As part of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) project, Shiraraso Grand Hotel is offering a new experience for guests to create shades for warosoku traditional Japanese candles from July 7 to August 31.
Warosoku aren’t made with ordinary wax, they’re produced from plant-derived Japanese wax. Wakayama was once the biggest producer of this wax. Guests at the hotel will ghet to make their own shade decorations for these candles using decorations like the sea, food, hot springs, and panda.
The hotel is also offering free panda bookmarks to those who post a photo of their shade on Instagram, Twitter, or Instagram with the Japanese hashtag #白良荘グランドホテル.
Information
Warosoku Shade Decoration Experience Running: July 7, 2021 – August 31, 2021
The Tokyo-based girl artists and creators' collective bala has finally launched for real! The group will release its first single barla on March 8.
bala consists of MANON, SUNNY ONLY 1, DAN, and KANO, each with their own global background. The project aims to resonate with Gen Z youth culture and to be a collective of artists that connects hybrid Japanese pop culture with audiences around the world.
The debut song barla was produced by Shinichi Osawa, who has numerous hits under the name Mondo Grosso. It was co-written by Kenmochi Hidefumi from Wednesday Campanella. With Y2K culture making a comeback around the world, the track features the house sound popular in the late 90s which is showing signs of becoming the next musical trend yet again. The groovy dance tune is a perfect theme song for these girls who will lead the next generation of pop culture.
<Comment from Shinichi Osawa>
“I’m honored to be involved in bala’s debut. The members are super unique, and collaborating with Kenmochi-san for the first time was a dream come true.”
<Comment from Kenmochi Hidefumi>
“I’m happy to be able to work with the members of bala and Shinichi Osawa. Everyone is so uniquely talented, and this song is filled with everyone's energy and excitement inspired by their long-awaited debut!”
Hoshinoya Tokyo, a traditional ryokan in Otemachi, has announced the New Year’s Kabuki Plan, a two-day, one-night stay from January 5 until January 7, 2023. During the Edo Period, citizens enjoyed watching Kabuki plays during the New Year’s holidays, often sipping tea at connected teahouses. This event will invite visitors to experience what this was like, complete with traditional food and decorations.Watching Kabuki was a chic way for those in Edo to ring in the new year. Theater teahouses were also a popular gathering place–along with arranging tickets, the teahouses offered plot notes, tea, sweets, boxed lunches, snacks, and other drinks.**Hiroshi Fujita, Yoshihide Tomizawa (2012) / The Updated Kabuki Dictionary, Kashiwa Shobo
Relax Before Enjoying Tea and a Play
Guests are invited to relax in the Ochanoma (Living Room) Lounge, decorated to look like a traditional teahouse with fans, ukiyo-e prints, and formal curtains. Hanabiramochi, or rice cakes with flower petals, will be served with green tea. These rice cakes are said to date back to the New Year’s tradition of eating hard foods like daikon and rice cakes in the hopes of prolonging one’s life. Characterized by its curious burdock root aroma, the cakes are sweetened with white miso bean paste.
Enjoy a Post-Viewing Mont Blanc Shaped like Soba with Sweet Dessert Wine
At theater teahouses in the Edo period, sake, snacks, and desserts were served one after another. During this special event, a menu inspired by this practice and prepared by Hoshinoya Tokyo Executive Chef Noriyuki Hamada will be served! Soba noodles were often served after a play in the past. Inspired by this tradition, Mont Blanc made with chestnut paste and sponge cake will be served up to look like this popular dish. Paired with a dessert wine aged in oak barrels, the sweet will be served in a traditional lacquerware basket. In addition, the dish will be paired with Wasabi Pralines, Shichimi Meringue, and Ginger Pate de Fruits.
Take a Rickshaw to the Kabuki-za Theater
Guests will be taken on an Edo-style tour on their way to the Kabuki-za Theater. Passing through the Nihonbashi area, the first stop will be the Fukutoku Shrine. It’s said that Hidetada Tokugawa paid a visit to and praised the shrine on New Year’s Day in 1614. The next shrine on the docket, Hodo Inari Jinja, was enshrined in Edo Castle during the Edo period to protect the heir to the Tokugawa family. It’s said that the shrine provides blessings for child rearing, matchmaking, and business prosperity. This tour will provide a more elegant way to explore Tokyo as guests enjoy exposition from their chauffeur. To make the rickshaw ride even more enjoyable, guests can rent kimonos for an extra charge.
Would you like to take a step back in time this New Year?
Information
New Year’s Kabuki Plan
Running: January 5 – January 7, 2023
Capacity: 1 couple per day (1-2 people)
Price: ¥110,000 per person, ¥180,000 for 2 people (Including Tax & Service charge, excluding accommodation charge)
Art collective TeamLab has redesigned two exhibitions at Marina Bay Sands Singapore. The world’s first permanent exhibition from the creators, Future World: Where Art Meets Science, was opened in 2016 at the Museum of Art and Science. Guests can now enjoy three new works along with the Digital Light Canvas, a huge, interactive space inviting guests to share their own pieces of art.
Drawing Flight
Visitors can immerse themselves in these impressive new works while experiencing a complex, three-dimensional world. They can also create new worlds with others!
Future World
The Drawing Flight, part of the Amusement Park of the Future series, is based on the concept of co-creation, allowing visitors to not only draw an airplane that will fly but also allowing them to operate it from a pilot's point of view using a tablet. Whether visitors draw a butterfly or a hawk, they’ll see the world from the perspective of each creature and enter a world constructed by the creature's unique perceptions.
Aerial Climbing through a Flock of Colored Birds
In Aerial Climbing through a Flock of Colored Birds, guests are asked to perceive the world with their entire bodies. Visitors cross a space with sticks floating three-dimensionally in the air.
Autonomous Abstraction, Continuous Phenomena from the Universe to the Self
Autonomous Abstraction, Continuous Phenomena from the Universe to the Self offers a new and abstract concept. As people touch the dots, the rhythm of the dots flickers and their hue changes and disintegrates. The picture will then change dramatically, and despite these changes, the beauty remains.
Digital Light Canvas
Graffiti Nature - Red List Digital Light Canvas
Digital Light Canvas is a space consisting of a 15-meter-diameter circular link of light and a 20-meter-high cylinder of light made up of a collection of light dots. Team Lab's interactive artwork, which changes depending on how many people are around, is on permanent display.
Yoshitaka Amano, known by international fans as the artist behind the legendary Final Fantasy video game series, is celebrating his 70th birthday with a unique art project from November 23 until December 8 at Myoshin-ji in Kyoto. On the first day of the event, the venue, decorated with autumn leaves, was crowded with visitors including foreign tourists, who marveled at the fantastic space filled harmoniously with gold and blue. The exhibition will be held at Myoshin-ji, the head temple of the associated branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. This collection of works was designed to question visitors’ sensibilities and provide a new kind of art exhibition for fans to enjoy.After the exhibition, the main art piece by Yoshitaka himself will be converted to 3DCG, and a Virtual Golden World will be developed in collaboration with the Yoshitaka Amano VR Museum. By integrating traditional and modern art methods, guests will be able to engage more deeply in the art by enjoying digital works, the metaverse, and NFTs.Don't miss this curious exhibition!
The historic Nagoya Castle will hold a special nighttime viewing event for 14 days only, from November 25 until December 8, 2022. During this period, Honmaru Palace will be open to the public at night, and the Chrysanthemum Corridor inside will be open to visitors for the first time. The Ninomaru Garden will also be illuminated and will transport guests to a different place and time by showing a space only possible during dark hours.Inspired by the relationship between light and shadow, this event focuses on changes that occur over time and the creation and emergence of new ideas and things.Honmaru Palace, Typically Closed to the Public, to be Open at NightNagoya Castle’s Honmaru Palace was completed in 1615 and served as the primary residence of the Lord of the Owari Domain and as the Domain’s government office. The interior of the palace was lavishly decorated with paintings and other art pieces and was praised as a masterpiece. Sadly, it was destroyed by an air raid in 1945. Restoration work began in 2009 and was completed in 2018 with unparalleled accuracy. The Honmaru Palace gives off a completely different aura at night.
First Public Viewing of the Jodan-no-ma in the Joraku-den
The Joraku-den was added to Nagoya Castle to accommodate the third Shogun, Iemitsu, on his way to Kyoto. It is the most luxurious of all the Honmaru Palace buildings, and this event marks the first time that the Chrysanthemum Corridor on the north side will be open to the public. Visitors are welcome to admire the golden-blue paintings as they stroll through the historic site.
See Spectacular Paintings when Entering the Tsugi-no-ma Room
During this period, visitors can enter the Tsugi-no-ma room to view classical period paintings, giving a more clear idea of how people acted and dressed during this time in history.
[Ninomaru Garden Special Viewing]
~Witness a Never-Before-Seen Feudal Lord's Garden through a Spacial Presentation~Scenography for this unique show was provided by the creative label PERIMETRON. In order to show another side of the Ninomaru Garden at night, the company focused on light’s characteristics, from reflection and transmission to refraction and absorption. Light and shadow intertwine in various ways, and guests will be transfixed by this curious showing.