Written on February 28, 1990 [Permalink]

February 22

Seki-san phoned this evening at 9:00 just as the last English class of the day was getting under way. He had had a discussion with one of the organizers of the Mitsukoshi show, concerning the Los Angeles demonstrations/displays/sales that he did last year. It seems that the American show is put on every year, and there is some talk of me being asked to go along to LA next November. Seki-san asked if I could show up tomorrow, to discuss this with the organizers.

This actually fits right in with our tentative (very!) plans for a trip overseas next winter. If the financial situation permits, we were thinking of going to Vancouver, then to England, and then spending a bit of time mucking around Europe. As the LA show is near the end of November, we would do that first, and then press on with the rest of the journey. I would have to have the December print made in advance, so that Ashida-san could send it off, etc., but I think that should be no problem.

February 23

Off to the Mitsukoshi show with Michiyo. A bit of a disappointment, as the 'big man' from LA has changed his plans, and won't be here until tomorrow. I'll have to come back then and spend the day standing around the booth, in order to see him.

It's also frustrating, watching Seki-san sit there printing and printing, without being able to take a turn myself. I think that if I was doing the printing, and Seki-san the talking and selling, we could sell a lot more stuff, and have a lot more fun, but it's no go. Maybe next year.

February 24

Off to Tokyo again and this time, managed to meet the organizer from the US. He seemed to think it was a good idea, and I seem to be invited to join the show. The terms are a bit vague, but I think they will put me up and feed me, etc., and would want about 30% of sales. It remains unclear who would pay for my plane ticket. Of course, Seki-san and the other 'official' shokunin have their way totally paid, but I'm an 'extra', not a regular part of their group, and may not qualify for that kind of treatment. I'm to send some photos and bio info etc, to his US office, and then wait for further contact. I think that by next fall, I may have all the subscriptions I can handle, so making sales there wouldn't be the main attraction, but it should be a kick doing this kind of a show, and getting the entry into the craftsmen's group.

February 25~27

A few days of pretty much nothing but carving. Ashida-san is plugging away making folders and labels. She's getting steadily faster and neater, and it's a joy to see the stuff piling up, without me lifting a finger! By Tuesday night, the kimono pattern is finished. There's no way that I could get this print ready to go in time if Ashida-san wasn't here to do all the other stuff. So far, I've only had to throw away five of her finished folders, and she's quite serious about doing a good job.

Her immediate job is to prepare some packaged sets of the 10 finished prints using the 'left-overs' (all 99 of them!) from the Mitsukoshi show. That has been a bit of a surprise - only one single print sold, and no phone calls from pamphlet-takers. I had a pretty fair crack at it, and although the display space was miniscule, Seki-san and his wife were certainly trying to help expose the stuff (at least while I was watching!). Ah well, maybe the upcoming magazine article will put us over.

February 28

Off to Tokyo to pick up the 'aen-ban', the zinc plate for printing the folder labels from now on. I ordered this last week. I'm worried about the wear and tear on the blocks from printing these labels off the sumi-ban. Doing it that way doubles the number of impression taken from the poem portion of the block, and I'd really like to preserve them as long as possible. I prepared a hanshita using my carved labels, and sent it off for photo-mechanical zinc plate making. The plate contains the 10 labels from last year's set, plus a set of numbers for printing and sticking on the cases. The printing will also be a lot faster, as all the labels will be printed at once, rather than one by one. Then it was off to Seki-san's to pick up the Mitsukoshi left-overs, and Sekaido for 100 sheets of the grey paper for folder making. Ashida-san is going through my supplies like crazy, and I've got to keep well-organized to make sure she doesn't run out of any of the supplies.