This past spring(2021) we posted a blog about the trend among young college-aged Japanese women to wear women's hakama over a formal kimono at graduation time and other special occasions. (Above image: hakama-bijin.com) During the closing ceremonies of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics we were surprised - and pleased - to see this fashion trend among young women in Japan being showcased as part of the final ceremonies . Below we share pictures of  Olympics kimonos-with-hakama from various public media sources (also, note the footwear types): Below: Other Types of Kimono on Display During 2020 Olympics Closing Ceremonies Lastly, as...

What is this? We happened upon this old web magazine article on web-japan.org, a cultural site run by the Japanese government. It featured a Niponica web magazine article from 2013 that we're sure is of interest to many of our visitors and customers. It's banner header is:   Japanese Fabrics Have Their Global Reputation Wrapped Up Topics Listed: How to Wrap Something in a FuroshikiTextiles and JapanDyeing and WeavingModern Fabrics for Today's LifestylesJapanese High-Tech Textiles Circle the World, and BeyondCloth Signs Add Color to Urban LandscapesTasty Japan: Time to Eat! Inari-zushiStrolling Japan: Okinawa, Islands of ClothSouvenirs of Japan: Furoshiki Cloth for...

One of the joys we experience in selling beautiful vintage and antique Japanese fabrics is to see the endless ways that our customers use them creatively. We were delighted when Lisa, a long-time customer of yokodana.com, sent us the above  picture with an email explaining how she made the wall hanging using YokoDana's asa(hemp) fabrics . We loved what she did with her fabrics and thank her for letting us share it here. Here's her letter to us:  Hi Yoko,I started a project wall-hanging almost a year ago, with 3 panels of a sheer Asa in a fabulous MCM pattern. There...

Below we are excerpting here some pictures and comments from our Furusato--Hometown page of this site. We post these here to share how Japanese of today are honoring traditional customs and still doing so with modern twists. Pay special attention to the kimonos and accessories particularly of the girls in these various photos, blending old and new creatively. YokoDana Kimono Owner's Family Photos Japan: 2020 Above -- YokoDana.com's Owner's Nephew's Family: Note the twins in blue hifu  (Hifu is a special hand-made vest for age 3 of Shichi-Go-San Celebration); Hifu Buttons are handmade using the same fabric. Flower buttons are Tsumami-zaiku crafted by Aunt Honami...

  References to this series of web pages have been showing up in several places on Facebook and elsewhere, so we tracked it down and it turns out to be a remarkably detailed website with multiple pages and instructions on "How to Make a Yukata", by Amparo Bertram, apparently while a student of University of Michigan and living in Japan.  As we are not makers of kimono ourselves, not sure if we should recommend this site, but the sources cited lend it credibility. As so many of our customers and fans are into this sort of information, we wanted to share it...