August 2025: To the 4th Year of the Awa Odori Festival
The First Step of BEYOND KIMONO
Our new collaboration, the POP UP BEYOND KIMONO, with "Awawa," a kimono shop from Naruto City, Tokushima Prefecture, has finally begun. The venue was the entrance of the "Poppo Gai" shopping street in front of Tokushima Station, a place with a retro, Showa-era feel, and the very spot where Awawa used to have their Tokushima branch eight years ago.
Wonderful Encounters
We had many wonderful encounters at this location.
A traveler from South Africa, visiting Japan for the first time, stopped by in Tokushima for the Awa Odori festival. He wanted to enjoy the festival in his first-ever kimono. He fell in love with a beautiful, easy-to-wear yukata and a stylish obi from Kyoto’s renowned Kondaya-genbei, both carried by Awawa. It was a truly joyful moment to be a part of someone's "first time," and his face was beaming as he repeatedly said, "Thank you so much!"
I was so happy to imagine this yukata and obi continuing their journey with him and traveling all the way back to South Africa. And perhaps, in his home country, they will become someone else's "first time seeing a kimono!" Just imagining that future makes my heart swell with a sense of a truly dreamlike encounter.
We also had a visit from a French madam from near Bordeaux, famous for its wine, who was also a first-time visitor to Japan. She, too, came to Tokushima for the Awa Odori festival. She was captivated by the beautiful JAPAN BLUE indigo color and the soft touch of an authentic silk haori from Awawa. She purchased the new IKI LUCA "Traveling Cape - JAPAN BLUE (MUJI)" saying it was so "chic and stylish!" The madam looked so cute and adorable with the cape draped over her shoulders.
France is one of my favorite countries, and it was a strange and delightful feeling to think that this traveling cape would be heading back to France with her. I wished I could go with it! This encounter solidified my resolve to work even harder, hoping that more people in France will come to know and love the beautiful Japanese indigo, JAPAN BLUE someday.
IKI LUCA’s Traveling Capes and other items from the JAPAN BLUE series, such as HAORI and other garments, were also a hit. They were especially popular because customers could easily incorporate "和, WA" (Japanese style) and the beautiful indigo of JAPAN BLUE into their daily lives back home.
In addition to our international visitors, we were also visited by many local travelers and, of course, our dear friends.
To the Next Step
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped make BEYOND KIMONO such a success. I truly hope we can bring BEYOND KIMONO vol. 2 to life next year.
Let’s meet again in this same place next summer.
