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 "Miso no Kyutei", Miyoko Toyonaga, miso sommelier
The popular female owner of "Miso no Kyutei" founded in 1955.
She is called miso sommelier. There are lots of customers often coming to the shop just because they are attracted by the sommelier's character, who runs the shop wearing a "nejirihachimaki", a twisted towel tied around her head and a "hanten", a traditional Japanese outfit worn by merchants. |
"Will you make misosoup for me forever?" was at a time the standard phrase among men when proposing. The fact that the word "miso" was used as the beginning of a couple's most important event only shows how deeply rooted it is in Japanese everyday life. Recently miso is getting more and more famous overseas as healthy food from Japan. I find myself is the interview that took place at "Miso no Kyutei", Kameido in Tokyo, a shop which has been selling miso, a major Japanese food culture, for more than 50 years.
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 Hideaki Iidaka
Born in Chiba Prefecture. Pyrotechnic craftsman running 120-year-old family business of manufacturing and selling fireworks as its fourth generation, who started a new category of business of launching "a personal fireworks show." Through detailed consultation with a client on a budget and a scale, a fireworks event is organized, which has become a topic among public media and is receiving a number of offers from clients across the nation. |
A firework display has become a signature summer event of Japan. Its history tracks back to the time of introduction of firearms into Japan in the 16th century. In the Edo period, devoted pyrotechnic craftsmen got into the picture, and made firework events widespread among common people as a popular pastime. No licensing system was in effect until 1910 since the Edo period for making and setting of fireworks, and, especially in countryside, a good number of them used to be made by farmers as their hobby.
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 Profile of Isamu Sase:
He succeeded the business of his father, who had been directly trained by Mr. Teijiro Sasaki with his wife for the glass pen technique. In 1955, he founded his own business as a glass pen craftsman. In 1989, he invented the unique one-unit type glass pen, with the pen tip and the handle made as a single unit, which was taken up as a topic in magazines or TV programs. In 1999, he was awarded a Cultural Treasure of Taito Ward, and also a Best Skilled Craftsman of Taito Ward, Tokyo. |
The prototype of the glass tips of glass pens was invented by Jiro Sasaki in 1902, when he was in his career as a wind chime craftsman. A glass pen was an affordable instrument that time when a fountain pen was still too expensive for common people to reach. A glass pen is featured by its smooth contact and long lasting even to be capable of completing to write a post card without refill, and started to gain worldwide popularity instantly in those countries like Italy, Germany and France. In Japan, too, it had been a common writing instrument at post offices or at counters of banks up until the oil crisis in late 1970s.
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Yasuko Horie Born in Gifu Prefecture in 1965. She spent her childhood days in Mino Province, Gifu Prefecture, which is the hometown well known for the manufacture of the Gifu lantern and the Mino Wagasa.
After work careers in fashion and beauty business, she joined the Wagasa industry eight years ago to become independent by launching an atelier in March, 2006. She is enjoying high reputation as a Wagasa artist for her artistic works fitting in the modern life, while preserving the traditional workmanship. |
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Haruyoshi Tsukada / Master of Gallery Mukyo  Born in 1951, he opened Gallery Tsukada in front of Meiji-Jingu-Gaien, Tokyo and mainly dealt with Rosanjin Kitaoji. He opened Gallery Mukyo in Ginza in 1994, and began introducing various antique arts and contemporary artists of the eastern and western world. He is developing his activities as an appraiser of art works, as an art coordinator and a writer for magazines such as ‘Seven Seas’, ‘Fujin-Gaho’, ‘Mrs.’ and ‘Wagaku’ , and as a speaker at seminars and tea ceremonies. He is the author of the books entitled ‘Bishin no Kaiko’ and ‘Kurashi-no-nakani Shin Kobijutu’.
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Lacquerware descending from ancient China and the Southeast Asia to JapanLacquerware in my knowledge had been produced in China since far back before Christ. It then spread to the Southeast Asia and Korea before arriving here and has been widely used since olden times in Japan. It was during the Jomon period, or even earlier than that. Such study is advancing so fast today, and we will see lots more findings in future. |
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Traditional Japanese touch
