pinku

Anna R-D

Wow, I've been having a great day today. What a nice change! The beginning of this year (ever since we got back from Australia) has been a little lacklustre. I wasn't feeling it at all and being sick twice certainly didn't help. The spring weather has made me so much happier!

I got up early this morning so that I could work out at the gym longer than usual. Going in my lunch break means that I really only have 25 minutes which is just not enough. I started a new program and it was really challenging. It has made me feel good. Then Darin tells me my new bag which I ordered from Demano arrived at the house and that a torrent I have been wanting to download has finally succeeded. It was the finale of the Biggest Loser - S2. I am completely addicted to the Biggest Loser series and cry in nearly every episode. It is so encouraging and positive. The transformations are amazing. I love that a show promoting exercise and a reasonable diet is proving a big hit both in the US and Australia.

And now that I exercise in the morning, I can enjoy some SPECIAL time (as Darin calls it) during lunch. Today I had a lovely lunch with a work friend and then we wandered around the cherry blossoms at the Aoyama Cemetary which are in full bloom - right now. Here's a pic of the cherry blossoms in Inokashira Park - I took this photo with my camera on the way to work this morning.

It tops off a great week actually. On the weekend we went to Keirin with some buddies and that was an interesting experience. I'll post my photos in Flickr later, but in the meantime you can read Darin's post about the Keirin. My only advice is that I wouldn't really recommend  soing to Keirin for a date - it kind of smells of stale smoke and is FULL of old men. I ended up playing a game called 'Spot the Female' - it was hard. The only bonus was there was no line at the ladies toilets. We had one wager, guess what colour racer I bet on?

Here's a great polaroid shot of Darin taken at Keirin.

My favourite thing about Keirin was the old man food stall selling soba/udon/curry and onigiri - that's it. Oh and the free rokucha and water machine.

And on the way home, I spotted an awesome looking thrift store that is only open between 1:30pm and 5pm on Sundays - it was 4pm on Sunday. Guess what we found! Not one but TWO Print Goccos and a whole case of inks. They were originally priced at 250 yen and 300 yen respectively, but they were on sale for half price. Meaning that we walked out of there with all of that for much less than $10.

I also scored a cute vintage Japanese dress with the tags still on it for 200 yen, which I am now calling my wimbledon dress.

BUT I have been saving the best news for last. This happy spring post is dedicated to Anna Di-Iorio Reyes - the new, new daughter of our good friends, Angie and Sam. She was born on Sunday March 26th at 1:59am. Man, I am so happy for you guys and I want to come and meet Anna soon.

Random Thursday

I'm in no mood to make any sense today. I'm just gonna share a bunch of random stuff that is well......random.

Recently Jo posted about spotting some dogs in Japan wearing plaid skirts. More evidence that Japanese people take their pet love to a whole new level. When we went to pick up sugar the other day, we met her previous carer in a small animals specialty pet store for the hand over. They sell rabbits, ferrets, and guinea pigs etc. I mean dog clothes are pretty common even in western countries now, but how about ferret clothes??

You could even buy your ferret a skajan (or a special embroidered Japanese jacket) at the pet store

And then I came across EVEN MORE extreme pet love evidence in our park on Tuesday (a public holiday here in Japan). The weather was great and there were tons of little flea market stalls in the park. One such stall owner brought her pet on a leash and wearing a dress .

Yes a pig! This was a first. Here's another shot from further away. Her pig was charming all the little kids.

On another pet related note, we've started thinking about a new habitat for Sugar. The word 'cage' is not mentioned in our house. I like this one. However anyone who has ever been to our apartment may realize that we won't have anywhere to sleep if we make it this big.

And last but not least, go and check out my husband's new blog -Road to Robocco - it's a beer-related blog which will track our path towards winning Robocco. Darin also discusses a new campaign by a society representing people with Down Syndrome in Japan. I wasn't sure how to react at first, but Darin sums it up nicely.

We love Sugar!

For valentine's day this year, my plan was to get a guinea pig for Darin (and me). We've been talking about getting a pet for a while but can't have a cat or a dog according to our rental contract. First we thought about turtles, but nothing ever came of that even though we bought a turtle care book in preparation. So I started looking around at pet stores but none of the ones in Kichijoji sell guinea pigs - only super expensive pure bred puppies, kittens, hamsters and some rabbits.

Somehow I stumbled across a great internet bulletin board in Japanese where people list guinea pigs pets that they can no longer care for. One of the most recent postings was from a lady whose guinea pig had just given birth to four babies. A few emails, photos and a visit later, we decided to take home Sugar. We picked her up yesterday and bought her lots of good guinea pig food. She's still pretty small as she's only four weeks old and she's still pretty shy but she has already won our hearts. She makes the cutest little sounds when you pet her and even watching her devour a piece of apple is cute. I could barely sleep last night I was so worried about her and how she was settling in and even my dream was all about guinea pigs....

sugar on daddy's tummy eating apple

this morning huddled under a piece of towel...she's still a little scared of us.

Ni hei de biru

The title of this post means 'thank you' in the dialect of Okinawa - it sounds nothing like the standard Japanese 'arigato'. In the same sense, Okinawa itself didn't really feel like Japan at all. The buildings/houses were different, the food was unique (there seemed to be an inordinate number of steak restaurants), and it seemed pretty run down in general. It felt a lot like south east asia. Darin and I both liked it a lot. We were only there for four days but it felt like weeks (we were very relaxed). We didn't visit any islands and spent most of our time in the northern town of Nago (pop. 50,000) as we were there to attend a friend's wedding. We stayed at the Kise Beach Palace. We visited the Churaumi Aquarium and the wedding was at Busena Terrace. I recommend all of these places. I posted all of our photos on Flickr, but here are a few of my favourites:

kise beach palace

Ocean Expo Park

one of the millions of lucky shisas concreted on to walls and buildings all over okinawa

cute squid at the Churaumi Aquarium

happy feet

the wedding party - Kyoko wore the most elegant wedding dress and that hat was total class!!!

here's how kyoko spends her nights!!

rock on girls and it was great to see you all in Okinawa!

Six super cool things

Sometimes I have nothing to write about and then I get inspired and have about a million things to write about and get so excited that I have to do it all in one post. That's just me. Here are six super cool things I'm into right now:

Super cool thing number one

Amy has embarked on an up and down tour of Japan starting in Hokkaido and finishing in Okinawa. She's travelling in a van with a bunch of young Japanese people and you can read about her adventures on Japan Hopper. Japan Hopper is a new type of travel blog that is looking for native speakers of English living in Japan who can write about different regional areas of Japan. I just signed up because I'm going on a short holiday tomorrow and thought I could share all of my travel information(see Super Cool thing number 6).

Super cool thing number two

Isn't this an awesome exhibition poster!! While surfing the internet the other day I came across this artist/craftsperson, Rei Ricketts and her amazing bags. There are house bags, super duper handbags shaped as zebras, with trees and cherries on top, and tote bags. This is one more reason to love Tokyo and Kichijoji. For those of you lucky to live in Tokyo, you should check out the Rei Ricketts exhibition at the Niji Garo Gallery in Kichijoji (march 16-21, 12pm to 8pm) - I will SO be there.

Super cool thing number three

This free pattern on Elann! So cute and I am loving the fact that it's knit is one piece from the top down with no seaming. The recommended yarn is 100% cotton and I'm a bit worried it'll be heavy and I won't want to wear it. So I started swatching with some leftover Rowan All Seasons Cotton last night - we'll see how that goes. If I go with the recommended yarn (which is SO cheap) I'm going for GOLD!!

Super cool thing number four

This cool watch/bracelet kit, which will be available at the Shugei Cafe this Sunday (March 12) at Uplink Factory in Shibuya. Fellow Tokyo SNB member and all round crafty lady Taeko has been hard at work crocheting decorations and rallying the troops for this Sunday's event. She has also come up with a brooch kit which will also be for sale for about 300 yen. There will be music, free knitting patterns, and a vintage/new craft book library where you can browse through everyone's craft book treasures. I'm sad that I can't go.

Join us for 'Shugei Cafe' on Sunday, March 12th from 11:45am to 5pm

UPLINK FACTORY - 37-18 Udagawacho Shibuya-ku

Free admission (you have to order at least one drink).
Knit and Craft Cafe, Free Patterns, Musical Live, etc.

Super cool thing number five

Tony and the gang are back THIS SUNDAY. Love this pic of Carmela, Tony's horrible mum, and Meadow and AJ when they were so sweet.

Super cool thing number six

Darin and I leave for Okinawa in 17 hours!!!! The forecast for Tokyo tomorrow is cloudy with a MAX of 11 and MIN of 7. The forecast for Okinawa tomorrow is SUNNY with a MAX of 24 and a MIN of 16 - that's more like it. I have my denim mini, my new hanjiro tshirt, my pink Australia flag hat packed and ready to go...well actually I haven't packed at all, but I've planned my packing. We will be attending a friend's wedding on Sunday so it should be fun - we'll be back on Monday night no doubt complaining again about the cold. On a positive note, there's only 12 days until the official start of spring. Bring on the sakura - can't wait!

See you all next week!!

The story of the golden shoes

My love for Tokyo has been waning lately. I think it probably has something to do with the cold weather and my anger at still having to wear a big coat. I am envious of everyone that can go thrift store shopping whenever they want. I miss the excitement of finding something special. So to restore that love, I set out for Harajuku after work yesterday. It's pretty cool that such an amazing area of the world is only a 15 minute walk away. It was rainy and cold but I didn't care. I decided to check out some vintage stores that I had heard about but never really ventured inside.

First stop was G2 (3-22-7 Jingumae, 2F, open everyday 11-8). This shop is a great place to wander around - lots of bright colours, 80s motifs and kitsch zakka, but it is overpriced. I found the cutest vintage polka dot dress but it was nearly 8000 yen. Too much. They had some shoes that even fit me (size 9) - shock horror! I receommend it for inspiration and to have a browse.

Next stop was the kebab stand run by men from the middle east. I have been there many times before but they always ask where I am from, and then they continue to charm me by telling me how beautiful Australian women are - it always elicits a smile from me. No vintage clothes here but 500 yen got me a delicious kebab and more importantly sustenance for the rest of my shopping adventure.

I crossed the road while stuffing my face and head to the YM Square Building which is home to my favourite store, Hanjiro. You can see photos inside the store here. They really provide the full shopping experience - amazing atmosphere, good prices, awesome point system, and a very beautiful cafe with an outdoor balcony!! However before Hanjiro I went to the new secondhand store in the bottom of the YM Square Building - can't remember the name. Their stuff is cheap - nothing much more than 800 yen, but it's more secondhand with a few vintage pieces thrown in the mix. All of their winter stuff was 70% off but even so I didn't really find anything I needed/wanted. I was tempted by the 200 yen prices though.

So off I went to Hanjiro and I had one of those great shopping days when everything you try on fits and looks pretty cute. Usually in Japan I can virtually guarantee that most things won't fit right but yesterday was not one of those days. My love for Tokyo was slowly but surely seeping back into my bones. I spent most of my time on the 4th floor among the recon stuff, cute girly gold and silver shoes and of course the dresses rack. I walked out of there with ANOTHER recon tshirt and some gold heels - the grand total came to 1500 yen after using my points card and still have 150 yen discount to use the next time I go. Their point system is great - you get a 10 yen discount for every 100 yen you spend. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't find a dress I liked. I love vintage dresses and was really eager to stock up on some for spring.

I wasn't going to give up though. Most shops shut at 8, but I knew there had to be at least one still open.

We Go stays open until 9 - this was my last chance. I went straight to the basement and to the dress rack. Certainly not as cheap or as exciting as Hanjiro, but I found two super cute dresses - one brown and one red. Total came to just less than 4000 yen.

I was really happy that after two hours I had a cute new recon tshirt, a pair of gold strappy heels and two spring dresses for around 5500 yen.

My love for Tokyo is back with a vengeance.

I didn't have time to take a photo this morning, so my very kind and loving husband took one for me. It makes me smile because he found a way to sneak his skateboard into the shot!!!

oh and by the way, look who can't stand to leave our cozy home: