MOSHIMOSHI NIPPON Ep. 13

1. NIPPON ABC: "C" Chochin (Lantern)

Featuring creative works and projects of young artisans inspired by Japanese traditional culture.

Today's theme is "C" for Chochin, which is the Japanese word for paper lanterns. Kunpei Yoshimoto is an Ibaraki-based lantern artist who won a number of awards for his distinctive asymmetrical lanterns. His work varies from cute bird-shaped lanterns to modern designs that are great as home accessories. Kunpei was also the first person to create LED lanterns that are turned on and off by sound and touch. In this segment, Kunpei gives an insight to his latest and most innovative chochin making method and shares his goal of turning lanterns into a communication tool.

2. ICHIYA'S POP EYE: Service area

Japan's trending sub-culture introduced by Ichiya Nakamura, a key person in promoting Japanese pop-culture to the world.

Today's topic is service areas. Nakamura says that nowadays a lot of parking areas in Japan offer unique entertainment services. In today's episode, Nakamura takes us to one of his favorite service areas, Hanyu Parking Area in Uo, Tochigi. It recreates 18th century Tokyo, which is known as the Edo period. The place is packed with restaurants that serve beautiful traditional Japanese cuisine. One of the restaurants offers a very unique udon dish called Ippon udon. Be sure to check out this parking area! It would makes you feel like you've gone two hundred years back in time!