and J-Pop megastars; Japan is full of intriguing contradictions.

Though renowned for its ultramodern capital Tokyo - a sprawling neon-lit metropolis straight from the pages of a science fiction novel - Japan is still deeply rooted in ancient tradition. And while the country runs with clockwork precision, the cultural life of the inhabitants is transformed with the changing of the seasons, a testament to the enduring power of nature's rhythms.

With each page alive with facts, history and inspiration, Be More Japan unlocks the secrets behind modern Japanese living - whether you're eating sushi in London or enjoying the cherry blossoms in San Francisco. And if you're dreaming of a future trip to Japan, this book will get you closer to your destination before you've even departed.

About the Author:

Experience the world with DK Eyewitness.
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Following the former best-selling title; Heroes and Heroines, this title showcases the most trendy and updated illustrations by about 60 prominent character designers covering both video games and animation. Featuring a bilingual interview with Shiro Miwa, a leading comic artist who is also a character designer of 7th Dragon 2020 (cover art). Featured animations and video games designed from these titles: Girls and Panzer; Kantai Collection; Kill la Kill; Attack on Titan; METAL GEAR SOLID V; and much more.

The most complete volume on the subject in any language Japanese graphic design has been researched and published in Italy up to the first decade of the new millennium, but there is a gap from then to today.
edited by Gian Carlo Calza with Elisabetta Scantamburlo

This research aims at filling that gap considering the first two decades of the new millennium, covering on one side the past, in the names of important recognized masters, and on the other side exploring new names and trends. The volume includes 85 graphic designers and 756 posters. It is the most complete volume on the subject in any language.

Japanese contemporary posters are considered to have started in the mid 50’s, after the Second World War and following a period of depression, post-militarism, and post-autarchy. The new expressive mode was fuelled by stimuli coming from abroad, but it was also a chance to reinterpret traditional themes and colours, bringing them into modernity in refreshing and successful ways.

Since the post-war period, Japan has seen a rapid evolution in the arts: painting, architecture, sculpture, graphics, theatre, music, and cinema. Influences, assimilations, denials, transformations, new creative processes gave rise to a vast quantity of cultural and artistic movements. In this maze of expressive forms, graphic design is a precious tool for tracing and following the thread of national creativity and the more or less intense permanence of traditional aesthetic sensibility in the new forms taken.

Over half a century after the inception of graphics and with the coming Olympic Games taking place now in 2021, this volume aims at taking a wide view at the trends and aesthetic shifts that can be traced in the development of graphic design in Japan.

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This book brings together the best of Japanese graphic design in the posters that accompanied Japan from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics to the creation of the Issey Miyake logo, and from the Osaka Expo to the official poster for the Pan-Pacific Design Congress. Ken’ya Hara was born in the province of Okyama in 1958. After graduating from the Department of Design at Musashino Art University in 1981 and obtaining his M.A. in 1983, he joined the Nippon Design Center where he established the Hara Design Institute in 1992.

Yusaku Kamekura was born in Kanbara in 1915. He is considered to be the figure who contributed most to the spread of Japanese graphic design in the post-WWII period. He graduated with a degree in architecture and industrial arts in 1933; in 1940, he became the director of Nippon Kobo and in 1949 he was appointed artistic director of the magazine Commerce Japan. His most important designs, including the posters for the 1964 Olympic Games, the 1970 Osaka Expo, the Hiroshima Appeals, and the logo for the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, all made a significant contribution to increasing his fame.

Shin Matsunaga was born in 1940 in Tokyo. After graduating in 1964 from the department of design at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, he joined the advertising division at Shiseido. He designed the PEACE ’86 poster and curated all the graphic design for the Sezon Museum of Modern Art. He also designed the symbol and official poster for the 1989 Pan-Pacific Design Congress, the human rights poster commemorating the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, the medal for Mint’s 120th anniversary, the logo for Issey Miyake and RHIGA Royal Hotels, and the package design for the French cigarette brand Gitanes Blondes (1995).

Film director and art director Nagi Noda was born in Tokyo and made a name for herself as one of the most important young Japanese designers. She first achieved fame as an art director, designing publicity for the print media and graphics for publishing and the music industry, before working for bigger clients such as Nike and the Laforet Harajuku department stores. Ikko Tanaka was born in 1930 in Nara. In 1950, at just 19 years old, he graduated from the Kyoto City School of Fine Arts (now the Kyoto University of Arts) and immediately afterwards started working for companies such as the Kanegafuchi textiles company and the Sankei Shinbun daily newspaper. He designed the signage and medals for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the pavilion dedicated to Japanese history at the 1970 Osaka Expo.

The first comprehensive, career-spanning monograph of NUNO, one of Japan’s most innovative and respected textile design studios

Named with a simple word meaning ‘cloth’, NUNO is one of Japan’s most important textile-design companies. Founded in 1984 by the legendary Junichi Arai and the company’s current director, Reiko Sudo, it is recognized as one of the world’s most innovative textile producers. Known for weaving together tradition and cutting-edge technology, NUNO designers are inspired by the past, present and future, integrating unexpected elements, such as paper or feathers or aluminium, with industrial methods, such as spatter-plating and chemical etching. All NUNO textiles – more than 2,500 have been created – are produced in Japan and are usually the handiwork of an individual craftsperson. Each bolt of cloth has a story to tell.

Though their textiles appear regularly in books, textile exhibitions and museum collections, a comprehensive NUNO monograph has not existed - until now. Featuring the most outstanding, influential or experimental fabrics, the book is organized into seven chapters, each based on a theme deriving from the onomatopoeic coupling in Japanese that defines a family of fabrics. For example, ‘Shima Shima’, meaning ‘striped’, presents striped designs ranging from bold and contrasting like zebra to subtly variegated like a tabby cat. Based on interviews, archival research and factory visits, the texts are illustrated with specially commissioned photos and drawings. Interspersed are essays by a wide range of contributors, from writer Haruki Murakami and architect Toyo Ito to curator Anna Jackson.

Bringing all the threads together in a beautifully designed package, NUNO is a document of exceptional beauty and a rare glimpse into the essence of Japanese design.

Contents List:

Foreword
Introduction
1. FUWA FUWA: Fuwa Fuwa by Haruki Murakami; Portrait of a Textile: Threadstray
2. SHIWA SHIWA: Shiwa Shiwa by Kenya Hara; Portrait of a Textile: Paper Rolls
3. SHIMA SHIMA: Stripes of All Colours by Brooke Hodge; Portrait of a Textile: Origami Weave
4. KIRA KIRA: Shining Within by Akane Teshigawara; Portrait of a Textile: Amate
5. SUKE SUKE: Three Transparencies by Toyo Ito; Portrait of a Textile: Turkish Wall
6. ZAWA ZAWA: Poems by Arto Lindsay; Portrait of a Textile: Jellyfish
7. BORO BORO: Essay by Anna Jackson; Portrait of a Textile: Colourplate On Colours
Chronology of Textiles
Acknowledgements
Biographies
Picture Credits

About the Authors:

Reiko Sudo is one of Japan’s most influential contemporary textile designers and managing director of NUNO. In recent years, she has become known as an advocate for textile artisans in Japan, creating designs that are technologically forward without diminishing the value of handicraft. Naomi Pollock is a design writer who lived and worked in Japan for over 30 years. Her most recent publication is Japanese Design Since 1945 (2020), also published by Thames & Hudson.

Modern by Tradition. A survey of Japan’s contemporary architecture scene

The contemporary architecture of Japan has long been among the most inventive in the world, recognized for sustainability and infinite creativity. No fewer than seven Japanese architects have won the Pritzker Prize.

Since Osaka World Expo ’70 brought contemporary forms center stage, Japan has been a key player in global architecture. With his intentionally limited vocabulary of geometric forms, Tadao Ando has since then put Japanese building on the world’s cultural map, establishing a bridge between East and West. In the wake of Ando’s mostly concrete buildings, figures like Kengo Kuma (Japan National Stadium intended for the Olympic Games, originally planned for 2020), Shigeru Ban (Mount Fuji World Heritage Center), and Kazuyo Sejima (Kanazawa Museum of 21st Century Art of Contemporary Art) pioneered a more sustainable approach. Younger generations have successfully developed new directions in Japanese architecture that are in harmony with nature and connected to traditional building. Rather than planning on the drawing board, the architects presented in this collection stand out for their endless search for forms, truly reacting on their environment.

Presenting the latest in Japanese building, this book reveals how this unique creativity is a fruit of Japan’s very particular situation that includes high population density, a modern, efficient economy, a long history, and the continual presence of disasters in the form of earthquakes. Accepting ambiguity, as seen in the evanescent reflections of Sejima’s Kanazawa Museum, or constant change and the threat of catastrophe is a key to understanding what makes Japanese architecture different from that of Europe or America.

This XL-sized book highlights 39 architects and 55 exceptional projects by Japanese masters — from Tadao Ando’s Shanghai Poly Theater, Shigeru Ban’s concert hall La Seine Musical, SANAA’S Grace Farms, Fumihiko Maki’s 4 World Trade Center, to Takashi Suo’s much smaller sustainable dental clinic. Each project is introduced with photos, original floor plans and technical drawings, as well as insightful descriptions and brief biographies. An elaborate essay traces the country’s building scene from the Metabolists to today and shows how the interaction of past, present, and future has earned contemporary Japanese architecture worldwide recognition.

The editor:

Philip Jodidio studied art history and economics at Harvard, and edited Connaissance des Arts for over 20 years. His TASCHEN books include the Architecture Now! series and monographs on Tadao Ando, Santiago Calatrava, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Richard Meier, Zaha Hadid, and soon Norman Foster.

Showcases and analyses highlights from Van Gogh’s collection of Japanese prints, exploring the key role they played in his creative output

Here is a beautiful exploration of Van Gogh’s obsession with Japan, revealing a selection of the prints he owned himself (all from the Van Gogh Museum), side by side with his own paintings and sketches, including the Almond Blossoms masterpiece, The Courtesan, Plum Blossom and Bridge in the Rain. This opportunity to share Van Gogh’s vision lends us a compelling insight into one of the most powerful creative influences behind his art.

Vincent van Gogh fell under the spell of Japanese printmaking in Paris, where he purchased more than 600 prints from a dealer. He hung them in his studio, and they taught him a new way of looking at the world. Van Gogh liked the unusual spatial effects, the expanses of strong colour, the everyday subjects and the attention to details from nature. He was also keen to find a modern, more primitive kind of painting that engaged directly with the viewer. Japanese prints showed him the way, with nature still as his starting point.

About the Authors:

Axel Rüger is Director of the Van Gogh Museum.
Marije Vellekoop is the Van Gogh Museum’s Head of Collections, Research and Presentation.

Contents List:

1. Foreword by Axel Rüger, director Van Gogh Museum • 2. Van Gogh’s collection of Japanese prints: from commodities to a study collection and utopian ideal, Louis van Tilborgh • 3. The Van Gogh Museum’s collection of Japanese prints: an analysis, Chris Uhlenbeck • 4. Popular Collectibles in Van Gogh’s Time: Japanese Crepe Prints, Shigeru Oikawa • 5. A selection of 130 Japanese prints from the Van Gogh Museum collection

Elegantly packaged in a bespoke box, these 100 postcards feature some of the most spectacular examples of artworks made in the age-old woodblock tradition. All sourced from the V&A's outstanding collections, the Japanese Woodblock Print Postcard Box is the third release in the best-selling V&A box set series. Each set celebrates the V&A's status as a source of inspiration for designers, reflecting the unique breadth and depth of a collection that represents over 3,000 years of objects from all over the world.

A unique insight into Japanese dress from the 18th century to today, explored through sumptuous detail photography of some of the most fascinating pieces in the V&A’s collections

Bringing together more than 100 items of clothing, this book reveals the intricacies of Japanese dress from the 18th century to the present. Including garments for women, men and children, the details have been selected both for their exquisite beauty and craftsmanship and for how much they impart about the wearer’s identity, be it age, status or taste.

A comprehensive introduction, illuminating the main periods and key themes of Japanese fashion history, is followed by thematic chapters that cover all aspects of clothing, from hair accessories and necklines to hemlines and shoes. Each garment or object is accompanied by a short text exploring its structure and the fascinating range of decorative techniques employed, including embroidery, weaving, lacquering, stencilling, dyeing and digital technology. Specially commissioned detail photography and line drawings provide an invaluable resource for Japanophiles, students, collectors, designers and lovers of fashion and world dress.

Contents List:

Introduction • Necklines and Shoulders • Headwear • Sleeves • Waists • Waist Accessories • Hems • Lining and Undergarments • Footwear • Further Reading • Glossary • Picture Credits • Acknowledgments • Index

About the Authors:

Josephine Rout is a Project Curator in the Asian Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum. 
Anna Jackson is Keeper of the Asian Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

A major survey of the Japanese designers, artisans, manufacturers and technologies that have shaped the world of modern design

A dedication to craft and the finest production quality have been an integral part of culture and day-to-day life in Japan for centuries. For the Japanese, the concept of design is not limited to functionality or materiality, but wholly connected with ancient culture and rituals. In this sense, a chair is much more than what you sit on, a cup more than what you drink from: these objects are to be reflected upon, to be touched and cherished.

As mass manufacturing became widespread in the post-war period, fascinating cross-cultural exchanges began to take place between Japan and the West. These gave rise not only to timeless objects of great beauty and utility, but innovations in materials, form and technology. Far beyond the icons of Japanese design – the perfectly weighted Kikkoman soy sauce bottle, Yanagi’s butterfly stool, the Sony Walkman – the products and objects that have emerged from the country over the past seven decades, few of which have been widely exported, serve to delight and draw admiration. In recent years, a new generation of designers – Nendo, Yoshioka – have taken Japanese creativity into entirely new territory, reconceptualizing the very meaning of design.

No attempt has been made to present a complete overview of Japanese design, until now. Showcasing over eighty designers, hundreds of objects, and contributions from both Japanese and Western design experts, this volume will become the definitive work on the subject for many years to come.

Contents List:

Foreword by Maasaki Kanai • Introduction: The Craft of Japanese Design • The Design Titans • The Designers and Everyday Icons: Tables & Chairs • Essay by Naomi Pollock • Food & Drink • Essay by Makoto Shimazaki • On&Off • Essay by Shinji Hamada • Posters & Packaging • Warp & Weft • Essay by Matilda McQuaid • Lifestyle & Leisure • A–Z of Designers

About the Author:

Naomi Pollock is an American architect who writes about Japanese design and architecture. Her work has appeared in numerous publications on both sides of the Pacific, including A+U, Dwell, Kinfolk, Wallpaper* and Architectural Record, for whom she is the Special International Correspondent. In addition, she is the author of several books, including Modern Japanese House, Made in Japan: 100 New Products, Jutaku: Japanese Houses and Sou Fujimoto. In 2018, she was selected to join the College of Fellows of The American Institute of Architects. Masaaki Kanai is President of Ryohin Keikaku, the retailer and manufacturer of the leading Japanese brand Muji.

The intimate relationship of Japanese tattooing with the dark world of the yakuza has helped cover this form of artistic expression with an aura of mystery. But the culture of irezumi is deep and rich in meanings, shapes and motifs that have gone from color woodblock prints to being applied to the skin to beautify and protect their bearers.

This book reveals the meaning and the secrets behind the most significant motifs from traditional Japanese tattooing such as mythological and supernatural creatures, animals, Buddhist deities, flowers and historical characters and turns this art form into a path toward personal knowledge and individual expression. Readers will discover the origin and meaning of each visual representation of the most frequent themes in this art form. Irezumi itai begins with a brief review of the history of Japanese tattoo art and then examines each subject (water, mythological animals, real animals, mythological characters, historical characters, flowers, shunga and yokai) through images and descriptive texts; it also includes a gallery of original designs by the author and a glossary.

At its heart, the Japanese art of ikebana is about celebrating an intimate connection with nature. To practice ikebana is to find inspiration in the seasons, favor unassuming blooms and branches, seek balance and simplicity, and remain fully present in the moment. It is a beautiful, pure antidote to our age of distraction and excess. Honoring the lineage of ikebana while making the art their own, Amanda Luu and Ivanka Matsuba of Studio Mondine show us new ways to tell stories with flowers. They offer step-by-step instructions for dozens of stunning, seasonal arrangements, while in the process introducing readers to the themes and stylistic signatures of the art. In Studio Mondine’s hands, this centuries-old practice feels undeniably fresh — and readers are given the gift of learning to create unique, meaningful, and authentic arrangements.

"A modern take on a centuries-old art that’s breathtakingly simple.”
— Booklist, starred review

About the Authors:

Ivanka Matsuba and Amanda Luu are the team behind Studio Mondine, a floral design studio based in San Francisco, California, which seeks to balance the simplicity of Japanese ikebana with the abundance of Western-style flower arranging. Their work has been featured in the New York Times, Vogue, Real Simple, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Architectural Digest, and they have created arrangements for Everlane, Google, Parachute Home, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and more.

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Japanese woodblock prints of the Edo period (1615–1868) were the products of a highly commercialised and competitive publishing industry. Their content was inspired by the vibrant popular culture that flourished in Edo (Tokyo). At any given time scores of publishers competed for the services of the leading artists of the day. Publishers and artists displayed tremendous ingenuity in finding ways to sustain demand for prints and to circumvent the restrictions placed upon them by government censorship. Japanese woodblock prints have long been appreciated in the West for their graphic qualities but their content has not always been fully understood. 

In recent years, publications by scholars in Japan, Europe and the United States have made possible a more subtle appreciation of the imagery encountered in them. This book draws upon this recent scholarship to explain how those who first purchased these prints would have read them. Through stunning new photography of both well-known and rarely published works in the collection of the British Museum, including many recent acquisitions, the author explores how and why such prints were made, providing a fascinating introduction to a much-loved but little-understood art form.

Beautiful flowers tastefully arranged in simple containers are the true essence of ikebana the traditional Japanese art of flower arrangement. 

Japanese Ikebana for Every Season is an inspirational book that demystifies this ancient art form by presenting 53 simple flower arrangements that are easy for anyone to make at home. Different arrangements are suggested for each season of the year. You can easily create all of them in only a few minutes using common flowers and plants from your garden, from a nearby field or forest, or from your local florist. 

The explanations and basic instructions cover a side range of styles that encourage the reader to use his or her own creativity rather than slavishly copying traditional Ikebana designs and concepts. 
Author Rie Imai explains how to select a simple container and flowers that you can find anywhere and then how to turn them into something special with just a few very simple techniques. The key to good ikebana is in understanding a few very simple traditional Japanese concepts, like the idea of mitate seeing old things with new eyes as well as simple techniques of flower stabilization and support within a container. 

Each section in this book presents a variety of topics and arrangements designed to inspire and delight. 

No matter what time of the year it is and regardless of your budget or tastes, the arrangements in this book will lend a touch of Japanese elegance to your home.

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Пролистать книгу Japanese Ikebana for Every Season: Elegant Flower Arrangements for Your Home на Google Books.

'a mixture of artistic sensibility and imagery that leaves nothing to the imagination'  - The Telegraph

In early modern Japan, thousands of sexually explicit paintings, prints, and illustrated books with texts were produced. These were euphemistically called ‘spring pictures’ (shunga) and were originally created by the artists of the ukiyo-e school of the floating world to advertise brothels in 17th-century Yoshiwara, including the celebrated artists Utamaro and Hokusai.

This catalogue of an exhibition in 2013/4 at the British Museum aims to answer some key questions about what shunga is and why it was produced. Erotic Japanese art was heavily suppressed in Japan from the 1870s onwards, and it is only in the last twenty years or so it has been possible to publish unexpurgated examples in Japan. 

Drawing on the latest scholarship and featuring over 400 images of works from major public and private collections, this book sheds new light on this unique art form within Japanese social and cultural history.

About the Author:

Timothy Clark, Head of Japanese Section, British Museum

Future Beauty is the first comprehensive survey of Japanese avant-garde fashion of the last 30 years. Such designers as Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo made an enormous impact on the world fashion scene in the late twentieth century, challenging established notions of beauty and turning fashion into art. Today a new generation of radical designers, among them Tao Kurihara and Jun Takahashi, is fast gaining acclaim. This spectacular book, written by a team of experts led by the eminent fashion historian Akiko Fukai, explores the distinct sensibility of Japanese design – the uniqueness of its form, cut and fabric. Illustrated with over 250 photographs and sketches, Future Beauty is an authoritative and stylish guide to some of the world’s most expressive fashion.

_A major new study of avant-garde Japanese fashion, from the early 1980s to the present day
_Featured designers include such international masters as Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake and Jun Watanabe, as well as a new generation of radical designers, such as Jun Takahashi