Tag Archives: Japan

August Bonfires

Gozan Okuribi (bonfires) held on the evening of August 16 is one of Kyoto’s many popular and symbolic religious ceremonies in summer. Okuribi (bonfires) are said to send off ancestors’ spirits to the other side. People believe ancestral spirits come … Continue reading

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Summer (is fleeting)

Originally composed as the main theme for Takeshi Kitano’s 1999 film Kikujiro, Joe Hisaishi’s beautiful piece “Summer” has long been cherished in Japan as the soundtrack of nostalgic summer memories. Now, this beloved masterpiece is reimagined as a short film. … Continue reading

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Book Making

If you are a regular visitor to Travel Between The Pages, you will be well aware that I am enamored with books. I have been a bibliophile since I picked up my first book. By this I mean that I … Continue reading

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Pictures of the floating world

Regular visitors to Travel Between The Pages are well aware of my fondness for Japanese woodblock prints. I recently found an old link to the Library of Congress page with over 2500 hi-resolution scans of Japanese woodcuts on their site. … Continue reading

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Odds and Ends

Regular visitors to TBTP know that I love my coffee but I’m not sure this is a good idea.  Vampires are typically depicted as being weakened or even incinerated by sunlight.  Now the Department of Computer Science at the Eastern … Continue reading

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Kyoto Retreat

During my all too brief week in Kyoto, I was unable to visit one of the city’s best kept secrets due to scheduling conflicts. If find yourself in the old imperial capital and you want to escape the frenetic pace … Continue reading

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Reading the Air

Following my recent visit to Japan, I continue to process the experience and try and better understand Japanese culture. As I have previously mentioned, I was overwhelmed by the complexities of Japanese aesthetics and design that permeate Japanese life. The … Continue reading

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Coffee with a bullet

Regular visitors to TBTP know that I am an annoying coffee geek. When I combine my coffee fascination with my love of travel, I can be insufferable. When I found myself up early for a trip to Nagoya from Tokyo … Continue reading

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Waving not drowning

One of the few disappointments during my recent trip to Japan was the unexpected closure of the Sumida Hokusai Museum in Tokyo for renovation. I did, however, get to visit the wonderful, but tiny Ota Memorial Museum that features historic … Continue reading

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The Japanese Aesthetic

Traveling around Japan can be a challenging exercise in deciding what to attend to and where to look. The commitment to design and  to aesthetic solutions to  otherwise banal infrastructural objects is well beyond what we have come to expect … Continue reading

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