No 145


Dear Customers & Friends
Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No.145.I returned from Shanghai 14th Sunday, and this week is comparativelyrelaxed. I attended two kimono auctions ( and Hisami also attended threeantique auctions), and I went to 'Fusuido-no-Shitsurai-Ten'( Handicraft ShowHeld in Daimaru Umeda Department Store ). Approx 50 handicraft artisans and artists are participating. Pages areJapanese, but here is the web page about this fair. http://www.daimaru.co.jp/fusuido/This is the pages of introducing artisans and artists. http://www.daimaru.co.jp/fusuido/umeda/index.htmlArtisans and artists are selected carefully by Mr. Toshihiro Imai, whoknows much about Asia's culture and crafts. All of their technique havegenuine origin in Japan or other Asian countries, and also have moderntaste, which fit our modern lives.About 8 or 9 years ago, when this first fair was held at Daimarudepartment store, I was the windows man of department store. ( It wasvery interesting, but also tough experience!) We are going to sell the accessories of an artist among them, and I mether and had a business talk with her. http://www.daimaru.co.jp/fusuido/art/u19s18/index.htmlShe is a very charming person, and I really enjoyed talking with her. Wewould like to sell her items immediately, but now she is a mother of twobabies and can not take enough time to make her products. She promisedto offer her items at our site, but it will be autumn when enough itemsare made and prepared.
By the way, I didn't write enough about the trip to Shanghai in our lastNewsletter.What an exciting city Shanghai is!People are vibrantly and new buildings are being built all over hell'shalf acre. On the roads lots of cars, bicycles, bikes, pedestrians andsales people are rushing their ways. I didn't understand who have theright to go first - Shoko and I had to have strong courage only to goacross the road. I can never drive by myself in China! I felt the town scenes are very similar to the scenes in Japan when Iwas a boy. 30 or 40 years ago, Japan had to have very similar atmosphereto today's Shanghai. Japan was at the high-growth period, and people andtown were more energetic and wild than now. I convince China must grow rapidly for these 30-40 years same as Japan did. What will happen in this world, if the country with 1.4 billionpopulation grow rapidly? Japan's population is only 100 million, andalso English speakers are also only 1 billion!
We visited a factory, who is specialized in kimono sewing. We wereastonished to see hundreds of seamstresses were sewing kimono without uttering a word.We heard that they are hiring more than 7 hundred seamstresses, andtrain them to be able to sew kimono. As you know, most kimono are sewncustom made. So immediately we understood they need verysophisticated and tough management to sewing hundreds of different sizekimonos at a time. In addition, there must to know about kimono and specialterms of Japanese kimono to communicate with Japanese customers.There are many sewing factories in China, but there are only a few ones,who can sew kimono. One vice-president is a beautiful lady in her twenty's , who was aseamstress when their factory was established. She speaks Japanesefluently and knows everything about sewing kimono. It is amazing thatshe manages 700 seamstressed with ingenuity! She said mentality of seamstresses dramatically changed recently - whenshe became a seamstress, everyone were very hungry and they worked hardto support their families. However, seamstresses she recently hiressatisfy if they earn only their allowance, and never work harder thanbefore. This story is very interesting - in many different aspects,China is coming the same way Japan have come.
We are going to make men's formal kimono and haori set at their factory.It will take a few month to be able to sell at our site. They are madeof exquisite black polyester ( very similar to habutae silk ), and theywill fit to 190cm( 74.8in height). They are sewn by high-tech sewing machine,and similar quality to hand sewing ones. We are thinking the prices, butit may be around 350 USD (retail price). And we will be able to sell at wholesale for bulk buying.
Thank you for reading to the end! Today we will list haori( one piece issuperb one! Must check!), obi design paper and antique items. We wishyou could check them and find your favorite.
Ichiro & Yuka WadaKimono Flea Market "ICHIROYA"http://www.ichiroya.com
e-mail: info@ichiroya.comaddress: Asia-shoji Bldg.301 1841-1 Nishi 1 chome Wakamatsu cho Tondabayashi city Osaka 584-0025 JAPANTEL&FAX ****( international number ) - 81-721-23-5446