Every year in Niigata, Japan, an exhibit by farmers and young artists shows that you can make more with rice straw than just haybales. The Wara Art Festival features larger-than-life sculptures made from leftover rice straw, known as “wara.” The event took a hiatus in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has returned …
Japan
Two Japanese senior women live in one the world’s most whimsical retirement homes One could easily mistake this enchanted forest home for a dwarf house, a fairy tale village, or a luxurious Airbnb hideaway. However, this tee-pee-shaped home is more than meets the eyes. It may look like it came out from a fairy tale …
The Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi, Japan, is home to a famous wisteria tree that is deemed “the most beautiful in the world.” The massive tree measures an impressive 1,990 square meters and gives its environment a purplish-pink shadow when in full bloom. Its vertical flowers also hang so far down, they almost touch the …
In these times of uncertainty, we need stories that will lift our spirits and make us forget – even for just a while – the ongoing global crisis. If that’s what you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place. Seeing this spectacle in Nara, Japan, will surely bring a smile to your face because …
Bonsai is a widely known Japanese art form that dates back centuries. While there are many practitioners around the globe, only a chosen few become world-renowned masters in this field. One of them is Masahiko Kimura. The word “bonsai” translates to “planted in a container.” It involves cultivation techniques to yield miniature trees that resemble …
The Japan Federation of Landscape Contractors hosts the annual Kei Truck Garden Contest, a competition that transforms tiny trucks into mobile gardens. The event is graced by numerous landscape contractors all over Japan, where they arrive on site with their small trucks and then spend several hours turning the cargo bed into a beautiful garden. …
They say that creativity takes courage. After all, the process of translating one’s vision into art takes time and patience. And sometimes, between not producing the outcome that you would like to see could be really frustrating. But that’s what makes art beautiful and captivating. Learning the story and the painful process that it takes …
They say that you cannot choose who you fall in love with. Thus, when Princess Ayako of Japan found herself falling in love with a commoner, Kei Moriya, the former princess found herself torn between choosing her royal status or keeping the love of her life. Princess Ayako is the youngest child of Princess Hisako …
It is no secret that Japan, also known as The Land of The Rising Sun, is home to people living life to the fullest and the longest! More than a quarter of Japan’s citizens are people aged 65-years-old and above. In fact, even the oldest living married couple in the world can be found in …
Marriage is the ultimate union of two person who vowed to stay together through thick and thin. Ideally, marriage should bind couples so that they shall never be separated again. However, a recent study shows that half of the 21st century married population of the US ended up in Divorce. Is there such thing as …