Kansai's handmade washi villages KYOTO Kurotani-washi Developing a prototype washi-making robot Commerce,Industry and Tourism Division, Economic Department, Ayabe City Office Address: 8-1 Wakatake-cho, Ayabe City, Kyoto Prefecture TEL:0773-42-3280 The attractiveness of handmade washi lies in the paper's warm, gentle appearance and touch that arise out of the traditional manual process. Because machine-made washi results in paper with different characteristics, the Kurotani washi production center, in Ayabe City, Kyoto Prefecture, recently developed a labor-saving washi-making robot prototype aimed at producing washi through an automated process that is very similar to the traditional manual method. The primary objective of this project is to produce machine-made washi with all the beauty of handmade washi. With full support from the Kurotani Washi Cooperative Association, the city experimented with using the robot to produce washi postcards. The quality of the cards was evaluated relatively highly by members of the association. Regardless of the resulting product quality, however, a number of other pros and cons exist concerning efforts to automate the washi-making process. Kurotani is thus facing the challenge of introducing advanced technology into a tradition-filled industry. All images Copyright. 1997 Kansai International Public Relations Promotion Office. All Rights Reserved.