Ishikawa

Ishikawa exists because craftspeople need centuries, not years. The Noto Peninsula hosts ten nationally designated traditional crafts—Wajima-nuri lacquerware (centuries of technique layered into each piece), Kutani porcelain, Kaga yuzen silk dyeing, gold leaf production (Kanazawa produces 99% of Japan's gold leaf). No other prefecture concentrates such variety and quantity of traditional craft production.

Then, on January 1, 2024, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake destroyed much of Noto. Over 400 died. Thousands of buildings collapsed, including studios where masters had spent lifetimes perfecting lacquer techniques. By February 2025, mobile phone data showed Wajima and Suzu populations had dropped 30%—far beyond official 10% estimates. Over 100 businesses closed, citing population outflows and slow reconstruction.

Kanazawa responded as craft cities must: offering displaced artisans ¥500,000 subsidies to establish new studios, waiving exhibition fees, organizing trade fairs in Tokyo galleries. The first recipient opened Urushi no Sato Ofuji gallery, functioning as both studio and reconstruction coordination base. Requests to visit private artisan studios through tourism programs doubled between 2023-2024. By 2026, Ishikawa tests whether craft traditions—which require generational transmission—can survive geographic displacement. The gold leaf techniques took centuries to develop; rebuilding the communities that sustain them may take decades.