Japanese Living & Culture

The quiet beauty of Japanese wrapping culture A simple square of cloth. No buttons, no zippers, no fixed shape. Yet, with a few thoughtful folds and knots, it can become a bag, a gift wrapping, or a protective covering for something precious. This is furoshiki, (風呂敷) a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth. Its beauty lies not only in what it can do, but also in the values it can quietly express. A Tradition Woven Through Time The practice of wrapping objects in cloth has a lon

A Japanese word for the small adjustments that make things feel just right I’ve had the same portable air conditioner for about five years. It worked. But every summer, I had the feeling that something wasn’t quite working as well as it should. This year, I finally became curious about what that “something” was. The hot weather arrived unusually early in Switzerland, already around May, and then the heatwaves seemed to keep coming back. So instead of simply switching on the a