The Tajimi pottery festival was held on April 10 and 11 with good and attractions on display around our city. A large number of pottery lovers gathered to look through the stands crammed with all kinds of ceramics, including the Mino ware the area is famous for. Street performers lured large crowds, showing of everything from acrobatics and juggling to balance acts and musical performances. Tajimi is situated in the middle of the world's largest production area for ceramics, and vertically every kind of goods are produced here due to the very rich deposits of high quality clay.

The festival area is spread out from the station all the way to the old City Hall. There was a large variety of food stands, cafés and restaurants serving the visitors, and the beer was extra tasty in the warm spring day.

A new high-profile project to promote the city's proud ceramics tradition was present in the form of the four main characters in the upcoming animated series for TV, Yakunara Mug Cup Mo ("Let's make a mug cup too"). Look here for a collection of promotional films and trailers we have produced for the series.

There are plenty opportunities to be surprised when you stroll around the area (the walk from the station to the end of the festival area takes around twenty minutes). For example, when I stepped into one of the shops I discovered this beautiful garden at the back. There is also a café in the same shop with a view over the garden. I also discovered a table full of miniatures of historic, traditional pottery, and had a great conversation with the potter himself. The little plates are popular and sell for 3,000 yen a piece, he told me.

Over the summer you can savor a deluxe style kakigōri (a Japanese shaved ice dessert flavored with syrup and a sweetener, often condensed milk) at the Tajimi Kakigōri shop in Ichinokura, in the hills above Tajimi city. The city is famous as the hottest town in Japan, and it's on those very warm days you really appreciate a large serving of kakigōri, which cools your body to a more pleasant temperature. In spite of record breaking temperatures, the heat in Tajimi feels a lot more bearable than in big cities like Tokyo, for example. This may have something to do with all the lush greenery, the water, and the natural environment. Still, a serving of kakigōri is always a welcome refreshment!

​The Tajimi Kakigōri Shop (Map here) is adjacent to the company's small but very cozy ceramic shop and serves the cool dessert in fine ceramic bowls. This is a new concept since kakigōri is usually sold at street stands in the simplest possible fashion.

The shop is located up in the hills, a fairly long ride by car from Tajimi Station, but if you are interested in fine ceramics you can combine the kakigōri excursion with a visit to the adjacent ceramics shop, which is also a very pleasant experience with its fresh and modern wooden interior and fine selection.

Water is served in a special kind of Tokkuri (Traditional Sake Serving Bottle) called "Uguisu Dokkuri", with a tiny bird - a Japanese bush warbler - on top that will chirp after you have poured the water into the cup. It's not a coincidence that fine porcelain is used. Marumo Takagi Touki Century, the company running the shop, is operating Japan's largest ceramics showroom a five minutes drive from the café. The showroom is for industrial buyers only, but individuals are welcome to visit the ceramics shop next doors to the kakigōri café. The shop, Utsuwa no Mise Takagi, is unmanned, so you will need to use the phone at the front to call for the staff.

Tajimi Kakigōri
Opening hours: The café is open until October 8, 11.00 - 17.00, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
Location: See map here.