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In the times from the Meiji period, Taisho to early
Showa, emptied liquor bottles were used to make glass products of
general use such as lamp chimneys, fly-catching bottles and medicine
bottles. It was no different in the reopened glass factory after
the war.
"When I joined, there was only one glass factory in Okinawa,
and in the season of sukugalasu (siganus fuscescens fry pickled),
the bottles used for that sold like hotcakes and we weren't able
to meet the demand. Since there wasn't any plastic, only pottery
and glass products served as containers. Glass was especially used
for lamp chimneys, medicine bottles and cheap sweet bottles because
it was transparent, making it possible to see the contents. Only
transparent glass was made. It had no use if the contents were not
viewable. That's why it wasn't colored."
Colored glass replaced see-through transparent glass ever since
the cola and beer bottles discarded from the U. S. military were
used as raw materials. The Stars and Stripes newspaper issued for
the U. S. military praised Okinawa's glass craft by describing it
with the title, "Works of art from empty bottles."
"When Mr. Okuhara, the late president of the factory, saw the
soft drink bottles that were littered around town, he decided to
use them as resources and recycling started. Since then, U. S. military
personnel started coming to the factory, and when they saw how the
coke bottles they threw away changed, they were impressed. Shortly
thereafter, U. S. military personnel and their families started
bringing samples and pictures and asked, "Can you make this?"
We started making punch bowls and captain bottles according to their
orders. As a reminder of those times, our cups are still in inches."
Just then, with the Vietnam war economy boom, there was a rush of
orders from U. S. military personnel and we started to sell wholesale
to the PX stores on U.S. military bases. Moreover, we also received
orders from Americans who returned home and this lead to making
English catalogs to start exporting directly to Los Angeles, San
Francisco and Hawaii. At this time, several craftsmen became independent
and glass factories in Okinawa increased to four.
Glass making that began with such recycling created many shapes
fit for the lives of Americans and this developed into the basis
for the vivid Ryukyu glass seen today. |
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