<英語>
It’s been a while, I went to Komono Town. I visited Miro to hito no wa (Forest and People Ring) furniture shop initiated by Shimizu Tamaki, alumni from Mie University used to be in the same Laboratory where I am now. This shop was inspired by the value of local forest for Japanese people. Mie prefecture is known as one of forested prefectures. Here, in Komono, several craftsmen gathered making furniture from local trees. Japanese wood products are expensive that make people tend to import wood/ logs. While there are a lot of mature forests need to be harvest, Japanese lost their interest into forests. Therefore, with this kind of activities, craftsmen try to build again the value of Japanese woods. I was really amazed by things sold in this shop. They look really fine and cute.
Today we had a chopstick making experience. We chose materials from different kind of trees, such as hinoki, zelkova wood, rawang, kihada, and sakura. For my first chopstick, I chose Hinoki. I really like the smell of this Hinoki. Then I made the second one from Sakura wood. It was a little bit harder than Hinoki, but I like the color.
After shaping our chopsticks, we the applied some oil (we can choose olive oil or rice oil) to fine the wood, add some smell and colors. And we can also add some heat prints on it. After that I tried to use my own chopstick to eat snacks and Takegohan. The rice has already been tasty then the smell of hinoki made it even better. While having workshop, I also learnt to make hashibukuro (chopstick wrap) to make the chopstick looks more sophisticated.
This is the first time for me making chopstick, but I am glad that I could make ones really look like sophisticated ones. Heard that most Japanese could make their own chopsticks back in old time.