56 | The History of Glass: Japanese Glass Manufacturers and Handmade Glass Factories 26

Hello everyone 🎵

How did you spend Golden Week? I spent my time relaxing, riding the Tadami Line, which is known as a hidden railway in Japan, playing tennis, and going to see a movie with my wife 🎵

Recently, I've been talking about Kamei Glass, which has had a huge impact on the Japanese glass market and greatly expanded it. In a sense, while it was a wholesaler like Kimoto Glass, it challenged itself to develop products and find its own procurement routes under the KAMEI brand.

Regarding manufacturers for procurement, I've talked about France, Germany, and Czech Republic/Slovakia. This time, I'd like to talk about manufacturers in Eastern European countries such as Hungary, Poland, and Romania.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia separated and became republics in 1993 (Heisei 4). For a long time, glass from these countries was exclusively sold by a trading company affiliated with Mitsubishi Corporation, which controlled distribution and prices in Japan. After entering the free world, each factory developed and sold its own products, and they began to be imported into Japan from various sources.

On the other hand, glass from Hungary, Poland, and Romania was only imported in very small quantities by some small trading companies, treated more like folk art.

Kamei Glass, with its product development and procurement teams, visited unexplored factories one by one, developed products, and imported them into Japan. I also accompanied the Kamei Glass team to Eastern European countries around 2000, and it was a grueling trip that is unimaginable by today's standards (lol). I packed my suitcase full of cup noodles and other food. There were no decent restaurants back then. There were only one or two Japanese restaurants in Budapest, Hungary, one in Warsaw, Poland, and none in Romania. Even when we went to restaurants, the tables, knives, and forks were pitch black, so we started by wiping them with the tissues we brought. The ingredients were limited, and we were lucky to get chicken. There was no pasta even in Italian restaurants! The oil used was subtle, and the seasoning was not very good. On the other hand, the scenery during the 이동 between factories was superb 🎵 I still remember going to Holland during Golden Week. In a vast plain, rape blossoms bloomed like a yellow carpet, and in the middle of it, a single pink cherry tree was in full bloom. It was a wonderful, heavenly sight, unlike anything on this earth.

Next time, I will talk about the glass factories, which is the main topic.