An Importance of Nakama

There was an online meeting for the Wood Festival (WF) the other day. It was mainly focused on reviewing the WF that took place in October. Three main points were discussed: an explanation of the costs, reflections on them, improvement points, and suggestions based on the results of the vendors survey. Given the fact of individual work and physical distances, it had been a while since last time (with some participating only through text). As expected, it took about two and a half hours. Looking back, it seemed long, but it felt reasonable. Communication is important, after all.

Didn't Feel Like The Industry Has Been Declining

I believe I mentioned this before, but about 90% of WF members are non-local. I'm from Osaka, and there are people from Nara city and even the neighboring village. The person from the neighboring village is also originally from Osaka. I think there might be only one or two members from the local Yoshino area. It's an event perceived from an outsider's perspective, composed mostly of external members. That's what WF is. Probably, if it had been an event with only locals conception, it might have been more focused on wood. It might have highlighted the current situation in the forestry industry more prominently. While there might have been demand for that in the past, the situation has changed. Now, what the industry values and what end users prioritize are somewhat disconnected. Let me give you a further explanation, people in the industry still emphasize the quality of wood with the same criteria as in the past: color, shape, presence of knots, and so on. However, consumers don't necessarily care as much about these three aspects. The number of people willing to pay extra for the high quality of these three characters has significantly decreased due to the prevailing foreign wood and chemical alternatives like plastic. For consumers, as long as it looks like wood, it satisfies them. For example, stores like IKEA or Nitori(a Japanese furniture giant).
I genuinely think it's great that the event was organized from an amateur perspective. It was made possible thanks to the organizers and fellow team members.

Groove of Nakama

That's why I think it was enjoyable even for those were not familiar with wood. The conservativeness and sense of decline in the lumber industry and other such things don't really matter. Because those are not what users are concerned about. Although the members for the first WF and now are different (I don't know much about the initial members), the groove of current team made me want to continue making the next WF interesting.

Bye!