～Our Task～
I am sure that you understand the background, history and other things about Minoyaki and Setomono from other pages. Recently, Japanese food’s popularity is growing rapidly in outside of Japan. However, on the other hand, Japanese tableware has not been well promoted compare to Japanese food. It is obvious that tableware is handled in bulk for its overseas trading. Western tableware has great demand but not for Japanese tableware. Therefore, not many trading companies handle Japanese tableware. I realized that it is my work as an individual to be a bridge between Japanese producers of tableware and the end users in overseas. I can convey your needs to Japanese producer and make sure we can meet each individual users’ needs. I really hope that I can be some assistance to introduce our Japanese tableware to more users in overseas. I am sure that Minoyaki and Setomono will be appreciated by many users in overseas, too.
～Our Task～
I am sure that you understand the background, history and other things about Minoyaki and Setomono from other pages. Recently, Japanese food’s popularity is growing rapidly in outside of Japan. However, on the other hand, Japanese tableware has not been well promoted compare to Japanese food. It is obvious that tableware is handled in bulk for its overseas trading. Western tableware has great demand but not for Japanese tableware. Therefore, not many trading companies handle Japanese tableware. I realized that it is my work as an individual to be a bridge between Japanese producers of tableware and the end users in overseas. I can convey your needs to Japanese producer and make sure we can meet each individual users' needs. I really hope that I can be some assistance to introduce our Japanese tableware to more users in overseas. I am sure that Minoyaki and Setomono will be appreciated by many users in overseas, too.
～Profile～
Business operator: Shobu Shibata Business career: 1994-2013 Shibata ceramic processing (Father’s business) Drawing lines and pictures (Uwaetsuke) for tableware 2013-2021 Fine Ceramic Co., Ltd. in Seto city 2022 Founded Shibata Trading Consultant
～Profile～
Business operator: Shobu Shibata Business career: 1994-2013 Shibata ceramic processing (Father’s business) Drawing lines and pictures (Uwaetsuke) for tableware 2013-2021 Fine Ceramic Co., Ltd. in Seto city 2022 Founded Shibata Trading Consultant
The above photo was taken around 1970 when I was 3 years old. You can see two tall chimneys which was made of bricks. Now we can’t see them often. I think those are very precious memories providing how this area was prosperous in ceramic business. Also, you can see the bald hill at right back, where we can get high quality cray. We take cray and shape into tableware, and bake them in a kiln. After that, we put them colors. This area has everything we need to create good tableware. The whole town used to work for this. However, since around year 2000, there have been many tableware available in the market from China, which is cheaper than Japanese product. Price war hit our business seriously. Many of business in our area went off the market. However, even now, the beauty of Minoyaki and Setomono remain the same. It is the time for us to introduce Minoyaki and Setomono to the overseas market. We do not work based on its quantity but we work based on quality. We are sure that there is good market in overseas who accept the quality of Minoyaki and Setomono.
