Watch this 160 kilometers bike ride across six islands in Japan
The route that I took is called Shimanami Kaido. It connects the Honshu and Shikoku islands through six smaller islands. I decided to take this route because I heard it was one of the most interesting things to do in Japan, so I simply could not resist not doing it…
How to make your own museum-worthy kinsugi bowl
I wanted my DIY kinsugi bowl to look like some sort of weird space rock, or rare mineral. When we honeymooned in Washington DC, I spent hours in the Natural History museum where I verified that my results were spot-on. Here was the process I went through…
How to make a cherry pie without an oven… in Japan
Recently I got it in my head that it would be pretty dang neat if I could make a cherry pie and give it to a friend as a birthday present. However, there was one slight problem with this grand idea: my apartment, like many Japanese apartments, doesn’t have an oven. My kitchen consists of a sink and two burners. That’s it. I don’t even have a counter.
So, how does a girl make a cherry pie when she doesn’t have an oven? Allow me to show you…
A Tokyo apartment building with removable units straight outta The Fifth Element
Apartment hunters, meet the Nakagin Capsule highrise apartment building in Tokyo.
The 140-unit apartment building, built in 1972, has fallen into disrepair and faces demolition. It’s a tragic building: its innovative modular design has led to its neglect.
I want this mustached juice machine man
He is genius. Pop him in a fat orange, turn the handle (to rip up the fruit’s precious guts…it’s hard for me to stop anthropomorphizing) and sip!
Mmmmmm, orange guts!
How to build a Japanese-style heated floor desk
I’m all about floor-furniture like the kotatsu, a 14th-century invention used in many Japanese homes all winter. It’s like the floor-oriented table often associated with Japanese homes, but with the added convenience of a heater and blanket. Sometimes I have daydreams about how awesome it would be to have one of these suckers. SO WARM. So cozy. None of the crampy discomfort of a western-style desk!
I’ve got a little floor-desk of my own going on, and this IKEA hack came just in time for me to play with.
A pink room in Russia on January 1 and a hot pot of stewing bison meat in this week’s reader photos
Start your week with our collection of interesting articles on the web and photos from our readers. This week: a couple images of wild and foraged food and a link to detailed photos from inside a house based on Up! In these Clicky Links you’ll find lots of sites to waste a little time on.
Click through, too, to find our links on submitting YOUR stuff to Offbeat Home!
Three ideas from traditional Japanese homes to simplify your house
Japanophile or no, you’ve gotta love learning about the way other people live — or used to live! — around the world.
Think how different your house must be from the house of a culture much older than yours…