No.29
Where creativity meets community.
This is a record from the time of publication. Events, availability, prices and booking methods may differ from the current information.
Around Sunday, November 15, when the Kobe Marathon is held, the city hosts a run of events where you can meet handmade things and creative work. Find old treasures, see films, and peek into the places where things are made. Three picks, also for those visiting Kobe.
LOCAL NEWS
Old things, carried into new lives.
Kobe Flea Market
Saturday, November 14 and Sunday, November 15, 11:30-17:00
KIITO Hall (1-4 Onohamacho, Chuo-ku)
Free admission
For its 4th edition, 56 shops from across Japan gather, with vintage tableware and interior goods, used clothing and accessories, alongside handmade goods, bread and baked sweets. The venue, KIITO, is a renovated former raw silk testing center.
Meeting today's independent filmmakers.
Kobe Independent Film Festival
Saturday, November 14 from 13:00 / Sunday, November 15 from 10:30
2F Hall, Shinkaichi Art Hiroba (5-3-14 Shinkaichi, Hyogo-ku)
A film festival where you can discover independent films from Japan and abroad. Along with screening programs that bring together short films, a Japan-Korea exchange program is planned for the 15th. On November 11, the official website also announced the guests scheduled to appear on stage.
Tickets are paid and sold per program; check prices and reservations on the festival's official website. Late entry after a screening has started is not allowed.
Behind the factory doors, the town's creativity.
Kobe Open Factory
Friday, November 13 and Saturday, November 14, 10:00-17:00
Participating factories, workshops and studios around Nagata and Hyogo wards
An event to tour factories, workshops and studios around Nagata and Hyogo wards and see making up close. You can watch work you would not usually see, talk with the makers, and at some places try making something yourself.
No registration is needed in principle, but some workshops require advance booking and a fee. Participating days and activities differ by location, so check the official map. There is no parking, so please use public transport. Cancelled in stormy weather.
Column by the Third Generation
New possibilities, beginning at our guesthouse.
Recently, a film crew stayed with us for a long time. Through that connection, I remembered again that I, too, used to be involved in making things, in video streaming and as an author's manager.
For some time, I have focused on caring for the old guesthouse and keeping it running day to day. After a period when my hands were full just protecting what we have, I now want to gradually expand what I can do by drawing on my past experience.
Video streaming, web and system development. Some of these I am already working on, but I would also like to share local culture and interesting activities, with the guesthouse as the starting point.
For people creating work based in Kobe, I am also thinking of offering spaces in the guesthouse, such as the garage and shared spaces, as studios and places to make things. A place to stay that is also a place to create. I would be glad if the activities of people staying here become new points of contact with the community.
Beyond creative work, I want to help older people with their smartphones and computers, running errands of that kind, and, by sharing what I have felt through caring for family, help spread understanding of dementia.
They may look unrelated, but the feeling behind them is the same: I want to use my experience and skills for the people around me.
While cherishing the guesthouse handed down over many years, I hope to slowly grow it into an open, airy place where people visit, something is born, and it connects out into the town.
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