IN a labyrinthine workshop in central Tokyo, on the banks of the River Kanda, a scene from old Japan is unfolding. Past the factory floor with its low-beamed ceilings, master craftsman Mr Asano stands in a store room inspecting a century-year-old stencil made of Japanese washi paper.
This stencil, and more than 100 others like it here in the workshop’s collection, are laid out on fabric and combined with dye to create patterned textiles that will eventually become kimonos.
Each stencil must be painstakingly cut out by hand, Mr Asano tells me, a process that takes up to three months. He holds one up to the light to reveal an intricate design of sparrows and bamboo shoots – enduring motifs of Japan’s love affair with nature.
Since 1882, Sarakichi dyeing workshop has been one of Japan’s linchpins of kimono production. It is also a working museum open to the public, which is how I am able to see its pots of pigment and treasured stencil collection close-up.
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Mr Asando and his colleagues are among Japan’s brigade of highly skilled artisans dedicating their lives to keeping traditional crafts alive.
Watching them work is the first lesson in a week-long crash course on Japanese cultural design that will take me to weaving museums, gold leaf studios, kimono centres, architect-designed public toilets, Samurai earthen houses and everything in between.
I begin in Tokyo, a dizzying tableau of skyscrapers and shrines, and a place where east meets west meets old meets new. The capital is divided into various “cities” easily navigable by subway; go for the all-day ticket (about £3.25) and enjoy the different jingles played when the trains pull into their respective stations.
First up on my itinerary is a visit to the studio of Hiroko Takahashi, one of Japan’s most exciting contemporary designers, whose collaborations with Fendi, Adidas and Ikea have skyrocketed her global profile in recent years.
Takahashi is also on my radar for a reason closer to home – her monochrome kimono is currently on display at V&A Dundee as part of the museum’s exhibition Kimono: Kyoto To Catwalk, a celebration of Japan’s most famous garment. As she talks me through her design approach, I learn that a kimono is one of the most sustainable items of clothing around. In an industry characterised by waste, it shows that a different way is possible. Unlike fast fashion, no offcuts go to landfill in kimono production.
The next cultural crossover comes at hotel check-in. One@Tokyo is a relatively new addition to Tokyo’s hospitality scene, the handiwork of Japanese starchitect Kengo Kuma. Its distinctive lattice front made it an instant landmark in its downtown location of Sumida City when it launched in 2017.
Scottish design fans may know Kuma better for the V&A Dundee, his first design on home soil, but Kuma’s fingerprints are all over Tokyo, including on the soaring timber-fronted Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Centre and its astonishing observation deck.
Back at One@Tokyo, the vibe is industrial chic with a dash of cool minimalism, all raw wood and billowing white fabrics. The best rooms have glimpses of the Tokyo Skytree, a 634-metre totem of Japanese prosperity.
Mine, the Atelier Suite, goes a step further with its drop-down projector and deep soak bath, plus a high-tech Japanese loo that makes me smile every time the pre-warmed seat opens automatically.
No trip to the land of the rising sun is complete without sampling as many delicacies as possible. Eating well is practically a national sport in Japan, something Tokyo’s estimated 137,000 bars and restaurants attest to.
Given the tendency for the best spots to be tiny, it’s worth doing your research and booking a table a few days in advance. My Tokyo stand-outs include Toshima City’s cheap and cheerful Onigiri Bongo, where I experienced my first rice triangle bound in nori seaweed and crowned with an egg yolk (from about £2 per piece).
At the chichi Utage Sushi, in Sumida City, a sushi master serves me platters of sea urchin, eel, squid and octopus in my barside seat, before conjuring an egg custard jelly pot starred with tiny mushrooms (dinner for two hungry people about £90). After a comprehensive tour of Tonkatsu restaurants – purveyors of crispy battered pork loin – I can declare Nishimura in Ginza (dishes from about £10) the winner.
After three nights in Tokyo, Kyoto beckons. I’m journeying by Shinkansen bullet train, the sleek-nosed locomotive that hurtles through Japan’s straw-coloured fields at 200mph and connects the two cities in a couple of hours (tickets from £90 for a single). A right-hand window seat is essential for the all-important chance of seeing Fuji. She’s a notoriously shy mountain, often hiding behind clouds even in summer.
As we hurtle south west, I finally spot her wreathed in mist despite the cerulean sky, as if she controls her own weather system. In the flesh, she is something else entirely, not only in height but also in base width – a whole landscape impossible to grasp from photos.
Kyoto, Japan’s ancient capital until 1868, is a key change in energy and decidedly more chilled than Tokyo. Tree-covered hills in the distance ground the city’s panorama of imperial palaces, historic streets, undulating pagodas and the vast Nishi Hongan-ji Temple, thought to be the world’s largest timber building.
My digs for the night are the Ace Kyoto, another Kuma-designed paean to traditional and modern Japanese design. It opened in 2020 after the city’s brick-built former telephone office was restored and fused with a striking new extension.
Of the three restaurants, one with a Michelin nod, my favourite is the Mexican Piopiko, whose Yuzu-spiked margarita rivals any I’ve drunk in the States (four-course fixed-price dinner about £24; cocktails from £9).
My standard king room strikes just the right balance between creative and whimsical, featuring my own record player, a stack of vinyl (the Sheena Easton LP was appreciated) and a nature-inspired wall hanging by Japanese artist Samiro Yunoki. Waking up to see the morning sun warming the old wooden ryokan inns opposite feels like bearing witness to the past.
FOR all of Kyoto’s (and Tokyo’s) charms, my favourite destination of the week is Kanazawa, a small metropolis off the tourist track that bowls me over with its brimming crafts scene.
A certified Unesco Creative City, Kanazawa is home to many of Japan’s artsy treasures, from gold leaf production (try it sprinkled over ice cream from shops around the atmospheric Samurai quarter), the geisha district’s perfectly preserved timber houses and the quintessentially Japanese Kenrokuen garden with its harmonious blend of rocks, water and trees – essential components of the country’s landscaping ethos.
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While Kanazawa is walkable, it’s quicker to buy an all-day bus ticket (about £6 from any of the big hotels) that’ll get you from A to B. The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art (entry from £6) is perhaps the best of its kind in Japan, all mirrored outdoor sculptures, video projections and thought-provoking conceptual pieces.
I’m still trying to figure out the mind-boggling swimming pool installation by Argentinian artist Leandro Erlich, in which I appeared to float underwater without actually getting wet.
It’s clear that Japan is home to the kind of beauty not easily forgotten. After my return journey home, the diorama of my travels still lives rent-free inside my head.
I decided to honour it with a visit to the V&A Dundee to witness Takahashi’s kimono for myself, which sits amongst dozens of other sumptuous designs ranging from the Edo period to the present day.
I see them with new eyes, understanding now the hundreds of hours of work that have gone into each, the representation of nature so important in Japan and the grace summoned by wearing them.
Where better to conclude my trip than in Dundee’s Apex City Quay Hotel, a waterside lodging in the shadow of the museum, where I stay overnight in the room Kuma himself slept in while making the finishing touches to his Scottish masterpiece.
On the walls of my room hang pencil sketches the architect made in his initial design stages. Out of the window, the low evening sun glows silver then gold. Just behind the V&A Dundee, the onion dome of the HMS Discovery peeps into view.
I’ve a discovery of my own – even in Scotland, evidence of Japanese creativity is never too far away.
Gabriella Bennett was a guest of the Japanese National Tourism Organisation and V&A Dundee, with support from OMO5 Kanazawa Katamachi, OMO3 Asakusa and Holiday Extras and InsideJapan, B Corp Japan travel specialists that design cultural adventures to include private guiding to suit interests, timeframes and budgets. Flights to Tokyo with British Airways from Edinburgh via London Heathrow start at £860 return. Kimono: Kyoto To Catwalk at V&A Dundee runs until January 5, 2025
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