Hana Himura, CEO of OTO: spreading Japanese traditional crafts to the world

Today, we spoke with Hana Himura, founder of OTO, a creative production studio connecting Japanese traditional crafts with global brands. Hana shares how OTO is creating new opportunities for artisans across Japan, the challenges facing the traditional craft industry, and her journey as an entrepreneur.

Can you tell us about yourself and OTO?

I'm Hana, the founder of OTO. Within OTO, we identify our role as producers. In film terms, our role resembles that of a producer: we coordinate all the moving parts and work with exceptional Japanese craftspeople to bring our clients’ visions to life. We're the Japanese crafts producer in that we bring together all of these incredible Japanese craftspeople to realize the vision of our clients. Our clients can range from hospitality like hotel groups to retailers to let's say, fashion brands or architects, and they have a vision on what they want to create and we bring together the right artisans to make their designs come to life.

I'm born in Korea. I'm half Korean, half Japanese and I grew up in an international environment and spent most of my childhood in Monterrey, Mexico, where I attended an international school. When I moved back to Japan ten years ago and entered university, I began reconnecting with my Japanese identity. Meeting new people and engaging more deeply with Japanese culture gradually shifted how I saw myself.

And a key turning point came when I was in my fourth year in my seminar class. My friend from that class comes from a 300-year-old Japanese gold leaf manufacturing company. She was the one who introduced me to this world of Japanese traditional crafts. There's so many companies like that in Japan. And she also mentioned that all of these artisans are kind of dying out.

Is there something even a 20-something-year-old can do? So I started calling up all these different artisans and getting to know them, and that was the start of OTO.

What has been the most difficult part of starting your business?

Because I don't have a lot of corporate experience, money related topics were one of the hardest for me to grasp. Like, how can I communicate value to the client, that what we do is worth it.

Just figuring out what the right pricing is, and what the right way to communicate our value is so that the clients understand why we're there and why it's worth paying for us. I think it has been the hardest thing so far.

Actually the next phase of OTO is growing and scaling, and right now I'm becoming my own roadblock in that. So we're trying to grow a team so that we can actually scale and work with bigger brands and bigger projects, and we want to be able to support as many artisans as possible throughout Japan. One of our main taglines is there are 1456 traditional crafts in Japan.

I already have one team member, but only two people can’t make this happen. We need a bigger team. We need structure. We need a system to be able to scale.

What challenges face Japanese traditional crafts?

I think the reason I'm in this business is because I understand the problems. And it's not just the succession issue. It's not just that the industry is gatekept. The whole system is facing challenges: there are fewer apprentices, an aging population, and many structural issues.

At the same time, I think there's also a knowledge gap. Not many people really understand what makes Japanese craftsmanship special. That's one of the reasons I started my Craft Chronicle series on social media—to help people realize that Japan has so many incredible crafts. People know that "Made in Japan" means high quality, but they often don't know why.

What does "Made in Japan" actually mean? It comes from a philosophy—from Shinto values, respect for nature, the use of natural materials, and the importance of handmade production. All of these elements are what make Japanese crafts and monozukuri so unique.

Recently, there are many companies like ours trying to support traditional crafts in different ways. Some collaborate with artisans to create products, while others focus on consulting through design or architecture. I think there's still so much potential that hasn't been realized.

One thing I'm trying to do is build strong case studies with international brands and show that Japanese craftsmanship can become part of people's everyday lives without feeling overly "Japanese" in its aesthetic. I truly believe Japanese craftsmanship, materials, and techniques can naturally fit into anyone's daily life.

One of the key concepts I use is yonobi, which means "beauty in utility." Japanese crafts shine when people actually use them. So the question is: how can we help people use these crafts in their everyday lives, and how can we connect the right brands with the right artisans to make that happen?

If we can increase demand and create sustainable cash flow for workshops across Japan, many of the industry's challenges will begin to change. I know so many creative people who love pottery, embroidery, and traditional crafts. The reason they don't pursue those careers is often because they can't afford to make a living as artisans or apprentices.

If the industry becomes financially sustainable and offers stable incomes, I think many people would choose to work in local workshops, creating ceramics or embroidery for a living. That's the future I hope to see. There are still many steps to get there, but I'm very excited because I believe the potential is enormous.

Any advice to entrepreneurs?

The most important thing is to stay curious and always keep learning, and if you’re interested in learning about something, don’t hesitate to reach out. It’s always okay to ask questions. I've struggled with this myself, but reaching out to someone and saying, “I really love what you do — I’d love to learn more,” is completely fine.

And that's how I started OTO. I simply began reaching out to different artisans. in the Tokyo area.

Whatever you can do at whatever stage of life, just go to people, be nice, smile, and have a friendly conversation. The easiest way to learn and connect with people is to get to know them.

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