Summertime symphony

ex-section3 Jul 2, 2024

Summertime symphony

Cacophonous chorus or sweet serenade? “What’s a Japanese summer without the noisy cicada?” asks Andrew McKirdy, as he investigates the insect’s role in Japanese culture. In a nutshell: About 35 cicada species can be found across the archipelago, and generally speaking, their names are derived ...

Can <i>machiya</i> make a modern comeback?

ex-section3 Jun 19, 2024

Can machiya make a modern comeback?

Nostalgic for traditional living after a weeklong stay in a machiya (merchant townhouses) in Kanazawa, writer Kaori Shoji did some research and asked a local expert in 2015 whether such dwellings could become a housing trend. In a nutshell: Machiya are particularly common in Kyoto and ...