This time culinary rather than angling: “collapsible” screw-in chopsticks.  These I bought with the screw fittings already set in the raw wood and the whole cut down to the right size; I just sanded the wood smooth, shaped the chopsticks a little and then lacquered them.  This time I used a technique called “Rubbed Urushi” which looks a little different to the kind of finish you get on bamboo fishing rods.

Most restaurants here in Japan will be happy for you to bring your own chopsticks as it saves them the expense of a pair of wooden ones, which are  thrown away after use.  If you eat out just one meal out of 21 in a week, in a year that is a saving of more than 50 pairs.  Some restaurants these days in fact try to cut down on their use of wood chopsticks and have changed to…