a few weeks ago i watched a german movie called Erleuchtung garantiert (Enlightenment Guaranteed). it’s about two brothers who come to japan and their adventures once they get here. i really enjoyed the movie, and i could relate to so many of their misadventures. parts of it were positively hilarious, but towards the end it took a more philosophical and contemplative tone when the brothers find their way to a monastery. the other thing that was really cool about this movie is that it was entirely shot with a digital video camera, which gives it a more intimate perspective.
Archive for the 'japan' Category
this is pretty crazy, a deep fryer with water at the bottom in which goldfish live. crumbs from the deep fried food fall to the bottom, where the goldfish can eat them. very bizarre.
i found out about another yarn store in osaka: avril. from what i can figure out, it’s in the daimaru in shinsaibashi. i’ll have to check it out next time i am in the area.
my first sock is done, i just need to kitchener stitch the toe (which ok i have been putting off because the first time i tried it it didn’t come out right so i had to undo it). and on the second sock i am at the point where i have to start shaping the heel. so they are coming along quite nicely and i am starting to think of what to make next. i want to make some toe up socks. or maybe a top down sweater? something easy that i can knit on the plane on the way to australia in a couple of weeks.
which reminds me, i should also start looking for yarn stores in sydney. so far i have only found tapestry craft.
yesterday we went on an adventure to the hyogo museum of ceramic art. getting there turned out to be quite the adventure and after finding ourselves on a train going in the opposite direction of where we needed to go, we got off at the next stop, which was this stop Sanda. i spotted this stamp and stamped my little moleskine notebook that i always carry around. these stamps can be found in train stations and popular attractions such as musems and other sightseeing spots, and each stamp has a special design for each particular location. i think collecting these stamps is a popular hobby.
as far as the museum went, we never actually made it to the actual museum! we did find some kind of pottery compound though that is next to the museum and spent the afternoon making pottery. they are supposed to mail our pieces to us, so i guess i’ll see the results in about 2 months.
and as far as my socks are coming along, the first sock is ready for the toe decrease, and in anticipation of spending a fair bit of time knitting on the train on the way to the pottery museum i actually cast on for the next sock. unfortunately i spent about 80% of my time on the train and waiting at various points while we got lost etc. de-tangling the yarn because i couldn’t find the start of the skein. this happens to me about 50% of the time when i start something from a new skein, i really need to learn if there is some kind of system to it.
first picture is the pretty origami paper i bought last week at tokyu hands. except i haven’t made anything with it yet. i think i will end up making little paper kimonos to put on cards. and maybe some boxes. i really like the way the little boxes came out. i made them in (uglier) cheap paper i bought to try first. i also made a monkey but after that completely lost interest. for some reason if it involves “pasting” separate sheets together, i don’t find it so interesting.
i think it’s neat to make something out of 1 sheet of paper, strictly folding it it, and having it turn out to be some intricate yet recognizable shape. once pasting together a bunch of relatively simple shapes is in order, i find it boring. and unfortunately i didn’t look at the book i bought quite closely enough before buying it, but most of the interesting looking projects are actually a number of simple shapes pasted together. such as the moneky, which is 3 separate shapes. so my interest in origami has waned and on to knitting we go.
today was grey and rainy, perfect weather to hole up at home and do some knitting. first order was to gather supplies to start making my first pair of socks. first i went to the hundred yen shop (dollar store) and bought a couple of sets of bamboo double pointed needles. then i went to union wool to find some yarn to make socks and was ever so delighted to find some regia sock yarn, on sale too! so i bought a couple of skeins.
i started knitting the first sock, with help from socks 101 and socks 101 on knitty while watching what the bleep do we know.
today is white day. here in japan on valentine’s day, it’s women who give men chocolates and things on valentines day. so white day is when it’s women’s turns to receive chocolates and things. so today the boy bought me this cake for white day. he said the cake shop was very busy, full of japanese men buying cakes. it was so busy they were almost going to run out of cakes! anyway, yay cake. i love the cakes in japan. they come in perfect little individual sized portions and look so exquisitely delicious. and of course they taste delicious too!
at the end of february a friend and i went snowboarding in Hakuba, Nagano for a couple of days. here is a video i shot with my pentax optio w10 of us going down a run.
it was pretty cool to be sitting at the top of a run and doing up our bindings while overlooking rice fields down in the valley below.
today i got a haircut. and it’s not post-worthy because the last time i got a haircut was over six months ago when i was in the philippines. no, it’s post-worthy because it was a surprisingly ‘japanese’ experience. the whole routine of getting your hair washed before the cut? well yes i sat on the usual chair that leans way back so your head can go over the sink, except this special japanese chair also gave a back massage at the same time! and then after getting lathered up and waiting for the few minutes for it to infuse or whatever special shampoo is supposed to, there was the hot (and soothing!) compress or whatever they slid under my neck. and while the stylist assistant washed my hair she put a square of tissue over my face. i’m not sure what the purpose was, whether to protect my face from stray splashes of water or to give me some ‘privacy’? but seriously: so japanese! it was great.
as planned, i went to craft heaven Yuzawaya today to look for origami paper. on my bike ride over i got a great idea for a little creative project that i am very excited about should i actually see it through to fruition. anyway i didn’t end up finding the nice kind of origami paper i was looking for at Yuzawaya, so i ended up having to go to Tokyu Hands to look there. now there’s another store i think is awesome and will also miss when i leave japan. it’s actually pretty similar to Loft.
anyway, i didn’t end up making as much origami goodness as i had hoped i would because i got a call from a coworker inviting me to check out COSTCO and so off i went to Amagasaki. coming home i was jam pack squished on the commuter packed JR train with (amongst other things) a 4 pound tub of jelly bellys in my backpack and 12 pack box of macaroni and cheese under my arm. american bulk food shopping meets japanese commuting. or something like that.
then this evening we watched An Inconvenient Truth, which i guess everyone should see, although it didn’t really tell me anything i didn’t already know. although i suppose the one thing it did give me is hope for the future since it seems to be well received, which means that things are hopefully going to change for the better in terms of bringing global warming back in check.
boy am i knackered. i spent the day in Osaka exploring Shinsaibashi and Namba, and of course, shopping! i was surprised (but not) to stumble upon an american apparel in Shinsaibashi. took a look inside but didn’t see anything too interesting.
i ended up buying a bunch of craftyness inspiring books which i hope will inspire me to make nice things! i bought an origami book because i need an excuse to buy all the beautiful origami papers i keep seeing… except of course after buying the book i couldn’t find any origami paper! i even went all out of my way to go to Loft, but i didn’t like any of the stuff they had. so now i have my origami book and no paper to make stuff with. by the way, Loft is seriously one of the coolest stores of all time and i am really going to miss it when i leave japan. where else can you find a full spectrum of vividly colored shower heads (amongst a vast plethora of other really really really cool stuff!)?
i also picked up a graphics book on japanese pattern, and spotted a future purchase about traditional japanese colors. and lastly, i picked up a knitting book because it’s one thing that i can do in my tiny apartment since knitting needles and yarn don’t take up so much space. sigh. in my exploration i found the coolest fabric store ever, i think it was all (cheap!) ends of all kinds of awesome fabrics. maybe it’s good my apartment is so tiny because i otherwise i’d have come home with loads of fabric and a sewing machine to go with.
so tomorrow i’m going to head over to the 7 or so floor craft heaven here in Kobe, more commonly known as Yuzawaya, to pick up crafty supplies.
