Wondering why it is so satisfying. It tells that what you pursue doesn't matter. It can be a wood-planing contest or some silly hobby. What matters is that you are motivated to pursue it. You believe in improving that pursuit, you see others doing the same, you believe it is the social norm, you see that it is valued and respected. And most importantly you feel good about it.

Talk about things like investing in stocks, being known as a great techie or entrepreneur, exiting a great startup, running a venture capital, making a few million, becoming US citizen, having a great home etc. These goals are not bad. Just that they cost more, for the same returns (satisfaction). You are more successful when your happiness doesn't cost you a life-time running around or some herculean effort.

Tangential but the name is a pun - "kezuroukai" translates to "shall we shave?" in Japanese, but "kai" can also mean something like "gathering" or "community".

Wow 10 micron is a lot smaller than I thought a handmade wood shaving would be. Th champions are even better in the single digits consistently.

Japanese hand plane has to be one of the most satisfying tools to use...if you're into wood working, really worth trying one.

Planning wood, expect during kezuroukai, is annoying because knots are hard and deform the thin edge; most often still wet enough to oxydize the thin edge; finally full of abrasive silicium to abrade the thin edge.

Meanwhile, lake erie toolworks is creating powder metallurgy CPM magnacut blades for western style planes, which seemingly never gets dull because of corrosion resistance, wear resistance and hardness.