It's cool. I was just giving you a hard time for critiquing the kind of wood he used.
it's just...frustrating to me (even by proxy) that for the effort he put into it, it could have been that much better.
wrt the project itself, when the materials choice you have limits you to something bearing only a passing resemblance to the material you're shooting for, go the other way. shoot for heavy contrast, rather than trying to match.
and i honestly don't think your wood choices would be that limited in northern japan. japan has a very long history of fine carpentry, so there should be means of procuring fine woods. i realize wood is comparatively expensive over there, but for the size of the project i can't imagine it'd be that much.
i just saw something funny. dimensional bamboo. cut, sand, whatever like normal wood.