In 1953, Janell Landis traveled to Japan as part of a three-year teaching program, which turned into four decades of engagement with the Japanese community as an English teacher and resident of Sendai. In 1981, she met Hiroi Michiaki, a local artisan specializing in Edo-koma (Edo-style wooden spinning tops). In October of 2013, my project partner, Dr. Paula R. Curtis, and I traveled to Ms. Landis’s home in Tennessee and conducted interviews about her life in America, experiences in Japan, and tutelage under Hiroi as part of an effort to publicize and document her collection of Hiroi-sensei’s work. Ms. Landis was planning a trip to Japan in May of 2014 and invited us to come.
After receiving a grant from Dr. Curtis’s department at the University of Michigan and a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the travel and equipment expenses, we accompanied Janell for a week of her month long journey. While in Sendai, we interviewed Hiroi-sensei, documented his collection, and gathered archival materials pertaining to his work and to his and Janell’s relationship.
We have begun transcription of the materials collected, created a digital archive cataloging the collection, and an plan to make the full interviews in both languages available. And happily, in August of 2014 Janell’s tops were accepted into the Morikami Museum in Delray Beach, Florida where they have become a part of their extensive craft art collections.
Malina Rose Suity 