Caroline GARDIN/AFP/AFP In Tokyo, a man watches a woman slowly bind another with ropes attached to chains hanging from the ceiling. But this is no S&M bar, it's a workshop led by "shibari" master ...

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Kinoko teaches the knot-tying techniques of Japanese bondage, untangling the practice from its associations with kink and emphasising instead art and aesthetics. "I see attaching not only people, but ...