Behold The Canoe Made From Chopsticks

We recently discussed Campion’s efforts to produce a boat made an environmentally friendly boat made from bio-resin, but what about making boats from recycled materials, or maybe just materials that would otherwise go to waste. For example, what if you made a boat out of the chopsticks people throw away after meals!

A former city employee in the Fukushima prefecture town of Koriyama has built a 4-meter (13-ft) long canoe from thousands of used disposable chopsticks recovered from the city hall cafeteria. Bothered that perfectly good wood was going to waste after a single use, Shuhei Ogawara — whose job at city hall involved working with the local forestry industry — spent the last two years of his career collecting used chopsticks from the cafeteria. An experienced canoe builder, Ogawara spent over 3 months gluing 7,382 chopsticks together into strips to form the canoe shell, to which he added a polyester resin coat. The canoe weighs about 30 kilograms (66 lbs), which is a bit heavier than an ordinary cedar canoe, but Ogawara is confident it will float. A launching ceremony is planned for May at nearby Lake Inawashiro.

via Pink Tentacle

16 Comments
February 26, 2010 by Jonathon Marshall

Filed Under: Culture, Incredible, Japan, Non-Fishing, Watercraft, World
Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

16 Comments on “Behold The Canoe Made From Chopsticks...”

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  • avatar Brad Orcutt
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    That’s one fine looking canoe. Great job Ogawara!

  • avatar woody
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    That Canoe looks mint!…Well done that man!

  • avatar chris
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    That’s amazing! I want that canoe!

  • avatar chris
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    Actually, I find the chopsticks wasted here disturbing. Especially knowing where they are coming from. ( I don’t take plastic bags and won’t take the disposable chopsticks or cutlery).
    Most people here don’t know or, if they do, don’t care.

  • avatar Jonathon Marshall
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    I’d love to one day see recycling as art like this on a huge scale.

  • avatar chris
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    A lot of people are doing good things with waste. I think waste needs to be our new resource. I never buy new clothes, but for the occasional band t-shirt or boots. 95% of what I wear comes from vintage clothing/recycle shops.

  • avatar Jonathon Marshall
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    “I think waste needs to be our new resource.”

    I don’t think you could have put it any better.

  • avatar Adam
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    chris: I carry my own chopsticks with me when I eat out here. The waste here is terrible. In the canteen at my workplace they offer both plastic re-usable and wooden ones, and it is amazing to see so many diners still lumping for the wood ones and then chucking them.

  • avatar chris
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    Sad, isn’t it? I have a pair of metal chopsticks I got in Korea about 10 years ago. I live by them. Of course, I am no Saint. I use the disposable ones at times. I make a very conscious effort not too, though.

  • avatar Jonathon Marshall
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    Metal chopsticks? That’s pretty badass.

  • avatar chris
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    Yup. Korean chopsticks are metal. Dangerous!

  • avatar Jonathon Marshall
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    Must have something to do with that scene in Oldboy…

  • avatar chris
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    Old Boy! What a flick! So bizarre.

  • avatar DearMissMermaid
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    I just love this kind of ingenuity! One man’s garbage, another man’s treasure. I enjoy recycyling things for a second or third use.

    I hope you followup with the canoe lauching.

  • avatar Jonathon Marshall
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    One of my favorite movies of all time.

  • avatar Watercraft Shopping
    1 year, 11 months ago #

    I am the new one on this blog. Awesome work dude. Attracting canoe. Thanks for sharing with us.

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