Discover the joy of Japanese handmade folk toys and spinning tops at this year’s Great Exhibition Road Festival with activities inspired by Japan House London’s gallery exhibition, Design Discoveries: Towards a Design Museum Japan, themed around the concept of te-asobi (lit. ‘hand play’).
Wooden spinning tops from the collections of the Japan Toy Museum in Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture, are one of the design treasures featured in the Design Discoveries exhibition, chosen by filmmaker Tsukijawa Kōichirō due to the important status of toys as ‘the first designed objects a human comes into contact with’.
Visitors to the Japan House London area in the Family Fun Zone can enjoy learning about and playing with a selection of regional folk toys selected by the Japan Toy Museum which have been beloved by children in Japan for generations. These include various types of koma (spinning tops) and kendama, the Japanese version of the classic cup-and-ball game.
Guests can also try their hand at origami, by making designs that are not only fun to fold but can also be played with. Have a go at making an origami spinning top and enjoy watching it spin or compete to see how far you can make your origami frog jump.
Learn more about wooden spinning tops and other design treasures from Japan in the exhibition Design Discoveries: Towards a Design Museum Japan, on display at Japan House London from 15 May to 8 September 2024.
Families with members who are neurodiverse can sign up for a Sunday morning relaxed session from 11:00-12:00.
The Great Exhibition Road Festival
The Great Exhibition Road Festival is an annual celebration of science and the arts taking place each summer in South Kensington. This year’s festival celebrates how science and the arts help people, communities and nature flourish with a weekend of free events for all ages on 15-16 June 2024, led by Imperial College London in collaboration with partners.
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