Design Museum Japan

Kagoshima Prefecture / Morinaga Kunihiko (Fashion designer) Priestesses on Amami Oshima wore patchwork robes with triangular butterfly designs, intended to protect the wearer from unseen spirits.

Ishikawa Prefecture / Tagawa Kinya (Design engineer) Tagawa investigates the process of design by looking at the work of Yanagi Sori, who shaped products by making models using different materials.

Tochigi Prefecture / Kikuchi Atsuki (Graphic designer) Kikuchi is drawn to enamelware that reflects the creators' own instincts. He talks about the appeal of designs made and used by the same person.

Kyoto Prefecture / Miyanaga Aiko (Contemporary artist) The Mincho font, drawn by hand in around 1990, evokes 350-year-old hand-carved woodblocks, made to print Buddhist sutras.

Nara Prefecture / Tsukamoto Yoshiharu (Architect) Long ago, people in Nara preserved ice by building an icehouse on a mountain ridge, showing how architecture can make use of natural characteristics.

Osaka Prefecture / Igarashi Hisae (Interior designer) Glass was a key industry in Osaka from the early 1900s. Igarashi learns how glassblowers used their skills to make Japanese vacuum flasks.

Tottori Prefecture / Hishikawa Seiichi (Video and craft artist) Dyeing firms make fishing flags with vivid, hand-drawn designs that carry the feelings of both fishermen and people sending them gifts.

Shimane Prefecture / Fukasawa Naoto (Product designer) Red "Sekishu" roof tiles are perfectly suited to cold, snowy regions. Fukasawa considers design that embodies the community it comes from.

Kochi Prefecture / Miyamae Yoshiyuki (Fashion designer) Kochi's Sunday market features around 500 stalls with fixed locations. Miyamae contemplates how communication has contributed to its longevity.

Miyazaki Prefecture / Sato Taku (Graphic designer) The crowded signs of local bars inspire Sato to reconsider the conventions of modern design, and embrace the appeal of the unknown.