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The online magazine HIGHLIGHTING JAPAN

AUGUST 2022

THE JAPANESE AND BAMBOO

Cover AUGUST 2022

INDEX

  • THEME FOR AUGUSTTHE JAPANESE AND BAMBOO

    In this month’s issue of Highlighting Japan, we take a look at the role of bamboo in Japanese culture and everyday life. The issue opens with an interview with Shibata Shozo, a professor at Kyoto University and Chief Director of the Japan Bamboo Society, about the characteristics of Japanese bamboo and its many different uses. We visit a famous bamboo forest in Kyoto. We meet a manufacturer of traditional bamboo crafts and two bamboo artists, a shakuhachi (bamboo flute) player, and the owner of a restaurant that serves fine bamboo shoot cuisine. We introduce the colorful Sendai Tanabata Festival, where bamboo has long played a central role. And in the realm of science, we look at the role bamboo played in the commercialization of the first incandescent light bulb, and at how bamboo forests are being managed to provide the raw material for smooth and supple bamboo paper.

     

FEATURES

  • The Characteristics and Many Uses of Japanese Bamboo

    An interview with Shibata Shozo, a professor at Kyoto University and Chief Director of the Japan Bamboo Society

  • Two Paths through the Bamboo in Sagano, Kyoto

    Introducing two ways to enjoy the famous bamboo forest of Sagano in Kyoto City

  • Bamboo Artist Fujinuma Noboru

    Fujinuma Noboru creates works of art by skillfully making use of the simplicity of bamboo

  • A Craftsman who Creates Huge Installations with Bamboo

    Introducing master bamboo craftsman Tanabe Chikuunsai IV

  • Preserving the Traditions of Kyoto’s Bamboo

    Introducing a manufacturer of bamboo goods in Kyoto known for its development of new products while preserving traditional bamboo craft techniques

  • Refined “Kyo” Bamboo Shoot Cuisine

    There is a restaurant in Kyoto which serves unique dishes featuring bamboo shoots grown by the restaurant itself.

  • The Sendai Tanabata Festival

    The Sendai Tanabata Festival, with its thousands of gorgeous bamboo decorations, has been adding color to the Japanese summer for more than 400 years.

  • Thomas Edison, the Incandescent Light Bulb and Japanese Bamboo

    A species of bamboo from Kyoto Prefecture played an important role in the commercialization of the first incandescent light bulb.

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