Finn Juhl Hotel  

Man, wish I knew about this sooner. I will be in Osaka next month for work, and I am planning on extending my stay a few days to go skiing. Thought about Nagano, but it was just as expensive to go up to Hokkaido, and they have much better snow. Seeing a bunch of Juhl in the wild, might have sealed Nagano as my destination...

I would change my ski trip plans right now. This is amazing.

Leif, I wonder if the hosts would consider it, um, impolite for guests to give the furnishings the kind of inspection that either of us would be tempted to. Imagine trying to serve tea to an overexcited American while he's flat on his back under a chair wearing eyeglasses and a headlamp taking photographs and fiddling with a tape measure!

Oh, I can readily imagine it. This is the sort of situation that good tipping is designed to remedy.

Ah, so. The typically American all-purpose remedy. Does one customarily offer compensation before or after the insult? Forgive me for asking, it's been too long since I've forgotten my manners! ;^)

It depends on your charisma.
The right person can get the host to flip the furniture over and measure it for him.
The wrong person will get thrown out entirely for rolling around underneath the furniture without explanation and while the host is trying to serve the tea, and because he is too slow with his monetary apology.
A good middle road would be to hand over a nice tip for your tea while behaving yourself and showing passion for the chair you happen to be sitting in, and then apologize your way to climbing underneath it to look around.

Well said, leif!
Best,
Aunt Mark
ps nice property!

LOL, yes to all of the above!
....and if you are really good, you and the host are rolling around on the floor measuring!
I already checked, and it is just going to cost too much to change plans at this point. It was a stretch for me to be able to afford 3 additional days on my own dime in the first place, switching now will put me over the edge!
Plus, I have been skiing since I was able to walk, and skiing in Japan has always been on my 'list.' Being in a room of Finn Juhl furniture was only added to my 'list' in the past few years Unfortunately, I will have to default to that which has been on 'the list' longest.
and if I just keep telling myself that they are all booked that weekend ..... it will make it easier at least.

...and if you are really good, you and the host are rolling around on the floor measuring!
I'm diggin' it!
Aunt Mark