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Although the world is becoming more and more technologically advanced every day, many people in Japan are holding fast to the traditions of the past. While robots and machines can do a lot for us, they will never take the place of the men and women who carry on many of Japan’s traditional crafts, such as woodwork and sword-making.

Last weekend, YouTuber Sharla in Japan paid a visit to the Arakawa traditional handicraft festival in Tokyo and made a short video briefly showcasing a variety of these traditional goods.

We’ve introduced you to Sharla before on RocketNews24, when we shared her video discussing Japanese onomatopoeia. This time, the popular vlogger is once again focusing on some very Japanese things, but she has a very special guest.

▼ Amazing Traditional Japanese Craftwork

Japan is very proud of its traditional crafts and rightly so; they are all very intricate arts and require a high level of expertise to create. A four-minute video would not be enough to do justice to the explanation of even one of these trades.

That being said, the Arakawa traditional handicraft festival held July 3-5 had about 70 artisans introducing their wares. Since Sharla wasn’t out to create the longest video blog ever, she decided to just give very brief intros into a variety of crafts, instead of going in-depth. She saw all kinds of trades, which all seem very cool!

▼ A lot of traditional artisans gathered in one place, that’s pretty exciting!

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▼ This guy hand-paints silk for kimono.

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▼ Although many of crafts only get a few seconds of showtime, we get to see just enough to pique our interests.

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▼ Just because woodblock printing is an old-school craft, doesn’t mean it can’t have a contemporary touch! Well, hello there, R2-D2!

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▼ Wow, that’s confusing looking!

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▼ This artist is hand-carving a print of The Great Wave.

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▼ This booth was displaying the art of making shamisen, but Sharla couldn’t resist playing us some “Smoke on the Water.”

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While the video is brief and only gives snippets of some of the plethora of Japanese handicrafts, it’s definitely a nice piece for those unfamiliar with some of the age-old trades. For those interested in learning more, stay tuned to RocketNews24, as we like to give you the traditional stuff sometimes too!

Source: YouTube (Sharla in Japan) via ToyChan
Images: Screenshots from YouTube (Sharla in Japan), Arakawa City [Edited by RocketNews24]