Tokyo boasts the largest quilt show in the world. The show is held in the Tokyo Dome.
It runs for seven days and attracts over 2 million visitors – of which my group comprised 18 ?.
This is the English version of the cover of the actual show book and we’re still not sure what the German musicians are doing on it!
In this photo of the show from the stadium seats (where we ate lunch from the concession stands: deep fried chicken-on-a-stick and bugles),
you can see the “white” horizontal lines towards the front . These are row after row of vendors, and they ring all 4 sides of the show.
The areas of color in the center were the show quilts, separated by category, and a variety of special exhibits.
Towards the center there was a huge patchwork ball covered by the work of the famous Japanese quilter Keiko Goke.
Her quilts were fascinating and I recognized a few of them from being in the AQS Paducah quilt shows over the years. This one was in the New Quilts From an Old Favorite – Double Wedding Ring contest back in the early 1990s. What fun to see it again!
There is no way I can share every quilt in the show, so I chose a few of my favorites, in no particular order, they simply tickled my fancy (please be aware that the crowds were huge and the lighting in a baseball stadium leaves a lot to be desired). I’ve included a few comments with each photo:
And those were only a very few. Then we did the vendors. The most popular items by far were purses and the kits to make them. In one of the booths there were machines set up and my friend Marie and I made our own. They took less than an hour even though the teacher spoke very little English. Too much fun!
There was a “coffee shop” around the edge of the show where we stopped for a mid-morning snack the first day, and a “tea room” for a break on the second.
The vendors were filled with fabric, garments, kits, machines, etc., and we could have spent the whole trip there, but there was so much more of Japan to see. Next week I’ll touch on a few of the wonderful sites of Japan we enjoyed.
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This isn’t about Japan, but I thought you might find it interesting, I did a post about a bartar I did with my friend Di back in May. She recently interviewed me for a post on her blog about our collaboration and my journey into blogging. Click here if you’d like to read Di’s post.
Elrid Johnson says
Thanks for sharing pictures from the show.
Carolyn Cain says
Chris, were all the quilts from Japanese quilters or from all over the world?
clkquilt says
They accepted entries from all over the world and that’s why my friend Vicki entered hers – and won an award. The signage was all in Japanese, so it was hard to tell where the quilts came from. I did an internet search about this with no luck. In my opinion, the majority of the quilts were from Japan.
Connie Clark says
The show was fantastic. The quilts and the crowds are really hard to describe. Thanks Chris for a fun filled quilters dream trip to Japan.
Darlene Allen says
What beautiful quilts. The way you explained all the pictures made me feel like I was there. Thanks for sharing.
Laurie Neubauer says
Chris, Reading about your trip to Japan and the quilt show was delightful. I’m glad you said something about the quilt with piano keys! I missed it thinking it was a border, then I saw the other musical notes ?. A big surprise for me. Looking forward to hearing about touring Japan. I’m glad you made it home safely without getting that virus!
Laurie
Melanie Somenske says
The quilts are amazing. Thanks for sharing.