Latest posts
-
Review: The Hare With Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal
According to wikipedia, a netsuke is a miniature sculpture. It goes on to explain that it was invented for a practical purpose: to hang an object such as an inrō box from a belt. In reality, that practical purpose was mostly just an excuse to own a netsuke; a simple piece of wood would have worked…
-
Merry christmas and a happy 2017
acryl on canvas by Lucia Pitanguy Lucia Beatriz Pitanguy Sampaio – van Reeuwijk Kees van Reeuwijk Daniel Sampaio
-
Merry christmas and a happy New Year
Lucia Beatriz Pitanguy Sampaio – van Reeuwijk Kees van Reeuwijk Daniel Sampaio
-
Things to do: Visit the Saitama railway museum
The history of Japanese railroads goes back as far as 1872, when a railroad was opened between Yokohama and Tokyo (just in time for Isabella Bird to use it in 1875). The network was quickly expanded, but the highlight of the modern Japanese railway system is the Shinkansen, a network of high-speed trains with a remarkable track…
-
Review: The Roads to Sata, A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan, by Alan Booth
Japan seems to inspire long walking trips; pilgrimages are an old and respected tradition. Even by that standard, what Alan Booth did is remarkable: he walked from the northernmost tip of mainland Japan (Cape Soya on the island Hokkaido) to the southernmost tip (Cape Sata on the island Kyushu), a distance of more than 3000 kilometers.…
-
Review: Isabella Bird – Unbeaten tracks in Japan
Isabella Bird is one of those travelers and writers that only the 19th century could produce. She was born in 1831 as the daughter of Reverend Edward Bird and Dora Lawson. Because she had poor health from her youth, the doctors recommended an open-air life. Her family encouraged her, for example by letting her learn…
-
Merry christmas and a happy new year
Merry christmas and a happy new year (after an aquarel by Lucia) Lucia Beatriz Pitanguy Sampaio – van Reeuwijk Kees van Reeuwijk Daniel Sampaio
-
Padaria e Confeitaria Rio-Lisboa
Padaria e Confeitaria (Bakery and Confectionery) Rio-Lisboa is one of the remnants of an older Rio de Janeiro. Nowadays Leblon, the neighbourhood of Rio-Lisboa, is a very up-market part of Rio de Janeiro. Copacabana and Ipanema are world-famous for their beaches, but the same beach continues in Leblon, and the richer Brazilians have realised that. Consequently, it…
-
Jacques Gabay, old scientific texts
One of the little pearls of Paris is the bookshop of Jacques Gabay. The shop is small, the book spines are boring, the prices are high, and the opening hours are quirky (we never close later than five o’clock’), but this is a veritable paradise for the right kind of book lover. Jacques Gabay selects, publishes,…
-
Things to do: visit the Baur foundation – Museum of Far Eastern Art in Geneva
Alfred Baur (1865-1951) was a Swiss businessman who spent a lot of time in Asia, and took the opportunity to collect Chinese and Japanese art. What makes his collection remarkable is first of all his impeccable good taste: he always chose quality over quantity, and the refined over the gaudy. Moreover, a few years before his death…