One of the last handmade umbrella boutique workshops in Tokyo has already gone through many crises. But unlike the previous ones, that of global warming is favorable to its business, by boosting its sales of umbrellas in the summer.
Founded 93 years ago, Komiya Shoten was once one of 70 handmade umbrella and parasol stores in Nihonbashi, a district in the heart of old Tokyo.
The Japanese capital now has only a handful of shops like this, the sector having long been destroyed by the invasion of cheap plastic umbrellas, made in China or elsewhere in Asia and sold everywhere. mini markets (konbini).
Unlike this competition, Komiya Shoten uses quality textiles made in Japan and in-house artisans assemble its products using techniques dating back to the Meiji period (1868-1912).
“It takes at least five, six years to master the manufacture of an umbrella,” explains to AFP Ikko Tanaka, one of the craftsmen of the shop, delicately attaching a navy blue fabric to the ribs in carbon fiber of an umbrella.
Komiya Shoten also uses modern technologies, such as fabric coating materials to block sunlight almost 100%.
Its items are much more durable than ordinary products, but also much more expensive, costing the equivalent of several hundred euros.
Making Japanese umbrellas and parasols used to take weeks. They were made with wood, bamboo and traditional paper (washi), which was coated with oil to withstand the rain, which was often torrential in Japan.
But these techniques were gradually swept away with the importation of Western umbrellas from 1859, when Japan put an end to an isolationist policy which had lasted for more than two centuries.
These imported umbrellas were more expensive but became fashionable in Japan during the Meiji era, and local manufacturers adopted this style which was a symbol of modernity.
“Everyone who wanted to be chic dreamed of having one,” recalls Hiroyuki Komiya, 54, now head of the company his grandfather founded in 1930.
When plastic umbrellas imported from elsewhere in Asia flooded Japan from the late 1960s, Komiya Shoten almost went bankrupt, like many other similar boutique workshops.
The company managed to survive by launching into the very high-end niche segment, and by skillfully promoting its know-how on social networks.
Its business began to recover about ten years ago, and its products received a traditional craft label from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 2018.
Even if its sales remain modest, they are growing, including now thanks to parasols, to cope with increasingly hot Japanese summers.
“The number of male customers has increased significantly” also for parasols, although they were once seen as a typically feminine accessory, says Mr. Komiya.
09/13/2023 19:18:40 – Tokyo (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
