Kintsugi: Giving New Life to Broken Vessels

Asakusa, Tokyo, is home to many shrines and temples. Visitors often buy "omikuji," which are small pieces of paper with fortunes written on them. Normally burned for disposal, washi paper artisan Shinoda Kaho came up with the idea of recycling them as a new style of washi, which is not only beautiful but durable as well. Her washi handbags are gaining popularity in and out of Japan. This may well be the birth of a new local specialty in an area long known for papermaking and paper recycling.

After leaving his math teaching job Suzuki Yuichi became a doctor, but he has no license. The surgeries he performs require a drill or a screwdriver not a scalpel, and his patients aren't humans but toys. Children bring their broken toys to him; all kinds of toys, broken in all kinds of ways. The repairs can be a challenge, but with boundless ingenuity and enthusiasm he gets the job done. He receives no pay, but he does have a lesson for his young clients, "Cherish your precious toys forever!"

Cheap plastic umbrellas are all too easily used and thrown away in Japan. And since they're difficult to break down, recycling efforts have stalled. But young creator Saito Aki has an original idea that may be the solution. By compressing layers of plastic from old umbrellas she's created a beautiful new fabric and turned it into a hit line of fashionable handbags. Just to look, you'd never guess where it came from. The perfect blend of style and environmental-awareness-raising substance.

Azuno Tadafumi runs a rather unconventional retail space. It doesn't just carry used tools or furniture, but also salvaged lumber. Many Japanese country houses go vacant. These derelict homes are regularly torn down. When he hears about a demolition, he goes there to see if there is any wood that can still be used. He calls what he does, "rescue," aiming to keep useful wood from being thrown away. He believes that wood can take on the emotions of the people who occupy the spaces it's used in.

Komuro Maito has a studio in downtown Tokyo where he works with traditional plant-based dyes. His dyes are made from things that would normally be discarded like fruit skins or pruned twigs. But the results he achieves are so stunning, it's hard to believe. His methods are primitive, boiling to extract natural pigments while imagining the color that will result. It can vary greatly depending on the plants used, and even on the season. As he's fond of saying, "trash is treasure."

Japanese chef Kai Kosei offers dishes featuring "Zako," fish with little or no market value. Either because they're too small or aren't commonly eaten, they're mostly discarded. In response, Kai's restaurant celebrates their deliciousness, serving unfamiliar fish like mottled spinefoot or Roudi escolar as sashimi, or deep-fried Luna lionfish. His Zako cuisine is a hit. And due in part to his efforts, these once "useless" fish are now regularly seen in the fish market.

For over 40 years Tsukamoto Yoshifusa has used scrap wood from old Japanese houses to make violins. Carefully carving the front and back plates using self-taught techniques, each one takes nearly a year to complete. So far, he's made 45. He says old wood is ideal. The older the drier. The denser the grain, the richer the sound. His family also loves to play his scrap wood violins. The "joy of wood" helps keep them in harmony.

Flowers accompany life's most important moments. But there's a sadness to picked flowers. They color our lives and are all too quickly discarded. Kawashima Haruka makes the most of them, drying discarded flowers for a second incarnation. And once that role is done, she further preserves them for yet another use. Her aim is a world where flowers are part of every aspect of life, where they're not merely plucked and discarded at our convenience and are cherished until they finally decay.

Nakahara Keiko lives at the foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains in central Japan. She dyes fabric using nearby plants and makes reusable food wrappers with wax from local honeybees. Her commitment to an eco-friendly lifestyle includes reusing worn-out fabric for clothing. The things she makes are simple and tasteful, and so popular that locals regularly come to buy them. Her work is her way of life, and her love of life extends to all things. Indeed, she too is busy as a bee.

Japanese schoolchildren wear backpacks known as Randoseru. Though sturdily made, after the first 6 years they're no longer used. Nishikawa Masako takes such disused Randoseru brought in by clients and remakes them into accessories that even adults can use like wallets or key fobs. Her work has been so well received that her client list is steadily growing. She sees what she does as helping to preserve cherished childhood memories.

Working as an architectural designer after college, Kigami Natsuko soon added "jewelry maker" to her job description. Using things like discarded tile and other waste that's all too common on construction sites, she makes earrings and other jewelry. Her simple yet elegant creations have become a hit in trend-setting Shibuya, showcasing her belief that any scrap can truly shine.

The Japanese southern island of Okinawa Prefecture, warm all year, this popular tourist spot is home to "Ryukyu Glass," a local industry for over 100 years. Glass blower Matsumoto Sakae insists on using discarded bottles as raw material. He says their status as trash inspires him to give them beauty, making things that will be loved and never again thrown away. Hoping, in some small way, to reduce waste in the world, he keeps his furnace hot and his tools ready.

Kids just love coloring with crayons! But what if a child puts them in their mouth or tries to eat them? Kimura Naoko has come up with a new type of crayon made with fruits and vegetables that's totally non-toxic. And instead of "red" or "yellow," each one is labeled with the name of the key ingredient like "apple" or "yam." Most of the raw materials used are discards or remainders. Her crayons' aim is to spread love for the bounty of the earth.