Tokyo Weekender - November 2017
Our November issue is out, featuring a jam-packed end-of-year special: 42 Christmas gift shopping ideas and 10 bonenkai spots. Plus: The avant-garde world of butoh dance, Japanese teen prodigies, and a special supplement guide to Akita. Here's where to find a copy around Tokyo: www.tokyoweekender.com/pickup/
Our November issue is out, featuring a jam-packed end-of-year special: 42 Christmas gift shopping ideas and 10 bonenkai spots. Plus: The avant-garde world of butoh dance, Japanese teen prodigies, and a special supplement guide to Akita. Here's where to find a copy around Tokyo: www.tokyoweekender.com/pickup/
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TRENDS<br />
THE NIIGATA<br />
CRAFT CRAZE<br />
Words by Lisa Wallin. Photographs by Robert Kirsch<br />
Lately there’s been a strong revival of traditional Japanese<br />
arts and crafts. NIIGATA in 10 is a novel form of promoting<br />
the prefecture's long history of fine craftsmanship, by<br />
allowing visitors to see and use the products in context<br />
Each of these themes is designed to represent<br />
a different aspect of our daily lives and<br />
fulfills that purpose. <strong>Weekender</strong> recently<br />
went camping in Niigata to try out one of the<br />
experiences ourselves…<br />
While some may believe you<br />
don’t know what you’ve<br />
got until it’s gone, Niigata<br />
Prefecture knows how great<br />
its locally made products are,<br />
and wants to share this with the world. They<br />
believe in the concept of “you don’t know<br />
how good something is until you’ve tried it<br />
out.” For this purpose, NIIGATA in 10 was<br />
created. It introduces Niigata-made products<br />
in a natural setting for people to try them out<br />
and experience their benefits for themselves.<br />
The project consists of 10 themes: working,<br />
collecting, crafting, cooking, cutting, tasting,<br />
playing, wearing, designing, and healing.<br />
CAMP IN NIIGATA<br />
To help showcase the prefecture’s pride and<br />
joy, NIIGATA in 10 hosts a number of events<br />
to familiarize people with Niigata-made<br />
items, and one of these was Camp in Niigata.<br />
Here, bloggers and social media influencers<br />
tried out some of Niigata Prefecture’s products<br />
in a natural setting while camping in the<br />
heart of the prefecture itself. Surrounded by<br />
luscious green hills and pretty much nothing<br />
else, we got our first chance to try out a tenugui-inspired<br />
all-purpose cloth after working<br />
up a sweat putting up our tents.<br />
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD<br />
Without much time to admire the lush hills<br />
and forests around us, we started cooking<br />
lunch, using locally made knives and<br />
paulownia-wood cutting boards to slice<br />
chicken, cut pork ribs, and chop vegetables<br />
with ease. Since we were camping, it was<br />
only fitting that we had a great big barbeque.<br />
We picked up marinated meat slab after meat<br />
slab with some narrow-tipped tongs that<br />
12 | NOVEMBER <strong>2017</strong> | TOKYO WEEKENDER