Shigaraki ware was as authentic as the porcelain of Satsuma or Arita – a complex art form refined over millennia – but it was folk art: the rustic pottery of a humble people. Deliberately ...

Numerous broken ceramic grenades lying in the bottom of the Binnuma River, the old Arakawa River channel flowing along the ...

We visit Japan's largest and oldest lake, Lake Biwa. A cat leads us to an overlook with a great view of the lake. We meet another cat hiding among the multitude of wares at a Shigaraki ceramics shop.