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INTERIORS ARCHIVE: 529: Trend spotting Trina O'Hara takes us on a tour of international furniture fairs to find the top Japanese designers at work today. 521: Child's play Trina O'Hara checks out the design celebrities hatching playful furniture and accessories for kids. 517: Personal Effects In celebration of the centennial of his birth, Trina O'Hara looks at the life and enduring legacy of Japanese-American designer Isamu Noguchi. 513: Seeing the light Trina O'Hara ponders the latest interior design trend and finds the answer is clear. 505: Lights of fancy Trina O'Hara checks out the contemporary chandeliers and whimsical lighting sculptures fast becoming fine art across the city. 501: Natural causes 493: Living rooms Inspired by the diverse lifestyles of this teeming metropolis, design experts Kyoko Asakura and Jaume J. Nasple-Baulenas have compiled an intriguing look inside the city's private homes. Tama Miyake Lung talks to the authors of Tokyo Houses. 489: Living in the past Art editor John McGee reveals three Tokyo stores that specialize in finding the best of what's old in Japanese antiques. 485: Monochrome marvels Black and white are back in fashion and making their mark in the interior design scene. Martin Webb reports on how to get the look for less. 481: Cut and paste Scrapbooking has swept America, where it's big business, and now it's catching on in Japan. Chris Betros attends a "cropalong." 477: Moss cause A sprinkling of moss can transform any windowsill into a miniature Zen temple. Hanna Kite offers some tips for bringing a little tranquility home. 469: Ikebana for idiots With a plethora of rules and schools, Ikebana can be intimidating, not to mention time-consuming. But who says busy people have to miss out on this ancient art form? Georgia Jacobs gives you the basics on no-fuss flower-arrangement. 466: A dyeing breed Winning fans from New York to Tokyo, designer Akiyoshi Yaezawa is putting a traditional stamp on modern accessories using a 17th-century hand-dyeing and painting process. Krista Wilson reports. 457: Party of five Matt Wilce lays out five luscious looks for New Year. 449: Thought out Designers create spaces but they also like to inhabit them. SuperDeluxe offers a place to drink and think for the design community—and of course their friends 445: Design on Tokyo A trio of interior design events is on its way to bring style into our Tokyo living rooms 439: Setting pretty Matt Wilce lays the table with styles for summer. 435: Tropical haven Asian furnishings are finding their way to flats across the city 431: Wed white and blue Treasures of traditional Japanese design, blue and white are the perfect foil for Tokyo's sweltering summers 427: Have a ball Who says you need tickets to catch a piece of World Cup action? 423: Collection point Nishi-Ogikubo's 65 pre-loved furniture stores make up Tokyo's great antique oasis 419: Flower power Bring your gloomy flat back to life with seasonal flowers. 415: On the mend Tokyo's fix-it men can have your furniture back in form 411: Phone home Panasonic unveils the e-lifestyle of the near future 407: Launch Pad Sputnik Pad lands in Jingumae 399: Interiors Retrospective  395: Interiors Kitchenware flare 391: Interiors Ideé is one of Tokyo’s most established interiors stores 387: Inner sanctum The days of sitting on the tatami floor are over 383: Life in style Tokyo's embraces ultra-modern design 367: Wealthy workplaces Put feng shui to work at work 364: Healthy homes The ancient Chinese art of feng shui

Cut and paste

Scrapbooking has swept America, where it's big business, and now it's catching on in Japan. Chris Betros attends a "cropalong."

Somewhere in your home, probably gathering dust or hidden away in a box, are countless photos of you or your children. They may be in albums or old scrapbooks whose pages are turning yellow and crumbling. That needn't be the end of your family legacy, however, because scrapbooking is experiencing a rebirth, first in the US and now in Japan, as a whole new generation discovers creative ways to preserve their family memories.

Scrapbooking is a great way to preserve your family memories

It's also big business. What started as a mission to teach people how to preserve their precious memories has evolved into a worldwide photo preservation program and an innovative home-based business opportunity. According to the US scrapbook trade magazine Creating Keepsakes, 4 million women gather at scrapbooking bees each month in their homes. One company, Creative Memories, was co-founded in 1987 by Cheryl Lightle and Rhonda Anderson to capitalize on the soaring popularity of scrapbooking-it has more than 65,000 teachers, or "consultants," who visit the gatherings to teach participants and sell the company's treated paper, stickers, adhesives and other products not sold in shops. In Japan, scrapbooking hasn't taken off as fast, but Japanese women are just as eager to preserve their trips down memory lane. Since Creative Memories Japan Inc was established in February 2002, around 130 consultants have signed on. They also gather in their homes to teach journaling techniques, sell the latest scrapbooking products, and occasionally meet on a Saturday afternoon for social "cropalongs." Toshiko Hosoya, the enthusiastic president of Creative Memories Japan, is confident the number of consultants will be 300 by the end of the year.

"Scrapbooking is a wonderful way to preserve photos so that they become genuine family treasures," says Hosoya, who presides over the gatherings, offering tips and prizes. "When we set up this company last year, I had to ask myself if the concept of preserving the past and enriching the present was a viable philosophy for this culture. The Japanese used to cherish family tradition until after the war. Family values are now treated lightly, causing delinquency and lack of consideration for others. Children brought up by mothers who do scrapbooking have more self-pride and a sense of belonging."

Generation next

Enthusiasts get together for a "cropalong" at Tokyo's Meiji Kinenkan.

Scrapbooking seems to have skipped a generation or two. Most of us as kids were often given school assignments that involved cutting and pasting, but the means were usually limited to scissors and glue. Hosoya believes scrapbooking died out in Japan about 30 years ago when photo development shops started handing out those small albums with photos. But everybody has a story to tell and when you combine that passion with state-of-the-art photojournaling techniques, it's not hard to see why scrapbooking is enjoying a renaissance. Thanks to scientific advances, albums now contain acid- and lignin-free buffered pages, which means they won't turn yellow or crumble over time, and they have reinforced edges for additional protection against wear and tear. The vast array of products at a scrapbooker's disposal include family tree pages, tape runners with double-sided adhesive, inkjet photo paper, page refills, photo splits for mounting pictures, cropping tools in every imaginable shape, templates, pre-cut paper in 200 geometric patterns, special pen sets and more stickers than you can imagine. New products are introduced every two months.

Hosoya, who spent 15 years in the US working in New York, Chicago and Cincinnati, says the new techniques and products mean scrapbooks can last for up to 100 years. Currently, the best scrapbooking products are only available via direct selling. "This is because you have to be taught the correct methods. After all, you are making a work of art, not a handicraft." But there's no pressure to buy. If you're interested in learning more about scrapbooking techniques, simply call Creative, and they'll put you in touch with a consultant who will give you a lesson. Whether you want to buy the products and attend gatherings is up to you (if you do buy, you get a 30 percent discount). Hosoya says 25 percent of her consultants are non-Japanese. "They had already known about scrapbooking and were delighted to find out that we were here in Japan. For them, we act mainly as a seller," she says.

Proud scrapbookers at show and tell

It's interesting to see the difference in scrapbooking techniques between Japanese and Westerners. "Americans use more photos and fill up every bit of space," says Hosoya, "whereas Japanese tend to use space more elegantly and with more dexterity." So far, all the scrapbookers in Japan are housewives, but Hosoya thinks the practice will soon start to appeal to men. "For men, especially retirees, it won't be a diary, but a way to write their history," she suggests.

For more info on scrapbooking, call Hosoya, who speaks excellent English, at 03-3568-6161 or visit www.creativememories.co.jp (in Japanese).

Photo credit: Chris Betros