A "Japanese trick": 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 art found origami manufactured 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.

"What if it's a message to me from customers?" Cleaning the tables is suddenly something fun, just thinking about it that way. "

Tips in restaurants are not standard in Japan, but Tatsumi came to see the little folded pieces of paper left by customers as" Japanese trick. "

He quickly found that there had a great variety in the pieces left by customers, perhaps unsurprisingly in a country where origami is a popular pastime and taught in schools.

"I discovered that many of them were folded into traditional good luck forms in Japan, such as a fan, a crane and a turtle," he said.

"J & # 39 I also found a table decorated like an aquarium "

Excited by his discoveries, he decided to diversify and ask other restaurants to donate the pieces left by their customers to his collection.

In April 2016, he departed for a one-year trip, asking hundreds of sushi restaurant restaurants to walk around noodles to share their paper sleeves transformed with him.

He met with curiosity, even reluctance. The restorers were confused as to why he wanted something to go normally to the garbage bin.

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

19659002] "Many restaurents The owners of Ants who helped me later said that they now find it more gratifying than a real cash tip, "says Tatsumi.

AFP / Quentin TYBERGHIEN Yuki Tatsumi now works as a researcher in a museum of art. 15,000 pieces, each kept in its own little wooden box, like a precious jewel

"This may seem hard to believe, especially for those who are out of Japan, but this way of showing that every person is grateful is something very thing "

Now working as a researcher in an art museum in Kameoka, near Kyoto, Tatsumi has about 15,000 pieces, each kept in his own little wooden box, as a precious jewel. [19659003] Many are simple, but others are elaborate, such as a black and white patterned piece forming a dress, or a twisted blue snake cape, with the folds following the patterns on the paper.

He sees as a tacit message between customers and their waiters in restaurants, and worries that automated service is becoming more common in Japan, the "tips" it collects will disappear.

"When you enter in a resta uring and doing business only with a machine, I do not think you would do these items. I really think these 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 n & rsquo; "No matter where, and no matter when, but I think the people they have or who do the food," he said.

"Money is not the only one way to show your warm feelings. "

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