Japanese buttsecs forgers!

[Taro Toporific]

Yahoo! News Photos - AFP -Thu Apr 2, 2009--An original "netsuke" (right) made of boxwood and a fake at a gallery in Tokyo. Chinese forgers, after fooling art collectors worldwide by faking their own country's artifacts, are now trying to break into Japan's hermetic but very lucrative market...

[Catoneinutica]

Yahoo! News Photos - AFP -Thu Apr 2, 2009--An original "netsuke" (right) made of boxwood and a fake at a gallery in Tokyo. Chinese forgers, after fooling art collectors worldwide by faking their own country's artifacts, are now trying to break into Japan's hermetic but very lucrative market...

This is why I've always steered clear of Asian antiques in general. Japanese may have hitherto been a bit safer, but I think the presumption is that whatever it's being touted as, it's a fake. My eye for Asian art and antiques isn't calibrated finely enough to detect the nuances between fakes and the real things. When the Chinese try to spoof Western art and antiques, the result is still comically obvious (they can't seem to help giving Greek goddesses almond-shaped eyes), though they're getting better.

[Kanchou]

What sort of beer goggles did it take for them to make the fake look like that?