Articles of Diary of manager

Kokeshi Dolls

Our indefatigable hero, Takahiko Saito, is in a rare position for the average Japanese guy in a managerial position - he's a desk manager at Apartments 33, serviced apartments for mainly foreign clientele. In Takahiko's diary this month, he talks about some of the arts and crafts of Japan - in particular kokeshi dolls - and mentions some foreign residents he knows who have a real passion for them.

Tony-san and Itske-san came in and gave me their usual warm "ohayou gozaimasu, Saito-san!" this morning, so today is definitely Sunday. They had a bunch of bags with them - they love the flea markets and bazaars opened around Tokyo on Sunday mornings. Today they visited the markets in Yoygi Park, near Harajuku, usually open most Sundays. I think those markets are quite popular with a lot of the foreign residents of Tokyo.

Tony-san and Itske-san are a lovely married couple. Tony-san is often quite busy with work, flying all over the world. They are really into Japanese traditional folk specialties, particularly 'kokeshi' dolls and Japanese prints, so much so that they have even had essays published in books on these subjects. Their curiosity and willingness to learn is really impressive; they often come down to the Front Desk and ask us about pronunciations of Japanese names and for explanations of Japanese stories. They really know their stuff now - they often can tell the region where a piece was made by just looking at its pattern and shape.

Coming from Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, nearby an area famous for kokeshi dolls, I was actually able to help them out with their questions the first time they came down and asked about the dolls, and we have developed a nice familiarity from there. Knowing a little bit about the place names on the dolls as well as the poems and haiku that often accompany them has provided us with a lot to talk about, meaning we chat a fair bit.

A while back, speaking with my mother about Tony-san and Itske-san, she said, "If they would like them, why don't you give them the kokeshi dolls that your grandparents brought home from their honeymoon trip. I'm sure your grandparents would have liked that - knowing that the dolls and the memories they keep will be traveling around the world."

It sounded like a nice idea, so I gave the husband-and-wife pair dolls to Tony-san and Itske-san the next time I saw them, explaining my mother's and grandparents' attachment to them. Tony-san and Itske-san seemed very moved by the gift, and as a gift in return, Itske-san drew a pair of portraits of my elder brother who passed away two years ago now. My mother treasures these portraits dearly.

Anyway, later on in the day, Itske-san came down again to the Front Desk and showed me some new dolls they had bought. They were dolls carved from wood, from the Mt Fuji region. Looking at the name of one of them, I could see that it had the name of a famous yakuza leader (and his followers) from Shimizu in Shizuoka Prefecture written on the front. Although the group he led is called 'yakuza', he was apparently a very popular man in the community. I later found some information about festivals and events in the region by phone and on the internet and passed them to Tony-san and Itske-san.

Sunday, June 30, 2002

Weather: Muggy and overcast (still...)

I saw Tony-san and Itske-san again today as usual, but this time they had some pictures to show. Having a look, I saw their smiling faces in amongst all the activity of the Jirocho Festival in Shimizu! I was happily surprised to see how quickly they had gone and got into the spirit of the festivals.

*Kokeshi

Kokeshi dolls are simple and pretty wooden dolls. They are a specialty of the Tohoku region (6 prefectures in the north-east of Honshu) and Gunma Prefecture. The dolls are really toys for children, although they are quite popular with collectors. They are often sold to visitors of hot springs (onsen) to take home as souvenirs, and the dolls of each prefecture have their own particular characteristics.

Takahiko Saito works for Apartments 33, 'a high-quality apartment building created for your pleasant urban lifestyle' - http://www.apartments33.co.jp/ - serviced apartments in convenient Shinagawa, Tokyo. These 'diary entries' come from Takahiko's experiences on the job.