Source: Peatix

Japan's world-renowned traditional crafts have woven techniques, history, and culture over the years, but they are in decline due to a lack of successors, declining demand, and rising raw material prices. Woodworking arts have also been greatly affected by changes in lifestyle and depopulation, and opportunities to come into contact with them on a daily basis are decreasing. This time, NN Life Insurance, which has supported young managers of traditional industries, and the Shibuya Ward Tourism Association, which aims to realize "Shibuya SHIBUYA, an international cultural tourism city" through the promotion of tourism, have teamed up to plan an event inviting two leading experts in woodworking arts with whom they have a connection. Through the "16th Shibuya Art Festival 2024 ~ SHIBUYA ART SCRAMBLE ~", where the world, the future, and possibilities interact in a multifaceted way and constantly create new discoveries, the event aims to spread understanding of woodworking arts and its possibilities, and to preserve them for future generations.

Following on from "Encounters Begin with Innovation," a joint event held in 2023 as part of the HACHI100 project to connect agricultural producers in Odate City with businesses in Tokyo, NN Life Insurance and the Shibuya Ward Tourism Association will be hosting a talk session in Shibuya in 2024 with Masamasa Shibata, CEO of Shibata Yoshinobu Shoten Co., Ltd., a leading figure in the traditional craft of Odate Magewappa, a product of Odate City, Akita Prefecture. He will talk about the appeal of the world-famous "magewappa," the challenges facing its survival, and the potential of woodworking art that has been loved by Japanese people since ancient times.

Also taking part in the talk session will be Maeda Akihiko, a danjiri sculptor and CEO of Maeda Woodcarving Studio Co., Ltd., who has been taking on new challenges in overseas markets, including Europe, since 2021 with the support of NN Life Insurance. The danjiri that runs through the city is decorated with dynamic carvings all over its body, and is an artistic expression carved from a zelkova board. After meeting and collaborating with a Dutch designer, the company has made great strides, releasing new products, exhibiting in the Netherlands, and exhibiting in Maeda's hometown of Sakai City and Nagasaki City, as well as at the Japan Museum in the Netherlands.

We hope that this will become a forum where many people can learn about the possibilities of woodworking art, and that it will help pass on the techniques and traditions that woodworking art represents to the future.

[Implementation details]
Date and time: Tuesday, November 5, 2024, 19:00-20:30 (doors open at 18:30)
Target audience: People interested in woodworking arts, successors of family businesses
Capacity: Up to 50 people
Venue: NN Life Insurance Co., Ltd. Head Office Conference Room
SHIBUYA SCRAMBLE SQUARE 44F, 2-24-12 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Introduction (10 min.): "Small and medium-sized business supporters come to Shibuya"
Hiroyo Koike, Secretary General, Shibuya Ward Tourism Association
Tetsuya Endo, General Manager of Business Development, NN Life Insurance Co., Ltd.

Talk session (70 min.): "The potential of woodwork art from Japan to the world"
Masamasa Shibata, President and CEO of Yoshinobu Shibata Shoten Ltd.
Akihiko Maeda, Representative Director of Maeda Woodcarving Studio Co., Ltd.
Moderator: Tomomi Hoya, Business Development Department, NN Life Insurance Co., Ltd.

(Talk session and speaker profiles)
Masamasa Shibata, President and CEO of Yoshinobu Shibata Shoten Ltd.
Born in Odate City, Akita Prefecture in 1973. After graduating from university, he worked for a company for two years before returning to Akita, where he became an apprentice to his father, Yoshinobu, at the age of 24 and began his career in bentwood. In 2010, he became the representative director of Shibata Yoshinobu Shoten. He has received awards such as the Japan Traditional Crafts Association President's Award at the National Traditional Crafts Exhibition and the Japan Craft Exhibition. In 2019, he opened the "Wappa Building" in front of Odate Station, which sells products, offers production experiences, and also displays bentwoods collected from Japan and abroad. In 2020, he became the chairman of the Odate Magewappa Cooperative. In 2021, he won the Prime Minister's Award at the National Traditional Crafts Exhibition (large, medium, and small natural cedar champagne coolers), and in 2022, he won the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Manufacturing Industry Bureau Director's Award at the National Traditional Crafts Exhibition (Possibility of Magewappa (hand-washing basin and wall mirror)). In 2023, the new brand "GENPEI" - sustainable manufacturing using traditional techniques - was announced at Milan Design Week in Italy.

Akihiko Maeda, Representative Director of Maeda Woodcarving Studio Co., Ltd.
Maeda Woodcarving Studio was founded in 2008 in Kishiwada City, Osaka Prefecture. The studio mainly produces wood carvings (Danjiri carvings) for "Danjiri," a type of float used in the "Danjiri Festival" held mainly in southern Osaka. In addition to Danjiri, the studio has a track record of producing many items that require carving, such as general floats, portable shrines, futon floats, and shrine and temple architecture. In addition to floats and portable shrines, the studio has produced many products that utilize the high carving techniques it has cultivated, such as custom-made ornaments, nameplates, signs, and interior items for individuals. In January 2021, the studio moved to Osaka City and incorporated at the same time, and is working hard every day to expand its business and expand into a wide range of fields.

Tomomi Hoya, CSV Promotion Team, Business Development Department, NN Life Insurance Co., Ltd.
Joined the company in 2021. In charge of social contribution activities. Participates as an executive committee member of the "Family Business Innovation Lab," an innovation support program for family business successors. In 2021, launched a support program for young managers of traditional industries to enter Europe, connecting NN Life's home country of the Netherlands with Japan, and supporting the development of products tailored to the needs of local residents and the development of overseas sales channels through collaboration between next-generation managers and overseas designers.

Co-sponsored by: NN Life Insurance Co., Ltd. and Shibuya Tourism Association
Sponsor: Odate City

Venue