I'd caution against mixing too many pan-Asian elements if the theme is supposed to be strictly Japanese. It can be as insensitive as putting down Eiffel Towers at an Oktoberfest party. So be careful with strong country-based themes on the same objects, as there is a difference, such as with fans. The first and third of the objects you posted you could pass, the second maybe not. Cherry blossoms are a great seasonal theme, and cranes are also very good. If you don't have cherry blossoms you can take the bare pruned branches, even with the buds on them, and use the pin frogs (Michael's) to hold them in place. Use pebbles to cover the frog.

Gooster, I hear you and totally get that, but I know my audience. Most will not care and few will even know. That's why in my post I said "...ways to get an Asian look (not too picky about exactly where in Asia, TBH)." Our themes are never strict anyway ... and in fact the theme for this one is the the Tokyo Olympics but no way am I doing primary colors and rings! I want a pretty table with a nod to Asia and to try to use some things I have.

PS Thx for the MTC link; they had a porcelain ramen spoon for just $1.20, vs $4 elsewhere! Maybe I will just take a trip to Chinatown when i'm in the city.

If you are willing to forego visually spectacular in favor of interactive, you could decorate the table with mini Japanese sand gardens (aka zen gardens). My woodworking ex made these for gifts one Christmas, and they are fun to play with.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/629609228/mini-zen-garden-with-sand-and-rocks?ref=related-2

You don't have to buy an assembled kit. Appropriate trays, sand, and rocks should be easy enough to get (Michaels?) , and a Google search turned up a ready supply of rakes.

willing to forego visually spectacular in favor of interactive

I bet you can guess? LOL. Those are fun tho; i got my DD one a few years ago.

On the navy theme...

If you are doing the indigo/navy thing, you could look at shibori. It is traditional Japanese tie dye. My DD did a school project with it. It's beautiful, but maybe too authentic for what you are after?

ETA: if you need paper cranes, recruit a teen. My DD was stressing over her love life during the holidays and distractedly folded at least 100 before we made her stop. I'm still finding them in odd corners.

Those plates are so pretty!

I was looking over my dishware and I remembered I am making Shabu Shabu. Tricky because I will need a lot of bowls. The only ones i have enough of have a sort of Asiany vibe by dint of their shape, but the colors are kind of candy-land.

So, these are a given:

Right now I am thinking def want paper lantern string lights, and also some way to use branches or ikebana and paper cranes. With these bowls,though, i may have to go Hello Kitty. JK

I will use plain white plates. I have these but not enough and they are discontinued, so will just use them as serving platters.

Wonder if i can find a paper runner...

It would be nifty to put something like this in the middle of a long rectangular zen sand box and add zen stones with messages. You can get the little rakes and stuff on Amazon.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/635258042/cement-centerpiece-round-concrete?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=zen+centerpiece&ref=sr_gallery-2-13&organic_search_click=1&pro=1&frs=1&col=1

Or

https://www.etsy.com/listing/230010535/buddha-succulent-forest-zen-garden-feng?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=zen+centerpiece&ref=sr_gallery-6-20&organic_search_click=1

Not a runner but pretty paper placemats:

Pretty Paper Placemats

Ruby, I love Hester and Cook. But the thing about those placemats is, don't you usually set the table? If you do, you can't see any design at all, IYKWIM?

Jterri, Buddha! I forgot until I saw your terrarium. I have a Buddha head in my garden behind the koi pond. As odd as this sentence is, I think he would go well with my soup bowls. He has been sitting in snow... have to go fetch him.

Is there anything more Japanese than Hello Kitty? Just make sure you get the Olympic themed HK! ;-)

Cherry blossom theme? And make these:

How to fold your napkins to look like Japanese kimonos.

Mtn, where is your copy of The Great Wave? Drag it out!

Or this as inspiration:

Ideas: use fake Lilly pad placemats (silk), lotus candle holders, a pagoda from above for the center piece and scads of cherry blossoms. Somewhere I saw metal small koi which could be jury rigged to hold name cards.

Jo

Here's some ideas from Pinterest. Scroll down and notice the fans. I think it would be great to lay a fan at each place setting. They're inexpensive and useful.

Paper hand fans. Scroll down for the pretty ones. Ten or 12 to a pack, Prime, be at your house before dinner. lol

Oakley, I love fans... i bought a ton of wicker ones for a summer party years ago, and slowly but surely lost most of them. I usually pack one if we are going someplace hot! Not sure we would use them inside in winter!

Look at these fan cookies!

Jojo

Did someone say ... cookies!? Yes! Why didn't I think of that? Maybe I can make them matcha flavored. These are gorgeous but i don't know how to do icing with dimension like that lantern. Somewhere I have lotus votive holders they gave us in India.

I was thinking of paper crane place cards but yeah koi works too. I think this is one case where the internet isn't a good place to shop ... I need a really junky souvenir store.

BBstx, the great wave is in Maine. But I do have a framed Japanese map and map cover image that was my Dad's, and I will move them into the room where I think I will have the dining table.

My Buddha:

Wow! Those cookies look amazing! One of my fans is wood, looks like lace, and it doesn't give good air flow as the others do. I've given them away at events when I see someone having a hard time with the heat. And they're great for cellars when a tornado is coming! lol

DH spent a month in China on business once. He came back with small oval baskets used for the presentation of warm damp cloths (oshibori) offered at the beginning of the meal. While there are special oshibori towels, you can use small, thin washcloths. I dampen and wring out the cloths, roll them to fit the baskets, and set them aside until dinner time. Then I zap them for a few seconds just to heat them up.

Here are some pictures that may give you some ideas

Bonsai marching down the center of the table. This looks so serene!

A display of umbrellas to set the tone? That looks very commercial. Maybe 2 or 3 for home.

A vase wrapped in a sushi mat filled with bamboo sprigs. I think I’d forego the ninja!

Thank BBStx! How thoughtful. It occurs to me, we actually have bamboo on our property, and I think its evergreen. The umbrellas are so pretty. Not sure if it would look the same if they were all black Totes, LOL!

I love that black and green table setting. I've always loved that color combo.

I just ordered paper lantern string lights, a set of shabu shabu strainers, matcha powder and a cookie cutter. Considering I doubt I'd re-use something Asian themed, and I don't like anything modern, I need to think about what makes sense using what i have (see my post with the set of 4 bowls).

I'm going to be in the city a few days this week, maybe i will be able to scoot down to chinatown. I'm thinking chopsticks, rests, and ramen spoons.

Dang now I have to throw a theme party! I grew up surrounded by things from Japan as my Mom lived there for a year working in a school as a librarian on the US Army base in Tokyo. My dining room has a Japanoise quasi theme. More of the British Colonial with various global themes. I have these homages to Mom in the room. It's not unusual for Japanese people to have things from Thailand or China decorating their homes . . . This post is giving me inspiration for this spring's planned landscaping of a Japanese themed garden in honor of my Mom. Started work on it last fall, it's been a long slog due to many issues from past bad landscaping practices. Note: the white statue is Guanyin, the Japanese Buddhist goddess of compassion. She is revered all over East Asia, including Thailand, China and India. Lotus is her symbolic flower, so those are fake lotus in the vase. Some of that stuff I think Mom got in San Francisco when she lived there after coming back from Japan. The lantern is from SF and also not Buddhist, it's Shinto, but you see both religions side by side often in the Japanese landscape. Plus a lot of Victorian styled stuff from the British colonial days. And any other modern global cultural amalgamation just like here in the US.

Those are lovely pink.

Mtn, in case a cake appeals to you:

https://stylesweet.com/blog/2016/11/13/matcha-chocolate-cake-giveaway

Love all the ideas!! Feeling crafty? Try some faux cherry blossoms. https://my100yearoldhome.com/cherry-blossom-branches-diy/

Mtn, as I love decorating and especially enjoy creating and seeing beautifully set tables, I am so enjoying this thread of yours! I’ve only done a few Asian-inspired tables, but have always used my antique Kintaro statue as the main centerpiece for each. Kintaro is the legendary Japanese boy hero. My little guy is just over 100 years old. He spends most of his time on the game table in the corner of our living room, though. My DH swears that this is why I win most of our card games (LOL)! Please post pics of your final design, will you? I know we’re all anxious to see it

The lantern cookies I think are detailed in a 'wet on dry' manner. Outline in red, let it dry. Flood with pale blue and while wet do the water color looking flowers. Let dry. Outline the lantern, let dry. Flood the lantern and dry. Detail the red lantern. And so on with lots of steps and drying time in between. Gorgeous cookies!

Lisa, thank you! someday I will have to try that. I’ve never done a sort of tableau cookie like that.

lynn, I love your antique statue... where’d you get him? i Remember you always do lovely tablescapes!!

bluebell, well, I looked and our bamboo is green so I might just use that!

hatethe cold, my piping isn’t that good! Plus I fell in love love love with these cookie cutters. I will prob do a grey with cherry blossom design, and a gOld knot around the obi sash.... and the slippers! So darn cute

Thank you! My parents had a Winter home in the Tarpon Springs, FL, area. I found my Kintaro statue at an antique shop there.

How odd that today I had to run to Home Depot for some hardware and they had little bonsai trees for sale for 13 bucks. Juniper, I think maybe that tree called "money tree" I can't remember the botanic name, and bamboo also. Some other kinds of bonsai I can't remember, maybe some type of palm. Anyway, they were small and probably destined for death unless you really knew how to nurse them along. But no more expensive than a floral centerpiece. I almost bought one just to try it out, but now is not the time for me to be taking up a new hobby!

Happened to see this when browsing and thought it was a nice example of a Japanese/Asian themed setting.

These could be reused as "mulch" in large house plant pots. I've used them in outside beds.
Black river rocks

i can't wait to see the cookies when you've made them!

I think the type of event and vibe of the event would guide me on how to approach the tablescape.. I am drawn to the simple organic style of Japanese homes but surely the visual colorful chaos of downtown Tokyo is fun too. You will find LOTS in Chinatown if you want to go that direction.

I love the idea of a shabu shabu dinner party-- I was looking at pots/bowls a few months ago for a Christmas gift. What are you using to prepare the Shabu Shabu? Do you have a donabe an electric shabu shabu pot a soup pot? Will you have multiple pots?

Love the cookies-- you have really come so far with your designs. It's impressive and I envy the fun you must have with them!

Hi Funky,

This is for our monthly cooking club. We always have a theme, but they are not always conducive to decor. I did a Moroccan night a year or so ago, but most of the time there is not a decor element, though I always enjoy creating tablescapes. So this is me being "extra" as my girls say. I am mostly trying to utilize things I have. The soup bowls above are a given for functional reasons, and I really like my turquoise Buddha head as a centerpiece, so I am therefore bound to a color scheme that is more evocative of a candy store than anything else! I was in NYC yesterday and hit up Chinatown as well as Pearl River at Chelsea Market (hat tip SueB). I fell in love with some of the slippers but alas no size 10 Sasquatch-sized ones or I might have caved. I also recalled a few more things around the house. I think I am pretty well set with my Asian mash-up theme now!

Since there will be an array of dishes, my Shabu Shabu is appetizer portions. So I can get by with one large Staub of broth that I will keep on my stove on a hob. I have an island on wheels and I will turn it 90 degree to make an "L" with my stove, and will have all the stuff to go in the broth laid out there. I bought little strainer baskets that hang from the side of the pot. I tested the recipe last weekend, yum. The goma dare was so good!

Sounds awesome —love the little strainers. I’ve only had one 2-person cook. It’s so interactive — so fun!!

My faux-pan-Asian-candyland mashup tablescape is coming together.

Some great finds, including ramen spoons, chopsticks, chopstick rests, and mini strainers.

I do have bamboo on the property, but i don't have ikebana frogs or any flower arranging talents. Was thinking that single stem white orchids would give a similar effect? I also asked my DS, who likes origami, to make a few paper cranes for the bar. Tried out a matcha cookie recipe and now just waiting on the kimono cookie cutter to arrive.

Here's a place setting; the colors and designs of both the bowls and the chopsticks will vary.

I know square white plates would be better, but am hoping the cabbage leaf of my plates relates to the chopstick holder leaf motif.

Ramen spoons - 95cents in Chinatown.

For a table cloth, I am thinking I will use a white one that I have, and this scarf as a runner; it feels vaguely Asian to me even if I did buy it in BA. Oh and these are my mini lantern string lights. I may leave them on the table, if i string them along the windows I need about 3 more sets. (need to iron the scarf and maybe starch it?)

and of course, my garden Buddha bust in the center

Looks great! I especially like the chopstick rests. They pick up the color of your napkins perfectly.

Are you thinking of standard size white phalenopsis or the mini-size phalenopsis, or some other orchid altogether?

I had to look that up, LOL. Yes, the standard (tall) one; since the buddha is prob a foot high, i want to flank it w orchids that are taller. I think it is evocative of ikebana. Moreover, I already have three of these in my sunroom, they are just no longer this perfect shape. So i wouldn't mind having more. ANd they are so inexpensive nowadays

ETA I love those little chopstick rests too. It was sheer luck they match my (french) napkins that I usually use at xmas and have had 15 years or more! The rests were kind of pricey (Etsy) but I think I will use them. I can see a perfect pat of butter on them on a bread and butter plate!

Coming together beautifully!

Yes that was another thing they had on sale for dirt cheap in Home Depot, orchids in full bloom. After having tried several times unsuccessfully to get them to grow well, I would settle for some realistic fake ones. My friend has a gorgeous one in her living room, everyone thinks it's real and asks her what her secret is to keep it looking so good!

lpink, I’m terrible with plants, but I can keep orchids living. The key is not to overwater. I give mine 2 oz of water once a week. I don’t try to get them to rebloom, which IIRC only happens once a year. I enjoy them for their long blooming period, then pitch them. Give them a try!

Sorry to derail, but bbstx is exactly right about Orchids and watering, especially if you're trying not to kill the common Moth orchid (the one pictured above.) Another thing to remember is give indirect lighting, (on a coffee table in a room vs. at the windowsill.) And finally, moth orchids like a change in temperature (lower) at night to set blooms.

I have light and temp and space issues. Otherwise I would experiment with gads of plants indoors. Maybe someday I will get my dream of having a solarium. Hey, totally OT while MTN works on her tablescape, I highly recommend the movie "Green Card" if having a solarium is one of your dreams . . .

DH is in charge of all plants (he's had one plant for over 30 years now). We find orchids very easy. Ours definitely re-bloom. However, after a few years they misbehave and get straggly and they are so easy-cheap- to replace. We saved 2 stragglers but mostly bought new. I don't care for fake, tho I agree there are some excellent fakes.

LOL Ruby, too true!