WEBVTT

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Hello.

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I make glass in Otaru, Hokkaido.

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My name is Yukie Kimura.

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Today I'm in my work clothes
and even brought a blowing rod.

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I don't have experience
speaking at this kind of place,

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so I brought this thinking that holding it
might keep me sane somehow.

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(Laughter)

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I don't know how this will turn out,
but please go easy on me.

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(Applause)

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What I do is called glass blowing.

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I melt glass at about 1,200 degrees

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and continue to melt
that glass for 24 hours.

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I roll that glass on the end of this rod,

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fold newspaper that is called
paper phosphorous,

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wet it, place it on the palm of my hand,

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and then I mold it into shape.

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I'm often asked, "Isn't it hot?"

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but my palm isn't hot.

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But it is 1,200 degree glass,

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so the water in the newspaper
will boil at once,

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and when it drips on your hand,

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it hurts so much that you will throw
the newspaper away.

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Other than that,

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because you can't touch it
with your hands,

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you use a tool called a metal jack

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and a tool called a pincer
that looks like a huge tweezer

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to pick, pull, and twist it

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instead of using your fingers.

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During production,
I put on something like disco music

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and make glass while
grooving to the music.

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My clothing is generally like this

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though today I dressed up a bit.

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(Laughter)

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I have fun while working.

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And if you ask what kind of things I make,

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for example, I make pendants
with the image of the Otaru sea

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or pendants with a locked heart

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and also decorative vases
with a heart motif

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or plates with a lot of colorful,
transparent hues,

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water glasses,

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flower vases,

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aroma pots,

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sculptures,

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and also trophies on request.

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Glass is naturally really beautiful
even when it's just a simple lump,

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so I feel that I must create
something even more beautiful.

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While creating, I always think

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that I want to make the things I touch
more beautiful, more enchanting.

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I grew up in Osaka and I lived there
throughout high school.

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The spark that caused me
to start glass blowing

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was when a former high school teacher
took me to a glass factory.

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In the middle of the factory,
there was a giant boiler

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and a roaring fire was burning.

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Seeing the workman standing seriously
in front of those bright red flames

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my first impression was frankly
that it was amazing and really cool.

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That was where I first
handled melted glass,

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but it was soft and too hot, and of course
I couldn't do anything with it.

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But the melted glass I saw then

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was quietly emitting this orange light
that was so incredibly beautiful,

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and I couldn't forget
my fascination with it,

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so I decided to jump into
the world of artisans alone.

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Those around me said things like,

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"You won't be able to keep that going.
You should stop now."

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"What are you doing
going to such a cold place

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when you're sensitive to the cold?"

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but no one could stop the dreams
burning within my 18-year-old self,

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and so I came to Otaru alone.

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I'm going to change the subject a bit.

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I started Karate in grade school

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and became the second best
in the country in junior high school.

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(Applause)

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I hated to lose and always thought
that I wanted to become the best.

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Honestly, when I started glass blowing

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I was young and hadn't seen
much of the world

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and thought, "Maybe if I do this,
I'll be able to become the best?"

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but that kind of baseless self-confidence
was in tatters immediately after that.

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It was fine that I jumped
into the world of artisans,

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but it was a harsher world
than even I had imagined by far.

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It got steadily harder,

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and despite trying my best,
things got tougher every day.

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At the time, I didn't even
have a cell phone,

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and I would go use
the public telephone in the snow.

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But the numbers on my telephone card
were decreasing very quickly,

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there weren't any friends nearby
that I could talk to,

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and I didn't want to whine to my family.

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And so I was gradually feeling
pretty run down emotionally,

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and it kept getting tougher,

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but I remember my heart
being rescued many times

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by the scene of the Otaru sea
suddenly coming into view.

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Before this, I had never
lived so close to the ocean

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so I thought, "The ocean is so nice!"

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Though I had been trying my best
in that kind of environment,

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at last I got frustrated.

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Two years after jumping
into the world of artisans, I quit.

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But at that time, I swore in my heart,

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"Even if I leave this place,
I definitely won't stop glass blowing."

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After that, I returned to Osaka

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and became engaged in glass blowing
at yet another new place.

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The world of artisans
was a place of watch-and-learn,

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but honestly,

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even though I was watching hard,
I was barely managing my own workload.

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But because I would repeat the task
of gathering glass up from the furnace

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and carry it across day in, day out,

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my skills for just that part

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was recognized by a senior coworker
at the next place I worked in Osaka.

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He said, "Just your ability
to gather glass is beyond compare."

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"There aren't many guys
that can handle this kind of soft glass."

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"But why can't you make one cup
after doing this for two years?"

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That caused me to realize anew,

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"That's right. I can't even make one cup."

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Then that coworker gathered some glass

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and came and explained in words
everything about how to make a cup.

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"At this point, since it's like this,
here you cool it like this."

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That kind of thing.

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As a result, everything I had
learned by watching until then

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had been like puzzle pieces in my head,

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but upon having it taught to me in words

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the pieces assembled all at once.

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All of a sudden,
I became able to understand.

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Since then, I've been able
to very easily make cups.

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This was a very good experience for me.

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And after that,

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I thought, "If I can do this,
I can make anything,"

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and I started challenging myself
with all kinds of things.

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That was the moment 
where I started to think

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that glass blowing was fun
for the first time.

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Up until then, glass blowing, to me,
only meant something stressful.

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Then I moved to a place near Yokohama,

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I started to build up experience,

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and when I was 30, I returned
to my husband's hometown Otaru.

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I decided to return in order
to start my own studio.

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The location was chosen,

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I imported a melting furnace from the US,

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and I was really excited
and ready for the opening day,

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but on the fifth day of operation,
the furnace suddenly broke down.

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What?! I was so surprised.

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I didn't know what to do.

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I had even put our opening day
in the newspaper.

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What should I do?

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Even now, I can't forget
the taste of the yakisoba noodle

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I ate with my husband while crying.

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Despite all of that happening,

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we eventually managed to open.

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There was support from family,
friends, and acquaintances.

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After I decided to establish myself

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and make a living at this,

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I felt that my family's attitude
had changed as well.

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Especially my father who,
when he came from Osaka to Otaru,

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made desks and the like
for inside the gallery,

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with my husband
as his number one apprentice.

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They also happily made the shelves
in the gallery together.

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And in addition to my husband becoming
my father's number one apprentice,

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he also became my exclusive assistant

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and has been doing work
at the studio alongside me.

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My husband hadn't done
glass blowing until that point.

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And my mother and little sister in Osaka

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as well as my husband's mother in Otaru

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started helping out with things
like side jobs and accounting,

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and my self employment becoming
a shared family topic

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was not something
I had expected from the start.

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When I started doing glass blowing,
I thought that I would try hard alone

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and if I built a house from the earning,
everyone would be happy,

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but my bond with my family
has deepened beyond my imagination.

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And now it feels like

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I have one more reason
to continue glassblowing:

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"I want to use your product
for a proposal.

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It is an important moment.
Can you help me?"

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The visitor from far away that says,
"I look forward to it every year."

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"Looking at you makes me imagine
what my daughter,

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who became handicapped
at a young age,

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would be like if she were well."

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The grandmother that said,

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"I'm rooting for you,"
along with a strong handshake.

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And all the letters I receive.

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At some point, through glass blowing

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I started witnessing people's lives.

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And witnessing people's lives,
honestly, is not always pleasant.

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Just last year this happened.

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Mrs. Murakami from Kushiro.

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It was just around the time
we opened the gallery.

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Even when we were open, no one would come.

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At that time, she came and said,

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"I saw you in a magazine and thought
your gallery was lovely, so I came."

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"When I see your red, it makes me happy,"

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she would say.

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Mrs. Murakami had been struggling
with cancer for a long time.

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"To be honest,
there are a lot of hard times.

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But when I put on your accessories
and go to the hospital

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it's like an outing
and it lifts my spirits,"

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she said.

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Every year the cherry blossoms
in Hokkaido come into full bloom.

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At the height of the season,
she visited the gallery with her husband.

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Last spring, she didn't come,
so wondering what could have happened,

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I gave her a call.

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She had already passed away.

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I was so sad that tears started to fall.

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I even thought

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that if not for glass blowing,
I wouldn't have experienced this sadness.

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But I don't think I will forget
Mrs. Murakami's kindness

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for the rest of my life.

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I want to face all of the joy
and all of the sorrow.

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That's how I feel about what happened.

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I think it's okay to change

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my reason for making things,
my reason for continuing to create,

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and what I choose to make.

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And I think it might just be something
that continues to change.

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I'm often asked what I want
to make in the future,

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but I am always at a loss over an answer

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because I feel that I surely won't know
what I want to make in the future

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until I'm in the future.

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I believe that the accumulation
of things I'm making now

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and things I am working on
will change my future self.

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I want to continue to challenge myself
to make a future I look forward to.

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When I started glass blowing,

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my foolhardy reasoning
was that I wanted to become the best.

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Then after my setback,
I continued out of stubbornness.

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There were times where I continued

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because I was excited to learn
the art of glass blowing.

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Since acquiring those skills,

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I feel like I'm always thinking about
what kind of expression I should try next.

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In the future, my reason for glass blowing
will continue to change.

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But when I thought in the beginning,

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"I want to do glass blowing!"

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"This is it!"

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those sparkling emotions,

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I want to at least keep believing in them.

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So I am sticking with glass blowing.

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Someday I want to build a studio
in a place where you can see the ocean.

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I want to continue to make
more and more works of art

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that touch people's hearts.

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That is my dream now.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)