We all wore matching happi coats and went to our annual first shrine visit of the year. As you pass through the large torii gate and enter the approach to the shrine, your feet get stuck in the fine gravel, which is a bit depressing, but if you close your eyes and listen to the crunching sound as you walk, you get the illusion that you are walking on something natural, different from snow or a sandy beach. Calculating the right size and amount of gravel to even artificially create a sense of space is a very Japanese approach to craftsmanship and is very comfortable. They enter the shrine, line up in a horizontal row, sit in seiza, and pray for safety and prosperity in business for the year. Once you've done everything you can, the rest is simply a matter of praying to the gods for good luck, but as the sounds of the priest chanting prayers and the swishing of offerings go back and forth above your head, your legs give out from the unfamiliar seiza position and your head goes numb, and you realize, "Ah, another year has begun." The approach to the shrine is lined with food stalls and bustling with worshippers, but the taut, tense atmosphere is the same as always, making you stand up straight. It's an annual tradition for people to ask for everything from one end of the stall to the other - hot One Cup sake, yakisoba, takoyaki, motsu-ni, okonomiyaki, yakitori, etc. - and end up completely drunk and shivering in the cold. When I think about it, this year marks the 15th anniversary of KOMA's founding. I think it's been a good run considering I went independent on a whim with absolutely no plan. When I first went independent, all the work I got was stuff where I was told, "You don't need to worry about quality, just do it cheaply and quickly!", which made me feel frustrated, so I remembered my apprenticeship days when I was given a good environment to create things, and stubbornly continued making works that I had no hope of selling. We spent eight years doing our best just to continue like this, and finally, seven years ago, we were finally able to start taking on the challenge of creating our own products. At that time, we were suddenly given the 45 square meter main stage at Isetan Shinjuku store, which became a great opportunity. It was only five years ago in 2013 that they opened a small, 33-square-meter directly managed store, KOMAshop, and began selling their long-awaited in-house products. Looking at it this way, we are reminded once again that we are still newcomers. There are many long-established intellectual establishments and shops in the Aoyama area, and when I was a student I would often look around with admiration. In fact, my partner Kamei wanted to be a craftsman but interviewed at a furniture store and was rejected. Each long-running shop has its own originality, and my feelings as a fan still remain strong within me. Now, we are very happy that students and young furniture craftsmen like us back then come to visit our shop from all over the country, and it motivates us to do our best so that they don't get disappointed. On this day, I returned to the workshop and drank again. Everyone writes their New Year's resolutions in calligraphy, which are then framed and displayed in the office. It's funny because when you're drunk you feel like you're getting bigger and writing in a more grown-up way. This is a new event that started this year. On this day, the second KOMA1-GP was held. The theme was "Trash Can" and I won again, winning 10,000 yen, but Mai Takeuchi said, "You're spending too much on expenses!" and it was confiscated before I could put it in my wallet. So what's going to happen this year? I hope that we can move forward so far that last year will seem like a distant memory, and that we can all make lots of fun memories that will allow us to drink delicious sake together 10 years from now! We conducted our regular event visiting shrine for the first time in 2018 wearing matching happi coat. Walking the graveled approach to the shrine after passing Torii gate would make me feel dull, however, I would feel an illusory image walking over the natural matter different from snow or sand when I walk with my eyes closed. I would feel comfortable with the example of Japanese manufacturing idea which artificially makes people's feeling in consideration with appropriate size and amount of gravels. We got Japanese shine devotions asking for safe and prosperity in 2018 on the main building of shine sitting in a single row in the correct manner on a Japanese tatami mat. It would be a kind of superstition to rely on gods after doing all we can do, I would realize the beginning of year 2018 as "well, new year has started" when hearing shine priest's reciting a Shinto prayer and sounds of staff with plaited paper streamers shaken over heads and my feet going to sleep to the limit. Despite food stands lined up and many sonship-visitors, the atmosphere of the approach of the shrine filled with a sense of tense made me straight up as usual. With a cup of hot Japanese sake, I would try every single kind of food provided by food stands including flied noodles, octopus dumpling, tripe hotpot, Japanese-style pancake, chicken skewers, then I have gotten drunken as usual beginning of the year. Thanks to clients and stakeholders, 2018 is 15th anniversary of KOMA. I would be a bit surprised for KOMA to be sustained given it was established with high impetus without careful considerations. Products in the beginning would be ordered as "Please provide products quickly and cheaply because we do not care so much about their quality", which made me vexing, thus, I have stuck to keep making products without any expectations of sales, remembering good environment given to me while my training period. After 8 years just sustaining KOMA, we have been allowed to challenge to make own products for 7 years. It was big opportunity for KOMA to have exhibition at 45 square matter main stage of Isetan Shinjuku store, offered at the beginning of own products. It was just 5 years ago, when 2013, 33 square meter KOMAshop was opened to sell own products. Reviewing the sequence of events, I have re-realized we are just new comers. There are many long-standing interior shops around Aoyama area which I have snooped wth admiration when we were student. Actually, one furniture shop declined the application as craftsman of Kamei. Long-standing shops have been keeping their originality, I continue to be a fun of them. Now, we are delighted to see for students and young craftsmen for furnitures across Japan to visit out shop, like us long time ago. And we would like to be deserved for their view. The day we visited the shrine, we went back to our factory and drink alcohol again. We conducted the Japanese traditional First Writing of the year which was shown in the flame. They are interesting because we tend to write down stretched goals given alcohol make us generous. This is brand new event we have started this year. We made send KOMA-1 GP on the day. The theme was "Trash Box", which I won again. The top prize JPY10,000 was immediately confiscated before putting into my wallet due to Takeuchi Mai-chan's comment "you have spent too much expenses!" I would wonder and be excited to what will happen this year. I would like to proceed further as 2017 becomes to loom in the distance and make many memorable matters so that we are able to enjoy our drinking party in 10 years !
