Column
November 1, 2023
Sarah Ho
FabCafe Kyoto
Behind the gorgeous patina of the proud traditions in Kyoto lies many struggling craft industries. With experienced craftsmen aging and fewer young people willing to enter the space, many traditional stalwarts from embroidery houses to temples are facing an inevitable death. While they might still face some resistance from the old guard, the young generation in Kyoto are willing to try new ways to keep their traditions alive. NFTs and the community they bring may just be a way to rejuvenate these industries.
3 panels of Kyoto industry leaders and Japanese artists discuss this issue with Proof of Japan’s Taisuke Isono, Ryota Izawa and IACILS’ Kei Ichikawa, allowing us a peek into the current struggles of Kyoto’s traditional crafts and the road ahead.
NFTs are built on the blockchain – a decentralized way for everyone to hold their own assets instead of entrusting them to one key institution, Taisuke Isono, founder of SMBC Nikko Securities Funder Storm explains. There are many people who feel safer entrusting their money to an institution like a bank, but some feel there are merits to holding on to your own assets. Instead of allowing a middle man to sell and hold on to your assets and information, the blockchain allows users to conduct direct transactions.
Acting as digital proof of ownership on the blockchain, NFTs allow for decentralized, transparent and automatic transactions. While it was extremely attractive for a time, a number of incidents revealed the risks and downsides of the cryptocurrency and NFT industry in 2022. However, Japan was relatively unscathed owing to early regulations put in place beforehand. Isono suggests that this might just be the chance for Japan to lead a movement in crypto and NFTs.
Taisuke Isono explains NFTs to the audience. Photo: FabCafe Kyoto
Meanwhile, in the traditional crafts industry of Japan, many establishments have their hands full trying to keep their ships afloat, much less talk about new possibilities. Low margins and few young craftsmen entering the industry point to a bleak future ahead. Nagakusa from embroidery atelier Nuitsukusa Nagakusa, points out that in traditional B2B sales, very little actually goes back to the craftsmen. And that’s just the tip of the pyramid, if sales cannot support the craft houses, the industries (thread makers and needle makers for example) essential to these crafts also crumble. And Nagakusa projects that the time left till that impending fallout is a mere 5 to 10 years. Worse still, the recent pandemic only exacerbated the issue.
If traditional craftsmen continue the way they’re going now, they’re going to disappear in about 5 years. And if you want to revive the craft after that, it’ll take another 100 years. Why? These skills have always been passed down (from craftsman to craftsman), if it stops it ends there.
Kazumasa Murayama
When asked his thoughts on putting out NFT versions of traditional crafts, Kazumasa Murayama, a producer of luxury traditional cultural experiences, says it still depends on the actual product itself. Just because it’s made into an NFT doesn’t mean it will sell well. How many people can actually tell the difference between an artisan piece of lacquerware and a bowl from IKEA? Even if you were to say that a piece was created by a famous craftsman, many people would probably be more concerned about whether it matches their interior design.
L-R Murayama, Nagakusa and Ichikawa discuss an ailing traditional crafts scene. Photo: FabCafe Kyoto
Instead, Murayama feels the value of the NFT market lies in its global community. If NFTs could bring about collaborations between global artists and Japanese craftsmen, what amazing pieces could be created? Instead of craftsmen being just one part of the manufacturing process, if they could have a conversation and work collaboratively on pieces together with artists as equals, that story would be much more compelling and would work as a better introduction to Japanese crafts, bringing in a new audience from around the world.
Upon hearing of the struggles facing the craft industry in Kyoto, Kei Ichikawa, a graduate student exploring the use of NFTs in art and originality, suggests that NFTs would also be a good tool to preserve current traditions. If these crafts are disappearing because there is no one left to continue the work, then leaving a record is extremely important to ensure that there is content to share with these new communities in the first place. Since NFTs that live on the blockchain will last as long as the blockchain lasts, it makes them a suitable medium to keep such records.
The power of NFTs is that they can leave a record of what is disappearing, which is amazing. I don’t think we would even have that left over now… If it doesn’t remain as data in the first place, I don’t think there will be any source to tell people from now on… I think we need more and more initiatives to preserve things that are disappearing as NFTs, or to use NFT to preserve things so that they don’t disappear as data.
Kei Ichikawa
Murayama remains optimistic despite the tight timeline. He sees the younger generation of 30 and 40-somethings in Kyoto’s craft and art scene ready to take on new challenges in the face of this crisis. By connecting and collaborating across industries, he believes there may be a chance to turn this tide around in the next two years or so.
Hazama introduces Sakeworld. Photo: FabCafe Kyoto
In the next panel, Hiroyoshi Hazama from Leaf Publications and Junichi Masuda from Masuda Tokubee Shoten Co. talked about the possibilities that NFTs bring to sake production and distribution. In their new project Sakeworld, Leaf Publications teamed up with sake makers to experiment more freely, and for buyers to access a wider range of sakes than before.
Hazama explains that by combining NFTs and sake, it allows for the sake to be bought and sold as assets much like wine. Before, any secondary sale of alcohol in Japan required specific licenses. However, regulators have just announced that NFTs tied to sake are exempt from requiring a license, opening up the possibilities for a secondary market in sake sales that can reach the entire world.
Masuda explains that the sake industry in Japan focuses on producing the same high quality every year no matter how the rice harvest goes. In the wine industry however, vintage years and terroir affect price, availability and enthusiasm for certain bottles. Yet aging methods for sake vary and affect the taste of sake in similar ways. By offering NFTs that allow customers to request certain aging or storage methods, makers could produce on demand accordingly. NFTs could then allow sake makers the leeway to experiment more.
Sakeworld also brought together multiple sake makers to create the Assemblage Club, a subscription service for sake that creates new blends to suit different occasions. Their first bottle is a marriage of sake from three makers crafted to be the perfect pairing for wagyu beef. With NFTs, one could imagine customers one day getting to fuse different sake NFTs to create personalized bottles. Isono quips that it is much like one of the very first NFT projects called cryptokitties, where you could ‘breed’ two kitty NFTs to create an entirely new NFT kitty based on the traits from the original two.
When asked if Masuda Tokubee Shoten had ever considered creating NFTs under their own brand, Masuda replied that sake is meant to be enjoyed in the physical world. The community aspect of NFTs is one good way to increase the number of people who appreciate sake. However, rather than just a digital representation of sake, they would rather meet people in the flesh and have people taste their work in reality.
Sakeworld providing tastings of the first collaboration among the Assmeblage Club Photo: FabCafe Kyoto
In the final panel session, artists Umi Chae and Shiho Fukuhara from collective Human Awesome Error (HAE) explain the importance of celebrating errors. They discuss their art piece Crafts For Common People and how they use NFTs to explore the value we place on traditional antique crafts as compared to mass-produced items today and how that value will change in the next 100 years.
Human Awesome Error sharing how the collective’s name came to be. Photo: FabCafe Kyoto
In a world where even wiping the dust off an antique could lower its value, embedding an NFC chip into a mashiko (earthenware made in Mashiko town) is a transgression. Yet the duo dared to implant the chip in to deconstruct its monetary value and record information on the vessel as an NFT. Although Chae implanted the chip in so well that the artist duo themselves sometimes have a hard time finding the spot where the chip lies. With this ‘error’ embedded in, the value this mashiko once held as an antique is destroyed but it begins a new life as a smart object. And Fukuhara suggests that this new breed of smart objects with digital data implanted into them surpasses Web3 and heralds the era of Web4.
Photo: Left, FabCafe Kyoto. Right, loto YAMAGUCHI
Many might view traditional crafts as skills that have been immutable and unchanging. Fukuhara begs to differ, she views the traditional craftsman that constantly takes apart and recreates their work as the epitome of innovation. In her experience creating conductive thread for smart wearables, Fukuhara attributes much of the progress to the kumihimo (traditional Japanese thread braiding) craftsman who advised them, whose skills and knowledge were essential to the final creation of the thread.
Just because it’s new doesn’t make it innovative, I think it’s when you push through to do the impossible, when you go through the hassle, that is what innovation is.
Shiho Fukuhara
Photo: FabCafe Kyoto
The product of traditional craft are usually concrete artifacts, while NFTs are purely digital data. From what each panel discussed, making the most of NFT technology clearly does not lie in merely creating digital representations of physical products. Instead, the creative use of activating global communities and collaborators is one of the main draws. In our increasingly digital world, it is a sober reminder that technology is only a means to an end, and there are still things best enjoyed in the flesh.
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Ryota Izawa
Proof of Japan, Representative Director（and Hatapro Group, Representative Director)
2010 – HataPro was founded as a telecommunications equipment venture.
2016 – The company partnered with NTT DoCoMo and jointly promoted a JV business.
2017 – Established an AI robot development subsidiary using next-generation communication technology.
2018 – Established a public-private collaborative joint venture with local authorities. Concurrently appointed as director.
2019 – Established Robot Centre in Kyoto. Transitioned to a group management structure with diverse technology companies under a dual-headquarter system in Tokyo and Kyoto.
2020 – Met SMBC Nikko Securities’ open innovation team ‘Funder Storm’ and started future-focused discussions.
2022 – Co-founded NEO KYOTO NFT ARTs, supporting urban development using Web3 and art.
2023 – Co-founded ‘Proof of Japan’, which uses Web3 to support Japanese cultural and performing arts. Became representative director in a dual role.2010 – HataPro was founded as a telecommunications equipment venture.
2016 – The company partnered with NTT DoCoMo and jointly promoted a JV business.
2017 – Established an AI robot development subsidiary using next-generation communication technology.
2018 – Established a public-private collaborative joint venture with local authorities. Concurrently appointed as director.
2019 – Established Robot Centre in Kyoto. Transitioned to a group management structure with diverse technology companies under a dual-headquarter system in Tokyo and Kyoto.
2020 – Met SMBC Nikko Securities’ open innovation team ‘Funder Storm’ and started future-focused discussions.
2022 – Co-founded NEO KYOTO NFT ARTs, supporting urban development using Web3 and art.
2023 – Co-founded ‘Proof of Japan’, which uses Web3 to support Japanese cultural and performing arts. Became representative director in a dual role. -
Taisuke Isono
Funder Storm / SMBC Nikko Securities
Isono joined SMBC Nikko Securities in 2012 and has worked as an investment banker for eight years, gaining experience in many domestic and international M&A deals and fundraising projects. He was selected for the Nikko Ventures project, an in-house recruitment project under the direct control of the president, and launched the open innovation team Funder Storm. He is now promoting activities to build an ecosystem that will transform Japan’s future by utilising the resources of securities companies, including the next-generation innovator human resources development programme ‘Kosen Intercollege Challenge’’ (2021), a new donation-based crowdfunding scheme linked to hometown tax payments (2022), an urban development project powered by Web 3.0 and art ‘NEO KYOTO NFT ARTs’ (2022), and the launch of Proof of Japan Inc. (2023), which supports Japanese cultural and performing arts through Web 3.0 technology.
Isono joined SMBC Nikko Securities in 2012 and has worked as an investment banker for eight years, gaining experience in many domestic and international M&A deals and fundraising projects. He was selected for the Nikko Ventures project, an in-house recruitment project under the direct control of the president, and launched the open innovation team Funder Storm. He is now promoting activities to build an ecosystem that will transform Japan’s future by utilising the resources of securities companies, including the next-generation innovator human resources development programme ‘Kosen Intercollege Challenge’’ (2021), a new donation-based crowdfunding scheme linked to hometown tax payments (2022), an urban development project powered by Web 3.0 and art ‘NEO KYOTO NFT ARTs’ (2022), and the launch of Proof of Japan Inc. (2023), which supports Japanese cultural and performing arts through Web 3.0 technology.
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Kei Ichikawa
IACILS
With a background in computational social science, Ichikawa does not confine himself to a single field. He is involved in various activities such as the use of NFTs and originality in art history, research on the generation of visual content by AI focusing on human cognitive abilities, and proposals for food design using sound symbolism.
He is interested in the human aesthetic sense and the ambiguity of the foundations of trust-building.
Born in Kamakura, former assistant director at FabCafe Nagoya.
IACILS organiser, an open lab at FabCafe Nagoya (he has been slacking off recently).With a background in computational social science, Ichikawa does not confine himself to a single field. He is involved in various activities such as the use of NFTs and originality in art history, research on the generation of visual content by AI focusing on human cognitive abilities, and proposals for food design using sound symbolism.
He is interested in the human aesthetic sense and the ambiguity of the foundations of trust-building.
Born in Kamakura, former assistant director at FabCafe Nagoya.
IACILS organiser, an open lab at FabCafe Nagoya (he has been slacking off recently). -
Kazumasa Murayama
Kyoto Muramasa LLC, Representative Director / Atsukai Foundation, Founder / Culture and Arts Foundation, Councilor / Agency for Cultural Affairs, Coach for High Value-added Projects
1978 Born in Kyoto, Japan, to a family running a shrine. Majored in astrophysics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. After returning to Japan, worked as a club DJ and radio station director, and was involved in planning, production and management at an event production company before entering the world of craftsmanship in his 30s. He spent about 10 years learning materials and production techniques at a display, fixture and printing factory. In 2022, he established KYOTO MURAMASA, planning brand communication for a wide range of clients, from luxury brands to pharmaceutical companies, and which is also involved in the promotion and production of Japanese cultural assets and crafts.
1978 Born in Kyoto, Japan, to a family running a shrine. Majored in astrophysics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. After returning to Japan, worked as a club DJ and radio station director, and was involved in planning, production and management at an event production company before entering the world of craftsmanship in his 30s. He spent about 10 years learning materials and production techniques at a display, fixture and printing factory. In 2022, he established KYOTO MURAMASA, planning brand communication for a wide range of clients, from luxury brands to pharmaceutical companies, and which is also involved in the promotion and production of Japanese cultural assets and crafts.
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Shingo Nagakusa
Nuitsukasa Nagakusa Corporation, President
Born 1983, Kyoto. Graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts. Director of Chosou Shoukobo K.K., representative director of Shouji Chosou K.K. Born in a family of traditional embroidery craftsmen, mainly in the field of Noh costumes and the restoration and renewal of cultural properties. As well as producing Kyo-embroidery, he is also involved in the production of contemporary art and craft works, product development of traditional manufacturing industries and regional promotion.
Born 1983, Kyoto. Graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts. Director of Chosou Shoukobo K.K., representative director of Shouji Chosou K.K. Born in a family of traditional embroidery craftsmen, mainly in the field of Noh costumes and the restoration and renewal of cultural properties. As well as producing Kyo-embroidery, he is also involved in the production of contemporary art and craft works, product development of traditional manufacturing industries and regional promotion.
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Hiroyoshi Hazama
Leaf Publications, Executive vice-president
Born in 1988, Osaka.
2010 – Graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Engineering.
2013 – Graduated from the University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Law and Politics. Legal apprenticeship in Kyoto
2014 – Registered as a lawyer (-2020), affiliated with Iwata Godo.
Engaged in corporate legal matters, mainly for listed companies, including large-scale disputes, M&A and shareholder meetings.
2020 – Appointed Vice-President, Director of Business Management, Leaf Publications Inc (-current position)
Returned to Osaka during the covid-19 pandemic. Engaged in the business of a local information magazine in Kyoto by chance. Started a new business of sake x NFT after encountering delicious matured sake.Born in 1988, Osaka.
2010 – Graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Engineering.
2013 – Graduated from the University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Law and Politics. Legal apprenticeship in Kyoto
2014 – Registered as a lawyer (-2020), affiliated with Iwata Godo.
Engaged in corporate legal matters, mainly for listed companies, including large-scale disputes, M&A and shareholder meetings.
2020 – Appointed Vice-President, Director of Business Management, Leaf Publications Inc (-current position)
Returned to Osaka during the covid-19 pandemic. Engaged in the business of a local information magazine in Kyoto by chance. Started a new business of sake x NFT after encountering delicious matured sake. -
Junichi Masuda
Masuda Tokubee Shoten Co., President
Born in 1993 as the eldest son of the 14th generation Tokubee Masuda. He studied abroad in the USA for university, and after graduation worked for an advertising agency before joining Masuda Tokubee Shoten in 2019.
He learnt sake brewing in the production department and was appointed President and Representative Director on 9 June 2022. As the 15th head of the family, he will lead the Masuda family into the new era.
Born in 1993 as the eldest son of the 14th generation Tokubee Masuda. He studied abroad in the USA for university, and after graduation worked for an advertising agency before joining Masuda Tokubee Shoten in 2019.
He learnt sake brewing in the production department and was appointed President and Representative Director on 9 June 2022. As the 15th head of the family, he will lead the Masuda family into the new era.
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Umi Chae
Human Awesome Error
Born 1977 in Nagoya. Studied metal crafts at university. Until 2018, he was involved in producing and directing various projects centred on digital technology.
In 2019, he started HUMAN AWESOME ERROR, an art collective that explores the contemporary through culture from craft techniques and technology, and has been its representative since then.
Exploring the impact of technology on people and culture, with a dual focus on technology and craftsmanship.
Born 1977 in Nagoya. Studied metal crafts at university. Until 2018, he was involved in producing and directing various projects centred on digital technology.
In 2019, he started HUMAN AWESOME ERROR, an art collective that explores the contemporary through culture from craft techniques and technology, and has been its representative since then.
Exploring the impact of technology on people and culture, with a dual focus on technology and craftsmanship.
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Shiho Fukuhara
Human Awesome Error, Artist, Researcher, Developer
Shiho Fukuhara is Tokyo based Artist and Researcher. She has been engaged to develop new technology and the platform to integrate intelligence to our everyday things with the purpose to investigate how creations with technology and traditional crafts critically reflects our consciousness on physicality, aesthetics, materiality.
After graduating with a Masters degree course in Interaction Design at RCA (2003). She established Biopresence Ltd. in London (2004) with Georg Tremmel and formed BCL, an artistic research framework (2007). Shiho joined an art collective HUMAN AWESOME ERROR to reinvestigate the meaning of errors in the relation between human and nature.
Her art works have been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou, Palais de Tokyo, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum for their permanent collection acquired her innovative work. Shiho has also served as a jury in awards including D&AD, Ars Electronica, ACC TOKYO Creativity Award.
Shiho Fukuhara is Tokyo based Artist and Researcher. She has been engaged to develop new technology and the platform to integrate intelligence to our everyday things with the purpose to investigate how creations with technology and traditional crafts critically reflects our consciousness on physicality, aesthetics, materiality.
After graduating with a Masters degree course in Interaction Design at RCA (2003). She established Biopresence Ltd. in London (2004) with Georg Tremmel and formed BCL, an artistic research framework (2007). Shiho joined an art collective HUMAN AWESOME ERROR to reinvestigate the meaning of errors in the relation between human and nature.
Her art works have been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou, Palais de Tokyo, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum for their permanent collection acquired her innovative work. Shiho has also served as a jury in awards including D&AD, Ars Electronica, ACC TOKYO Creativity Award.
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Sarah Ho
FabCafe Kyoto
Sarah graduated from the National University of Singapore with a BA in Communications and New Media. After which, she spent 3 years in Tinkertanker Pte Ltd, an edu-tech makerspace developing and implementing programs and kits for STEAM education in Singapore. In 2022, she graduated from Bunka Fashion Graduate School, where her research centered around zero-waste apparel production.
Bringing her enthusiasm for both education and connecting people, Sarah joined the Kyoto team in 2022 to expand the SPCS team and deepen engagement with the surrounding universities. She is particularly interested in zero-waste systems, tinkering and new mediums for cross-cultural exchange.
Sarah graduated from the National University of Singapore with a BA in Communications and New Media. After which, she spent 3 years in Tinkertanker Pte Ltd, an edu-tech makerspace developing and implementing programs and kits for STEAM education in Singapore. In 2022, she graduated from Bunka Fashion Graduate School, where her research centered around zero-waste apparel production.
Bringing her enthusiasm for both education and connecting people, Sarah joined the Kyoto team in 2022 to expand the SPCS team and deepen engagement with the surrounding universities. She is particularly interested in zero-waste systems, tinkering and new mediums for cross-cultural exchange.
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