Tag: Japan

Out of the Blue: Asking for Oaxaca Help!

The first message came into my WhatsApp feed yesterday morning from a telephone number I did not recognize. It said, “Hello, Norma. Are you the Oaxaca Cultural Navigator?” I was tempted to delete it without a second thought. So much spam comes to my inbox that when I question the source, it turns out to […]

Loving Indigo Blue from Oaxaca and Japan

I’m smitten with indigo. I first fell in love with it years ago in Oaxaca, Mexico, where I discovered it is grown along the tropical, humid southern coast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The type of indigo grown in Oaxaca is a different strain. The botanical name for the Oaxaca indigo plant is Indigofera suffruticosa, also […]

A Culture of Kindness in Japan

Some of you may know that I have a creative writing site on Substack called Digging Deep, Then Deeper: Something to Say. Today, I published an essay about my take on Japanese culture based on my observations of acts of kindness, cleanliness, and respect. Rather than repost it in its entirety, you can read it […]

Wabi-Sabi. Making Beauty from Broken Pottery

Annie, my friend from Taos and traveling companion, spent the afternoon in a kintsugi workshop in the Aoyama neighborhood of Tokyo. Kintsugi is the process of mending broken pottery and lining the cracks with a combination of a special glue and filling them with 24k gold powder. Wabi-Sabi is the philosophy of making something whole […]

Katazome Stencil Dyeing in Tokyo

We spent the day with our guide Kit who has been living in Tokyo for over forty years. She met her Japanese husband in London where he was a student and she was a resident advisor for Brown University study abroad. Kit has. PhD in English literature and is fluent in Japanese of course. It […]

Sashiko in Takayama

I spent the morning with Keiko-San at her home gallery twenty steps away from the Red Bridge. There is a green bridge, white bridge, and red bridge here. Landmarks to navigate location. Japanese are very organized and clean. Hisa, a local translator, met me at the red bridge along with Keiko-San to take me to […]

Kyoto Food and Fashion

We missed the debate! It was held at 10 am Wednesday morning here. I’m traveling g with friends who have been to Japan nine times. The plan was to hit the streets. But it was modified to spend the day in the giant air conditioned Takashimaya department store to shelter from the 98 degree weather […]

Japan Blue and Pottery

it’s now 8:09 am. We are 13 hours ahead of you. I’m not sure how to calculate when the debate will happen or if we missed it. the started with $9 cups of coffee — price unknown to us in the Hotel Granvia lobby cafe until we were presented with the check. Saving grace is […]

Paper Expo in Tokyo: Gift Wrap is Everything

I’m on the Shinkansen to Kyoto at this moment, but I want to report on attending the major national handmade paper show held yesterday in Tokyo. It was four floors of all things paper, and related items. We saw everything from glittery, textured, screen printed papers to stickers, paper thread for tying packages, vintage paper […]

Welcome to Tokyo: The Amazing Japanese Breakfast

We checked in to the Hotel Metropolitan last night after landing at Narita. It was an almost 11 hour flight during which I dozed some. It took over four hours to go through customs, immigration, get yen from the ATM, figure out directions to get from the airport to Tokyo Station and the hotel in […]

Returning to Oaxaca, but first Japan

Good morning from Denver. I’ve got my ticket to Oaxaca for Day of the Dead, arriving on October 21 and staying for three weeks. Like many of you, I like to be home with my family for the winter holidays. I plan to participate in the Teotitlan del Valle photography workshop led by Luvia Lazo. […]

Oaxaca + Comings and Goings

Summer is winding down. It will be Labor Day weekend in ten days. I’m recovering well from spinal fusion surgery, though I’m far from perfect, and need to walk with two REI hiking poles to keep my balance, but I’m managing between 5,000 and 7,000 steps at least four times a week. Yesterday, I almost […]

Home on Taos Mesa: Japan Building Influences

What are you building? friends ask. I’ll explain. The predominant building styles here are Pueblo and Northern New Mexico Territorial, with the Earthship (rammed earth) coming up right behind. Pueblo-style is modeled after Taos Pueblo where 1,000 year old dwellings are crafted from adobe bricks and tree-trunk beams the Spanish called vigas. Between the support […]

Japan Blue: Textile Study Tour to Mt. Fuji Indigo Studio

The Japan Textile Study Tour is filling up. We are a small group, limited to 10 people, and there are 4 spaces remaining! If you are thinking about coming with us to Japan, please don’t wait much longer. I have confirmed plans to visit a noted Japanese national treasure, a textile artist who works in […]

Japan Textile Study Tour: November 2020

Japan Textile Study Tour, November 6 – 19, 2020, 12 nights, 13 days, start in Kyoto and end in Tokyo — SOLD OUT. Get on the waiting list. We take you on a textile adventure of a lifetime to the land of the Rising Sun. Japanese style elevates textiles to a fine art form. We […]

Japan Regrets Sale: Sake (or Mezcal) Cups

While these are sake cups, they can also be used for mezcal or any sipping liquor or cordial. That’s what I had in mind (mezcal) when I bought them. This first group includes three hand-wrought pewter sake cups bought in Kyoto, Japan from Seikado Studio, the venerable workshop making these things since the Imperial Edo […]

In Japan, Searching for Blue Indigo (Ai-zome)

My quest for Japanese indigo fabrics and clothing took us to remote villages and high-end designer boutiques. I searched old kimono stacked in department store corners and flea market stalls. In the old Geisha district of Gion, two vintage textile shops offer 100+ year-old pieces in varying condition. I traveled from Tokyo to Kyoto to […]

Train to Miyama, Indigo and Thatched Roofs

It was a pilgrimage to the Little Indigo Museum in Miyama Chokita, Nantan, Kyoto Prefecture. After two trains and a bus, after two hours of travel, we arrived in the thatched roof village that is a national historic site. Hiroyuki Shindo has been living here with his wife and family for 40 years. Born in […]

Four Words and Boro, Japanese Indigo Patchwork

Writing from Kyoto, March 25, 2019. It’s been four days since I landed in Tokyo and I’ve managed to learn four words: konnichiwa (hello), sayonara (goodbye), arigato gozai mas (thank you very much), and oishi (delicious).  I knew ai (indigo) before I arrived. Mexico and Japan share a common language through indigo. Everything here is […]

North Carolina Interlude: Between Oaxaca and Japan

In just a few short days, on Wednesday, March 20, with a fast turnaround, I leave NC for Tokyo, where I will meet my sister and we will travel together for almost three weeks. I’m taking time-out. This is Forewarning: I will be on vacation during this time and may or may not post regularly […]

Shopping cart0
There are no products in the cart!