J-Club Crafts and Boats in Modern Japan with Douglas Brooks

The Middlebury College J-Club has the extraordinary opportunity to invite traditional Japanese boat builder Douglas Brooks. Douglas Brooks has been working independently since 1990, building custom boats, designing and directing museum boat-building projects, writing about his projects, and researching historic boats and boat-building techniques. He is one of the few people alive today who hold this knowledge about Japanese Boat-building.

Mr. Brooks will be talking about apprentice learning in Japan, how it is at odds with Western notions of learning, and how he replicates apprentice learning in various classes he has done at a variety of college and university classes. He will also be discussing the state of crafts in Japan today and how people are responding to the loss of craftspeople.

Snacks will be provided!