Netsuke
Once upon a time, when I had one of those Real Jobs, I used to attend various conferences around New York City. While wandering outside during the breaks (believe me, you needed to get away from the buzz of the microphone, the overload presentations, the PowerPoint presentations!), I would come across small shops that sold reproductions of netsuke. I was somewhat interested in Japan, especially Japan of Ran or Throne of Blood or Kwaidan (too many movies!) and various novels, so these fascinated me.
I never bought any, but was interested enough to buy a couple of books on the subject. Now I have noticed that BoingBoing links to a site showing representations of this folk art.
Hmmm...are gashapon the modern equivalent?
Posted by Fred Kiesche at March 25, 2008 08:20 AMIf you really want to get into something cool, check out the Japanese wood block prints. We were stationed at Yakota AFB from 1970-1972 and my mom went nuts over those. She probably has well over a hundred of them. I was checking them out on eBay to see what they are worth today, and I was flabbergasted by how expensive some of the classic ones are now.
They aren't all expensive, though, and I really like the vibe hanging one or two in a room gives.
Posted by: Hucbald at March 25, 2008 04:11 PM