Sunday afternoon at the

Sunday afternoon at the free market (aka flea market) in Shinjuku was fun. Sarah, Tod & I gawked at all sorts of old dishes, kimono, and pretty Tibetan style things, but spent most of our time poring over old maps.

Sara ended up with a 1930s hand-tinted map of Tokyo and two vivid reproductions of maps with Latin inscriptions. She bargained with the vendor and got the lot for about 8,000 yen. I found a unique map/postal rate chart from Meiji 44 (about 1912), It's difficult to describe but I love it. Sarah asked the man for a discount on my behalf since she'd just bought three maps and he gave me mine for only 1,500 yen. The frame will cost more than the map!