Kariuzawa, JP

Kariuzawa, JP

Sunday, 04. May 2014

Our overview of the past week starts with our farewell from Aja Glass and the big metropolis of Tokyo. Our next destination should be the Japanese mountains in the county of Nagano.

We filled an astonishing five boxes with glass which we had produced over the last three weeks in Kenji’s studio. We waved our boxes goodbye and hope they will reach Germany after a three month sea journey. For a change of scenery we moved in with Rie, in Koenji, an area with lots of second-hand and other quirky shops. However our main task was to go to the Chinese High Commission in the embassy district. We had to apply for a tourist visa, whether this will be successful lies in the stars! We can go back to pick up our passports on the 8th May and hope for a positive outcome. To shorten our waiting time, we decided on a whim to visit the county of Nagano and made our way to the Studio Prepa. Hidden away in the remote hills, where even ‘a lion and the lamb would lie down together’, Katsu and Mizu Hira live and work. It was difficult to find but we were lucky enough to stop in a local café which had their lampshades. This was after a car had taken us the entire way from Tokyo to Nakagawa and as it was 4 o’clock we needed a typical German coffee stop. In the café we asked for directions to the studio and quickly got a description which unfortunately we were unable to read.

Luckily this didn’t matter as a Japanese lady took us in her car the last bit of the way. The Hira’s, who were busily making glass, were quite amazed when they saw us coming up their drive unannounced but immediately recognised us. They produce over 60 products, from the aforementioned lampshades to stemware, which they make all year round in this idyllic landscape. It was very relaxing for us to experience the spring there and to escape the hubbub of the city. We had a good chat and were given a special project: we had to try our hand at complicated stemware made in one piece. We got excellent food and a lift to Kenji Ito’s second studio, Kariuzawa Studio, which is two hours away. They had been waiting for us there, and immediately found a place for our rucksacks and equipped us with bicycles and a map. So we’ve been cycling around the area for two days now, as the studio is completely booked up during the school holidays. Here the offer a full program: sanding, engraving, glass making and filling gel-candles with little glass animals. We only go there in the evening to have a meal together with all the staff and then retreat to our little room.