Stepping off the bus at the Gakko-iriguchi stop in Higashi-Chichibu Village in Saitama Prefecture, the first things to strike the eye are high-flying clusters of balloons, suspended like colorful ...

Washi Tales tells stories through the medium of traditional Japanese papermaking. Recycling Washi Tales is a performance project that tells stories through the medium of traditional Japanese ...

Performer Karen Kandel as 'papermaker' in 'Recycling: Washi Tales.' (Valerie Oliveiro) Elise Thoron: I first met Kyoko many years ago in Ireland a laboratory retreat in County Wicklow, where a ...

Wonders of WashiDiscovering the tradition of handcrafted paperIt is thought that paper first arrived in Japan around the third century. According to the "Nihon Shoki" ("The Chronicles of Japan"), ...

The production of the Japanese paper peaked in the Edo period between the 17th and late 19th centuries but declined as papermaking was mechanised. Now, due to the westernisation of Japan, the washi ...

Alone in solitary confinement as a teenager, Reginald Dwayne Betts called out to the other men being held in solitary: “Somebody, send me a book!” Moments later, Dudley Randall’s “The Black Poets” ...

At a small workshop in western Japan, Hiroyoshi Chinzei, a fourth-generation traditional paper maker, creates washi with a unique purpose that may help revive interest – both at home and abroad HIDAKA ...

Once an indispensable part of daily life in Japan, ultra-thin washi paper was used for everything from writing and painting to lampshades, umbrellas, and sliding doors, but demand has plunged as ...