A Japanese tip: the art of origami left by the guests



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Yuki Tatsumi was waiting tables at an izakaya pub in Kyoto, Japan when something on the table caught his eye – a pack of chopsticks folded and manipulated into an abstract form.

He was the catalyst for a collection that now includes 15,000 pieces of origami art found by customers who fold paper sleeves that cover chopsticks in Japanese restaurants.

"The very first I found was like junk," admits 27-year-old Tatsumi.

"And if that was a message to me from the customers, cleaning the tables was getting something fun, just thinking like that.

Tipping at restaurants is not standard in Japan, but Tatsumi to see the small pieces of paper folded left by customers as a "Japanese trick" and began to monitor different types.

He soon discovered that there was a wide variety of pieces left by customers, perhaps no surprise in a country where origami is popular

"I discovered that many of them were folded into traditional Japanese lucky charm forms, such as a fan, a crane and a turtle, "he said

. picture decorated like an aquarium, with folded paper like fish and seaweed. "

Delighted by his discoveries, he decides to diversify and ask other restaurants to donate the pieces left by their customers to his collection." In 2016, he leaves for a trip to Montreal. year, asking hundreds of restaurants of sushi restaurants and noodles to share with him their transformed paper shirts.

He meets a certain curiosity and even a reluctance on the part of restless restaurateurs.

But finally, 185 localities north of Hokkaido south of Okinawa promised to keep everything they would find and send it to him

Better than money

"Many of the restaurant owner" This may seem hard to believe, especially for those who are outside of Japan, but this way of showing appreciation that is Tatsumi is now working as a researcher in a museum. art in Kameoka, near Kyoto, and has about 15,000 pieces, each kept in its own little wooden box, like a precious jewel. Many are simple, with dinners that just make a makeshift wand coming out of the sleeve.

But others are elaborate, such as a black-and-white patterned piece forming a dress, or a blue twisted serpent envelope, with the He sees them as a tacit message between customers and their servers in restaurants , and worried that the automated service is becoming more common in Japan, the "advice" it collects will disappear

. "When you go into a restaurant and just deal with a machine, I do not think you would do these items, I really think they are products created only when people communicate in person," he said.

Tatsumi has already exhibited his collection in Japan and plans to present it at art events in Paris and South Korea later this year. He wants the collection to remind people to show their appreciation and consideration for what they have.

"Japan is a very rich country, where you can find something to eat anywhere, and no matter when, but I think people"

"The money it's not the only way to show your warm feelings. "

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