Link About It: This Week’s Picks

Mesmerizing footage of the sun, health benefits from magic mushrooms, the history of food photography and more

29 Nigerian English Phrases Added to the Oxford English Dictionary The latest update to the Oxford English Dictionary includes 29 words, phrases and colloquialisms from Nigerian English—most of which have been used for decades, and have been adopted by English-speakers elsewhere. Some words already exist in English, but have a different meaning; such as “gist,” which in Nigerian English “is a noun which means ‘rumor’ …

CH Japan: Indigo Dyeing Leather + Cotton

From the Tokushima farm of Yoshiharu Toyama to the vats of dye master Naoyuki Asai in Kyoto

Many people don’t know where natural indigo comes from or realize how few indigo farms are left in Japan—only five in Tokushima, the country’s traditional indigo farming region. Indigo is a green plant that has a higher percentage of blue than other green plants (though most have some). Traditional indigo dye in Japan is made from sukumo, which is what the harvested and fermented indigo …

CH Japan: Exploring Setouchi Crafts + Denim

From a vessel that represents a region's talents to a neighborhood of exemplary mills

Japan‘s Setouchi region—from the namesake town to the serene Seto Inland Sea—offers a concentration of high-quality crafts, denim and food. On our CH Japan guided excursion, we explored it from the pristine guntû floating ryokan to various day trips on foot. Nearly everything on guntû is from Setouchi, including furniture, ceramics, textiles, food and even the wood used on the ship. The rattan chairs in …