Cultural Overview Of Japan

Japan has some of the most delicate and exquisite crafts in the world- even something as prosaic as a lunch box (a 'bento’) can be made so beautifully that you’d be tempted to buy it as a souvenir.

Amongst Japan’s best-known crafts are its ceramics- ranging from delicate, fragile porcelain to sturdy but attractive pottery and stoneware. Regional kilns turn out some wonderful stuff- the blue-white Hagi yaki pottery, or the mottled, mud-like Shigaraki yaki made near Kyoto; and the stolid, textured Tokoname yaki. Some are glazed, some plain- but they all make excellent buys.

Equally lovely -  perhaps more so - is the lacquerware (especially that from Horyu-ji in Nara); made using a base of wood, bamboo, cloth or even paper, items are coated with successive layers of lacquer. Sometimes, gold or silver dust is incorporated in the lacquer, and the product is usually polished and painted, to create items, which are expensive, but lovely. Two other popular products are textile (particularly silk- best seen in the beautiful kimonos which can be worn by almost anyone), and traditional paper products- umbrellas, kites, even utensils.