International Tours
Updated, July 2022.
“I am committed to working with global textile and craft communities to further understand and foster the creative evolution of traditions. I look forward to seeing you.”
–Yoshiko Wada
Yoshiko I. Wada, founder and president of the World Shibori Network Foundation (WSNF), will be developing content and leading tours with WSNF staff to Japan, Mexico, China, and France for WSNF and its programming arm, Slow Fiber Studios (SFS), starting in 2023. Yoshiko has led art, architecture, and textile study tour programs for several decades since the 1970’s for Kauri Dyeworks, Fiber Works Center for Textile Arts, Slow Fiber Studios; LongHouse Reserve; Textile Museum, DC; and San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum.
Our association with LongHouse Reserve (LHR), founded by Jack Lenor Larsen, Yoshiko’s longtime mentor, will continue by way of Matko Tomicic, former LHR director of nearly 30 years, who is now on WSNF’s Team.
Slow Fiber Studios is pleased to offer programs that contribute to the understanding of culture, craft, art, architecture, landscape, and cuisine. Some wonderful memories are shared in our album.
Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada is an artist, curator, textile and museum studies scholar, president and founder of World Shibori Network Foundation and Slow Fiber Studios, producer of the Natural Dye Workshop film series, and co-chair of the 1st – 11th International Shibori Symposia. She is a Japanese native who has called Berkeley, CA her home since 1973. She currently resides in Leicester, UK where since 2020, she has been conducting doctoral research on, “Boro textiles and its phenomenon in the twenty-first century: The changing perception of value and beauty surrounding Boro textiles,” which she calls the Boro phenomenon. Yoshiko continues to lead a wide range of workshops, lectures, tours, and symposia, internationally, for WSNF, emphasizing sustainability, heritage craft knowledge transmission, and innovation in contemporary art and design. Her current research enriches the WSNF programs.
World Shibori Network Foundation Tours to Japan
WSN Foundation members will receive priority registration notices for the tours and some of the workshops.
Kaei Hayakawa, Arashi Shibori Artist in his studio in Arimatsu.
2023 May - June
Tour 1
23 May to 12 June, 2023 | 20 days & nights | Kyoto, Miyama Village, Nagoya, and Tokyo
A 20-day program with Shibori Fest, Arashi Shibori (optional) and Shibori-Trio workshops in Arimatsu, a visit to Miyama village and Kyoto via Miho Museum and Mt. Hiei, and a 4-night stay in Roppongi, Tokyo.
Tour 2
2 to 17 June, 2023 | 15 days & nights | Arimatsu, Kyoto, and Tokyo
A 15-day program with Shibori Fest, Arashi Shibori (optional) and Shibori-Trio workshops in Arimatsu, and a visit to Kyoto via Miho Museum and Mt. Hiei.
2023 Sept. 20 - Oct. 15
Japan Tour 3
A Bespoke Tour to Japan-2023 for a small group of connoisseurs and patrons of The WSNF, led by Yoshiko I. Wada and Matko Tomicic and accompanied by a tour conductor.
Tentative schedule 14 days from October to November 2023.
The tour begins with an exciting Autumn Float Festival at night in Nagoya, followed by a visit to Kyoto, and fly to Hokkaido, the northernmost major island, to visit the newly opened National Ainu Cultural Center. We will explore the less tourists-trodden northern Prefecture of Aomori and craft communities in Yamagata ending in Tokyo. Please inquire about the tour – a few spots are left as many boutique hotels have limited rooms. Email <info[at]shibori.org>
Itajime kasuri process for Shirataka tsumugi weaving, Setouchi Art Site art installation; and natural-dyed hand-reeled silks in Yonezawa.
Photo by Yoshiko I. Wada
Kaei Hayakawa and his Shibori Tapestry
2023 Oct-Nov
Japan Tour 4
Shibori Exhibit in Hagi, Arashi & Indigo Workshop in Arimatsu
19 Oct to 07 Nov, 19 days and nights.
Travel from Nagoya, Kurashiki, Hagi, Izumo, Matsue, Tottori, Miyama, Kyoto, and Arimatsu.
Japan Tour 5
Arashi & Indigo Workshop in Arimatsu
02 Nov to 11 Nov, 10 days and 09 nights.
Immersion in the culture and history of shibori in Arimatsu, Nagoya.
2024
A textile study tour to Japan-2024 for artists, craft practitioners, scholars, and Japanophiles.
Tentative schedule, 2 weeks in May or October 2024.
Nagoya-Kyoto and surrounds-Shimane-Fukuoka-Nagoya plus an option to add Tokyo.
