Ninety percent of paddle-style fans, called uchiwa, are made in the island city of Marugame.

There are only 1,600 inhabitants of Osaki-Shimojima island, and at least five generations of the Matsuura family have sold them clocks and watches.

Jiro Katayama’s designs for his Otsuka Lotec brand take inspiration from hand-held movie cameras and speedometers.