Revive & Flourish Traditional Japanese Crafts for the Future

Steve Beimel, the Founder of JapanCraft21, talks about the future of Japanese Crafts

Photo by Irwin Wong

Steve Beimel, born in the U.S., first arrived in Japan in 1971 as an assistant English teacher. It didn’t take too long for him to fall in love with Japanese culture and crafts and he has now lived in Japan for over 5 decades. He founded Esprit Travel & Tours in the early 1990’s which specialized in culturally focused tours to Japan and catering to art enthusiasts.

As his love and insights for the Japanese crafts grew, at the same time, his concerns about the future of Japanese traditional crafts deepened. This deep love and concern led him to launch JapanCraft21, an organization to save and revitalize endangered master crafts.

KVG: You’ve been based in Kyoto for many years. What has made you settle in Kyoto for yourself and for your business/projects?

Steve: I started the tour company Esprit Travel in 1992 and included stays in Kyoto on most of our tours. In fact, for many years all of our tours were only in Kyoto. 11 nights/12 days in Kyoto only. Though we eventually branched out to travel through most of Japan, I have always felt that there is so much to see

and do in Kyoto that one could stay here for months and never see everything. I love Kyoto and developed many friends here over the years. Japanese culture offers us so many opportunities to slow down and be mindful. It was natural for me to want to stay here.

KVG: How did the idea of JapanCraft21 started?

Steve: JapanCraft21 has been created to reverse the

rapid decline of traditional Japanese crafts. In addition

to helping to create a school of learning advanced

traditional building skills, we are expediently

leveraging our resources by launching a series of

Japan Traditional Craft Revitalization Contests, each

designed to revive a traditional Japanese craft so that

it flourishes in the 21st century.

The purpose of the project is to revitalize traditional Japanese master crafts by identifying the issues artisans face and

implementing solutions for the 21st Century. In the contest, the first-place winner will receive the RONNIE Prize. The prize consists of 5 million yen in project funding for the winning project aiming to revitalize a craft for the 21st Century. With the funding, the winner will be able to try achieving their vision as well as to gain the active support of a mentor group of experts in fields such as business, design, product development, and marketing.

KVG: Through your JC21 project, have you seen any “hope” for the future of the Japanese crafts? How do you aim to make more Japanese people become aware of the preciousness of their own culture?

Steve: I am seeing some promising progress. Many young people are becoming interested in crafts. The reasons for the decline in crafts are very complex. One reason is that people no longer grow up with grandparents in the home and miss the opportunity to learn traditions from them. Also, people have turned to corporate funeral companies and have largely abandoned the Buddhist temples who depend on funerals for their livelihood, so the demand for many Buddhist related crafts is disappearing. People have traded an important cultural asset for simple personal convenience.

Our challenge is to educate people both in Japan and around the world, that one of the last powerhouses of international master craftsmanship is here in Japan and is in peril. This is a problem for all humanity, not just for Japanese people. We will all lose if master crafts disappear.

One of our JapanCraft21 members started a collaborative of about 30 lacquer crafts people in Fukushima. He created a shared work space where they can collaborate and support each other. Crafts people usually work independently by themselves, but this new method allows them to grow and progress much faster through mutual assistance and cooperation. Another of our members just started a business making wooden surfboards from local forest wood and coating them with natural Japanese urushi lacquer, resulting in boards that are not only beautiful, but are stronger, last longer and even surf better than conventional boards made from chemicals.

Those crafts people who use their creativity and ingenuity to create products for modern life are experiencing growth. It is difficult to compete with the huge advertising budgets of mass merchandisers, but there are many hopeful signs that crafts can survive.

To learn more about the JapanCraft21 and how you can offer support, visit their website: https://www.japancraft21.com