Bunaco Part 2

「日本語は下のほう：」
After being in Aomori for this long, I've started running out of new things to do and have started repeating certain activities again. This time, I went BACK to Hirosaki to visit the Bunaco workshop again. For those who don't know about Bunaco, read the previous article here.

Here we are again...

This time around, it was summer, and the workshop was missing the piles of snow that were surrounding it last time. I hardly even recognized the place.

Where... is this???

As we walked inside, I saw the same lady that guided us the last time. She exclaimed, "Hey, you're back!" and I was surprised she recognized me. She didn't recognize Kristin though, and then I remembered that some Japanese people have a "white people all look alike" complex going on.

Look who it is again!

We had a short tour through the facility again, watching the workers wrap, sand, paint, and lacquer away at the various handmade pieces. The air smelled of sawdust and volatile solvents.

The sawdust gets EVERYWHERE!

We were then led to a table where we would again make our own bowls. Same as last time, we used a teacup to mold the shape of the bowl. Kristin and I tried a more difficult shape to get a different set of tableware to add to our collection. I swear I got the stiffest wound bowl out of them all, since the French girl was essentially done within 30 seconds of starting while I was cranking away with my entire body weight for half an hour.

A very nice macro shot.

After we finished, we paid another visit to the Bunaco showroom. One thing different I noticed this time around was the presence of the smooth jazz voice of Sade, played out of the recently developed Bunaco speaker system! WHAAAAA??!?!?!!?! Yeah, seriously, they made this jet-engine shaped stereo set out of Bunaco!

Where do I inject the jet fuel?

I was fascinated by their steam-punk looks and their excellent smooth sound, but I was less impressed by the name and price. I don't know if I'd rather buy a motorcycle or a pseudo-modern wooden sound system.

Would you pay $3000 for a Faggio?

We sat down for a nice long chat with the company president, who explained the various stores in Europe and America that carry his product and how the demand for style was different in different countries. Places varying from top-tier hotels in Tokyo to Starbucks cafes in Hirosaki and Aomori City all carry Bunaco products. Just as the French girl was dozing off, we called it a morning and headed back home.


青森に長くなれば、新しい経験が少なくなり、前の活動を繰り返ることもあります。今回、また弘前のブナコ工場に参りました。先のブナコ体験の詳しくはこちら。

今度こそは夏であり、前の雪の大盛りがなくてまったく違う所みたいでした！

中のほうに入ったら、知り合いのお姉さんが「おぉ、二回目ですか？」と言ってくれました。僕の顔を覚えるなんてびっくりしましたが、なぜクリスチンの彼女を気づかなかったでしょう？日本人が白人の顔を区別できないでしょうか？

お姉さんが工場の案内してもらって、職員の働いている姿を感動した。木屑と溶剤の匂いをしました。

テーブルにつれてもらって、もう一度ブナコのお椀を作りました。今度少し違うもっと難しい形を作ろうとしたが、いつもより硬く回した品物を手に入れたそうです。フランスの女性が３０秒で終わったけど、私が本気を出しても３０分かかりました。なんかおかしいです。。。

完成したらブナコのショールームのほうに参り、少し違う雰囲気でした。スムーズジャズのシャーデーの声が聞こえて何もおかしくないが、見回ったらなんとブナコのスピーカーが！！！！！間違いなくこのジェット機エンジンの形のステレオシステムがありました！

スティームパンクのシェイプもすてきなスムーズ音にも気になりましたが、名前と値段なら気に入らないね。モーターバイクかブナコスピーカー、どちら選ぶか私が悩みませんけどね。

その後 、会長さんと長い話をしました。色んな国の違うスタイルポイントのことを話したり、東京の高レベルホテルも青森県のスターバックスをブナコのものを使うことを聞きました。皆さんが少し眠くなり、フランスの女性があくびを出すところで終わりました。今回は午前までに交流が終わりましたので家に帰り休みました。