TedBuckley
658647
19158
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Nobuo Okano has been restoring books for 30 years.
A guy brought in an old, 1,000-page English-Japanese dictionary.
He used it in his youth and now wants to restore it and give it to his daughter.
Nobuo begins by shaving the old glue from the spine.
The book had some maps of English-speaking countries. They suffered greatly, so Nobuo glued them to new sheets of paper.
The color doesn’t match perfectly, but he can prevent them from degrading further.
The most monotonous part is straightening out every page corner with tweezers…
…and then wetting and ironing the corners straight.
He even has a special tiny iron for the job.
The owner wrote his high school sweetheart’s initials on the book in ink.
Using a heavy-duty paper cutter, Okano removes the color from the edges.
New, minty-fresh pages!
Last but not least, the cover, with the original title on a brand-new background.
Comparison.
Soy Sauce: http://www.boredpanda.com/old-book-restoration-japanese-craftsman-nobuo-okano/
skittleyphallus
Is that the keymaker?
Nu773r
Soy
neatomagneto
That paper cutter tho... hubba.
AliElkie
That's truly lovely
DustyMist
+1 for "soy sauce"
abigailmtg
+ 1 for soy sauce
MoonKingFonz
anarchivist
mmm that paper guillotine...
Iamsonewatthis
I have a huge 250 year old Swedish bible that could use a tune up from this guy.
CaptainHanderpants
Codex Gigas?
CometRelief
For a second there I read 1000 page as 1000 year old
Hobert
ditto, i thought he was being a little rough on some historic book
vilifiedwalrus
the glue-shaving is so satisfying
gimmethebusket
http://imgur.com/vqHaHha
MyDogJake
SOY SAUCE!!!
CountMeInFellas
I blew so much air out of my nose when I read that.
LooseCannonSpock
This is very satisfying. The patience and attention demonstrated is unflagging.
TheSimpleDude
Shinshido Japanes to English dictionary!! I used this when I was studying Japanese about 30 years ago.
terrorista31
And studying Japanese helped you in some moment? :)
TheSimpleDude
it got me a lot of Japanese kitty http://www.goodorient.com/images/D/WR1095_1_main-02.jpg
LuciditY
Plot twist, the initials are the daughter's mom's
Deebs1
Who is actually her Dad
JPark2479
Japanese are just that crazy detailed in everything they do. have you seen the engine builders for the Nissan GTR?
FsImgur
Yes. It looks like an old book. Amazing piece of design there.
VisitMeInAlabama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSjI-BjrGLo#t=275 All in Japanese but still fascinating to watch :)
lastblade
I kept following the source links till I found this and watched it, and then I checked to make sure someone linked it. Good job Madam/Sir~!
captainobvioustits
i thought the point of handing down old stuff was for the history that it embodies. seems like he erased all that.
HermanManly
I'm between "he erased the history" and "he added to the history". You can't just say this restoration isn't part of the books history...
DeadyBearr
Okay so, maybe the dad asked him to do all this stuff?
captainobvioustits
i actually misread it and thought he was the dad and this was his dictionary....
ChuckNorrisAteMySock
Bein' a guy who does a lot of work with antiques, the thing is that there are other, better maintained copies of the same book out there. (1
ChuckNorrisAteMySock
Plus, this book is probably only from like the 50s or 60s (English books that old, at least, have almost no value). Also, the book is (2)
ChuckNorrisAteMySock
still there, just with a new cover. Pages are still the same, and he's made it likely that they will survive longer than they would have. (3
Jyoung147
That's exactly what I thought
captainobvioustits
ikr? if he just wanted to give his daughter a brand new dictionary, isn't it easier to just by a one?
Jyoung147
It destroys the whole history and everything... Idk, seems like a waste
RustlinYourJimmies
I love how this was right after a post making fun of asians taking pictures
Lachtaube
wtf are people still upvoting this for just because it's the top comment on a post that's now on the front page and completely irrelevant?
RustlinYourJimmies
neat
drGrafenberg
That post was actually about making fun of art majors, but I get your point.
TheRicM
It's on Front Page now. Link?
Flortzweich
hee hee...
ImTheGoddamnBatwoman
Did anyone else see the first picture and think it was going to be another post about that one guy's cool dad?
blazerod
I embarrassingly admit
yoginioftruth
Wu! Wu hu!
Amp21
Yuppers!
idownvoteplottwist
Wu is the fucking man.
monkster
No you fucking racist!
monkster
Ok maybe a little...
hsdshallowman
As an asian, damn asians.
IAmNotEntertained
Awesome. I wonder if he'll do some of my old Playboys...some of those sheets are stuck together so he'd have to use that glue tool, I'm sure
blazerod
Must be from the saliva from from your mouth that you might have used to turn pages
GeorgeLucasRapingAStormTrooper
I wonder why they're stuck........
TheUnforgiven1909
He was doing a science project at the time that required the use of glue, obvious answer
[deleted]
[deleted]
TheUnforgiven1909
Yes, glur
dm6776
That's the joke
zerobahamut03
Because bukake
jsktrogdor
That's nice looking and everything... but I cant help feeling like the book is a bit soulless now.
BeardlyScratchington
That's what I was thinking. I would think it would be a much nicer gift in its original form.
brassinpocket
Books are never soulless. New owner will have a chance to add her own patina to it.
CarltheMexicanWhoopingLlama
New body. Old soul. The pages are still original. It's just got new body armor. :)
jsktrogdor
It just looks like every other brand new book, it's not special anymore.
CarltheMexicanWhoopingLlama
You're really not supposed to judge them by their covers. ;)
Elrabin
That's incredibly impressive. Craftsmanship at its finest.
BritaThePurifier
I worked in a rare books library. Most of what we had was bibles. I helped the guy that restored our books choose which ones to get 1/2
BritaThePurifier
restored. He would take a 10 gallon tub worth of 100-200 year old bibles and restore them like new. It was amazing.
peridotstar
Does he have a website where you can adopt the restored books? I'd love a restored Bible :)
peridotstar
2) Not that the old ones aren't lovely in their own way, but sometimes they're just so fragile.
BritaThePurifier
Oh, trust me, these things were in bad shape. Book rot would turn your hands orange. I never even knew the guys name, sorry.
peridotstar
Fair enough--thanks anyway. I never heard of book rot! that sounds awful.
GooseInterpreter
The machine that cut the paper is called a guillotine
idownvoteplottwist
So if someone stuck their head in there, could it cut it off?
GooseInterpreter
im sure, it depends on the model but yea I wouldn't doubt it at all. P.s dont do this and say I told you it'd work
Vandercookie
Checked to see if someone commented on this and was not disappointed. Owning a paper guillotine is a minor life aspiration of mine.
GooseInterpreter
one like that isn't exactly cheap. you could pick up a used one but it'd be a few thousand $'s
Vandercookie
Believe me, I am well aware. My username is a letterpress reference! I trained as a printmaker in college and worked in the book studio.
GooseInterpreter
Oh okay. I worked for a business printing company for about 7 years. If you ever buy one, get trained on how to fix it when it breaks lol
Vandercookie
Having the blade sharpened is also insanely expensive.
justforthis42
+1 for soy sauce, and a cool post
BrotherhoodOfTheTaco
That was the part that got me
jag00
dont take the soy sauce for the love of god just don't do it
Nuthyn
You don't choose the soy sauce, the soy sauce chooses you!
prairiedoggin
I legit laughed
LaughingIranianPlasticSurgeon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py_eX-Kk3tc&feature=youtu.be
ghostsushi
shoyu
fydelstyx
why is this downvoted?
prairiedoggin
Upvotes for all
ghostsushi
Wasn't me
Gooooodmoooorrrningmuchwow
+1 for "+1 for soy sauce" soy sauce
sarahtopsrawr
+1 for "+1 for '+1 for soy sauce' soy sauce"
Jinuyr
+1 for (+1 for "+1 for '+1 for soy sauce' soy sauce")
CamDawggy
Gentlemen, it's been a privilege...
Rackshasa
I kinda liked the initials on the pages of the book.
capsulet
His wife didn't!
ivegottwolegs
He might have had ragrets about writing them on there but still loved the rest of the book.
sparkledick
I'm assuming they're no longer together and that was the reason. Or he wanted his daughter to be able to put her own sweetheart's initials.
Warranty
Same. I thought he was going to emphasize them somehow, but *chop!*
AluminiumFalcon
Of some chick you banged when you were 16 and isn't the mother of the child you're giving the book too?
liliputian7
Well too bad
meccit
Anyone understand Japanese? The father explains the initials here https://youtu.be/iSjI-BjrGLo?t=2m18s
utterlydone
Me too. I thought it was beautifully carved.
kharmatika
It probably had to go to prevent further fraying of the pages, guys.
WatcheroftheWays
My guess is that all the pages have warped over time and needed to be trimmed back into shape, you notice that he cut all 3 sides.
connorellingson
Haha "and here are the clients High school sweethearts initials." *chop*
YouveGottaBKitten
That part did it for me lol
franklinthetanklin
Might be she isn't the girls mother, something like that. Though I agree with you, added character!
macarronchacarron
Didn't think about that
FakUImABear
'Grandpa, whose initials are those?' 'Oh just some chick I used to bang in high school'
JustASlightJingleOfPocketChangePulsing
*Dad
snibblify
Could be her future daughter asking though. I think it's funnier as grandpa.
brethamus
YN was a tramp
unresponsivenipples
I'm just thinking of possible names. Yamada Nanako. Yoshida Natsuki. Yamamoto Nori. Yamaguchi Namie....
TheStickyWicket
So it's a tramp stamp?
wartoaster
YM is a tramp
HitlerEatingABanana
YO will be a tramp
KnucleheadFlow
...stealth savage...
typewriterabbit
I see what you did there.