Posted on 2016/01/26

On March 3rd is the festivity of girls in Japan, called Hinamatsuri 雛祭. In this celebration of prosperity and good health of the daughters is desired. The most important decorative element consists of a showcase with up to seven levels in the form of steps in which different dolls represent an imperial court of the Heian era, which may consist of emperors (essential) and the rest of the cutting, such as maids, musicians, ministers or officials. Sure the girls want to play with these dolls, but unfortunately are just for decoration. This decoration is given by the grandparents the first time a girl celebrates this holiday. This decoration is installed… Read More

Posted on 2015/02/20

Deba bouchou (出刃包丁), also known as just deba, is a Japanese style knife used primarily to cut fish and nowadays, to cut meat as well. The direct translation of deba bouchou is pointed knife. The oldest record of this knife is traced back to Edo period. Deba is designed to cut the fish into sanmaioroshi (三枚おろし), a cutting technique to separate the right side, left side and the middle bone. Therefore the spine of deba is thick and the knife is overall heavier than normal knives so that the blade won’t be damaged from the impact that results from cutting of the head and bones of the fish.

Posted on 2015/02/02

In Japan, you can buy origami papers at the convenient stores. You don’t really need to walk far as all convenient stores are located near the stations and at every corner of the street or building. An alternative place to buy origami papers is the bookstore or stationery shop. Here, I’ll be showing you some of the famous paper models in Japanese origami. Tsuru [ 鶴 ] The paper crane is the most well known origami model in Japan. You may see it in the Japanese temples, restaurants table decorations or murals on the walls. This model was mentioned in the non-fiction story of ‘Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes’… Read More

Posted on 2015/02/02

Origami ( 折り紙 ) is the art of paper folding, the verb form ‘oru’ as in fold and the noun form ‘kami’ as in paper. According to some articles online, paper folding first appeared in China after the invention of paper. The simple art of folding later spread to the noble and rich people in Japan as paper were expensive at that time. The oldest book on origami is the ‘Hiden Senbazuru Orikata’, translated to English as ‘The Secret of One Thousand Cranes Origami’. There is an old saying that if you make a thousand cranes origami, your wish may come true one day. Nowadays, people can make origami models… Read More