Just a few days before I went away for medical rehabilitation I got a lovely email from Haikugirl informing me that I was the lucky winner of the book “Things Japanese ” by Nicholas Bornoff. It really made my day; I normally don’t win anything and I was very looking forward to it. Unfortunately I was already away when the book arrived so it was only this week when I came back that I was able to get my hands on it.

Things Japanese by Nicholas Bornoff, with photographs by Michael Freeman

And it is fantastic!

I own quite a large amount of books about Japan, the history, the culture and so on and I’m not happy with all of them, There are a lot of books out there that reduce Japan to “Geisha, Samurai, Tea Ceremony, Harajuku” and I’m not a fan of those.

“Things Japanese – Everyday Objects of Exceptional Beauty and Significance” shows exactly what its title promises, and explains everyday items as well as traditional japanese items, each with a double page and beautiful pictures. It is separated into the four categories “House and Garden”, “Possessions and Clothing”, “Eating, Drinking and Entertainment” and “Custom and Religion” and covers known objects like Futons and Kimono but also things like Teaburi or Yôji-ire.

おしゃれな爪楊枝入れ (global rakuten)

Vintage Teaburi on Rubylane

I can only recommend this book and am very happy that I was able to add it to my library.
Make sure to check out the review from Haikugirl at her amazing blog!

If you had a chance to read it, what did you think of “Things Japanese”?