The thawing season has finally arrived, and the walls of snow piled up during the winter have become a little shorter.

This year, we have often had snow in Tottori since New Year's Day.

It has been the heaviest snowfall since 1983.

After participating in two exhibitions in France, we came back to Japan.

First, let us report on the JAPAN BRAND exhibition in Paris.

The exhibition marked its third anniversary this year, and we attended our booth for the second time in a row since last year.

We met the buyers and other visitors again who had come to see our products last year. The two-day period of the exhibition passed very quickly.

Seamless three-dimensional washi was regarded as a very rare material, and we got approached by a lot of people about the Natural lampshades, which have been improved this year.

It was the third time that the JAPAN BRAND exhibition was held at the Mitsukoshi Etoile Art Gallery. Surprisingly, though, this year's exhibition would be the last to be hosted by Mitsukoshi Etoile. We were told that they would finish their cultural program with the JAPAN BRAND exhibition.

The place was opened in 1992 as the Mitsukoshi Etoile Art Gallery in order to promote cultural exchanges between Japan and France and other European nations.

The building housing the gallery has a long history itself. It was built in the 1860s.

We are very proud to have been able to take part in the last event in a building with such a long history.

It is very sad and a pity that we will not be able to use that place again. Anyway, we appreciate the support they gave us over the last three years.