[Craft Masters of Japan] Kunimasa Matsuba is a Japanese swordsmith who has received the prestigious excellence award ten times at the exhibition of newly made swords in Japan. His strong, muscular body has undergone years of training in the smothering heat which enables him to create beautiful swords that gleam...

[Craft Masters of Japan] The Sendai Tansu furniture was created around the end of Edo period (mid-19th century). Its fabrication process is based on 3 traditional techniques which were all inherited from the Edo period; ‘Sashimono (furnishing)’, ‘Urushi lacquer’, and ‘metal fitting’. Nowadays, the tradition is well harmonized with a...

[Beauty of Japan Season 2] Tonami City's Yotaka Festival is said to bring good harvests. Its show-stopping parade consists of 6-meter-tall red decorative paper lanterns, and its highlight is the great paper lantern fight. Fighting bravely but gracefully, it showcases the very moment in which the lanterns look the most...

[Festivals of Japan Season 2] Bright flames rise from giant torches, staining the city and skies with their bright red color... The Yoshida Fire Festival is an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan that signals the end of summer at Mount Fuji (a World Cultural Heritage.) This episode focuses...