Storied

28/06/2022

We have an announcement…

It is with a heavy heart that we have taken the difficult decision to put Volume Four, The Water Issue, on hold for the foreseeable future. After much deliberation and investigation into how we could bring this issue to life, we have unfortunately concluded that this is just not possible at this time.

The world is a much different place to when we put the first pages of STORIED together almost two years ago. Personally, our founders have had quite a challenging year and professionally, we have seen the pandemic continue to wreak havoc both in Japan and abroad - causing chaos on our content sign-off - whilst an outbreak of war in Europe has not only changed the lives of those in immediate connection with it, but sent ripples around the world that have subsequently affected our production process.

Despite working to complete almost the entirety of the content for Volume Four from a wealth of collaborators and experts - the Water Issue was set to see our biggest list of contributors to date, each of whom worked to bring something special to this issue - unavoidable external hurdles have seen to it that we must concede to the inevitable.
At this time, there are too many factors causing uncertainty: high levels of inflation, supply chains ravaged by the ongoing effects of COVID-19 and war, and the rising price of paper, ink, and oil. It would be unfair to you, our wonderful readers and retailers, to bring you a magazine that would be far more expensive than we have previously seen. We have already been trying to cover excessive postage costs for our subscription buyers, but this is no longer possible with the mounting costs of everything else. This coupled with new EU regulations for the application of VAT, reduced shipping areas and extended shipping times has resulted in prohibitively expensive production and delivery processes.

We can only apologise for the disappointment that some of you must be feeling at this news - we feel it too.

Thank you to each and everyone of you for the support you have shown STORIED over the past two years. To our subscription purchasers, please email [email protected] to discuss options.

18/05/2022

An Update on Volume Four:

Thank you for your continued patience as we prepare for the launch of our fourth issue. During these tumultuous times, we have unfortunately been delayed quite severely in the production of the Water Issue. After an unavoidable extended stint back in Europe, I am now back in Japan and working closely with our Design Director, Hana, to be able to grasp where we are with Volume Four. Content has now been officially signed off and we have put a number of questions to our printer so that we should hopefully have a clearer picture forming in the next week or so.

Please keep an eye on our emails and social media channels to be kept up to date on our progress. Thank you to each and every one of you for your support on our journey.

30/03/2022

Please note that we are now on holiday. You can still order our magazines and prints in our online shop, tough we will not be shipping until the 20th April. If you would like your order sooner, please check our stockists page and consider placing an order through one of our wonderful retailers. Thank you!

22/03/2022

‘Longboarding is like dancing on the ocean’, says Natsumi Taoka over iced coffees with writer .dayman and photographer Alex Abian | Tokyo🗼] at a beachfront cafe just a 30-second walk from her house.

Hailing from Chiba prefecture, where she grew up and still lives (when not travelling the world), Natsumi is one of the country's most admired surfers. She's ranked in the top 10 internationally and took out the number one spot at the WSL Women's Longboard Tour ASIA Ranking. 

Read more about her amazing journey in our upcoming fourth volume.

📷 Alex Abian | Tokyo🗼]

Read more in our upcoming fourth volume. Coming soon.

16/03/2022

According to the Nihon Shiki, Chronicles of Japan, written in the 8th century, Buddhist monks brought Chinese methods of paper making to Japan in 610 CE who used it to write sacred sutras. And thus, the art of washi was born. It has taken on a chameleonic variety of forms throughout the years, appearing anywhere from the zigzag gohei streamers strung across Shinto shrines that purify and mark sacred spaces, to the sliding shoji doors of a family home.

📷 taken on a visit to

Read more in our upcoming fourth volume. Coming soon.

25/02/2022

‘Though brought forth by human hands, dashi is a gift of Japan’s unique geography. Its ingredients originate in the saline waters offshore, but it’s the fresh, soft water of the interior that draws out each one’s finest quality.’

Read more on Japan’s best loved base ingredient in our upcoming fourth volume, The Water Issue.

Words and images by

16/02/2022

STORIED is inspired by the people, places, crafts, and culture of Japan. Both in print and online, we are dedicated to telling stories rarely told and.

Our hope is that, amidst the current restrictions on travel, STORIED can provide you an outlet in which to venture on a journey of virtual wanderlust - delving deep into the heart of Japan from your own home.

Volumes one through three are available to purchase in our online shop.

15/02/2022

The ski slopes of Hakuba, in Nagano prefecture—host of the 1998 winter Olympics— is covered in excellent snow. ‘JaPow’ (Japan powder), a super-dry deluge caused by a unique marine effect that carries precipitation from Siberia across the Sea of Japan to Honshu. It is officially amongst the world’s snowiest places, with up to 125 feet each year and the perfect place for a pilgrimage to find powder.

Captured here by Endo Tsutomu, we will be featuring more of his stunning images alongside our guide to skiing in Japan in our upcoming fourth volume, The Water Issue.

14/02/2022

Masashi Hirao is an artist who made his mark in the bonsai world through his ambition to bring this ever-traditional artform to the stage, and thus a new audience of those who would have little to do with the bonsai world.

We sit down with Hirao in Volume Three to discuss his inspirations, approach, and the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis, which left his studio and carefully curated garden, Seishoen, a muddy wreck to be saved.

Interview by .dayman
Images by

07/02/2022

Chaos and calm, the fast with the slow, the old with the new - it was this carefully balanced dichotomy that drew British artist , known for his bold fusion of contemporary street art with classical techniques and cultural figures, time and time again to Japan.

We collaborated with Dan on a series of four original Noh Mask paintings that appear in Volume Two, The Islands Issue. Inspired by the masks of Noh – their ‘human likeness… the painted eyes, and the fixed expressions’ – Dan produced these scintillating pieces motivated by the pandemic and subsequent world view of mask-wearing.

We still have a number of signed originals and exclusive limited edition prints available on our online store. Tap the image to purchase or see the other expressions at storiedmag.com/shop.

03/02/2022

Ama, which means ‘women of the ocean’, learn to dive by watching their mothers and grandmothers, their aunts, and sisters. They mimic their movements, studying the example set forth by the women in front of them. Through trial and error they develop a style of diving that suits their own physicality. To this day, diving is done without oxygen.

‘Because ama hold their breath when they dive, it can be very dangerous. As a result, ama have very strong spiritual beliefs. They offer prayers daily to the ocean and put great importance on spiritual events, amulets, and charms,’ Assistant Professor Mai Yoshimura, of the Ama Research Centre at Mie University, explains in Volume Two. 

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02/02/2022

Tomoyuki Imada, owner of woodworks CUE, creates carved wooden vases, bowls, and lifestyle goods from discarded lumber on Amami Oshima, a small island lying between Okinawa and Kyushu.

‘Many endemic flora and fauna coexist here in Amami, in particular there is a vast array of trees. For me, I use only trees that have been discarded: those that have fallen along the roadside, or have been cleared to maintain fields, those in the garden or precariously placed in proximity to a house and that had to be cut down before a typhoon hit.

His admiration for nature and a personal mission to incorporate responsible creation into his work is inspiring, yet Imada-san has continually iterated that this sense is simply woven into the fabric of life on the island.

Read more about woodworks CUE in Volume Two, The Islands Issue.

📷 courtesy of .cue

01/02/2022

In Volume One, Prairie Stuart-Wolff (from ) talks tea with Tearoom Toka, an organic tea bar in a tastefully renovated 100-year-old townhouse in Kyoto. Recently Tearoom Toka have branched out into the creation of Toka Lab, a place for research in which a firm focus has been placed upon the potential of an organic tea revival in Japan.

Pick up your copy of Volume One, The Kyoto Issue in our online shop. Link in bio

31/01/2022

27/01/2022

The simply stunning living room of one of our favourite rural Kyoto escapes.

Featured in Volume One, available to purchase at the link in our bio

26/01/2022

Nothing better than curling up with a hot tea and a good read 📖

Our first volume, The Kyoto Issue, has been flying off the shelves and we’re down to our last few hundred copies. If you haven’t had a chance to pick up a copy yet then head to our online store where you can purchase Volume One as a single issue or as part of our 2021 collection.

Shot in the stunning

25/01/2022

We live in an urban millennium. Japan has two cities that top the world’s ten most populated - Tokyo and Osaka - with a staggering 37.4 million and 19.2 million respectively, according to data from the United Nations. To keep pace with the progressing urbanisation of megalopolises like these, humans have had to adapt to boundless changes in their habitats. In very few places is this more apparent than the urban sprawl of Tokyo and Osaka - truly 24 hour cities, whose inhabitants have created their own biological, technological, and environmental rhythms from which to live their lives.

See more in our Circadian Cities photo essay by Dan Gillett, in the Everyday Japan section of our online journal.

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24/01/2022

Kokoro shizuka ni yama no okifushi

A heart at peace;
in the mountain, 
waking and sleeping.

Santoka Taneda

Coming soon to Volume Four, we visit the beautiful mountains of Nagano

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19/01/2022

Coming soon to Volume Four, photographer Amy Tang visits Hokkaido and spends a while at the glorious Zaborin, whose 15 villas – all of which overlook the endless unspoiled terrain – sitting snugly within the surrounding snow.

Each room features its own indoor and outdoor onsen, which are filled with the area’s natural spring water, also used within the under-floor heating and to melt the snow-covered pathways in winter. Here there is a deep connection with water.

We can’t wait to share this story with you.

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18/01/2022

Beat the winter blues by escaping to one of Japan’s numerous isolated islands in Volume Two. Released in summer 2021, Volume Two takes us on a journey across the length and breadth of Japan, exploring the varied islands of the country, investigating the rise in distinct customs that are held together by a shared Japanese way of life. We venture over waves whipped up by a salty breeze and through forests thick with fresh foliage to ensure that Volume Two, The Islands Issue, is a true collection of tales rarely told.

Available in our online shop now. Tap to purchase 👆🏼

16/01/2022

Brewing sake is an intricate process. A balance of rice and koji, fermented and steamed. It is a time-honoured process in Japan. Naraijuku, a town on the old Nakasendo road in Nagano prefecture, is home to a new brewery that utilises the area’s locally produced rice and natural mountain water drawn from a spring at an altitude of 1000m.

We meet the team behind the brewery in Volume Four, The Water Issue. Tap the image to purchase Volume Four as part of our 2021 Print Collection.

15/01/2022

Coming soon to Volume Four, we visit Narai Juku and meet the team behind a newly opened nihonshu (sake) brewery that uses the town’s exceptional local water in the creation of their delicious expressions.

Stay tuned to find out more about Volume Four, now available online as part of our 2021 print collection.

14/01/2022

This morning saw the first settled snow in the city of Kyoto of 2022, sprinkling the streets with a fine, fluffy layer as though it were confectionary dusted with sugar. Winter in many parts of Japan is a snowy affair and it is the perfect season to explore the deep connection the culture and everyday lives of people have with water.

Read more in our upcoming fourth volume, which after a few delays due to Japanese New Year and the ever-irritating inconvenience of pandemic-related restrictions, has now resumed to full steam ahead. Keep an eye out on social channels and newsletter for more information and further release announcements.

In the meantime, Happy New Year from here in Japan. Let us hope that 2022 be a fortuitous one for all.

18/12/2021

SOWAKA, translating as ‘happiness’ or ‘well-being’ in Sanskrit is a blessing often spoken at the end of Buddhist sutras, oftentimes heard throughout Kyoto’s historical temples and shrines. Now the name has been bestowed upon something else, a charming inn in Kyoto, whose façade sits unassumingly within the city’s fabled Gion district - a historical part of Kyoto that captures the city’s elegance and serves as one of the most famous cultural entertainment districts.

Read more about this beauty in the travel section of our online journal.

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17/12/2021

It is a real feat in Japan for a woman to rise through the ranks of the traditional industries: sushi, sake, soy sauce, to name a few. In fact, for 2021, Japan placed only 120th amongst 156 countries in the gender gap rankings, remaining in last place amongst major advanced economies. ‘Unfortunately, women are still considered inferior to men throughout Japan,’ Keiko Kuroshima, Japan’s first (and only) female soy sauce sommelier tells me…

Read more about Keiko’s remarkable career in Volume Three, The Cedar Issue. Available now in our online shop

📷 thanks to Keiko Kuroshima

08/12/2021

We have been very fortunate to work with an incredible network of contributors during our first year of publishing. We want to thank each and every one of you for your hard work and incredible creativity that makes STORIED the publication that it is.

This stunning artwork was created by Saki Matsumoto for Volume Three, The Cedar Issue, depicting the life force of a giant yakusugi and the kami that inhabit it. Thank you Saki for creating such a beautiful illustration, we’re so happy to have collaborated on this.

07/12/2021

Volume Three, The Cedar Issue, is now available online. When purchased with our express mail service option will still make it in time for Christmas!

In this issue we reflect upon on how Japan’s perception of cedar has evolved and changed from ancient appreciations to its view as somewhat of a modern day menace. We contemplate how we may effectively use cedar to become more sustainably attuned with Japan’s forested places and we visit creatives and designers whose visions are inspiring positive change and producing exquisite products along the way.

Volume Three is a celebration of artisanship and traditions and an embrace of contemporary cedar within our everyday life. Tap the image to purchase or visit storiedmag.com/shop