Three Ways Forward

Social, economic, technical, and environmental shifts are shaping every aspect of society and calling Japanese leaders in all sectors to consciously decide how to steward Japanese culture forward. I respectfully offer three strategies to respond to this great time of change for the benefit of Japanese culture for centuries to come:

1.Respond to Tourism in Ways that Preserve the Depth of Japanese Culture

I recently visited Kyoto for a meeting at the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. During that visit, I was able to speak to many people running businesses in the city about the current wave of foreign visitors to Kyoto. While everyone I spoke to was thankful for the economic benefits that tourism brings to Japan, they were all severely worried about the impact that tourism will have on the city’s way of life and cultural assets.

Over-tourism brings with it a myriad of problems including strain on infrastructure, environmental degradation, wear on cultural assets, interruptions to sacred rituals, and a diminished experience for visitors due to overcrowding.

However, for me, the greatest risk of this over-commoditization of Japanese cultural properties and rituals is that it will lead to only a superficial understanding of Japanese culture. If huge numbers of tourists lead to a reduced level of depth of understanding of the cultural traditions of Japan, then there is a real risk that the attractiveness of those cultural assets in the minds of tourists will go down and create a sort of cultural misinformation cycle which benefits no one. More national resources will go toward “meeting the market” rather than enriching and advancing traditional and modern cultural ways.

I am in no way suggesting that tourism is bad, or that we should discourage visitors from coming to Japan. I am only trying to say that there needs to be well-thought-out collaboration between government, local communities, and industry to arrive at a long-term sustainable approach to tourism that strikes a balance between economic targets and cultural preservation goals.

2.Utilize Cultural Ambassadors on the Global Stage

History and the preservation of Japan’s cultural assets are not merely exercises in nostalgia but essential parts of creating and maintaining a sense of national identity and social cohesion. History and culture are a nation’s living collective memory. I believe it is the responsibility of all citizens of Japan and immigrants like me, to do our best to contribute to both the maintenance of traditions and cultural assets and to actively participate in the evolution of these traditions. We must become cultural ambassadors both to visitors and to each other, sharing what we know and have experienced in a sincere way.

As I look at the demographics of Japan, I am more and more convinced that to a large degree the survival of traditional Japanese culture including food culture and arts and crafts lies at least in part in the education of foreigners. Bringing undiluted Japanese culture to international centers of art and culture is going to be vital to creating customers for Japanese artists, craftspeople, and chefs.

Earlier this year, we celebrated the opening of Sushi Sho New York. Sushi Sho’s New York restaurant is an amazing place filled with the work of Living National Treasures, potters, and woodworkers from Japan. I was honored to create two paintings for Sushi Sho in New York. The interior is like a museum of Japanese craftsmanship and art. The guests who are lucky enough to have dinner at Sushi Sho are experiencing the unfiltered best of Japan and will certainly share their experience with their friends and family. It is through experiences like this that Japanese culture will continue to thrive and grow.

In March of this year, I was honored to hold a joint exhibition in New York with the Living National Treasure, Inoue Manji, at the Onishi Gallery in Chelsea. The gallery expected to have 80 people at the opening reception. We were overjoyed and pleasantly surprised to have over 500 people come to the opening. I was so encouraged by the high level of interest that New Yorkers had in all things Japanese. Many of the visitors were experts on one facet or another of Japanese culture, from whisky to kimonos to tea and pottery.

During the exhibition, I was able to share with visitors information about Kanazawa gold leaf and the history of gold leaf in Japan, the National Living Treasure title and what it meant in Japan, and the story of Inoue Manji’s life and pottery. Visitors were fascinated, and I am sure at least a few will now visit Japan for the first time.

It is this sort of cultural ‘outreach’ that I think will become increasingly important to the survival of Japanese artists and craftspeople in the future. Exhibitions of Japanese art at museums are wonderful and vital, but if the living artists cannot sell their works, they cannot continue to pursue their artistic dreams and certainly won’t attract apprentices to continue their practices in the future.

Creating a global network of people who are interested in and participating in Japanese arts and culture is indeed the best way to maintain positive relationships with other countries and bring continued much-needed economic support to Japanese artists and craftspeople.