By 1979, Tom had built his own kiln and studio in Boulder, Colorado. He was eager to learn more about Japanese pottery making, and in 1981, the opportunity to return to Japan presented itself. For a year he worked in Shimane, a remote prefecture along the Japan Sea, with Haruo Shimada, a remarkable folk craft potter who threw pots that were over six feet tall! In 1982 Tom went to Tamba, a mountainous region west of Kyoto with a pottery traditon of over eight hundred years, and worked with Maaski Shibata, a former apprentice of Kawai Kanjiro, one of Japan's greatest ceramic artists of the twentieth century, which makes Tom a grandson apprentice of Kawai. Tom built his own studio and wood-fired kiln in Tamba, where he made pots for eleven years. During this time he exhibited and sold his work at the art department galleries of major department stores throughout Japan, including Takashimaya (a store older than this country) in Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto and Osaka. He was accepted three times into the Japanese National Exhibition of Crafts (Kokuten), a prestigious, juried show of crafts, that only a handful of foreigners have entered. Tom's work is in the Ohara Museum of Art in Kobe and numerous private collections. He has frequently appeared on television and in magazine and newspaper articles throughout Japan.

Tom derives inspiration for his work from many sources, including Chinese bronze, Japanese ceremonial earthenware (Jomon pottery), Bronze Age bells (dotaku)--and having been an assistant to Betty Woodman at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He left Japan in April 1993 after having lived there for a total of thirteen years, but frequently returns to exhibit and sell his work and renew his inspiration. His studio is located in Boulder. He works alone, living between countries, cultures, and traditions. His bronze and ceramic vessels represent a path between those borders that have been touched by different influences in time and space.