In a small shop in Wabasha, Minnesota is a treasure trove of wedding kimonos like the one above(picture is from their website www.windwhisperwest.com ). The story of how it came to be that a place remote from big cities would have such a marvelous collection was featured in today's(8/3/16) Star Tribune. We here at www.yokodana.com learned about it in an article published today by the Star Tribune which begins,   Standing amid the exotic kimono garments in Jan Fuller’s shop, you may suspect its front door is a “Twilight Zone” portal. One moment, you’re in Wabasha, Minn., strolling past Hardware Hank...

We here at www.yokodana.com (YokoDana Kimono) are convinced that the West's love affair with Kimono Culture continues to spread around the world. It seems that kitsuke and Japanese festivals are popping up everywhere. We found out about this latest intercultural event in Canada and wanted to give them a shout out. This is called  Folklorama in Winnipeg, Canada and is special also because it weds Japanese with another culture for its festival celebrations, as seen in this lovely picture above. This summer's festival is the 47th year there in Winnipeg, so we say hats off to them! Read about Folklorama here from...

We at YokoDana Kimono continue to see signs that love of traditional Japanese kimono and things Japanese is spreading world-wide. We were very interested to learn today that Vietnam has  kitsuke (kimono-wearing) enthusiasts and that Vietnam will hold its first Japanese cultural festival in DaNang, details HERE.

We here at YokoDana Kimono(yokodana.com) are posting this because we think many of our regulars(who are Anime and JPop enthusiasts among other things Japan-related) might like this review and the book itself, given its quirky and visual approach to a traditional subject -- Buddhism & Zen; the latter are more often treated in more serious and staid fashion. Check it out: (To see the book on Amazon.com please click image above) Nahadef, a Canadian living in Sapporo, Japan and contributor to the Japan Reference Site and Forum, JREF.COM recently posted a review of this book on that site May 28, 2016. The review...