Hasta La Ideas

From a vessel that represents a region’s talents to a neighborhood of exemplary mills

Japan‘s Setouchi region—from the namesake town to the serene Seto Inland Sea—offers a concentration of high-quality crafts, denim and food. On our CH Japan guided excursion, we explored it from the pristine guntû floating ryokan to various day trips on foot. Nearly everything on guntû is from Setouchi, including furniture, ceramics, textiles, food and even the wood used on the ship. The rattan chairs in the tea room were inspired by a vintage design that’s no longer in production, but was very successfully recreated. The elegance of the items, and their harmony together, epitomize the vision of guntû’s parent company, DISCOVERLINK.

One of our most memorable experiences on the Seto Inland Sea involved disembarking on tiny speed boats from the guntû and making our way to a Okamoto Soy Sauce factory, in the town of Shiromizu on the island of Osakikamijima. To learn the process behind the beloved condiment provided lasting insight and enjoyment. After our tour, we dined under the open skies and ate fresh fare from the sea.

The denim industry also has a high concentration of mills in the area and Kojima, a neighborhood of Kurashiki, is known as Jeans Street and features dozens of denim brands and their stores. One unique shop is Onomichi Denim Project, which mostly sells jeans that have been worn for a year by a local, creating truly one-of-a-kind pants that are imbued with the spirit of Setouchi.

Kaihara is one of the largest denim mills in the area and produces some of our favorite specialty denim. A visit to the mill is a great opportunity to see how various types of denim are fabricated and, if you’re fortunate enough to see their massive denim archive and reference library (as we were), it’s an experience in sensory and tactile overload.

Images by Josh Rubin