the Way to Japan Vanessa Villalobos

Put the kettle on & enjoy an enlightening chat with the charming Charlie, a tea shop owner in London with real passion for Japanese culture. I got INSPIRED with so many TEA BREWING TIPS from talking with Charlie, and I think you will too!A milliner by training, Charlie has established the tea shop Tencha with her husband Chris, a jeweller after they fell in love with the taste & aesthetics of all things tea in Japan on their honeymoon.The couple study Urasenke Chado (tea ceremony) her...

I'm SO chuffed to finally catch up with my talented friend, Yuki Gomi, a professional chef, teacher and cookery writer. I can still remember the taste of the delicious aubergine dish we made when I attended one of her wonderful Yuki's Kitchen cooking classes in her home near my old haunt, Crystal Palace, about 10 years ago!Since then, Yuki has gone from strength to strength, with her first book 'Sushi at Home' published in 2013 by Penguin, and her Japanese cooking expertise has reached many t...

It was SUCH a joy to speak with my writing mentor & bestselling author, Beth Kempton, who is an award-winning entrepreneur and producer of online courses, a Reiki Master, a yoga teacher, a mama of two young girls, and a self-help author whose books have been translated into more than 25 languages.Even if you don't have a copy of her book 'Wabi Sabi', you would likely recognise it from it's gorgeous pale green cover... I see it in practically every book shop, gift shop & boutique!&nbsp...

WELCOME back to the Way to Japan Autumn 2022 interview series! I hugely enjoyed talking to my inspirational friend Anna, who is a Devon-based nutritionist and a mum in a busy Japanese British family day-to-day. I met Anna through an online course have since been relishing her Japan-inspired approach to food over on Instagram. Anna has gained much first-hand insight into the Japanese ways of approaching food through her varied experiences of living in Japan, first teaching in rural A...

WELCOME to the Way to Japan Autumn 2022 interview series! I'm delighted to kick off with my wonderful friend Masa, a London-based 'Zen POP' singer/songwriter & artist from Yokohama, Japan. I first met Masa about 12 years ago, and shortly after that, O-ARC played their ambient 'Zen Pop' at the JapaneseLondon.com launch party!Some of O-ARC's other highlights have been playing at Tate Gallery, Whitechapel Art Gallery, ICA, Le Pop in Paris and Myosaiji Temple in Tokyo. 4 songs from EN al...

My 7-year-old's middle name is Zen.No, really, it is.We gave him the name hoping naively that it might, I don't know... infuse qualities of calm into his nature?He is, ermm, not calm. He is like a tightly coiled spring, ready to bounce off unpredictably in any direction. His spirit animal is, I think, Tigger.2020’s adventure in ‘home schooling’ rapidly led to clenched fists, hyperventilating, hiding under the desk, shouting ‘NO!’. And that was just me!All the lessons in the meaning of Zen are...