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Copyright © 2006, David Nuttall

Anyone who has ever been to a convention within the UK will know the name Akemi Solloway, even more than that, most people interested in Japan within the UK will know the name. For years now she has attended events such as these and ran her own sessions introducing English people to Japan and vice versa.

As I am shortly starting a 4 year Japanese and Business course and have been to many conventions but never had the chance to check out any of Akemi’s sessions unfortunately, so I felt that this was the time to make sure I did.

I attended two sessions ‘Kimono and Tea Ceremony’ and the ‘Calligraphy and Origami’ both I found incredibly interesting. It was obvious how experienced she was when the session started, she began by getting the group to interact with each other and getting us to explain why exactly we had come to the session and what interested us in Japan. Once we’d all been through the motions she started off by giving us a brief history about Kimono’s and Japan.

Facts about Kimono’s learned from the session:

• Silk Kimono’s cannot be washed

Akemi herself was wearing a silk kimono and explained that if it had to be washed it had to be unstitched first and then once it had been washed it would have to be stitched back up again. Hence they go to great lengths to keep them clean, often carrying cloths around with them to keep them from getting dirty.

• Sleeve Length
  Married women like Akemi have kimono’s with short sleeves whilst single women will have kimono’s with longer sleeves.

• Kimono’s do not use buttons or zips
  Generally they are tied and fastened with string

• Tabi
  Name given to the special socks work with the kimono (stiff on the bottom and are shaped around the big toe.

• Obi
  Belt around the centre of the kimono

• Rectangular Yukata
  Whereas in America and Europe it is beautiful to have a curvy figure. In Japan a rectangular figure is considered best, this is why the bulky obi is wrapped around the centre. Also women usually have their hair up as the Japanese see the back of the neck as sexy. This is also why a lot of Japanese women cover the back of their necks with white paint.

• Left flap always goes over the right side when putting on the kimono, unless you are dead

• The Japanese do not like individuality
  Different knots used for different seasons/ occasions

After explaining it was time for a demonstration, one girl was taken from the group and Akemi dressed her in a kimono, showing us how it was done. Once she’d been through the motions, her assistant ‘Taka’ then demonstrated the process for a male wearing a kimono, again using a volunteer from the group.
These volunteers were then allowed to wear their kimonos until the end of the session.

After this demonstration and talk we moved briefly onto tea ceremonies, we could not have a demonstration for this as you have to actually be in the right kind of room to see this.
She did however talk us through what would happen at a tea ceremony and gave us some history.

• Tea Ceremonies came about in the 15th century and were actually started by Top Class Samurai
• You cannot carry a sword into a tea room, this made tea ceremonies good for political meetings
• Tea Ceremonies today still stick to tradition, this means that they cannot use an electric kettle.

Once this session was done we were allowed a five minute break or opportunity to leave before the next session began.

More people had come in this time and the same process pursued with Akemi asking the new members of the group to explain to her why they were there what interested them etcetera. She seems genuinely interested in why people have come to her sessions and what they are hoping to gain from it, which is nice and proactive of her really.

• At the age of 6 children learn origami at school as it helps stimulate the mind
• Mother’s usually start teaching their children from the ages of ¾
• The Japanese make the origami crane to wish friends better
• Once a crane is made, you usually blow into the hole at the bottom

After we had learned a bit about origami it was time to get practical and have a go ourselves.
Akemi demonstrated with a large piece of paper at the front what to do and her and her two assistants would go around between each stage to make sure everyone was getting it right.
The whole process was pretty long and in places very complex, but at the same time it was very interesting and to be honest I never thought my crane would turn out looking like a crane, so when it did at the end I felt pretty proud of myself!

Once everyone was sorted with their cranes we moved briefly onto calligraphy as time was running out.
We were shown how to draw the kanji for 1 to 3 with a brush and we then were shown general popular kanji words, which we copied down from the board as you would in a class room environment.

Once finished another 5 minute break was given. This was my stop, I would have loved to have stayed for all 5 hours but unfortunately I had other panels to visit and take notes on so I left.

I thoroughly enjoyed Akemi’s sessions they were informative and flowed easily, she wasn’t nervous at all, as I said earlier her experience in giving these type of presentations really showed.
They were interactive and a lot of fun and because of the way we learned it’s probably stuff that will stick in my mind in years to come.

If you ever get a chance to see one of Akemi’s sessions I highly recommend you go.

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