We presented an indigo knife to Mr. Cub, who will appear on TV Tokyo's ``YOU Wanna Go to Japan,'' which will be broadcast on July 24, 2023.
This program is an interesting close-up program that shows foreigners visiting Japan having various cross-cultural experiences in Japan.
Nathan Connelly, an American who loves Japanese Honda Cub motorcycles, has appeared here many times in the past. He became famous for his funny nickname "Mr. Cub" and for his simple personality and love of Japan. In this broadcast, he travels around Japan once again astride a turnip and says thank you to the people who have helped him so far.
He and I met in 2017. When I saw Mr. Cub broadcast around Japan for the first time, I was moved by his dedication and contacted him through Facebook.
The first time I met him in Japan was during my second trip to Japan, and he became interested in my work producing traditional techniques, so we visited the Ai knife production site in Osaka together. I visited. Since then, we have continued to deepen our friendship in various ways, such as watching baseball games together, going out for drinks at various places, helping him plan his trip to Japan, and translating texts for him to post on social media. I did.
Well, this time, he decided to give his character "Mr. Cub" a break, so when he stayed at my house on the last day of his stay in Japan (the day before he left for Narita), I gave him a knife as a present, and no filming was done. (However, it was not broadcast in the main part of the program).
This program is not completely in-depth, so not all of the trip is filmed, and we often don't know when and where the camera crew will appear, so don't expect to be filmed at our house on the last day. It was.
However, since my son was wearing pajamas from an NHK children's program called ``Miitsuketa!'', I knew that the program would not be aired because it was from another station. After all, the highlight of this episode was the touching episode with the Morinaga family.
Well, what I gave him as a present was a knife called ` `Ai Knife: New All-purpose Knife 18cm ''.
I had heard that he had recently started cooking, so I wanted to give him a knife, but I should first choose a Santoku knife, which is one of the representative knives, or a Gyuto knife, which Americans are familiar with. I was debating which one to use, but I ended up giving this one, which has the best features of a Santoku and a Gyuto. I also wrote his name in kanji on the blade, so I think it was the perfect gift for his milestone occasion.
Ai knife/new all-purpose knife 18cm
Going back to the topic, he said that he would like to come to Japan as an individual Nathan Connery if he has the chance, since he is just graduating from the TV character ``Mr. Cub''. It's not goodbye forever, so I'd like to wait for new news from him. I would like to continue to support his activities.
Edit Japan/Sakamoto