April 30, 2008

• Arita Ceramics Fair

  So much for recovery!  This week is Golden Week, so called because there are soooo many legal holidays.  This week there is also a beeeg pottery fair at Arita, a city about an hour and a half away by express train.  This may be the only chance I get to go in my life, and tomorrow I am going.  Hubby has friends coming to Fukuoka and doesn't need supper, so when the cat's away, the mouse is gonna play.

  Later:  I trekked all over Arita today and am in need of more recovery.

  Really later:  Here are the pictures from "shop 'til you dropland," but first a word of explanation from a different website:  "Every year, Arita holds a townwide ceramics fair all through Golden Week, a cluster of national holidays lasting from April 29 to May 5. Stores throughout the town sell ceramics during the fair, and more than 850,000 people visit the small town! Products range from rice bowls priced at just ¥100 (about $1) a piece to painted plates that cost tens of thousands of yen. Visitors to the ceramics fair tend to come in strikingly similar outfits. They usually wear a hat or cap, sneakers, and work gloves and carry a backpack. The headgear and sneakers are for minimizing the exhaustion of walking around the fair, which extends for as long as five kilometers. The backpack is to keep both hands free, so that it's easier to look at the products. And the gloves are for wiping away the dust on the products, improving the chances of coming across a lucky find."

  

  Get off the train at Arita Station.  I was surprised that this is a rather small town.  There are no convenience stores and there is only one squat toilet in the ladies room.

  

  Ok, let's get started.  I think I am glad that I went during a day in the middle of Golden Week that was not an actual and thus crowded national holiday.

  

  Here is one of the hundreds of booths.  I am already regretting that I am not in proper hat and backpack uniform.  The sun is hot and my bag is indeed in the way.

  

  Very nice traditional good stuff.  The middle sized pieces sell for around $40 a plate.  It is cheaper and lighter to bring them home in a picture.

  

  These were affordable, but it was still early in the day and I was trying to remember the "U-Buy-It, U-Haul-It" principle.  Next time I will take a small suitcase on wheels. 

  

  Bowls for Tea Ceremony

  

  We've only just begun...

  

  Now here is a lovely cup for $150, but it's on sale at half price.

  

  I liked the colors here, but not enough to buy them.

  

  These chopstick stands were lovely, but at $45 they were a bit pricey.

  

  Now call me fussy, but these are a bit large for my kitchen. 

  

  Let's keep following Ceramic Road!

  

  Cut glass, anyone?

  

  I took a break for lunch on a side road eatery and headed back to the main road at the bridge.  The house on the right is lettin' it all hang out.

  

  A view from the previous bridge, I think.

  

  Now here is something lovely.  The holes in the clay are plugged with clear glaze.  The teapot is $450, but the teacups are only $90 each.  I wonder if the shopkeeper would have been willing to dicker?

  

  Another scene by another brook.

  

  This was a bit different.

  

  This was nice, too.

  

  Nudder brook scene

  

  There is still more to see!!!

  

  A Miniature Tea Set

  

  This came home with me.

  

  At this point I turned back, although there are still many more shops ahead.  I had only been looking at shops on the left, and intended to look at the shops on the right on the return trek.

  

  Nice Cup

  

  For folks too busy to cook...

  

  This teacup was a bit scary.

  

  He's gonna show us how it's done.

  

  I kind of liked the colors, but, nah.

  

  This bunny was at a local museum - looked so wonderfully dorky that I had to snap a quick picture!

  

  This is what all came home with me.  The white dinner plates are Mike's.

  This particular ceramics fair is held twice a year, and it might be nice to get back in cooler weather.  I will remember the proper equipment and will probably also take my own lunch.

  • 08:55
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