Goodbye Tokyo

Just a connecting flight away from home.  It was a great trip all in all, an amazing boat built and some interesting old boats measured.  And a belated thank-you to the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History for being the fiscal agent for the grant funding for this project.  Thanks to Angela Robins for all of her help.

She and I are now discussing some sort of publication detailing how the isobune is built.  It will require more fundraising, perhaps crowdfunding, so stay tuned.  Some final images from Tokyo:

Who would have thought reptiles could be tamed?  But you can get right up to these fellows in the canal park in Koto-ku, Tokyo.

What a civilized place!  The Tokyo International Forum, where I could get good coffee and wifi.

The plaza outside has funky eateries.

An old Taisho-era building clad in copper in the Ueno district.

Right nearby a similar vintage building in Western style.

This antique shop had two gorgeous inklines, both about $275.  This one carved of keyaki, the other in ebony, both unused.  Tempting, but no...

In another antique shop I found this.  Its four feet long...

 has a plane blade....

and a rounded bottom....

Its a specialized cooper's plane, for reaching inside a barrel to smooth the inside.  About $125 but I decided if I wanted one that badly I'd just make it myself, but a very unique artifact.

A gallery of contemporary craftspeople and artists in a warren of studies built under the JR train line just north of Akihabara Station.

Waiting to board my flight home.