A Date for Your Diary: Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation on November 9th

Thursday 9 November at 6.00pm Daiwa Foundation Japan House 13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle London NW1 4QP MAP Nearest station: Baker Street Admission free, booking essential Turning Point: The Momentous Events that Created Modern Japan To Japan, the arrival of Commodore Perry and his Black Ships in 1853 was almost as shocking as if Martians had landed. One of … Read more

Maiko on the 'narrow street lined with dark wooden houses' where I lived in Kyoto

Living with the Geisha of Kyoto – The Inside Story

Dark alleys wound between wooden houses with lanterns hanging outside, no doubt tea houses where geiko, the famous geisha of Miyako, entertained. Women in exquisite kimonos clattered by on high clogs, long sleeves swinging. Atsu listened for the tinkle of a shamisen plucking out a plaintive melody. She caught the scent of incense on the … Read more

The bridge and Great Gate of the Women’s Palace, photographed in the 1870s

Edo Castle – Japan’s Versailles

Edo Castle was like Louis XIV’s Versailles, a place of fabulous riches, of unimaginable beauty and luxury. Its mammoth granite battlements and gleaming roofs towered above the great city of Edo, the largest city in the world – which we now call Tokyo.

Me as a geisha - playing the shamisen

Concubines, Geisha and Me – Living as a Woman in Japan

Atsu smelt kyara and sandalwood, musk and ambergris mingled with camphor and a dank mustiness. Glistening heads with black hair coiled into glossy loops stretched into the gloom. There were several hundred women on their knees but the room was totally silent. The Shogun’s Queen In Japan until recently men and women led very separate … Read more

Ghost of murdered husband peeping over mosquito net at his unfaithful and murderous wife by Hokusai

A True Japanese Ghost Story

When Atsu started to drift off she saw looming faces and felt cobwebby fingers brushing against her skin. She felt the wind of spirits rushing by and a roar like the crashing of waves on the beach. It was the cries and moans of all the babies who’d died here. The Shogun’s Queen The Women’s … Read more

Tea ceremony at the time of The Shogun’s Queen

Tea the Japanese way

Princess Konoe lifted the lid of the tiny porcelain tea jar and a fresh sweet scent wafted out. ‘Uji tea,’ she said brightly. ‘The finest in the land. Have you ever tried it?’ Atsu shook her head. ‘An urn of this same tea is sent up to the Great Ruler in Edo every year. All … Read more