In Kamakura, home to the Daibatsu (Great Bronze Buddha) we stopped in a variety of antique shops on our way through the temples. Coming from Australia, where the antiques only reach back 200 years (well, and then back through a further 40,000 but you are not allowed to keep those), I find the Japanese antiques fascinating. Every antique store has a vast collection of blue and white Meiji (1868-1912) plates. The country has been producing china for export to the world for centuries after all.
In a recycled kimono shop (that is, recycled into bags, placemats, fans, etc), I found a plate with a whale design. Not having ever known anyone to put a whale in a plate before, I bought it, quite happy.
The following weekend, in another antique store in Shimakitazawa, Tokyo, among the usual piles of old white and blue china, I found... the same plates! in fact, in a wider range of shapes.
