Old friend in Paris collecting gear for pastime in Japan (7)
I believe the answer is:
origami
'pastime in japan' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer. I also know that 'japan' relates to this answer.
'old friend in paris collecting gear' is the wordplay.
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'friend in paris' becomes 'ami' (I've seen this in another clue).
'collecting' indicates putting letters inside.
'gear' becomes 'rig' (rig is a kind of gear).
'o'+'ami'='oami'
'oami' placed around 'rig' is 'ORIGAMI'.
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for origami that I've seen before include "Artistic paper folding" , "Art originally created in simple materials to design bird forms" , "Japanese paper-folding art" , "Paper-folding skill" , "US record label" .)