Amy Kanka. Japan
Just 2 weeks. An ocean apart and worlds away. My first taste of Japan.
There are hundreds of ways to experience Japan, I was lucky to do so with a small group of art lovers led by two artists: Hedva Shefaram (photographer) and Izhar Neumann (paper maker).
We landed at Niigata airport late in the evening, and drove to our 1st stop. A tiny village, Kadoyde, so remote, the officer at the airport had a hard time understanding where were we headed to. After a few hours sleep (first night on a futon laid on the tatami floor) we wake up to a different world.
How can words describe Kadoyde at the end of April? Covered in snow, oblique sun rays highlight the vapor raising from the river. The trickling sound of water from the melting snow follows us everywhere we go. Simple houses, old with age, surrounded by frozen rice paddies. Trees, their branches bare, glistening with frozen dew drops. A closer look – we can see the tiny flower buds.
Our first encounter with the people. Our host, Kobayashi, 5th generation of a paper making family owns a successful paper making workshop. In Kobayashi’s workshop we make our first sheets of paper. Our first attempts at Calligraphy. Get the first glimpse into the world of harmonious opposites – creating handmade paper labels for sake (Japanese rice beverage). The labels handmade one by one, no two exactly the same, the sake produced in a factory using ultra modern robots almost without the touch of human hands. Tradition and the modern world. Wabi Sabi meets the Japanese standards for quality.
Read the full Article on Israeli Lens Magazine Issue#9 Cultural Photography
