Hello, I'm the owner of shokunin.com, Shinya Sakurai. I was born in Toyama Japan on 23rd February in 1981 and grew up in Singapore and Kyoto Japan. The reason why I started this enterprise is that I lived in Singapore from the age of eight to the age of fifteen due to my parents' circumstances, and I could see Japan from outside. While I was a student, I had traveled alone to America and Europe, going through around 20 countries.

Although Japan has such a big economical influence, surprisingly, its culture isn't well known. In general, only tempura and sushi are known. Even the foreign lady who has lived in Japan for 3 years, remembered only one word in Japanese "katsudon (bowl of rice with a pork cutlet)" after thinking for a long time. She repeated the word many times with a real joy that she could remember it, but I felt Japanese things aren't known at all. Like this, people aren't interested at all in what the Japanese are usually doing, what they think, and what kind of culture they have.

I felt that by promoting Japanese culture abroad, letting the other people know the modern culture and the traditional culture of Japan, individuals can understand each other simply through hobbies, compared to the complex issues between countries. In fact, a French friend's boyfriend is a big fan of Japanese comics, and he knows about it much more than I do. He even listens to Japanese punk rock music.

He might not know about Japanese traditional culture, but he is able to have some points in common by his knowledge of ife of the Japanese through comics. If he meets Japanese people, he can be frank with them immediately just because he knows about Japanese comics. It is really simple for individuals to know each other.

The children I've met in China. I went to their house.

Also, during the 7 years I spent in Singapore, I felt the still deep-rooted anti-Japanese feelings. The problems are not solved even 60 years after the end of the war. It was the same in Korea and China. Even though we got friendly and were talking together, once the conversation got round to politics, they often got angry with the color of their faces changing.

However, with the huge success of "Winter sonata" (A popular Korean drama that was broadcaast in Japan),, a huge number of Japanese are now interested in Korea, visiting there, starting to understand its culture. One TV drama has achieved something inn a moment the heads of the countries involved haven't been able to do for the past 60 years!

The influence that entertainment has on society is such a strong force, and I feel that Korea, which had been a very distant country even though the physical distance from Japan is small, got a whole lot closer in 2004. I hope Korea and Japan get even closer, riding on this positive wave. If we loose this chance, there might be many decades before we have the next chance.

On the other hand, Japan has less and less craftsmen that carry on traditions important to Japanese culture. In such a situation, there will eventually be no people able to keep important cultural things going, and the culture will gradually be lost. This is really quite a problem, I think. The younger generation is in a rich society, and have a lots of choices theseday. They can coast through life without working to hard.

Kyoto's beautiful streets

In times like these, there are less and less people becoming craftsmen, inheriting their parents crafts and skills. I thought it was important that we shouldn't loose Japanese traditional culture. I thought if I introduce the works of many skilled Japanese craftsmen to society, I can give young people the chance to experience and enjoy the works that they produce. Then craftsmen will increase in number, traditional crafts will revive, and we can show more wonderful culture to the world.

I thought, if the young people of Japan and the world understand each other through their hobbies, the friendship between individuals will go carry on down to the next generation. By providing a means to enjoy today's Japanese crafts, I want to be a bridge between the world and Japan.

When I starting the company, I also established a stock company in America to help me achive my aim of promoting Japanese culture abroad, and to help peopel have a wider perspective of looking at Japan form other places in the world. I established it with the capital of 0 dollar in the country of venture, America. As a result, it was good because people are impressed, saying, "You established a company in America! I don't know what it's like but it's awesome. I also get a lot of support from the craftsmen who want to sell their products to the world.

As time goes on I'd like to continue to introduce the very best craftsmen. Beside the products, I want to introduce what craftsmen actually think and feel when creating such fabulous works. I hope I can introduce to you as many skilled craftsmen as I possibly can. Your support in this great venture is much appreciated.

G&W, Inc. Representative director & president Shinya Sakurai

We hope for complete understanding between Japan and the world.

Who we are.
shokunin.com is an online site that supports the survival of Japanese crafts by providing a place for artisans to sell their work. Our mission is to serve as a bridge between local craftspeople and the world, so more people will be able to appreciate the beauty of traditional crafts as they live on today.
The company was started in 2004 from the strong desire to expose ‘Japan as it is today’ to the rest of the world, so that people around the world will be able to see Japan more for what it is than what it has been.
Presently (fall of 2007) shokunin.com supports the works of more than 30 artisans, mostly from the Kyoto area where the company is based. 

What we do.
The craftsmen featured on shokunin.com have applied their traditional skills to contemporary society by making new products that appeal more to the modern market. The challenge they face may be to balance appeal and tradition--to make products relevant to contemporary society without compromising the history of their craft. Many of our associate artisans seem to have either overcome that challenge or use the income that they can get from their new products in order to continue with their strict traditional crafts. It is becoming increasingly difficult for people to make a living out of traditional crafts due to cheap mass production and the Japanese society’s tendency to favor Western products, and we hope to provide the opportunity for artisans to find a means to survive through the innovation of their skill.
There is no fee involved for the craftsmen who list their products on shokunin.com. Whatever the artisan’s fee is, shokunin.com sells for 30% extra, and thus the artisan does not lose anything in this transaction.
We also put emphasis on the artisans themselves, by including interviews and detailed biographies so that customers fully understand the intentions and histories behind the crafts that they are looking at. It is easy for tradition to become an icon that signifies meaning or beauty, so we feel the importance of giving the face behind our crafts.
Many traditional artisans are unfamiliar with the Internet and do not speak English, so it is hard for them to communicate with an international market. We hope to act as a voice for them in order to get more people outside of Japan interested in their custom hand-made crafts.

Where we’re going.
Our immediate goal is to increase international exposure. Most of our current customers are Japanese, although we do have an English site and an associate website in France. We are presently working to renew the English site by revising the English, making it more user friendly and introducing more artisans.
Eventually, we hope to have non-virtual opportunities for the artisans to show their work as well, such as having exhibitions where they can meet with local people in various countries to explain their crafts.