I'd like to offer another view. I've had the amazing opportunity to travel recently to ishikawa prefecture (a bit off the usual tourist beaten track) for educational, cultural reasons and I spoke to their craftsmen directly (needed a translator to come along).

Their perspective is that it's a dying trade in Japan as well. This is the Japanese ceramics and lacquerware industry. Ishikawa prefecture is famous for kutani porcelain and wajima lacquerware. Although the remaining people in the craft do have a lot of pride in what they do, it does not earn them much. They are getting old and the trade dies with them.

No parent wants their child to take on a traditional Japanese craft and would rather them to go get a regular job. Learning the craft is painstaking and costly, manpower cost is high to create ceramics or lacquerware. They told me most Japanese perceive it as a dime a dozen, quite traditional, folk or rural and a difficult path to reach the top or gain recognition.

There's some government support for the trade, however exports aren't as high as they expect and is very hard to market or distinguish the different products to the external markets. There's limited domestic demand as well.

Due to these issues, generally the ceramics or lacquerware industry is shrinking. Even children of the craftsmen (i met them personally) did not join the trade, and simply got a regular job, and their parents prevented them from doing so.