From Bored Panda:
Aluminum foil looks pretty boring. It is used for packaging, insulation, cooking… and making really shiny balls that appear to have no real purpose, apparently. That’s right, thanks to a Japanese jeweler, the whole country became obsessed with refining these metal leaves, and we aren’t sure how to react.
Having lived through a lengthy period it wasn’t hard to find a pundit to inform you that the Japanese were destined to take over manufacturing because we sloppy Westerners just wouldn’t learn our lesson, I really don’t want to draw too many conclusions about what this teaches us about Japanese craftsmanship. Let’s just sit back and gasp in astonishment at what can be done if a human being puts their mind to it and leave it at that...
[Via Swissmiss]