In the last couple of years I've become interested in a couple of Japanese related subjects. Zatoichi, "The Blind Samurai", which I accidentally clicked into while watching "Samurai Saturday" on the IFCTV channel is number one. In case you are not up on Zatoichi, he's a chubby, blind, Yakuza who is kinda lovable, but is deadly when it comes to cutting up people with his special sword.

The funny thing about that sword is he holds it upside down. I finally figured out that because he was blind, they wouldn't let him go to the regular Samurai school, so he just stumbled along as best he could and ended up teaching himself. I doubt he even knows he holds it upside down.

There was a guy a couple of years ago who went around in the movies claiming to be Zatoichi, but you could tell right off he was a fake, even before the first arm was cut off because he had blond hair. Zatoichi, with his shaved, monk looking hair was ahead of his time and at no time would he have dyed it blond.

My second interest is Japanese woodblock prints. Once I saw the bright colors of these Japanese style woodblock art and the everyday life of the Japanese people subject matter, I was hooked. It also interested me because those Japanese artists used the same technique, at least to me anyhow, that the old comic book printers used. I began to read about woodblock prints and looked at a bunch of them on the Internet and in a few of those giant coffee table books that never end up on the coffee table. They are usually used by your spouse mixed in with a stack of other coffee table books to provide a steady base for a lamp. Not long after, I discovered that you could buy these prints on eBay.

Soon, I began to try to buy a print. I was most interested in seeing if I could get a Hiroshige for a good price. Hiroshige was what I would say was the Japanese version of Norman Rockwell. eBay is an excellent place to buy things. I bought a laptop, credit card terminal printer, a Sanada Hiroyuki movie, and a few other items that are now used to stack lamps on.

I almost bought an antique Samurai sword, but luck being with me I was out bid by what I eventually found out to be a shill who was bidding for the company selling the sword. He was trying to bid up the price. As a proper reward, they ended up buying their own fake, Chinese made, Japanese sword because I didn't take the bait. Of course, I didn't know all this at the time, I just didn't want to pay the price that they had bid up to.

Buying stuff on eBay takes a certain predisposition for patience, I've got some of the stuff but on the whole I would have to confess to a general shortfall of it. I made the decision and I decided that I would wade in and buy a Hiroshige woodblock that I had found, I would have gotten it too if I hadn't been outbid - in the last 30 seconds. Now, I'm neither cynical or overly skeptical, but the fact that this person was able to skin me just a few seconds before the bell hit a sour note with me. I repeated this exercise a couple of times with the end result being I still didn't own a print. I decided that there may be some "black ops" software out there that allows one to better advantage oneself in this, the art of eBay battle.

Okay, I got to it and did a little sniffing around and sure enough, I found the software that would put me on equal footing with these 30 second guys. I did a little better than that though, the one I found would let me hold my bid close to my chest, and with only 3 seconds to go, I was able to raise and it was too late for the other guy. I'm sure he is still trying to figure it all out.

The thing that will kill a new hobby faster than anything, at least that I've been able to dig up, is that no matter how much you argue with yourself that this is the last one you are going to buy of this or that for a while, you always seem to run across another one you really can't pass on.

To prove my point in the clearest way I can think of. just go through Jeff's old posts and add up all the camera stuff he has managed to put in inventory. I'm not saying Jeff is addicted, or anything of that nature, but he sure seems to have a tendency to get more than a few fancy gadgets that he "just happened" to run across on his way to the train station. I'm satisfied with the prints I have now and don't plan on buying any more in the near future, the chief reason being I don't ever travel by train. I have them framed and mounted on the wall of my office here at home. It's satisfying, looking at them and thinking about the Japan I remember. Of course this was after the Meiji period, but before the eBay period so I expect my memories of Japan don't match the reality of Japan.