“Kintsugi at Shikata Kizou Lacquerware Shop, Mogami Kogei, and Old Tokaido Highway Hiking” – Three Premium Experiences to Discover the Depths of Japanese Culture

From Kyoto to Hakone: A Journey to Learn the Beauty of Traditional Crafts – Touching with Hands, Feeling with Heart the Japanese Tradition

Japanese traditional culture is infused with techniques and spirit that have been passed down for hundreds of years.
It’s not merely tourism or entertainment, but a “living culture” imbued with the souls of craftsmen.
The moment of restoring a vessel with kintsugi, the process of carving wood to create chopsticks, and the experience of walking with your own feet on the path traveled by Edo-period travelers—all of these serve as gateways to understanding Japanese aesthetics and philosophy through your body.
In this article, we’ll introduce three premium cultural experiences: the kintsugi experience at Kyoto’s long-established lacquerware shop “Shikata Kizou Lacquerware Shop,” the woodworking experience at Tokyo’s Kuramae-based “Mogami Kogei,” and hiking the Old Tokaido Highway in Hakone.
What these share in common is respect for craftsmanship, the essence of monozukuri (craftsmanship), and Japanese aesthetics represented by “wabi-sabi.” We invite you on a journey where you can truly understand the depths of Japanese culture not just by observing, but by creating with your own hands, walking, and feeling.

First Experience: Kintsugi at Kyoto’s “Shikata Kizou Lacquerware Shop”

Established in 1867: A Long-Standing Lacquerware Shop Where Artisan Culture Thrives

Located in Kyoto’s Shijo Kawaramachi, “Shikata Kizou Lacquerware Shop” is a lacquer specialty store established in 1867 (Keio 3) at the end of the Edo period. For over 150 years, it has inherited all techniques related to lacquer, from refining and selling lacquer to creating lacquerware and kintsugi restoration.
What makes this long-established shop special is that it doesn’t just sell lacquer—it refines sap collected from lacquer trees, creates lacquerware, and is highly regarded for its kintsugi technique that breathes new life into damaged vessels.
Lacquer is called “lacquer” in English and is a natural coating refined from sap collected from lacquer trees. Since ancient times in Japan, lacquerware has been highly valued for its beautiful luster and durability. While Shikata Kizou Lacquerware Shop continues to protect this tradition, it also devotes energy to activities that convey the culture of kintsugi to those of us living in the present day.

Experience kintsugi at Kyoto’s long-established lacquerware shop “Shikata Kizou Lacquerware Shop” here

What is Kintsugi: Japanese Aesthetics That Transform Damage into Beauty

Kintsugi is a traditional technique for repairing broken or chipped ceramics using lacquer and metal powder.
In recent years, it has attracted attention overseas as “kintsugi,” with its background rooted in the uniquely Japanese aesthetic of “wabi-sabi.” Rather than seeking perfection, it accepts and even celebrates imperfection and damage as beauty—kintsugi is a technique that truly embodies this philosophy.
Interestingly, while the name “kintsugi” contains the character for “gold,” in reality, not only gold but also metal powders such as brass, tin, and silver can be used. The main player is always lacquer, with metal powder added as a finishing touch to the repair.

Experience Details: Learning Two Techniques

At the kintsugi experience at Shikata Kizou Lacquerware Shop, you’ll learn two major techniques from skilled craftsmen: “ware” (breakage) and “hibi” (cracks).

• In the ware technique, you bond scattered fragments together with special resin (a mixture of base material and hardener) to reunite them. If the two materials aren’t mixed thoroughly, curing failure will occur, so thorough mixing is necessary. This work requires caution and concentration.
• The hibi technique repairs fine cracks by carefully painting lacquer along the cracks with a brush. The trick in this process is to hold your breath and move the brush slowly.

First, you select the ceramic to repair. Vessels with different colors, shapes, and types of damage are lined up, and you pick them up with your own hands to examine them while imagining the finished product. As a special option, you can also upgrade to Kyoto-specific Kiyomizu-yaki. This exquisite pottery historically made around Kiyomizu Temple is known as a masterpiece of Kyoto’s traditional crafts.
Since you use real lacquer in the experience, wearing gloves is mandatory. Lacquer can cause inflammation if it touches the skin. After you finish painting lacquer in all the cracks, you polish it with silk floss. Additionally, you can use Shikata Kizou Lacquerware Shop’s unique vibrant colored lacquer or choose gold or silver powder for an additional fee.

Value After the Experience: Breathing New Life into Vessels

When the work is finished, take a break with coffee served in a lacquered cup.
While feeling its lustrous beauty and smooth texture in your hands, you can reflect on the vessel you just repaired.
The true value of this experience lies not merely in learning the technique. It’s about encountering the cultural value of not discarding broken things, but repairing and continuing to use them.
Through kintsugi, we gain an opportunity to reconsider our very relationship with objects. In the past, many towns had kintsugi craftsmen who repaired people’s daily items.
In our modern age where sustainability is valued, incorporating the philosophy and technique of kintsugi into daily life can be said to be extremely meaningful.
The craftsmen at Shikata Kizou Lacquerware Shop emphasize that kintsugi is not only for art pieces or antiques. Any vessel you have attachment to is worth repairing.

Participant Testimonials

• “During the drying time, I could ask questions and hear explanations, so I was able to spend the time without feeling bored” (Kyoto Prefecture, woman in her 50s)
• “I was attracted by the fact that I could experience kintsugi for both chips and breaks. It turned into a work with originality and became a good memory” (Osaka Prefecture, woman in her 40s)
• “It was also good that I could change to Kiyomizu-yaki as an option. The coffee in between was also very delicious” (Osaka Prefecture, woman in her 50s)

Second Experience: Woodworking Experience at Tokyo’s “Mogami Kogei”

Established in 1912: Preserving the Tradition of Edo Sashimono

Tokyo’s Kuramae is a charming neighborhood where traditional craftsmen and cutting-edge creators coexist—a place where old meets new. Established in 1912 (Taisho 1) in this area, “Mogami Kogei” has preserved the techniques of Edo sashimono for over 110 years.
The third-generation master, Yutaka Mogami, is one of only about ten traditional craftsmen of Edo sashimono remaining in Japan. In the showroom “Mokume-an,” masterpieces that incorporate traditional beauty into modern life are displayed, including elegant tansu chests and chic vases. You can also see innovative works such as wooden bags and neckties that debuted at Paris Collections.

Experience woodworking at Mogami Kogei to create your own chopsticks – in a paulownia box here

What is Edo Sashimono: Beauty That Dwells in the Invisible

The word “sashimono” derives from “fitting wood together” or “making things using a ruler.”
During the Edo period, furniture such as tansu chests, shelves, and desks were made for the upper classes, including samurai and merchants. Traditional dressing tables and cosmetic boxes still used in kabuki dressing rooms are also a form of Edo sashimono known as “Narien sashimono.”
The characteristic of Edo sashimono is its minimalism. Its essence lies in bringing out the natural beauty of wood grain.
Joints using tenons and mortises appear delicate yet are extremely sturdy. This apparent simplicity permeates the entire art—the more you learn, the deeper it becomes and the more impressive the work.

Experience Details: The Path to Craftsmanship Begins with Chopstick Making

The workshop of a sashimono craftsman, filled with the scent of wood and oil, is a special space not usually open to the public, lined with specialized tools such as kanna (planes), nokogiri (saws), and nomi (chisels). You step into this secret world and begin with chopstick making, just as all apprentices of Japanese sashimono learn from their masters.

The Importance of Wood Selection

The work of a sashimono craftsman begins with selecting wood. Hardwoods such as maple, ash, and oak have tightly packed grain, making them hard and durable.
Softwoods such as hiba and hinoki tend to be softer. Feel the texture and smell of the wood yourself, and examine the color and grain up close. Make your chopsticks with wood that suits your preferences.

The Carving Process Using Kanna

Once you’ve selected your wood, you repeatedly plane it to shape it into a comfortable grip.
You gradually shave the corners of the square wood evenly bit by bit, approaching roundness through regular octagon, then regular hexadecagon. You adjust the direction of planing and the kanna according to the grain. This process is by no means easy, and through the experience, you’ll gain a new appreciation for the wonder of craftsmanship.
The workshop has over 100 hand planes of various sizes, each used according to the specific wood and purpose.
Wood is transformed in color and luster through sandpaper and oil finishing. Edo sashimono is an art where one craftsman handles all processes from beginning to end, not a team with division of labor. Because the craftsman’s soul dwells in the work, your chopsticks become truly yours in the deepest sense.

The Joy of Taking Home: Finished Product in a Paulownia Box and Sustainability

The chopsticks you made for yourself, with your own hands, are perfectly suited to you in both ease of use and beauty. Take them home in a craftsman-made sashimono box created from the finest Aizu paulownia wood. The memory of this experience and your new understanding of craftsmanship will brighten your days each time you use them.
As an option, you can also have Edo-moji calligraphy carved into the chopstick box (paid, reservation required 10 days in advance). Edo-moji, characterized by thick, powerful lines, has been considered an auspicious symbol since the Edo period (1603-1868). A personalized box adorned with this traditional Japanese design becomes a unique keepsake.

Durability is Sustainability

One of the charms of custom-made Edo sashimono is its durability and longevity.
Even after a lifetime of use, by shaving the soiled surface and reapplying oil or lacquer, it can be reborn as a century-old family treasure that can be passed down to your grandchildren’s generation. In our modern age where sustainability attracts attention and we’re rediscovering the importance of humans living in balance with the environment, this old-fashioned technique is more important than ever.

The Value of Meeting Craftsman Yutaka Mogami

Mogami Kogei boasts 110 years of Edo sashimono history since its establishment in 1912.
Third-generation master Yutaka Mogami is an expert in traditional joinery techniques passed down since the Edo period (1603-1868).
Specializing in sashimono works for modern homes, his forms and functions have been praised and won numerous awards both domestically and internationally.

Participant Testimonials

• “The work of shaving the corners of the square wood with a kanna was fun. Finishing it evenly and roundly was difficult, and I realized how amazing the craftsman’s skills are” (Tokyo, woman in her 40s)
• “Before going, I was nervous about being taught directly by a craftsman, but I was able to enjoy the experience” (Tokyo, woman in her 40s)
• “The work of shaving and shaping the wood with a kanna was difficult but very enjoyable. I was also healed by the good scent of wood from the shavings” (Kanagawa Prefecture, woman in her 50s)

Third Experience: Hakone “Old Tokaido Highway Hiking”

Historical Significance of the Old Tokaido Highway and Hakone’s Position

Traveling between Tokyo and Kyoto today is a journey of just 2 hours by shinkansen.
However, for hundreds of years, this journey was an arduous one requiring at least 2 weeks on foot. The Old Tokaido Highway played a special role in Japanese history as an important road connecting Edo (present-day Tokyo) and Kyoto.
In this unique Hakone experience, you’ll walk “Hakone Hachiri,” one of the best-preserved sections of the Old Tokaido Highway, together with a local guide.
On the way to Hakone Pass and the magnificent views of Lake Ashi, by visiting local woodcraft shops, soba and udon restaurants, and the 400-year-old Amasake Chaya, you can feel the long history of travel and hospitality in the Hakone region.

Hike the Old Tokaido Highway to Hakone Pass with a local guide here

Guide Shin Kaneko’s Vision: Deep Love for His Hometown

Shin Kaneko was born and raised in Hakone and later studied abroad at the University of Southern California in America. After graduating, he worked at AEON Co., Ltd. supporting new business development, human resources, education, and management, and from his second year, engaged in management planning at the group headquarters’ strategy department. He later participated in launching a startup company, but his feelings for his hometown were irresistible.
Noticing that many foreign travelers seemed to rush through established tourist routes, he returned to his hometown of Hakone at age 30 and established “Explore Hakone” in 2015 to provide opportunities for genuine interaction with local people so visitors could build deeper connections with Hakone’s history, culture, and nature.
As an experienced certified trekking guide, Kaneko believed that by walking part of the ancient Hakone Hachiri, he could make the region’s history of travel and hospitality more tangible for guests.
“I’m impressed by how knowledgeable people from around the world are about Japanese history,” he explains.
“However, reading about the Old Tokaido Highway in history books is completely different from actually feeling the elements in that place. Hearing birds sing in the trees, the sound of wind passing through leaves, climbing the slope with determination step by step—you feel what people of the past felt.”
While Kaneko and his fellow guides recommend that all guests try walking at least part of the Hakone Hachiri path, they also have options available for different experience and fitness levels. Using buses or private cars by advance reservation (additional fee) is also possible.

Experience Details: The Path Where History and Nature Intersect

A Journey Beginning with an Encounter with Traditional Crafts

The journey begins with hiking along the beautiful Sukukawa River.
To start the day while feeling regional culture, you first visit “Hatajuku Yosegi Kaikan” to learn about the local woodworking tradition known as Yosegi Zaiku. Hakone’s unique yosegi zaiku combines fragments of wood from various trees with different grains and colors to create intricate patchwork patterns that decorate boxes, cups, dishes, and other attractive objects.

Local Flavors: Lunch at a Soba and Udon Restaurant

Since travelers on the Old Tokaido Highway often spent more than 2 weeks on the road, they tended to welcome occasional home-style cooking.
Small eateries and tea houses were born at various locations along the route, including Hakone Hachiri. To taste this tradition, you and your guide will have lunch at “Kikuya,” a local restaurant specializing in soba and udon noodle dishes.

Into the Deep Forest: Climbing Hakone Hachiri

Satisfied and enlightened, you and your guide begin the hike climbing the forest-covered hills that lead to Hakone Pass.
Walking slowly, savor the sights and sounds of this secluded natural world, and feel beneath your feet the earth trodden by generations of travelers. Since all of Explore Hakone’s guides are extremely knowledgeable about local history, geography, biology, and culture, feel free to ask questions anytime about whatever interests you most about the region.
As you proceed along the path with your guide, you’ll encounter sections where ishidatami (stone pavement) laid in the late 17th century still remains.
These road works were part of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s efforts to establish Hakone Hachiri as a new section of the Old Tokaido Highway, to better manage movement and trade, and to use the mountains as a natural fortress against possible invasions from the west.

Break at the 400-Year-Old Amasake Chaya

Among the small eateries scattered along the Old Tokaido Highway were modest establishments called “chaya.”
They served tea, light meals, and snacks. Incredibly, one of Hakone’s tea houses established in the early Edo period has survived to this day. With its thatched roof and beautiful wooden architecture, “Amasake Chaya” is a living embodiment of local history, operated by the 13th generation of the same family that has welcomed weary travelers for over 300 years.
In addition to tea and light meals, this historic local establishment is famous for its signature drink, amasake.
Brewed from rice since ancient times using methods similar to sake, amasake is a delicious non-alcoholic beverage with a creamy texture and sweet, revitalizing taste. Amasake Chaya’s amasake is made with the family’s original recipe passed down through generations. It can be enjoyed cold in summer and warm in winter, along with light snacks.

Sense of Achievement and Magnificent Views at Hakone Pass

For centuries, the climb to Hakone Pass was considered the most difficult section of the 2-week Old Tokaido Highway journey from Kyoto to Edo.
When the ground beneath your feet begins to level out and you catch your first glimpse of Lake Ashi’s deep blue waters, think of all the men and women who experienced this moment—captivated by equal parts awe and relief.
The hike continues to the lakeshore, where you stop to view the spectacular sight of Lake Ashi with Mt. Fuji towering in the distance on clear days.
One of the best-preserved sections of the Old Tokaido Highway runs along the lake’s eastern shore. The gravel path is bordered by towering cedar tree-lined avenues planted over 300 years ago under the Tokugawa Shogunate, continuing to provide shade today just as they did for travelers of that time.

Connection with History: Sharing Time with Edo-Period Travelers

As you traverse this impressive section of the Old Tokaido Highway, you approach the old Hakone Sekisho checkpoint that once strictly controlled entry and exit to the Kanto region.
While it may have been a somewhat tense time for Edo-period travelers, for you it becomes the culmination of a day of discovery, exercise, and connection in Hakone.

The Value of Relationships with Local Guides

Having traveled widely and spent years as a guide, Shin Kaneko understands well that the people you meet while traveling leave a lasting impression that complements the places you visit. All guides working at Explore Hakone have deep personal connections to Hakone, either having grown up there or actively choosing to relocate to the region. And since all guides are fluent in English, spending time with them is a wonderful way to gain an insider’s perspective on life in Hakone through casual conversation.

What the Three Experiences Share and Their Significance

The Essence of Monozukuri: Direct Relationships with Craftsmen

There’s something you’ll notice for the first time only after participating in these three experiences. It’s the importance of facing craftsmen directly at the site of monozukuri (craftsmanship).

• At Kyoto’s Shikata Kizou Lacquerware Shop, craftsmen from a long-established shop operating continuously since 1867 provide guidance right beside you.
• At Tokyo’s Mogami Kogei, third-generation master Yutaka Mogami offers hands-on instruction.
• On the Hakone hike, you move together with an experienced guide rooted in the local area.

What these experiences share in common is not merely learning techniques, but directly absorbing through words and body the craftsmen’s “attitude toward monozukuri,” “feelings for their region,” and “approach to tradition.”

The reason participants’ testimonials frequently include comments like “I felt the craftsman’s attitude up close” and “I was overwhelmed by the master’s presence” is precisely because of these direct relationships.
In modern society, mass production systems have completely separated consumers from producers in monozukuri.
However, these three experiences provide an opportunity to reconnect that separation. Understanding the thoughts and techniques that bring forth the things we hold—grasping that complete picture fundamentally changes how we relate to objects themselves.

Practicing Japanese Aesthetics: Understanding Wabi-Sabi

Kintsugi is the most symbolic expression of wabi-sabi aesthetics.
This technique of reconnecting broken ceramics with gold or silver is not mere repair but the crystallization of the Japanese aesthetic sensibility of “finding beauty in imperfection.”
The perspective that views damage or breakage not as “the beginning of the end” but as “the birth of new life”—this is the very essence of wabi-sabi.

The aesthetics of Edo sashimono are similar. What participants feel in the process of selecting wood and carving it out with hand planes at Mogami Kogei is the attitude of trying to bring out the natural beauty of the material.
Eliminating unnecessary decoration and maximizing natural expressions such as the wood’s annual rings and coloring. This is also the practice of wabi-sabi’s “refinement within simplicity.”

And on the Old Tokaido Highway hike in Hakone, walking through nature allows you to feel layers of time.
Stone-paved roads continuing from the Edo period, cedar tree-lined avenues planted 300 years ago, tea houses with 400 years of history.

All of these embody the aesthetic of wabi-sabi that “accepts the passage of time and change as they are.” Deterioration and discoloration are also respected as evidence of history.
Through these three experiences, participants can experience Japanese aesthetics not “as concepts” but “physically.”
Only by moving their hands, breaking a sweat, and taking time does the concept of wabi-sabi truly sink in—not as mere theory, but as a value system deeply rooted in Japanese life and thought.

Sustainability and Continuity: A Culture That Thinks in Century-Long Terms

In today’s consumer society, “disposability” is the norm.

However, the chopsticks made at Mogami Kogei have the potential to become “century-old family treasures.”
Even if scratched or dulled, you simply shave the surface. Apply oil or lacquer again, and they regain new brilliance. This cycle can theoretically be repeated forever.

Kintsugi at Shikata Kizou Lacquerware Shop is the same. Broken ceramics are revived with new attire. They may break again someday. But when that happens, they’re repaired again with kintsugi. Through this repetition, a single object lives on for a hundred, two hundred years.
This way of thinking even transcends the concept of “environmental consideration” preached by modern sustainability discourse.
It’s a fundamental change in the relationship with objects. A shift in positioning where objects are not “things to possess” but “things to nurture” and “things to care for.”

In the Hakone hiking experience, this essence of sustainability appears most clearly.
The Old Tokaido Highway has been preserved and loved in units of 400 and 800 years.
Walking this path is about feeling what previous generations left for future generations, and it’s also about accepting the obligation to preserve similarly for the next generation.

Respect for Regions and Craftsmen: Rediscovering Local Value

Kyoto’s Shikata Kizou Lacquerware Shop, Tokyo’s Mogami Kogei, Hakone’s Explore Hakone. What these three experiences share is that they’re all provided by “craftsmen and businesses deeply rooted in their regions.”

The craftsmen at Shikata Kizou Lacquerware Shop have continued to face the material of lacquer and its culture for 156 years since 1867 in the ancient capital of Kyoto. The Mogami family at Mogami Kogei has protected and developed the traditional technique of Edo sashimono since its establishment in 1912. Shin Kaneko of Explore Hakone studied in America, gained experience in corporations, saw the world, yet still chose to return to his hometown of Hakone at age 30.
These choices are by no means nostalgia. They’re endeavors to deeply recognize the value of “cultural assets” existing in their regions and to pass them on to the next generation while further developing them.
In an age of advancing globalization where the same things can be obtained anywhere, region-specific cultures and techniques are becoming increasingly rare and precious. Yet at the same time, many of these values are overlooked and face the danger of extinction.

What these three experiences provide is not simply experiencing “nostalgic Japan,” but helping us realize the importance of “rediscovering local value.” Through interactions with craftsmen and local guides, participants witness firsthand the richness of region-rooted wisdom, techniques, and human relationships. And through that experience, they begin to realize that similar local values exist in the regions where they themselves live.

Learning Through Experience: From Knowledge to Physical Understanding

Finally, what’s important is that the essence of these three experiences lies in a “qualitative transformation of learning.”

You can read explanations of kintsugi on websites. You can watch videos of Edo sashimono on YouTube. You can learn the history of the Old Tokaido Highway from books.
However, these are merely information inputs to the “head.”

You actually grip a hand plane and shave wood while adjusting the amount of force. At that moment, the resistance transmitted to your fingertips, the sound of the wood, the rising fragrance—all of these enter your brain at once. And only then does the answer to the question “Why do Edo sashimono craftsmen train for decades?” become engraved as bodily memory.
Similarly, the tension when carefully drawing lacquer with a brush in kintsugi. The sense of achievement upon reaching Hakone Pass and the scenery of Lake Ashi spreading before your eyes. These multi-sensory experiences can never be obtained through mere knowledge.

Such experiential learning is also proven neuroscientifically. Learning that stimulates multiple senses simultaneously is engraved in many areas of the brain at once and stored as deeper memory. Moreover, learning while moving the body activates broader areas of the brain.
In other words, these three experiences are not just “tourism” but are also the most effective learning methods from a neuroscientific perspective. The reason participants comment that “my life changed” or “my way of seeing things changed” is because not just their knowledge level but their body and brain itself have transformed.

Conclusion: A Proposal for How to Engage with Japanese Culture

What is “True Richness”?

Learning kintsugi in Kyoto, making chopsticks in Tokyo, walking ancient paths in Hakone. After finishing these three experiences, what remains in participants’ hearts?
It’s probably an awakening to “the depth of relationship with objects.” We who live in modern society are surrounded by objects. However, most of them exist as “things to consume” or “things to dispose of.” Even the joy of acquiring objects vanishes in an instant.

But what about the chopsticks you made yourself? What about the kintsugi you repaired yourself? What about the Old Tokaido Highway you walked with your own feet?
In all these objects and experiences, your own time, effort, joy, and connections with craftsmen and regions are engraved.

Such objects and experiences exist precisely in material environments that are not necessarily “rich.” Rather, the simpler the object, the more deeply you can feel the thoughts and techniques embedded in it.
The “richness” modern society provides is primarily quantitative. More things, newer technology, more convenient functions. However, what these three experiences suggest is that “richness” may rather be qualitative. Deep relationships with objects. Taking time to nurture objects. Feeling connections with craftsmen and local people. Inheriting culture from the past and passing it on to the next generation.

Don’t all of these constitute true richness?

Why Japanese Culture is Needed in the Age of Globalization

Interestingly, many participants in these three experiences are foreigners. Why do people from around the world participate in these experiences?
One reason is that in a world homogenized by globalization, the desire for “local and unique culture” has actually increased. In an age where there’s a Starbucks everywhere you go, the same fashion brands line up, and the same smartphones are used—within that, cultures and techniques that exist only in specific regions, such as Kyoto’s lacquer, Edo’s sashimono, and Hakone’s ancient paths, appear extremely precious and attractive.

However, that’s not all. Another reason is empathy with the “alternative values” that Japanese culture provides. In the world of global capitalism that prioritizes efficiency, speed, and newness above all, Japanese culture presents values such as “time, craftsmanship, and local wisdom.” These values can serve as a counterbalance to the problems modern society has fallen into (environmental problems, overconsumption, diluted human relationships).
In other words, Japanese cultural experiences are not merely “nostalgia for the past” but presentations of “different approaches” to problems modern society faces.

A Call to Participants: To the Next Step

Participating in these three experiences itself is already one important choice. However, how you incorporate the insights gained from the experiences into daily life is where their true value is tested.
How to reflect the wabi-sabi aesthetics learned through kintsugi in how you relate to objects in your own home. How to apply the essence of monozukuri learned through Edo sashimono to your own profession and human relationships. How to apply the layers of time and respect for regions felt on the Old Tokaido Highway to how you face the place where you live.
Experiences are, in a sense, only “beginnings.” Real change occurs in the daily life that follows.

At the same time, what these three experiences suggest is that many more craftsmen, techniques, and region-specific cultures still exist throughout Japan. After Kyoto, Tokyo, and Hakone, where will you head next? Takayama’s woodwork, Wajima’s lacquer, Sado’s gold and silver mine sites, and small workshops run by unknown craftsmen.
Participants who once awaken to the depths of Japanese culture eventually transform into “seekers.”

Finally: Reconstructing Relationships with Objects

Currently, interest in sustainability is growing worldwide.
However, true sustainability cannot be achieved through environmental technology and policy alone. It requires a transformation of the relationship with objects itself.

Kintsugi, Edo sashimono, the Old Tokaido Highway. Through these three experiences, participants learn a “different way with objects.” It’s one wisdom accumulated over thousands of years of Japanese culture.
Isn’t that wisdom one of the things most needed in the world today?

The spirit of cherishing objects. The attitude of respecting craftsmanship. The endeavor to protect regional culture. The patience to nurture something over time. And the sense of responsibility to connect culture from the past to the future.
All of these are passed from the hands of Kyoto’s lacquer shop, Tokyo’s woodwork craftsman, and Hakone’s guide to participants, one by one. At that moment, Japanese culture becomes not a relic of the past but a bridge to the future.