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Hyper Japan and Human Kindness

This time last week I was gutted because I had accepted the fact that I would not be attending this years Hyper Japan event. If you dont know what Hyper Japan is check out their website http://www.hyperjapan.co.uk basically Hyper Japan is the biggest event of the year for me.

But then the other day I recived a private message on Twitter from someone asking if I had managed to get tickets yet, I told them I was unable to go. A little while after I recieved an email from them with a Groupon ticket for two people attached.

There is no way of describing how this email made me feel the act of generosity and kindness from a person who is pretty much a stranger to me just overwhelmed me.
The person that sent me the tickets asked me not to mention their name which in a way makes this action even more of a big deal.

I just wanted to write this small post to share with you all this random act of human kindness and to thank the person who acted in this way.

I feel very lucky and feel privileged to know you.
From the bottom of my heart thank you.

A Japanese Life Exihibition

Today I attended At Home in Japan – beyond the minimal house.
This is a small exihibition at the Geffrye Museum of the Home, giving people a peek of what it is like inside a typical Japanese home. Based on ethnographical research by Dr Inge Daniels (University of Oxford), and includes project-specific photography by Susan Andrews (London Metropolitan University). The idea was to dispel some of the misconceptions that people may have on the way people in Japan live.

Walking through the glass door into the installation you are met with atmospheric sounds and music. Their are plants and a Japanese mail box as if I were standing outside someones home.

The next room is made to look like an entrance hall with a place to store your shoes, although it was not necessary to take of your shoes for some reason I felt a little rude for not doing so.


Throughout the exhibition you are incouraged to touch items on display to really get a feel for the place.
There is also numerous draws to open to discover what is inside.

From neatly folded linens to slighly cluttered kitchen draws. The attention to detail is amazing.

There is a bathroom area with a great lifesize photo of a Japanese bathroom accompanied by actual items from where the photo was taken.


The largest area and probably the most detailed is the kitchen/dining area. With fully stocked shelves, cupboards and a large table with all place settings laid out ready for a family meal.

What does not show up so well in my terrible photography is just how good the overal effect looks, with the life sized photos backed by light screens this effect really makes you feel as if its actually a window you are looking out of. That with the added sounds of conversations and the sounds of people having a meal it really did put me right slap bang in the middle of Japan for at least an hour or so.
Another room is the traditional room complete with tatami flooring and folded bedding.

Even the photo albums on the table were full of photos.

Out of it all of the scenes, for some reason the view in this photo really took me to Japan and when you are there the effect really works well.

If you are reading this post then you most probably love Japan and I encourage any one near the London area to check this event out. Its the closest you will get to Japan without getting on a plane.

The exihibition is on at the Geffrye Museum until Aug. 29

If you would like to see the rest of my photos I took while I was there you can see them here.

Old Japan Related Books

My girlfriend is currently volunteering at a small book shop and the best part of her job is that she is able to see all the good books as they arrive. As she knows I am totally in love with all things Japan she got me 3 books as a present.

I do not know much about old books and I must confess that I do not know anything about these books and I have yet to read them. So for now I thought that I would share with you a few photos of them and I will let you know more about them when I get around to reading them.

The first book is Haiku in english.

The second book is The Civilization of Japan

The final book, A year of Japanese Epigrams I think is my favorite so far because of the beautiful prints throughout the book and the embossed cover.

You can see more photos of these books at my new Flickr page.

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Japans Longest Slide

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Japanese Homes

One of the things I love about Japan is where and how people live. I live in central London which can be a very crowded place to live sometimes and many people like me live in very small houses. I myself live in a studio flat which is basically a large room which is my bedroom and living space with a very small kitchen room and shower/toilet room.

Having such a small a place I have to be creative with storage space and use things like a sofa which folds out to become a bed. Also I try to keep my home as minimalist as possible something that the Japanese have been doing for generations.
As you can see from this tour of a traditional Japanese house.


A good way to learn how to organise space is to take a lesson from the Japanese, not only do they have some of the most confined living spaces in the world but they are very organised and have adapted very well with living in these small spaces with some very ingenious ideas for storage and living.

Below is some examples of space saving Japanese homes.


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Teruteru-bozu (shine shine, little buddy of mine)

Teruteru-bozu, are little hand made dolls, made from cloth. These dolls are hung outside or near a window during the Japanese rainy season. The dolls are said to bring good weather and keep the day dry.

Here is a great little video showing you how you can make a doll yourself.


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