let`s think brighter in 2022!

How are you? I trust you are enjoying a serene holiday season.
I wish you a very happy year-end, in the warmth of your family, and a shining beginning of the New Year. ＼(^o^)／
2021 has been a challenging one.
But “challenges” have always been part of our lives and always will be: as the hatred examinations when we were in school, every challenge helps us to improve and become stronger and wiser.

The trick is to maintain a positive attitude and remember that “thoughts create reality”: even in this long Covid parentheses, I trust you will treasure the positive facets of this situation and continue to keep an eye towards a brighter future and what we can do on a daily basis to make it happen.

I am wondering when we will be able to break free from the compulsory habit to wear a mask all the time.

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I am wondering when we will be able to break free from the compulsory habit to wear a mask all the time.

I know this is a topic that generates split opinions: my reflection is that as everything in life – also face masks – have a positive and a negative side.

The positive side is that it is somehow effective in blocking the propagation of viruses from saliva particles when we cough or sneeze. (and helps keep the face warm for people living in cold climates ;）

The negative side is: reduced communication/body language and that sense of “original sin” and cortisol-filled atmosphere of worry and negative outlook that it evokes. (and sometimes uncritical habits make more damage than atomic bombs)

In Japan, wearing a mask is considered “good etiquette” but it is not compulsory, as the Japanese civil code is based on a very high level of personal freedom of expression.

The fact that “our freedom ends where somebody else`s freedom starts” is actually one of my mantras.

On the other hand, I am starting to feel that “our freedom should not end where somebody else`s fear starts.”
If it was so, we should approve all racisms and discrimination. (is it a right to be afraid of naked faces?  dark skin? green eyes?  long noses? etc.)
If we acknowledge the “right to be afraid” we are just opening the door for the next Adolf Hitler. Or is he already sitting in the buttons room?

In 2022 I will quit wearing a mask in public spaces and I hope this will provoke other people to have their own thinking session about the opportunity of it, and resume the healthy habit of switching off the TV and restart thinking with their brains.

Sorry for throwing on the table such a polarizing topic but I felt I had to do it. I am not aiming at convincing anybody: rather I just want to be sincere, do not create false expectations, and take responsibility for my opinion on this sensitive issue.
Love me or hate me. (or disagree with me but love me anyway!)

And to provide a concrete reason to love me, here is a real gem for you coming out straight from our safe:

A rare, unique, unrepeatable knotty wood outlet tub is again on the market!
check our outlet corner: STRONG AS A CASTLE!

For new orders, consider a lead time of at least 8 weeks (or more) for production + shipping (2 weeks by air).

We have new machines, old craftsmen and young apprentices but each team can only make one tub at a time… 

Please bear with us.

While you wait for your ofuro, why not enjoying a hinoki cutting board hand made by Mr. Ikeda?
S size hinoki cutting board: https://bartokdesign.com/product/hinoki-cutting-board-s
here is the blog entry that shows how the hinoki planks are finished: https://bartokdesign.com/blog/handmade-cutting-boards.php

Note also our new products:
UV printed hinoki business cards: https://bartokdesign.com/product/uv-printed-business-cards
UV printed hinoki postcards: https://bartokdesign.com/product/uv-printed-postcards

AAnd when we enter the coldest months of the year, here is the trick I recommend: just think that the pink cherry blossom season is coming! every day closer!