KYOTO -- To the average person, a cigarette lighter is just a 100 yen convenience store item to be tossed in the garbage when the fuel runs out.

But to retired Kyoto businessman Makoto Yamaguchi, 48, cigarette lighters are an all-consuming passion. He has amassed a collection of roughly 1,800 antique lighters, worth an estimated 10 million yen.

"To me, the old cigarette lighters are a symbol of craftsmanship that you just don't find in this day and age of mass production," Yamaguchi said. "Many of the high-grade oil and flint lighters have engraving and are made of gold or silver, and a lot of the prewar Japanese models were handmade by artisans who incorporated a great deal of creativity into their designs."