here are so many places to visit in Japan that
Nara, a charming old capital city located
roughly at the centre of Honshu, is often
overlooked. Two years ago, while working
on a book project on the Nara prefecture,
I inally made it there, travelling around to
visit the ceramicist Shiro Tsujimura, who
lives deep in a forest in a house he built with
his own hands; witnessing a Japanese tea
whisk being made from a simple piece of
bamboo by 20th-generation craftsman Tango
Tanimura; and exploring the compact city
centre. I’ve been coming back regularly since.
While Kyoto is most often thought of as
the traditional old capital of Japan, Nara was
in fact capital longer ago, in what is known
as the Nara period, from 710-794. Much of
Japanese culture originated here and the city
is still brimming with temples, shrines and
traditional workshops, but is at the same timehome to many young creative souls fusing
tradition with contemporary design.
My irst stop whenever I visit the city is
the little Minamo café in a lovingly restored
machiya townhouse in a quiet residential
area of town. Its daily lunch special is a treat;
today it’s a main dish of fried aubergine
topped with minced beef and soy sauce,
a hearty miso soup, steamed rice and a side
dish of brilliant green stir-fried string beans.
Minamo’s young owner, Yoko Fukumoto,
serves great cofee and homemade cake, but
there is also the newly opened Tabi Cofee
Roasters a short stroll away. The roastery is
a tiny booth in one of the city’s more run-
down covered markets, tucked amid a couple
of greengrocers and opposite a small Chinese
restaurant that doles out cheap ramen and
stir-fries to loyal regulars. With cofee thatT is freshly roasted, ground, brewed and (^) »
HIROYUKI NAGATOMI
Lighting designer
Nagatomi founded New
Light Pottery in Nara in 2015
after he found it difficult
to ind a great light for a bar
he was designing. Today
he specialises in brass and
glass models, all handmade
with the help of a number
of talented local craftsmen.
newlightpottery.com
The Trip