<
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/these-hotels-support-japanese-crafts>
"In Japan, a combination of lifestyle changes, urbanization, and a shrinking
population is threatening the preservation of many of the traditional crafts
for which the country is known. But over recent years, craft-focused hotels
have emerged as tools to support artisans’ livelihoods while providing
travelers with one-of-a-kind experiences.
“The sales of traditional Japanese crafts peaked in 1975 and have been on a
continuous decline ever since, dropping to one-fifth of their peak, while the
number of artisans has decreased to one-third,” says Tomotsugu Yamakawa,
president of
Bed and Craft in Toyama Prefecture’s small town of Inami, where
around 150 people out of a population of 8,000 are woodcarvers.
“Given this situation, I wondered if tourism could be a means to revitalize the
industry,” he says. In 2016, Yamakawa launched
Bed and Craft, a scattered
hotel that supports artisans' livelihoods in several ways: It offers its guests
exclusive apprenticeship experiences with local craftspeople (who get paid for
their time), and each of its six private villas serves as a gallery for the
work of individual artisans who earn a portion of the nightly fee."
Via Susan ****
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
