Kimoto Glass Tokyo has seen the glass industry inside and out during its 80-year operations since its founding as a glass wholesaler. Pressured by cheaper imports, the Japanese glass industry has been shrinking year after year. As many factories disappear and the decrease in the number of glass craftspersons accelerates, Kimoto Glass Tokyo’s sense of mission has grown strong to help protect the industry as one of its member dedicated to glassware.

Beginning with Edo Kiriko, traditional Japanese cut glass, there still are many traditional glass products in Tokyo, as well as craftspersons with excellent skill. The mission of glass wholesalers connecting glass craftspersons and customers is to create ways to evolve Tokyo’s glasswork tradition and publicize its existence, while protecting that tradition as well as craftsmanship involved in it.

With that thought in mind, Kimoto Glass Tokyo has created many products of innovative designs using traditional techniques. Those products include black Edo Kiriko, which was hard to make before, sandblasted ones and streamline-shaped ones based on ergonomics. They are all thanks to Kimoto Glass Tokyo’s capability to create a design concept, while connecting craftspersons and top designers.

Through suggestions of paring food and liqueur, in which it is suggested that drinks as well as glasses be switched to go with different kinds of food, Kimoto Glass Tokyo engages in publicizing new ways to enjoy glass and liqueur by working with sake brewers based in Tokyo.

In wine and cocktail cultures, it has always been a matter of course to change glasses in terms of shape and size depending on the types of drinks and how they are served. Despite the fact that there are as much variety in tastes and flavors in sake as in wines, however, the importance of sake cups/glasses has never been addressed emphatically in the past. But the fact is a large-bowled glass goes very well with sake characterized by a fragrant flavor, and a tall, slim glass with sake with a refreshing taste. By just changing the glass, one may have an entirely different impression of even a familiar sake.

The evolution of Edo glass will make Japanese food culture even more interesting.