pinku

End of hanami - beginning of spring!!!

It's the end of hanami season in Tokyo. Parties have been going on at parks all over Tokyo the past two weeks. Our very own park was once again this year very spectacular. This was Jake's first hanami and we took him on the boats!!

I love how Japan really celebrates the cherry blossoms. It's kind of crazy. There are sakura-themed everything - including disposable nappies....of course we use that brand!!

With all this sunny weather, Jake has now been able to get some use out of his baby banz. Darin reckons he looks like a member of Duran Duran.

And in other exciting news, Jake is obsessed with dogs and our guinea pigs. They could keep him entertained for hours. He had his first close up dog experience yesterday. It went very well and luckily Jake didn't pull on his fur like he pulls on mama's hair.

So sweet!

Ok, so I'm a day late, but Happy Valentine's Day!!

A couple of weeks ago while wandering around my neighbourhood, I visited one of my favourite vintage American zakka/material shops called Socks Ciao. I hadn't been in a while so it was really fun browsing their vintage fabrics, books and various zakka products. I then came across of vintage American valentine's day cards. I went through the whole box and chose about 8. I paid way too much for them but I just couldn't resist. The 40s and 50s definitely seemed like a much sweeter time. The cards are not only cute but also hilarious. I got a little choked up reading the original messages on the back. Love is good.

I gave Darin this one

a crafty one

how could I pass up this one?

And the last one is the oldest one of the bunch - 1945...

And there was a little message on the back....and yes I paid 500 yen (or nearly $5 for this card). The others were cheaper thank goodness and I didn't really mind because they were so cute!

So sad!

Darin and I had our engagement party at Kichijoji's oldest and most famous yakitori bar, ISEYA. We love going there - the atmostphere is great, the beer is cheap, and the service is terrible (we don't mind because the beer is cheap). We mainly frequent the park branch of ISEYA, but on weekends we find ourselves often popping into the main branch of ISEYA on Kichijoji dori to have a beer at the street bar. It's a really special place. We heard a while ago that they are planning to knock the building down because it is too old and replacing it with a 14-storey building. That was about six months ago so we thought maybe it wasn't going to happen after all. Then Darin found this article on the weekend.

Famous Yakitori restaurant in Tokyo to be demolished for being too old

You know where we'll be drinking this weekend. I hate to see something so special being replaced by something so soul-less.

A better panorama shot put together by Daz. Click for a larger version.

In My Life

What a great weekend - summer is FINALLY here and we enjoyed a perfect day yesterday here in Kichijoji. I FINALLY got around to documenting a day in my life for Leslie's In My Life flickr group. Actually I kept forgetting to take photos all day, but we did manage to capture most of the fun.

Morning with our piggies

Noon at the kiddy pool/fountain

Afternoon with my good friend Bree

Evening eating the best summer dessert ever - kakigori (shaved ice with condensed milk)

You can see the rest of our photos from yesterday HERE!!! Hope you all had a good one!

Kichijoji Dreamin'

We love where we live in Tokyo - it's full of free entertainment, bars, an excellent secondhand English bookstore with a very knowledgable and friendly owner!!, great shopping (for me), awesome restaurants, an animated park and let's not forget the craft stores. More often than not we never leave our little area on the weekend and it's never boring. This weekend we had an impromptu night out on the town and as you know those are the best kind.

First we started off by having dinner at Mamezou (まめ蔵）, a Japanese curry institution in Kichijoji that's been around since 1978. We had been meaning to eat here for ages since our friend, Tomoki works there. Darin mentioned that curry rice is definitely Japan's comfort food and I couldn't agree more. It tastes great on a cold winter's night. They have a dinner set for around 1300 yen where you select the curry of your choice, and you also receive a small bowl of yoghurt for dessert, and a glass of wine.

Next we checked out an Okinawan Bar (sorry can't remember the name) that's run out of the back of a truck. Sounds kind of cheap and nasty (which we like too) but it was surprisingly fancy with great food and service by Koba!! We were protected from the cold by many sheets of plastic and kerosene heaters. Our feet even got hot. This place is easy to find though - just walk right through the Dai-Ichi Hotel in Kichijoji and take the back exit and there it is to your right. It'll be a great place to have drinks in the summer as it is located on a fancy wooden deck.

tyler with his london beanie knitted by me...sorry it took so long!

Since the Okinawan Bar only seats about 8 or 9 people, we felt obliged to leave after a couple of hours and give some other people a chance to experience some Okinawan delights. So we headed to the Bloomoon Cafe. Martine sent me some great pics from the night including this one of our heads in a wine glass:

And I had fun playing with Martine's new camera, and took this shot of Tyler and Martine:

We stayed until the bar closed and then meandered home - a true luxury in Tokyo when more often than not a great night out is ruined by having to cram into the last train home for the night. Another reason we love Kichijoji is because there is going to be a rock show in the local sento (public baths). At first I thought we all might have to be naked, but looking at pictures from the first Furo Rock......everyone is clothed.

Kitijoji!

Things have settled down now, thank goodness! That wasn't my first earthquake but it certainly was the biggest that I have ever felt at work - very unnerving. Especially since each earthquake is different - some rock sideways, some go up and down. Yesterday's started off slow and small but got bigger and bigger and the building just kept shaking. They say it's safe up here but it certainly doesn't feel like it, and I always worry about fires. But moving onto happier topics.....

Working as a translator in Japan, my goal is to reproduce Japanese documents in natural English, so they are accurate and easy to read. However one of the phenomenons that constantly entertains but sometimes annoys us is Japlish/Engrish. So you see, I am torn. As a professional I cringe, but as a visitor in a strange land I laugh out loud. It's a dilemma. We recently made a trip to our local city hall to have some documents updated and while I was there I found these two gems:

This extract is from a yearly crime update in our city:

Dude - what is old-man hunting??

The next one is from the monthly English newsletter produced by the city. After reading the many gems in this, I decided to subscribe. I've never been one to turn down free entertainment.

Since reading this Darin has been keen to try out the cold towels around the groin trick.

Completely changing the topic - have you seen the new Fall VK ?? I just had a quick flip through at the bookstore because I won't shell out $20 for a magazine. Anyways, one of the feature articles is about knitting in Japan (hooray), AND there is a feature on the area where I live: Kichijoji. I was surprised that they didn't mention Avril, but they did cover most other fiber-related stores in the area except Kimuraya, but that's pretty tiny anyways (they do have great bargain bins though). I can't tell you how exciting it is to live so close to so many fantastic craft-related stores. I still have to go to a spinning lesson at Ananda, but it's definitely on my must-do list.

Hanami Bandwagon

It is hanami time in Japan as you may have noticed if you visit the blogs of people living in Japan. Hanami means 'flower viewing', but it really means 'we are all so excited that winter's over that I am going to get drunk with a bunch of buddies under some pretty trees'. We had our hanami party last Saturday. We were very organized and put out our tarps the night before at midnight - some people slept in the park overnight, but since we live super close, we slept at home. We recovered on Sunday and the past three days have been hella cold. Most of the blossoms have fallen off the trees (it looks like it has snowed - cool!), but the weather is nice today (19 degrees and sunny) so I saw people putting out a couple of tarps out in the park ready to keep the party going.

I was too excited about the warm weather, spending time with so many friends, and of course the cherry blossoms that I didn't end up taking a lot of photos (well not many good ones anyway). Here is a glimpse of our Kichijoji, Inokashira Park, Tokyo, cherry blossom, hanami life.

Inokashira Park

Part of our hanami posse

It must have been a special occasion coz darin brought out his Mexico beerholder!

Jennifer made some delicious cupcakes and cookies. Yum!

It was THAT packed!

Squeezing in a photo!

The photo most people don't take.

Ending with pretty pink blossoms.

You can see the rest of our photos here!

Thanks to everyone that came - I had a 12-hour blast in the park! (ending the night with karaoke until 2am and then late night/early morning ramen - mmmmm!)

See you all next year!

This is one of those times when...

...you wish you had your digital camera on you!!! You remember that the other day I posted a photo of a disturbing man in pink, well today I am going to show you some photos of something cute....but possibly disturbing.

I really think that this is the only place in the world where you will see a man in his 60s at Starbucks with his dog dressed in full kimono WITH obi, fur trim for the neck and a headpiece. I am sorry the photos are so small (they are keitai/cell/mobile phone photos), but I had to share anyway.

Finally, thanks to all those bidding on my craft book auctions on Ebay - there are still four days to go, but it is just so exciting! I still have more to put up for sale, but I just take so damn long to post one auction that five takes me all day long - don't know what my problem is!!! I really enjoy sending the books out and I always try and include a little something extra from Japan. I might not get and be able to pass on the shipping discounts that Amazon receives, but a whole lotta love and time is spent finding, listing and sending these books. From one craft lover to another!!!            ps. If you haven't read it yet, the Academy Award write-up on Salon is hilarious!!!

Completely engaging!

* Warning!! Super long image heavy post ahead!! *

We had a super busy weekend! It was our engagement party on Saturday night at Iseya and what a blast. Thanks to all that came and made the trek out to Kichijoji although I personally don't think it's that far from the so-called CITY, especially our out of town guests. The night started off slow at 7pm with the arrival of only Toshio and Emi - both talented artists. Toshio makes the most awesome animal figures that are now being sold in Japanese convenience stores and have been featured in newspaper ads too. We were lucky enough to score a smoking gorilla - sweet!! He also has owned an iguana for many years! So although there was only four of us - the staff started bringing out plates and plates of food for our total of 30 guests - that was weird! Guess you could call that good service.

Here's a photo of me, Emi, Toshio and Kyoko:

Point of realization

I guess I knew this all along, but (and this is in no way meant to offend the non-Japanese like myself) Japanese people are more reliable when it comes to parties - that's just the way it is. When they say they come, they come and when they say they'll be there at 7, they'll be there at 7. This reliability is what convinced me to only have Japanese roommates when I was sharing a flat in Brisbane.

So then the Kansai rock girls, Yellow Machinegun and their beautiful manager, Yoshi turned up. Now these girls not only know how to party, they know how to rock. They have been friends of Darin's since we first met at Kansai Gaidai over 10 years ago - Darin illustrated their first album cover - this review I linked is ok but I think they deserve more than a B+ (but I may be biased!!). Halfway through the night the girls surprised us with the most fantastic engagement present EVER!!

Here's a photo of the girls (minus tama) plus me and daz:

and, here's one of me and tama doing her best to make a silly face (she did a pretty good job!)

and finally one of me, daz and yoshi (I am sorry yoshi...this is a pretty bad photo). she really is beautiful.

So, what the hell did they give you (I hear you yelling from your computer)??? I guess our present might only be fully appreciated by those who have travelled in Japan, but it is so fantastic. Darin and I had made a trip last year to Kappa-bashi dori in Tokyo - this is where they sell supplies for restaurants including all of the plastic food they use in displays. We desperately wanted something but they are unexpectedly VERY expensive. So we went home, looking forlorn and without any plastic food. I guess we must have told the girls this story because we scored the best fake bowl of ramen and gyoza in Japan - it was even custom-made with our names written in Japanese and a little red heart. Thanks so much girls - you made our night!!

The ramen and gyoza

close-up of our names on the kamaboko (also known as fish sausage - yum!)

Here are some photos of our other fabulous guests:

the lovely and newly-married Claire (crafty, talented fellow Tokyo SNB pal) and Jess from NZ

Dan, Rumi and Alex

Daz, Kaori, and Hiroko

Martine and me

Josh, Simon and me (Josh, the famous owner of the fabulous Bondi Books in Kichijoji brought some great t-shirts for us AND a book about preparing for a healthy pregnancy (cough, splutter...!!) Oh yeah Josh you did ignore me at the hub and I'm still hurt by it!!!!

I have other photos but this post is already photo heavy - don't you love it!! Anyway after stuffing our faces and drinking LOTS of beer, a bunch of us party people headed to karaoke!!

Look at the light-up wall!! He so hot!

I think we ended up in bed somewhere around 4am - 6am! Woo hoo! At our age - we certainly suffered the next day, but we managed to find the energy to make it to a Yellow Machinegun show the next day in Shibuya - they rocked just as hard as the party did. Really - thanks to all of those that came and all of those that wanted to be there!! Love you!

Rings and stuffing!!!

Yesterday we went and saw a man about some rings.

It was very exciting. We were supposed to go on Sunday, but I wasn't feeling well, so we rescheduled. I met daz after work and luckily he has acquired the skill of detecting when I am cranky because of hunger. Yes, it happens. I swore I was fine, but after sharing some takoyaki I realized how much I had needed that food. So back to the rings, we are having our wedding rings custom-made by Ken Kobayashi, who runs a tiny metal work shop in Kichijoji. By chance we had met his son (who also works as a metalsmith) at our 4th of July BBQ this year. He plays the digeridoo very well. He had mentioned that he worked at a shop that made wedding rings, so we went and met his dad (although we did not know they were father and son at the time). Ken has come up with a top-secret engraving technique that allows us to draw (in our own handwriting) anything we want on the inside of the ring - here are some examples. This is the main drawcard for us and also the fact that we know who is making our rings and that they will make them exactly as we want them. I am figuring that robots will make an appearance on our rings.

So apart from thinking about what I am going to write/draw on daz's ring, I have (as I mentioned yesterday) been day-dreaming about stuffing. I know it seems silly, but I really do love the stuff (no pun intended). As I was looking up recipes on the web, I was happy to come across this article in the New York Times that confirmed that I am not the only one who obsesses about stuffing. So, to be honest I have never made stuffing myself, but this year I will be attempting stuffing for the first time for Thanksgiving. What are your favourite stuffing ingredients? Do you have a special recipe? Considering we only have a small tiny oven, we will be buying a whole roasted turkey chicken (turkey is just too expensive - I found one place in Tokyo that will cook a whole turkey for you, but the smallest one costs over 6000 yen). However I will be roasting pumpkin, making fresh stuffing and a potato bake (this was popular last year). We of course cannot forget the gravy and cranberry sauce.

So far here are my stuffing ingredients:

• sausage
• onions
• day-old breadcrumbs
• Aomori apples (we just received a box of 24 top-quality apples from my host family in Aomori yesterday - woohoo!)
• sage
• butter
• pepper, salt
• maybe pine nuts
• celery
• thyme
• garlic

yum, yum, yum. can't wait.