INTOUCH Magazine

Festive Fix

For many bicultural Member families, the Club provides a “taste of home” during the holidays.

For families with more than one cultural background, the holiday season in Japan can be a challenge.

INDEPTH | CULTURE

How does an English teacher in Japan become a bonsai master? American Adam Jones reveals all.

Nestled on three acres of picturesque cedar and bamboo woodlands in Ibaraki Prefecture is a garden of tiny trees.

INDEPTH | CULTURE

Come One, Come All

With the Club throwing its annual celebration for Independence Day this month, non-American Members discuss the appeal of joining the party.

In 1776, when Founding Father John Adams called for a “great anniversary festival” to mark America’s independence from Great Britain, he wrote to his wife, Abigail, that the celebration “ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

INDEPTH | CULTURE

Pioneering Performers

The Izumi kyogen family celebrates half a century of trailblazing theater while looking to the next generation of entertainers.

When Junko Izumi and her siblings began learning kyogen as young children, they rehearsed on their home stage every day under the tutelage of their father, Motohide Izumi.

INDEPTH | CULTURE

Small but Perfectly Formed

Set to speak at the Club this month, Princess Takamado discusses her love of netsuke craftsmanship and nature.

When British ceramicist Edmund de Waal published his acclaimed memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes in 2010, many readers around the world learned about netsuke for the first time.

INDEPTH | CULTURE

Inked Pilgrims

A documentary set to be screened at the Club this month challenges the stereotypical image of tattoos in Japan.

Japan has an uneasy relationship with tattoos. Most Japanese associate them with yakuza gangsters.