Hello, this is Kato, HIDARI’s shop manager.
On Saturday, 17 October 2026, we took our left-handed stationery and kitchen tools from Gifu, Japan, to the Craftkai Japanese Festival in Berlin. It was our first event outside Japan.
A new country, a different language, and plenty to figure out. But once we started talking with visitors, some things felt wonderfully familiar.
A day of Japanese craft in Berlin
IgamiLab invited us to join the event at Manifesto Market in Potsdamer Platz. Around us were stalls selling Japanese food, ceramics, accessories, and yuzen-dyed scarves, with makers and shop owners coming together from Japan and across Europe. Workshops in kintsugi, dyeing, and wooden marquetry looked busy, too.
We arrived in the morning to set up. Our table was on the ground floor, right in the middle of things and facing the street. Such a lovely spot for our first overseas outing.
A few nerves before opening
My German only stretched to a few greetings. Would we be able to talk properly with everyone?
As it turned out, with most visitors we could chat in simple English, taking our time. For conversations in German, Google Translate helped us along.
Familiar left-handed stories
Just as at our shop in Japan, we found ourselves talking about those little everyday experiences left-handers recognise. Different languages, familiar stories. I was happy to see so many visitors take an interest in our left-handed planners, too.
There was another surprise. When I introduced us as a left-handed shop from Japan, some visitors told me they already followed us on Instagram.
To meet people who already knew our little shop, in a country I was visiting for the first time, felt quite extraordinary. Thank you for coming over to say hello.
Plenty to listen to, too
Some older German visitors told me about having been made to change which hand they used. I had thought that this might have been less common in Europe. Hearing their experiences made me question that assumption. There is still so much to learn by listening to people in person.
A local television crew stopped by as well. I wonder whether we made it onto the programme?
Home with a little more confidence
After a full day at the event, I was thoroughly worn out. But it had been such a rewarding day.
I came away feeling that perhaps we could do this overseas with the same spirit as at home: bringing our tools, chatting with people, and sharing the small joys and frustrations of being left-handed.
Thank you to IgamiLab for inviting us, and to everyone who stopped at our table. Our first event outside Japan gave us a little more confidence—and some lovely memories to bring back to Gifu.
If we did not get to meet in Berlin, you can still explore our stationery or take a look at our kitchen tools online. We would love to hear your own left-handed stories, wherever you live.
Craftkai Japanese Festival · 17 October 2026 · Manifesto Market, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin · Organised by IgamiLab
Words and photographs from our shop manager’s diary on note (in Japanese). See also our original event announcement.
