UPDATED: August 14, 2016 at 4:57 AM PDT Meenakshi Mukerji takes the ancient Japanese art form of origami – or paper folding – far beyond the making of simple paper cranes.

The ancient Japanese art of flower arranging was the inspiration for a groundbreaking technique to create tiny “artificial brains” that could be used to develop personalized cancer treatments.

The ancient Japanese art of wood joinery is a dying tradition, but one man is trying to thrust it into the future – and now he's bringing it to Twitter.

The ancient Japanese art of origami has a new, futuristic application in cutting-edge space technology thanks to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena.

Many of today’s Japanese artists are recreating and developing ancient crafts in their work. For them, “tradition” is not a relic of the past but a living, constantly evolving idea.