[Craft Masters of Japan] Hirokuni Ohno is one of the very few Hakata textile weavers left in the world and has a workshop in Kokura Town in Kitakyushu City. He creates ornamental silk aprons for Sumo wrestlers to wear in the ring. The apron is approximately 70 centimeters wide and...

[Festivals of Japan Season 1] The Hikiyama Children's Kabuki in Komatsu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, has a history of over 250 years. However, with the recent decline in birthrates and an increasing aging population, its survival has been put under threat. Amidst this problem, the children of Komatsu City try their...

[Beauty of Japan Season 1] Kirikane is a decorative technique used for Buddhist statues and paintings. It requires high skills of cutting layers of gold leaves as thin as a hair, and placing them delicately onto Buddhist statues or paintings to create motifs. Chika Hasegawa is a young artist in...

[Beauty of Japan Season 1] Nagano prefecture has the longest living population in Japan. Particularly this little village of Takayama is known as “the anti-aging village”. The village, with merely 8000 residents, is blessed with beautiful nature and climate. Preserving the healthy life and culture, it has been recognised as...