With the Olympics over and the Paralympics finishing this week I think it’s safe to say that the games were a success. A whole new batch of Olympic and Paralympic champions have been crowned, and some of our old favourites emerged victorious.

With everything becoming more normal (and busier) than it’s been for a while, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and disorganised. Why not try combining one of our Stalogy Editor’s Series Notebooks with a Removable Calendar, allowing you to easily organise your schedule for the week (or month) ahead.

The Stalogy vintage notebooks are such great and versatile notebooks, that everyone can find a use for - they are incredibly well made and feel far more expensive than their £6.50 price tag.

We’re delighted to have added four new books to NishuraEast. With topics ranging from philosophy to poetry you’re sure to find something you’ll love.

The Shōtengai Japanese Market will be popping up in Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross over the next three weekends. We are thrilled to be part of the market along with other fantastic Japan loving retailers in London!

Schools are starting to break up for the holidays, lockdown restrictions are being lifted in England, and it finally feel like we can have some time to enjoy ourselves in the sun. Whether that means you are travelling the world, exploring the UK, or even sitting in your garden with a nice cold drink, you could probably out the Stalogy travel set to good use.

It was walking from Hamarikyu Gardens to Tokyo Station in 2018 that I first noticed the tower. It was a detour that I wasn’t expecting, but despite the humidity and threat of rain I couldn’t not go over to see what it was, as it looked like something straight out of Blade Runner.

My art teacher suggested I use ‘The Great Wave’ as a reference and showed me the famous picture. I was intrigued by the way the waves looked so dynamic, despite the relatively few colours used. Although my final result wasn’t nearly as impressive, the interest in Hokusai’s art remained.

There are only a few weeks until the opening ceremony of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo and you can do so much to get in the spirit of the games from your own home.

Yuzen is a dying technique first used in the late 17th century, becoming popular during the Edo period. It is most often seen on Kimono and is known for bright colours and patterns, depicting flowers and animals.

If you are new to matcha tea, or even just wanting to try a different type it can be daunting picking out a tea when faced with 10 seemingly identical tins. Our Japanese Tea Master Keiko Uchida has tried all of the matcha teas we sell and devised this tea matrix.

If you have ever tried to make matcha at home, you know it’s almost impossible to get the signature frothy foam without a chasen – a traditional bamboo whisk.

We’ve got some fantastic new teas from Ippodo, just in time for summer! Ippodo was established in Kyoto in 1717, and have been producing incredible matcha and green tea ever since.

Bonsai literally means tray planting and is a Japanese art form that was inspired by Chinese penzai. In the 6th century Buddhist students and imperial diplomats would visit China and many brought back miniature trees planted in colourful pots.

Two new Stalogy notebooks have joined the family! The award winning Editor’s Series notebooks are now available with plain or dotted paper.

From the earliest cave drawings to the most modern masterpieces, humans have always drawn. Whilst not too many of us go on to be professional artists, we still find ourselves doodling in the margins of textbooks, or on the back of envelopes.

If you’ve visited NishuraEast before then you’ve probably seen pictures of our HARU tape – pictures of rolls that come in so many colours and sizes. But what actually is HARU tape, and what is it used for? Well the quick answer is that it's washi tape. But HARU is washi tape, like you’ve never seen it before.

There is an entire music industry in Japan that most of us in Europe and the US know nothing about. In fact, Japan is the second largest music market in the world, behind the US, so it stands to reason that they produce their own musicians.

With the weather lately bring as bad as it has been, I’ve been spending a lot of time on my computer (not that that’s new!). I’ve been watching a lot of Japanese craft videos on YouTube, so I thought I’d share a few of my favourite channels with you.

To celebrate the arrival of the 2021 Limited Edition Stalogy notebooks we are offering some free Stalogy gifts to you, our wonderful NishuraEast customers!

After months of waiting, we are thrilled to say that you can now buy the Limited Edition Stalogy Notebooks in Matcha Green, Cobalt Blue and Smoky Grey from NishuraEast.

Hidden in Kyoto is the last silk marbling workshop. Nose Moriyoshi is the only person in the world who knows and uses this technique, to create incredibly patterned sheets of silk.

Today (May 5th) marks the end of Golden Week in Japan – a week in which 4 of the 15 national holidays occur. Golden Week is seen as a time to travel. Domestic tourism is a strong industry in Japan, and as a country with such a varied landscape and climate it’s not hard to see why.

We are now selling our HARU stuck-on design OPP tape by the metre. OPP (oriented polypropylene) is a durable, non-stretchy plastic film with a matte finish. The tapes have bold black patterns printed on them, perfect for adding flair to a room.

We often talk about washi paper at NishuraEast, but what actually is washi? Outside of Japan, washi paper tends to refer to Japanese paper. However, within Japan washi refers to a very particular handmade paper.

Our programme of asking artists to work with Haru stuck-on design has produced a wonderful array of different projects. For each artist, their first project with us is always doing a scheme here in the showroom, next to the canal in Westbourne Park.

Tea has always held a special place in the world. It seems every culture has their own version. There’s mint tea in Morocco, bubble tea in Taiwan, teh tarik in Malaysia, maté in many South American countries, and of course matcha in Japan.

This week a video about Nishijin-ori - textiles from Nishijin, Kyoto – caught my eye. Literally that is, because the thumbnail shows the most incredibly vibrant blue flower, embroidered on an obi belt.

With the recent easing of lockdown in England we are thrilled that the NishuraEast showroom is now open again! Those of you in London you can come and see all of our wonderful products in person.

I recently watched the most captivating video about a Japanese craftsman, rediscovering the art of natural dyeing. Sachio Yoshioka is a fifth-generation craftsmen, and the head of the Somenotsukasa Yoshioka dye workshop in Kyoto.