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Detailed Program
Paper Number : CE-I03
Time Frame : 11:35~12:00
Presentation Date : Friday, 28, November
Session Name : Ceramics Culture and Education
Session Chair 1# : Kyusung Han
Session Chair 2# : Natsuki Hosoya
Johjima roof tile¡¯s past, present and future
Naotaka SAKAMOTO
Fukuoka Industrial Technology Center
Keywords: Clay roof tile, Mass production, Small quantity, large variety, Custom‐made

1. Introduction
There was tile industry in each place of Japan, and the making of product using the local raw materials has been performed in old days. In Jojima area of Fukuoka (Fig.1) located in the lower basin of the relatively big river where high quality clay was provided, roof tile production has been performed from approximately 400 years ago. From superiority in the marine transportation, the Johjima roof tile was exported to the foreign countries from more than 100 years ago, and it was a big production center to line up with Nagoya, Shimane, Ehime in Japan. However, the number of the production companies greatly decreases, and the situation declining remarkably includes it. Even the maintenance as the roof tile production center is difficult now. Therefore the persons concerned with the Johjima roof tile strengthen a sense to confront the impending crisis and start some actions including the development of new products suitable for the present market trend. Then, in this presentation, some current actions in Johjima area for roof tile production are introduced with past process.

2. The decline as the roof tile production center
Just after the end of the World War II, more than 200 companies connected with roof tile were gathered in the Johjima area and the area was well-known as a top 3 roof tile production center in Japan. However, the demand for clay roof tile tended to drop by the changes of the house style recently, and the amount of shipment of clay roof tile was decreased rapidly in all of Japan. The number of the production companies gradually decreases to 5 in the Jojima area now. It is difficult to make a performance as brand-name products ¡°the Jojima roof tile¡±, and it is the crisis of the life and death for the production center ¡°Johjima¡± anymore.

3. New action for survival
The process of roof tiles production was resolved into technical element and each technique was investigated the possibility to be applied to any production except the roof tile. It was clear that the production technology of the clay roof tile was not good at performing the manufacturing aimed for the individual correspondence to customer needs. However, We judged that the switch that does not have unreasonableness to multikind and small-quantity production is demanded from a conventional market strategy to produce it in large quantities and to scheme mass sale. Some processing techniques with low cost such as the introduction of resin molding die (Fig.2) or the printing with the small laser are worked, and the new line of products which past does not have is constructing now.
Acknowledgements : I sincerely thank to Johjima clay roof tiles Cooperative for molding and firing samples.