A Sapporo-based collector of Korean wooden bird sculptures plans to donate his collection to a South Korean college in hopes of helping thaw strained relations between Japan and South Korea.
Haruo Yahashi, 79, owner of a surveying firm, has collected 140 such artworks, many of which were made in the 19th century and were used as gifts, ever since he fell in love with an elegantly sculpted bird he saw at an antique store in Tokyo some 30 years ago.
He will donate them to Daegu Health College in the city of Daegu in southeastern South Korea.