Southwest Japan’s Challenges / Signs of Growth: Japan Firms Aim to Revive Industry Through Evolution of Traditional Crafts; Utilizing Traditional Craft in Non-Traditional Ways

By Hiroki Ikeda / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

7:00 JST, June 27, 2025

This is the second installment in a series of articles taking an in-depth look at industries with growth potential in Kyushu as well as Yamaguchi and Okinawa prefectures.

ARITA, Saga — “These products are known to be hard to break if they are dropped,” said Norihide Nishiyama, president of a company that makes Arita ware porcelain products. “We are receiving more and more orders.”

The town of Arita, Saga Prefecture, is traditionally known for creating products called Arita ware.

Nishiyama, 74, president of Takumi Co. in Arita, spoke on May 19 about some of his company’s products that are dubbed “the strongest porcelain in the world.”

In the company’s workshop, artisans were quietly shaping tableware products. To see if the products could live up to their name, I dropped an item from a height of about 70 centimeters onto the floor. It did not break.

The porcelain’s strength is about 330 megapascals, which is four times stronger than ordinary porcelain.

The porcelain was developed by the Saga Ceramics Research Laboratory in the town. It was released and advertised as the strongest in the world in 2016, the 400th anniversary of when Arita ware was first developed. The company also patented the porcelain.

To achieve this strength, Nobuaki Kamochi, 54, and other researchers at the laboratory conducted about 600 experiments to determine the optimum ratio of clay, glass components and artificially produced alumina, which are the ingredients to make porcelain. The group largely succeeded in reducing the size of the bubbles formed in porcelain firing. The bubbles are the cause of breakage.

Manufacturers in the prefecture are permitted to use this technology, and the production process remains the same when using the specialized porcelain.

“Even thin products retain their strength,” Kamochi said. “Our technology has expanded the range of design possibilities.”

Takumi commercialized the specialized porcelain in 2022. Since then, orders have been steadily coming in, mainly from izakaya Japanese-style pubs in the Kanto and Kansai regions. The company shipped about 200 orders to restaurants in fiscal 2024, three times more than before its commercialization.

“We want to revive Arita ceramics, which have been overshadowed by plastic and import products,” Nishiyama said.

Utilizing modern technology

A numerical control (NC) cutting machine, which is used in the industry to automatically create molds from plaster, has been improved by the laboratory and others, allowing for micrometer-level precision to create intricate designs.

Shingama, a local ceramics manufacturer founded in 1830, uses an NC cutting machine and the specialized porcelain to produce dials for the luxury watch “Presage” by Tokyo-based Seiko Watch Corp.

While watch dials are typically made of metal, the Arita ware dial model, which was released in 2019, is both thin and durable. Eight models have been sold so far, priced between ¥200,000-¥270,000.

“The products, which combine the skills of seasoned craftspeople with modern technology, have been well-received not only in Japan but also overseas,” said a Shingama representative.

Hiroyuki Hashiguchi, 60, senior managing director of Shingama, said, “We’ve demonstrated the potential to expand the porcelain market to components for industrial products and precision machinery.”

Seven ceramics manufacturers in Arita established a joint venture company called ARITA PLUS Co. in 2017 and began using NC cutting machines. The company hires designers and accepts custom orders from customers in Japan and overseas.

“We can quickly create prototypes based on ideas and images exchanged on social media,” said Shinji Terauchi, 63, the head of ARITA PLUS. “It streamlines our transactions.”

First-class chefs Terauchi met at trade shows in France and Italy are among his customers, and his company now supplies tableware to luxury hotels and top-tier restaurants in Europe and Asia.

‘Potential for growth’

Following the signing of the 1985 Plaza Accord, which led to a strong yen, there was a sharp decline in exports of Japanese ceramics. After the bubble economy collapsed in early 1990s, domestic demand shifted toward inexpensive imported products, and sales to department stores and ryotei traditional Japanese restaurants also decreased.

However, according to trade statistics of Japan, exports have grown again in recent years, reaching ¥26 billion in 2024, a threefold increase compared to 10 years ago.

“No other advanced nation has as many traditional crafts still in existence as Japan does,” said Kenji Kuramoto, a senior researcher at the Japan Economic Research Institute Inc.’s Industrial Research and Planning Department who is knowledgeable about crafts. “Many of these crafts are high quality and functional. If their designs are refined and their cultural backgrounds are recognized, new sales channels will open up.”

Kuramoto added: “There is significant potential for growth in exports and sales to foreign tourists in Japan. The Kyushu region has enormous untapped potential, as it has many essential everyday crafts such as tableware and textiles.”

Craft tourism

In addition to Arita ware, Kurume kasuri, an ikat textile produced in the Chikugo region of Fukuoka Prefecture, has become more popular for its monpe work pants, which were worn by female farmworkers until around the 1940s.

Kurume kasuri monpe was commercialized by Takahiro Shiramizu, 39, who founded Unagino Nedoko, a company selling crafts and other items, in Yame, Fukuoka Prefecture, in 2012. As the pants are “breathable, water-absorbent and comfortable,” Shiramizu thought they would still be popular today.

The product has sold well, and its production has spread to local companies. Shiramizu’s company now has seven shops, including in Fukuoka City and Tokyo.

Shiramizu is from Saga Prefecture and moved to Yame after getting married.

“The charm of an area is often discovered by people who moved there,” he said.

Shimogawa Orimono, a Yame-based company that manufactures Kurume kasuri, offers factory tours to popularize the fabric. Kyozo Shimogawa, 54, the third-generation president of the family operating the company, started giving the tours around 2016. The tours have attracted more than 1,000 visitors annually.

The company has also started accepting interns from overseas. About 20 people, mostly from Europe, have learned traditional Japanese techniques before returning home.

Shimogawa has been giving lectures on kasuri in France and other countries in Europe since 2017. His company’s kasuri has been used by high-end fashion brands as well.

“I want to convey to young people in Japan that kasuri is highly valued worldwide,” Shimogawa said.

Tomohiro Haraoka, a director of the Nihon Kogei Sanchi Kyokai (Association of production areas of Japanese crafts), has promoted craft tourism, which focuses on visiting areas where crafts are produced.

“Making production areas more open and accessible, and fostering exchanges with domestic and international consumers, peers and other industries, can lead to reevaluating production areas,” Haraoka said.

Reviving traditional crafts has the potential to become a pillar of regional growth strategies.