Furniture
Ha! So I haven’t updated in a while (an astute observation, don’t you think?) The reason- I have been totemo isogashii (very busy.) How so? Well, I have been changing jobs, buying property and gallivanting around the globe a bit. Not very good excuses I know, however, here I am now, if only for a brief post.
I have noticed that other than for Manga/Anime, South Africans are generally oblivious to the differences between all things Japanese and Chinese. In fact the only “Japanese” you’ll find around here is Sushi and if you lucky some Tempura. This is depressing as I am looking around for some unique furniture for my new nest, but all I see is Chinese-like artefacts. Now there is nothing wrong with that in itself, unless you are very particular about finding Japanese items and the dealers have no idea what you are talking about. The local interweb has nothing on it either or are just too well hidden from plebs like myself.
What things am I talking about? Well, first of all genuine tatami made of woven soft rush straw and packed with rice straw and NOT the mats used for sparing in dojo’s, Shoji screens and lanterns, Japanese fine art, noren and stepchests for starters. In fact, it is so difficult to find anything worthwhile that I am even considering to opening my own Nippon Mise (Japan shop.) Unless I am not looking hard enough. Any suggestions are welcome. If I do find something, I will try to post about them here.
January 24th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Yeah, judging from the size of Japanese community in SA, it must be difficult to find Japanese things there. However, you may be surprised what you can find in SA. In the 17th, 18th century, many merchants stopped at Cape Town on their journey back from Asia. Some merchants sold or exchanged their merchandise in Cape Town, so there are many rare-findings in South Africa. A Japanese person I knew living in Joburg collected “koimari” (japanese porcelain), and was amazed to find many koimari in South Africa sold for close to nothing (because most people didn’t know the value of koimari). So you’ll never know! You might come across a rare treasure
Btw, there is a South African ceramic artist in Joburg that makes Japanese pottery. I think the Daruma restaurant in Pretoria uses his works..
January 31st, 2009 at 12:29 am
Wow pansy that is great info! Thank you for sharing