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! Posted by kuri at January 13, 2002 10:43 PM