Photo/Illutration The lacquerware artisan Yuri Kojima uses the internet to display some of her products. (Captured from YouTube)

Lacquerware artist Yuri Kojima is one of many traditional craftspeople left twisting in the wind from the coronavirus pandemic.

In April, Kojima, 44, who is based in Musashino, western Tokyo, was forced to cancel 10 planned craft lectures, as sales nose-dived to about 10 percent of what they were in April 2019.

After an event involving four artisans planned in Tokyo’s posh Ginza district had to be canceled, she began exhibiting her products online as an emergency measure.

She has applied for government subsidies for small businesses aimed at tiding them over during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In addition to an expansion of subsidy programs to cover running expenses, I also want government support to teach me how to sell over the internet,” she said.

She is not alone in looking for help.

The prospects for businesses based on traditional Japanese crafts are looking bleak, according to new survey results that suggest the pandemic may erase a large portion of the industry--and tradition along with it.

An online survey conducted in May found two-fifths of respondents were contemplating closing shop by the end of the year if sales do not return to normal.

The survey was conducted by aeru Co., a Tokyo-based company, which sells traditional craft products designed for use by infants and children. Between May 9 and 15, company officials asked over the internet and through social media that companies manufacturing or wholesaling one of the 235 products designated by the central government as a traditional craft take the survey.

The companies are in a vast range of fields including textiles, ceramics and wood products.

It received responses from 367 businesses. About 70 percent are small businesses with five or fewer employees.

A majority said sales in April, when COVID-19 infections spread throughout the nation, had fallen to less than half of their April 2019 sales. Close to 30 percent of respondents said sales plunged by 70 percent year-on-year.

Sales declines were attributed to retail outlet closures, cancellation of sales events held at department stores and specialty outlets, decreases in sales of gift items at tourist destinations, and the cancellation of workshops, among other reasons.

When asked when their company would consider closing for good if sales do not return to normal, about 20 percent said by the end of September and 40 percent replied by the end of the year.

“Many sales routes were lost for expensive or luxury items,” said the aeru official in charge of the survey. “With many employees at the companies also advancing in age, there will likely be an increase in companies that go out of business if the economy does not recover. That could lead to the disappearance of the tradition.”

Concerned by the survey results, aeru started up an online gallery where it sells 76 products manufactured by 16 craft studios.

One of the companies taking part is Oyama Seizai of Asahi, Toyama Prefecture. The company manufactures items such as chopstick holders by applying beeswax to the wood.

“We are facing difficult times because our supply of raw materials for our lacquerware has stopped,” said company President Yoshihiko Oyama, 46. “But we hope to find encounters with new customers through internet sales.”

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