This famous Japanese tableware maker turns 120 years old this year, and the Philippines is part of its history
NAGOYA, Japan – Do you have a Noritake dinner set or cup and saucer at home? If you do, chances are it’s from the ’50s or ’60s and could be expensive vintage porcelain or bone china.
A seller on e-commerce site Carousell, for instance, has a 28-piece “Noritake Legendary Tea and Expresso Set” that has a price tag of P9,770, while a store on Shopee is selling a single “Noritake Cobalt Blue and Gold Plate” for P2,936!
Noritake, founded in 1904, is celebrating its 120th anniversary this year, and there’s a Philippine connection to this Japanese company.
In 1974, Noritake established Noritake Porcelana Manufacturing Incorporated in the Philippines which put up a factory in Marikina City.
For many years, it produced tablewares. If you happen to visit Nagoya City, you’ll see the Philippine connection in the Noritake Museum.
The museum showcases some old Noritake and contemporary Noritake tablewares and accessories. A part of the museum shows a chronological list of Noritake backstamps (see image below). Number 14 on the list shows the backstamp that a tableware made in the Philippines would have.
A backstamp is the mark on the reverse side of a plate or cup and saucer or figurine that identifies the product’s manufacturer or origin.
One of the backstamps displayed is this one below. Noritake tablewares that were made in the Philippines from 1996 to 2008 would have this backstamp.
A Google translation of the second line says: “Some products (1996-2008) display the country of origin as ‘PHILIPPINES.’”
Unfortunately, Noritake decided to close its factory in the Philippines in 2008 amid a financial crisis that hit its biggest export markets, especially the United States.
A year later, in September 2009, Tropical Storm Ondoy caused widespread flooding in Metro Manila, including in Marikina City, where Noritake had its factory, prompting some to think that it was the natural disaster which was the reason for the closure.
But Catherine Santos, head of marketing of Noritake Philippines, told Rappler that while Ondoy also affected its factory, the main reason for the closure was the US recession since Noritake’s main export market was the US. Around 300 workers in the Philippines were displaced, she said.
In Japan’s Noritake Company Limited’s 2009 annual report, the company’s leaders said they had to restructure in response to the global financial crisis, which led to “falling profit margins” in its tabletop and electronics business units.
“In the Tabletop Group, in tandem with the closure of our plant in the Philippines, we concentrated the overseas production of tableware in Sri Lanka and cut back production at the Imari Plant in Saga Prefecture, Japan,” the report says.
Sri Lanka, located in the Indian Ocean, is geographically closer to emerging markets, such as India, China, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Wages there were also lower than in other Noritake plants, according to a Nikkei article in 2015.
Another factor was consumers’ changing lifestyle, with many families no longer buying pricey dinner sets as eating in restaurants became the more convenient option to entertain guests. Less expensive tablewares like the Corelle brand from the US and Ikea from Europe also emerged and became popular in the ’70s and ’80s.
After the factory closed, former Filipino executives of Noritake Porcelana put up Legacy Unlimited Incorporated, and continued to sell Noritake products in the Philippines. Most of Noritake’s tableware products are now made in Sri Lanka.
Legacy Unlimited is the sole and exclusive importer/distributor of Noritake. Its main retail outlets are in Rustan’s department stores and in select SM stores nationwide.
If you go to Rustan’s Makati, Ayala Center, you’ll see Noritake dinnerwares and cutlery on display. The cost of a dinner set has become so prohibitive that most of the buyers are institutions, principally hotels and restaurants. Examples below:
There are also selected Noritake tablewares on display in the Noritake Philippines office at No. 1 Libongco Compound, JP Rizal Street, Barangay Concepcion Uno, Marikina, which occasionally holds a bodega (storehouse) clearance sale, where you can get big discounts.
The best place to experience Noritake, however, is to visit the Noritake Musuem in Nagoya City, which has one of the best gardens with a French restaurant. It also has a Noritake Garden Craft Center, where you can try painting on white plates and mugs which are then fired at around 850°C degrees. For those who live in Japan, the finished piece can be delivered in two to three weeks.
Here are some photos of the Noritake Museum, the Noritake Square Lifestyle Shop, and Noritake Craft Center. (All photos below by the author, taken on April 18, 2024.)
The cheapest option to encountering Noritake is to go to Japanese surplus shops in the Philippines where you can find second-hand Japanese tablewares made of porcelain or bone china, or simply look for these products on e-commerce sites like Carousell, Shopee, and Facebook Market.
If you’re lucky, you might be able to find cheap vintage Noritake tablewares that you can later resell for a higher price. – Rappler.com
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