Traditional Turkish handicrafts famous among Japanese

Japanese writer Ikumi Nonaka moved to Turkey 23 years ago because of her interest in handicrafts. After she married a Turkish man, who she had met in Antalya, Nonaka published a novel in Japan about Turkish customs and traditions, handicrafts and cultural heritage. Japanese tourists who were inspired by her novel asked Nonaka to take them to Turkey and show them the country. In response, Nonaka organized a trip for four Japanese tourists to visit certain areas in Turkey, starting with Bursa. They also went to a neighborhood in İznik and dressed in local attire, while spending three days in the village. They even learned how to make traditional handicrafts, such as point lace, which they did skillfully. Moreover, the tourists milked goats and drank coffee in the coffee house in the village.



Nonaka said in her first years in Turkey she gained information about local life through conversations with local women. She explained that she learned how to speak Turkish from the courses she attended in Turkey and Japan. "We go to villages where we don't know anyone. Despite this fact, people still invite us for a cup of tea or for a meal. Sometimes, people even invite you to stay over. In Japan, we have lost such manners. No one would show such courtesy to people who they don't know; it was the case in the past. This courtesy and hospitality caught my attention and because of this, I love Turkey very much."

After the tour, emphasizing that the food was delicious, Nonaka added: "I have observed traditional weddings and circumcision feasts in villages rather than in cities. Nonetheless, increasingly, these traditions are disappearing from villages, too. People living in villages are migrating to cities. I just want to highlight the importance of protecting and upholding our [Turkish] traditions."

Nonaka said Turkey's culture, food and tea were quite different from that in Japan. She said, "Turkish people drink a lot of tea every day," pointing out that there are many Turkish traditions that do not exist in Japanese culture. Nonaka stressed that the handicraft that caught her attention the most was point lace and that she had last seen similar handicrafts being done by her grandmother. Underscoring that Japanese people love traditional handicrafts, Nonaka added that those handicrafts were sadly being forgotten.



"Last year, I published a book about point lace in Japan. People who read my book were really interested in meeting the women doing point lace and coming to Müşküle," Nonaka said, emphasizing that she has been working hard to introduce traditional Turkish handicrafts to Japan. After living in Turkey for more than two decades, she said she is used to Turkish food and that she loved "white beans over rice" the most.

One of the Japanese tourists who visited Turkey with Nonaka, Savako Nishimura, said she has been frequenting a Turkish language course in Japan for one-and-a-half years and that she has been researching point lace. Moreover, after learning about point lace, she has been practicing it with her friends. "I came to Turkey to learn more about point lace," Nishimura said.