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Nasu 05/2008
How we got to Nasu

Nasu area is situated about 100km north of Tokyo. As it is very popular with people from Tokyo to spend some quiet days, there are all kinds of  connections, including Shinkansen, regional trains and motorways. We took a few local trains and changed three times which took us around three hours. But going into Tokyo and taking the Shinkansen from there would have cost us the same amount of time.

What we did in Nasu
After the tea ceremony

We visited Masa san, Chiko’s colleague from Sony! Nasu is a pleasant highland area. With its pure nature, it is a perfect destination for escaping from loud and flashy Tokyo for a few days. You can go hiking, see glass-clear streams and enjoy good food. Of course there are plenty of nature-oriented tourist attractions around. However, it is basically a lovely quiet place to relax. We came back after our first visit there in 2004.

It was a good stay with lots of inte- resting conver- sations and many things to see and do. If you
Yes...!

have seen the 2004 pictures here you will know that Masa san has his own excavator and Rainer was extremely happy to try it again - like a child... :)

Masa san’s partner, Fusue san, is a master of Japanese tea ceremony and we were so grateful that she kindly performed one for us in the morning before we left. An utterly impressive experience!

Urushi - Japanese lacquer ware
One of Masa san’s friends, Orikasa san, is a master of Japanese traditional lacquer ware. We had the chance to meet him and see his atelier and work collection. He has won many

honorable prizes for his great work, and some of his works have actually been done for the Japanese Imperial household.

Urushi has traditionally been used since ancient times to protect and colour surfaces of wooden tableware, statues of Buddha, and furniture etc. It has developed from commodities to ‘pieces of art’. Urushi is resin produced from the urushi tree and its major ingredients, urushiol, dries under moisturized atmosphere, transforms to a polymeric substance and becomes a hard and durable, elegantly shiny surface. 

Tea container with a breath-taking urushi finish featuring gold foil

Coating, grinding and polishing processes are repeatd more than

With Orikasa san in his atelier
Urushi box

a hundred times before finishing a piece.
The material is widely used for its water repellence and durability. With proper

Chiko with Orikasa san and Masa san in the little exhibition space.

maintenance, it holds out for more than a century!
Basically, we had never got so close to such artistic work before. But when we understood how much work it takes and then appreciated all the beautiful pieces in the little exhibition space, that was something, really, really, impressive!
All pictures

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