Japanese porcelain began in this town. Arita in Saga is where, four hundred years ago, Japan's first porcelain was fired. Arita ware, white, thin, hard, utterly different from the pottery that came before. It began with a single Korean potter, Yi Sam-pyeong, whose discovery of good porcelain stone in Arita started everything. Ever since, Arita has remained a town of porcelain. Kilns stand side by side, and tonbai walls, built from kiln scrap, color the town's lanes. You can tour the kilns: a craftsman turning the wheel, a painter drawing indigo patterns with a fine brush, their hands seen up close. There are painting experiences too; you draw on white porcelain yourself. Clumsy is fine; you make a vessel that is one of a kind in the world. Four hundred years of tradition still turn here.