Back from Japan

[niki]

Good day

Just came back from Japan and I would like to share a few pics.

I was taken to a restaurant near Narita airport and to my surprise the owner was woodworker.

The restaurant is combined with the shop and he is making and selling table tops made of one piece of wood and other things.

[niki]

If you think that your shop is dusty and messy, that's nothing comparing to this guy

[niki]

The TS. If you don't see the guard and riving knife it's because there are non...





One of his works



Closer view (hand curving)



That's his planer

[niki]

The man and his mess




Than we went to one of those "Otera" (shrine). On the pic, Pagoda


And closer view


Local museum with all the "Japanese Fathers"

[niki]

Look at the floor, it looks like small tiles



But closer look...

[cabinetman]

Niki
WELCOME BACK

Wow, I bet your wife had to drag you out of that restaurant. What a cool place. Couldn't read the signs in the shop. Some great pictures you brought back. Now I can cancel my plans to visit Japan. That patio floor was something else, great idea. Now I'm going to save my scraps.

[Ed62]

Good to have you back, Nikki. Great pics is right! Thanks for sharing.

Ed

[crokett]

Those were some great pictures and I hate to think how much that wood costs in Japan.

[niki]

Cabinetman
Well...yes, my wife had to drag me out.
And yes, you can cancel your trip to Japan, I'll be there again in May and post more pics...

Crokett
The prices are very "modest", between $1000 and $3000 a piece

niki

[DUD]

Awesome Trip Niki. I envy You. Bill

[footprintsinconc]

welcome back (where ?!

Very Beautiful! the pictures are stunning. that piece with the vertical cuts and hand carving is absolutely nice.

i realy liked that patio floor design. what do they have between the wood pieces in the floor?

i'll be waiting for more pictures in may

regards,

[L. D. Jeffries]

Glad to hear from you again. WOW; what would "we" give to have a wood supply like some of the pics show!!! Too bad you could'nt bring back a container full.

[dlminehart]

The book "Collapse" by Jared Diamond, discussing how societies choose to face environmental and economic challenges, has a very interesting section on Japan, with a major focus on wood. Turns out that Japan is the birthplace of scientific forestry, started in the 16th or 17th century when it became clear that the attempts by local samurai warlords to outdo each other in building huge wooden palaces was going to wipe out their forests.

The results included regulating how much wood of which types each social stratum could use for homes, which resulted in some of the distinctive features of traditional residential architecture.

And, as with the US and China today, tightening forestry regulations at home in Japan pushed the consequences abroad. I suspect that much of the wood in the pictures was imported from southeast Asia.

[leehljp]

Niki,

Where is that restaurant and woodworker located. Do you have an address or name?

I will be at Narita for a week in August. We usually have lunch and dinner at restaurants of our choice during our conferences.

Thanks

[ChrisD]

Welcome back, Niki, and thanks for sharing pics from your trip. That's some really nice wood!