Attempted pottery making
Okayama prefecture has two craftsy claims to fame: the first jeans-making industry in Japan, and beautiful Bizen pottery. In one day, I tried my hand at both — and determined that I have no future in either sector.
The day started with a spot of sightseeing: a trip to Mt. Washuzan, where there’s a view of the Great Seto Bridge. At 8.1 miles long, it’s the world’s longest two-tiered bridge (cars on the top tier, trains on the bottom), and it’s truly an impressive sight. There, I met my travelling companions for the morning: a group of Hong Kong social media influencers and journalists.
Going on an all-expenses-paid tour as an influencer seems like a sweet deal, but up close it was clear that they were doing hard work. They were whisked from sight to sight with little time to relax or explore, and they spent a good deal of time posing for photos and doing television interviews. The heat on Tuesday was exhausting — and the Hong Kong crew clearly had a much longer day planned than I did.
On our stop in Kojima, exploring the origins of Japanese denim, we raced through a few shops, took lots of pictures, and then used riveting machines to make denim keychains. (I struggled with this, but so did everyone else, which made me feel a little better. I was very glad we weren’t doing the longer make-your-own-jeans workshop, which would have required lots more riveting!) The influencers were in and out quickly; my guides and I stuck around longer to peak in the windows of a jeans factory and shop in an outlet store (no luck — the pants were all too short for me).
We had some time to kill on the way to our next stop, so we visited Shizutani School, the first public school in Japan, dating back to the 16th century. Students back then had 15-hour days devoted exclusively to calligraphy and the teachings of Confucius, so it’s unclear how grateful they should have been for the free schooling…
The highlight of the day was Bizen, a district famous for its distinctive pottery. I tried my hand at making Bizenyaki using a combination of hands-only techniques and a small hand-turned pottery wheel. The fruits of my labor won’t emerge from the kiln in time to return to the United States with me. (It’s fine by me — my bowl was not very good!) I also got a tour of the old-fashioned, wood-fired kiln and the stacking and covering techniques used to create color variations on the pottery’s surface.
You wouldn’t know it from my adventures in Okayama, but once upon a time I actually knew how to draw, paint, sculpt, and throw pottery. Who knew an MBA internship in Japan would make me regret letting those skills degrade?
