Day 2 in Japan

The second day of my visit to Japan was spent in class at the factory of the Aida Corporation.  The class was taught by Ryota, who most of us had met at the Art Clay Conference in Jersey in October 2009.  He is a very skilled technician.  He taught us a beading technique for stone setting.  Here he is demonstrating how to hold and twist a drill bit keeping it upright and at right angles to the clay.

In the evening most of us went for a traditional Teppanyaki.  Above you can see Koskai beginning to cook the first dishes and here Ryota also cooking.  The food is cooked on a hotplate set level into each table.  It was a very sociable way of cooking with everyone tasting each dish.