Our Story
A Journal Rooted in Intention
Body Balance Gym was founded in Yokohama in 2021 with a simple conviction: that Japan's design traditions — from the zen garden to the contemporary architecture studio, from the tea ceremony to the minimalist apartment — represent some of humanity's most profound thinking about how to inhabit the world beautifully.
We are a small team of writers, photographers, and designers with deep roots in Japanese culture and an outward-looking curiosity about how Japan's aesthetic sensibilities continue to resonate and transform around the world.
Our work is driven not by trends or traffic, but by the quality of attention we bring to each subject. We believe that the reader who spends forty minutes with one good article about wabi-sabi has done something more valuable than skimming forty articles about interior design trends. We write for that reader.
"To understand Japanese design is to understand a different way of seeing the world — more slowly, more completely, with greater attention to what is absent."
What We Believe
Our Editorial Philosophy
Depth Over Volume
We publish less than most publications and say more. Each article is researched and written with the same care that a Japanese craftsperson brings to their materials — nothing wasted, everything considered.
Beauty as Knowledge
We believe that aesthetic experience is a form of understanding. To truly look at a wabi-sabi interior is to learn something about impermanence, about the relationship between humans and materials, about what matters.
Respect for Craft
Japanese design culture is inseparable from the people who practice it — the potters, weavers, carpenters, garden designers. We honor their knowledge and tell their stories with care.
The People
Meet the Team
Aiko Ishikawa
Editor-in-Chief
Born in Kyoto, trained in Tokyo and London. Aiko has spent twenty years writing about Japanese design for international publications. She founded Body Balance Gym out of a conviction that the subject deserved a home of its own.
Kenji Matsuda
Design Director
Kenji trained as an architect before finding his way into editorial design. He brings the same spatial thinking to the design of Body Balance Gym's pages as he once brought to floor plans — every element earning its place through function and beauty.
Yumi Nakashima
Contributing Editor, Culture
Yumi is a cultural anthropologist and writer specializing in the intersection of traditional Japanese craft and contemporary life. Her essays are beloved by our readers for their blend of deep knowledge and personal warmth.