Washi (和紙) or Wagami is a type of paper made in Japan. Washi is commonly made using fibers from the bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub (Edgeworthia papyrifera), or the paper mulberry but also can be made using bamboo, hemp, rice, and wheat.
Washi is generally tougher than ordinary paper made from wood pulp, and is used in many traditional arts. Origami, Shodo, Ukiyoe were all produced using washi. Washi was also used to make various everyday goods like clothes, interior goods, and toys as well as vestments for Shinto priests and statues of Buddha. It was even used to make wreaths that were given to winners in the 1998 Winter Paralympics. Washi was developed from the traditional Chinese paper-making process.
Manufacture
Washi is produced in a similar way to ordinary paper, but fewer chemicals are used. It involves a long and intricate process that is often undertaken in the cold weather of winter. It is traditionally the winter work of farmers.
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ATM-based frauds dip below 1,000 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:10:00 -0500 Money-transfer scams involving automated teller machines fell below 1,000 in August for the first time in 17 months, a National Police Agency survey said Saturday.
Frauds in the month plunged 40 percent from July to 780, the NPA said, adding that an all-out campaign it began in July to crack down on such fraud is working.
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Austria's fear and loathing still democratic Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:11:00 -0500 NEW YORK — Two far-right parties, the Austrian Freedom Party and the Movement for Austria's Future, won 29 percent of the vote in the latest Austrian general election — double their total in the 2006 election.
Both parties share the same attitudes toward immigrants, especially Muslims, and the European Union: a mixture of fear and loathing. Since the two parties' leaders, Heinz-Christian Strache and Joerg Haider, despise each other, there is little chance of a far-right coalition taking power. Nonetheless, the result is disturbing.
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Miura hangs himself upon return to L.A. Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:12:00 -0500 LOS ANGELES — Japanese businessman Kazuyoshi Miura, who was brought to Los Angeles on Friday to face a conspiracy charge in the mysterious shooting of his wife there in 1981, has committed suicide, his supporters said Saturday.
Miura hanged himself while in detention at around 10 p.m. local time after arriving in Los Angeles early in the morning from Saipan via Honolulu, they said, adding that they were told by his family.
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Itochu discovers costly in-house trading scam Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:13:00 -0500 A former Itochu Corp. employee conducted dubious transactions in which it paid more than ¥50 billion to a Mongolian supplier for heavy machines that were later unknowingly shipped to another Mongolian company, the major trading house said.
Itochu said it also suspects similar transactions took place involving another firm that cost it more than ¥40 billion in payments.
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Urgent and exceptional action Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:14:00 -0500 An action plan agreed Friday in Washington by finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of Seven major economies states that they will "take decisive action and use all available tools to support systemically important financial institutions and prevent their failure." The plan calls for injecting public capital into financial institutions — a necessary move to assuage financial turmoil. But it remains to be seen how soon the plan will have an effect.
In an attempt to quell market unease, the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the central banks of Canada, Sweden and Switzerland lowered their benchmark interest rates by 0.5 percentage...
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G7 agrees on plan; U.S. to invest in banks Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:15:00 -0500 WASHINGTON (AP) Finance officials from the world's top economic powers endorsed a plan Friday to stem the worst financial crisis in more than a half-century.
The officials from the Group of Seven countries issued the five-point plan aimed at reversing a credit crisis that has unhinged Wall Street and markets around the globe. They pledged to take "decisive action and use all available tools."
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Robin Glynn's Origami - Diagrams, gallery, links, and a brief history of how the author started.
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