JP/EN

Encyclopedia of niime

Encyclopedia of niime 100th anniversary
niime Year In, Year Out 2023-2024

New Year's Eve 'Giant Killing' random discussion

〈 Year In extended version 〉

2024 . 01 . 20

Tamaki
We were introduced to interesting people who had been living in Dubai. They invited me to go to Dubai with them when they went home from Japan. We wanted to expand the reach of our ‘tamaki niime’ products, such as shawls, worldwide, so I decided to go with them.


Ms K, who lives in Dubai, and Ms O, who goes back and forth between Kobe and Dubai, whom we met through familiar friends. They visited tamaki niime village in Nishiwaki last fall.


Tamaki
They wanted to see it and came. They were very impressed with our business. They thought we needed to spread our business to the world, saying, “Let’s make a plan to go to Dubai together!” So, I went to Dubai on business with Ms Ae to see if our shawls would be accepted worldwide.


—— Wow! That’s a quick move! Just as expected, you go on immediately.


Tamaki
What happened in Dubai was…I felt like I fell to the bottom of the earth once…but I came back to the sky mentally the next day.


—— You felt up and down dramatically…


Dubai is the central city of the Dubai Emirate, United Arab Emirates, facing the Persian Gulf in the Arabian Peninsula. It was opened as a transit trading port in the 19th century. After the 20th century, they built skyscrapers and colossal shopping malls one after another. Today, they have been dramatically developing as the Middle East’s leading global city, a significant financial distribution centre, and a tourist city.


Tamaki
I actually did go negotiating for business with our products. Even though two Japanese ladies supported us a lot, the Turkish rug industry tops their partners, whom they explained to us in advance. We felt they had little interest in us. We were told that they would be absolutely positive because they are people from a pro-Japanese country, though.


—— Despite going there with much enthusiasm with shawls for their souvenirs…


Tamaki
Yeah, I had a similar experience in Europe a few years ago when I went there. We have completed manufacturing products in our company in Japan, which is a unique approach in Japan, and it’s excellent for Japanese people. Still, it has already been done in other countries. In Turkey, they don’t have global brand products that they created, but they have raw materials and already have skills. So they have everything they need to make; if they want to make them, they can do it. They have goats and organic cotton as well. They have no problem with spinning and weaving.


—— Ummm.


Tamaki
We are proud of our work because it’s a unique approach in Japan but not in other countries.


Sakai
You felt devastated.


Tamaki
We thought it’d be impossible. On the first night there, we talked about doing our best on the ‘tamaki niime’ business only in Japan and giving up doing it worldwide. We felt like we wouldn’t return to Dubai again, so let us go home and enjoy sightseeing. Feeling depressed, we rode a balloon at 3 AM.


—— …Oh…no


Tamaki
And after all, Ms O, who invited us to Dubai, felt something strange about us when we returned from breakfast, comparing us to those who looked excited yesterday.


—— You looked so depressed.


Tamaki
She asked us what was wrong with us (if something happened)? We told her that we didn’t feel like riding on camels even though it was scheduled that day, but instead needed to talk about whether our business would be successful in Dubai. So on that day, we cancelled sightseeing. To get to know Dubai, we observed shopping malls with Ms O instead, seeing what kind of people there were.


—— … Oh, I see.


Tamaki
After all, they encouraged us that night.


—— I see.


Tamaki
They told us what happened in Dubai in the last 18 years, how they have developed so much, and what would happen in the future…they told us everything.


—— All about Dubai.


Tamaki
Dubai is the world’s most cutting edge. Their technology is more advanced than Tokyo’s. They made it more modern than New York or London within 18 years. With the ambition of the king of the United Arab Emirates, who wanted this desert land to be a lively city, starting from nothing, decisive top officials went out to do business themselves and called to get effective workers. Every year, they announced they would make the world’s number one item, the tallest skyscraper or the most prominent water fountain, which were used as set pieces in the movie Mission Impossible (Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol). They had done everything to get to where they are now. However, they were still on the way to develop. They have a plan to urbanize the desert to an area twice the size of existing megacities they have, which was progressing at a rapid pace, and surprisingly, they were not trying to do it by themselves, giving benefits to blue-class workers and the wealthy class and calling in immigrants… After reaching out to get such ideas, they have made up the megacities today.


—— Amazing …


Tamaki
So they told us we could make it if we tried!


—— Umm.


Tamaki
They strongly told us, “Look at Japan, which has kept itself and continuously exists without being invaded. It must be only Japan if you search for such a country in the world. Their own culture has been transmitted from generation to generation. Banshu ori has continuously been woven for over 230 years, which traces its roots of Nishijin ori with 1200 years of history. That is about the same age as the United States of America. Be proud of being Japanese.” We answered, “That’s right…”


Starting a business selling Japanese electric home appliances in Dubai, Ms K established her business and patiently built a foundation in the local area while doing steady networking and making success in real estate. During those times, her business suffered much damage from the Lehman Shock, the disaster of the Tohoku earthquake, and the COVID pandemic, but she overcame it each time.
With her words of fighting spirit over her experiences, Tamaki and Ms Ae were encouraged.


Tamaki
They scolded us, saying, “It would be all right. Go for it!”


—— Wow, it was a very passionate talk.


Tamaki
Yes, it was! They told us that we are doing fantastic work. I told them that we were depressed when we compared ourselves with what the Turkish people were doing, and they said we shouldn’t feel like that.


—— Wow, I never knew you had such an experience …


Tamaki
And we became so happy. They made us feel that ‘tamaki niime’ can go forward. We can go to the world!! They encouraged us, and we came home with confidence. It did not matter if we made business deals; we could see Japan and the world from a bird’ s-eye view.


—— I see.


Tamaki
I recognized Japan’s good aspects, and many experiences made me think I was lucky to be Japanese. Many Japanese people hang on to their work overseas, and we can get help from them…we were able to build a strong bond with them.


—— That’s important.


Tamaki
Last year, I wished to have that. I felt limited to working only domestically.


—— You had a chance to meet the people outside who gave you help and strength, right?


Tamaki
Not only the people in Dubai but also the property owner of our new shop in Kamakura and their staff, who are all in their 50s, encouraged us, telling us, “Hang on! You are going in the right direction.”


Sakai
Everyone tells us that.


Tamaki
Everyone helps us and thanks us.


Sakai
But…


Tamaki
…what is it??


Sakai
Even though Tamaki had such an experience in Dubai, I have believed in myself, not giving up or giving in to anyone now or in the future, even in the world.


—— Mr Sakai, you are so sure about it.


Sakai
Yes, I am. As I mentioned in the early days of the ‘Encyclopedia of niime’, I went to England long ago and met the top creators there. Before I met them, I believed creation was supposed to be inspired by heaven. But I saw them studying a lot. I was surprised at how easy it is to become a creator. I thought I could reach their position soon.


—— All you need to do is study…


Sakai
That’s right. They are just making efforts.


Tamaki
I thought they were getting information but not creating new ideas.


—— How can I say? It’s not a ‘heavenly thing’ that you can’t compete…


Sakai
Their creations are at the acquired level. When I knew it, I thought I could win. I depend on more of my senses.


Tamaki
He thought they don’t need to be inspired.


Sakai
What the!?? I thought that was nothing.


—— Mr. Sakai is a person who can warp in senses and thinking.…


Tamaki
Hehe. (laugh)


Sakai
I always look for various marketing information and catch and look at them, but I am not impressed with anything.


—— ….


Sakai
I could see the mechanism in most cases, which have such and such purposes with so-on-so devices linking to here and there…mostly, there are such business strategies anywhere worldwide, and some people on the business strategies…I could see through such flow.


Tamaki
We can see through shallow flow.


Sakai
It is thinner than a piece of tissue paper.


Tamaki
(like singing) But, we will become more interesting this year, right? Because we will start doing new things.


—— What can I say?…nowadays, everything is well-constructed, which has no ‘chaos’.


Sakai
Right!


—— There’s no ‘Wonderland’ in this world? (laugh)


Sakai
That’s right, that’s right! No wonderlands. That’s true.


—— It’s all predictable.


Tamaki
We can say it with television as well. It’s not interesting because we can see it. We know how they try to sell it.


—— The interview two episodes ago, I was getting excited and talked about punk music, but I don’t have anything I am completely absorbed in, like future adventures …


Tamaki
… There’s none!


Sakai
Don’t you think??


—— There’s no excitement like you don’t know what will happen in the future.


Sakai
That’s right. No unpredictable things.


Tamaki
Because you don’t know it, you are curious, right? It’s not fun to know all the answers easily.


Sakai
That’s right. However, nowadays, we can see things through quickly, which could be more enjoyable. Like, we see how the world works.


—— I see.


Sakai
Considering that, how are we doing? Just like punks, we try to be different from others.


—— How do you get out of the regular framework? Sticking out another way…


Sakai
That’s right, that’s right.


—— I mean, before asking how you do…


Tamaki
We are different.


—— Without planning, it looks like we went in a different direction.


Sakai
You are right.


Tamaki
We wonder why they don’t come our way. For us, we think our way is the main one. What?! Why are they going that way? Ours are more fun.


Sakai
Yeah, our way is more interesting, right?


Tamaki
Absolutely.


While talking to them, I remembered my 7th-grade days when I listened to the Beatles, John Lennon singing “Come On, Come On!” I was attracted by the strength of his singing voice and charm, which caused me to be obsessed with Western music.


—— I excitedly followed the invitation of his voice.


Tamaki
That’s how it goes, after all. You just thought it looked fun. The thing is, how does it work like that?


In the 1960s, The Beatles captivated young people worldwide for their catchy and attractive hit songs with lively beats, one after another.
In my case, reliving those days, I was also very impressed with their growth. They repeatedly made music experiments and released groundbreaking music one after another, even though they had easy and friendly music, as their fans of the late ’60s also grew up with them.


—— They are popular but experimental. I feel that there’s such a style in ‘tamaki niime’. It influences people widely and gets them involved with others.


Tamaki
I wonder if it would be possible. I hope the time changes, and then it becomes interesting.


Sakai
Yeah, I hope we can make it happen.


—— In the future, art will become more essential.


Sakai
That’s right. I really think so.


—— Even Al draws pictures and makes art, which draws data from the past. That’s not what I want.


Tamaki
Just do it without thinking. Mr Yokoo said that drawing is physical work.


—— He draws pictures on a big canvas daily and calls himself an athlete.


Sakai
In that sense, I had a great experience. I went to the Museum of Fine Arts of Lausanne in Switzerland and saw ‘Art Brut’, which was a great deal for me.


In 1945, the artist Jean Dubuffet proposed ‘Art Brut’, which means ‘raw art’ in French. It is also called ‘outsider art’. It has creative activities by disabled people and arts by non-art educators.
It is recognized as an art expression uninfluenced by existing art trends. Without being influenced by tradition, trends, or education, they express the pure impulse welling up from within themselves.
In Lausanne, Switzerland, there’s an art museum called the ‘Art Brut Collection’, which is based on collecting interesting art by Dubuffet.


Sakai
Without Avant-garde or any reason, those arts are welled up from humanity in the truest sense. There’s no…


Tamaki
No calculations!


Sakai
That’s right. They go beyond such boundaries.


Tamaki
How wonderful!


—— They are free.


Sakai
Absolutely. I met so-called ‘business’ people in England, after that …


Tamaki
You felt like they were nothing!


Sakai
Yeah, after I saw Art Brut, I felt genuine, meaningful humanity, which was a great deal for me.


—— Releasing yourself is essential, I think.


Sakai
That’s right. It’s no good if you can’t release yourself. Punk music is the same thing, which is also releasing yourself.


Shake off the limiter. You don’t set limits or stop your creativity.
I have always received such messages and positive waves from Tamaki and Sakai.


Sakai
Yeah, because there’s no limits to mental speed.


Tamaki
No, none.


Sakai
That’s right. We get on the highway and more.


—— You want everyone to cut loose.


Sakai
Right, right, right (laugh). Why does everyone not remove the break?


Tamaki
There’s no rule that it has to be this way.


Sakai
Everyone has to remove restrictions. What a waste!


—— It must be good to do something unpredictable suddenly without calculating.


Tamaki
I think it’s a good idea.


Sakai
It is good if something you do turns out to be interesting.


Tamaki
As a result.


—— It’s not interesting if you plan and adjust to be good.


Sakai
That’s really boring. So I want ‘tamaki niime’ to be an uncooperative chord forever.


—— It’s unusual, playing a strange sound, but it’s harmonious for us.


Sakai
That’s right. It makes sense.


—— Wow, we had an essential talk.


Tamaki
We had a good talk.


Sakai
Yeah.


—— Let me ask you…what kind of year will this be?


Sakai
I hope to improve my five senses and become sophisticated this year. It’s not only us; it includes all the staff.


Tamaki
(muttering quietly) I became a grandma again.


Sakai
What? What do you mean by ‘grandma’?


Tamaki
A baby boom arrived in us last year. In niime village, we had seven babies. We have a good flow in that they bring their babies, and everyone takes care of raising them. I hope we can do good work on ‘living’.


—— You welcome new lives in niime village.


Tamaki
A year ago, Hatsuko passed away. It’s about time for us to think about caring for our parents’ generation or staff’s parents, who may be still too young, as our family in the future. Therefore, I want to deeply think about ‘a way of dying’ through ‘living’.


Sakai
Living and dying are two sides of the same coin.


Looking deeper into the essence of the things, Tamaki, Sakai and the nature brand ‘tamaki niime’ have started stepping in 2024.
In the current world, rapid changes like the Rise of AI, the Forces of Nature, and fights between nations can be complex, but people work on creation while sharpening their five senses and keeping the spirit of enjoying all they do every day.
They are working on various niime projects at the same time now. I’d like to know what kind of development awaits after the voyage. With much excitement, I want to run chasing them excitedly this year.

Original Japanese text by Seiji Koshikawa.
English translation by Adam & Michiko Whipple.