I have been longing to take a little trip to kyoto for a while, but little this and that keep popping up and it seems I will never get there. So frustrating. It was almost 2 years ago when I was there last, that is when I took the first picture above. I suddenly remembered about this photo and while I was looking for it I found the other two and thought they'd go together.
Well, just a mumbling post really. Good night!
Wonderful Monique from stuido mhl has so kindly given me an award -Kreativ Blogger Award!! Thank you Monique, this is such an honour! Not only is Monique's blog wonderful but also her website and a shop - you must check out her fabulous works of jewellery!!

The rule is to list 7 things I love and pass the award along to 7 other well deserving and kreativ bloggers.
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Things I love:
1. old small cinema.
2. receiving funny phone calls from my cheeky neice.
3. smell of the futon after drying it under the sun.
4. markets - flea, antique, craft, fish, food, any kind!
5. sipping hot wine and hot umeshu in winter. (i'm now having my umeshu from june)
6. sitting in a sunny corner of the room and have my cup of tea in the morning.
7. receiving lovely comments from my wonderful blog readers!!!!!!!
**

And 7 kreativ bloggers:

jen from Les Filles Giada et Cairo and Folie á Deux, [ interludio * by Mariana Newlands ], gini from gini helie's heartwork, marie from ici, o l y from for the star / like a boy, marion from L'inventaire de l'esthétique, and the last one would be all of you! There are so many awesome and "kreativ" bloggers around it's just too hard to pick only one more! (Every blog that is listed on the left side of this blog deserves an award!)

By the way jen is haveing an amazing giveaway right now! you might win a Lubitel 166+ Camera!!! how generous a giveaway is this!?!? So pop over to her wonderful new blog to make sure you enter this great chance to win a Lubitel 166+!
The latest issue of ku:nel magazine is out today! It's all Paris! At the back of the magazine it has a list of address with a map which all foodies would love. Also it has a "special gift" - a ku:nel calender for 2010! But the thing is, this issue has a "special price" too and is 90 yen more expensive than normal price. That must be for the "special gift" which I would rather pay the normal price and not get the calender, don't you think? hmmmmm, but anyway we don't seem to have a choice. Well if you still want to get it, it's here in my shop.
my favourite bookstore
bikes
charming
backstreet of sangenjaya
backstreet of sangenjayaPersimmon Tree
one fine dayMost of them are experimental shots taken with my new old canon film camera. All taken in the closer parts of tokyo from where I live except the last one was taken in Tochigi (2hrs north of tokyo) when I went there for my friend's wedding.
All images are from MUJI
MUJI has launched their new innovative product line called "Playing with paper and LEGO", a collaborative project between MUJI and LEGO. There are 4 sets, each includes 120 LEGO pieces and 10 sheets of coloured paper all contained in a box. You will need to get this special puncher to make the holes that matches with logo pieces. Looking at these images, I think they are so much fun not just for kids but for grown ups too, don't you think!? They will be available for purchase at Muji stores and Muji Online Store (I am not sure if they will be available in stores outside Japan) from 27 November and you can reserve them at the online store.
Obviously I haven't been taking photos so much lately, I finally got the two films developed which had been staying in my two cameras for a while. And these are from Yokohama when I went there with Stephanie on a very nice hot day in late September. I remember sitting in the sun at the top of osanbashi terminal drinking beer and chating with her like it was only a few weeks back. But the season has changed and now it's almost winter, time flies don't they.

Anyway, Yokohama Minato-mirai is a waterfront city that is only about half an hour on the express train (Toyoko Line) from Shibuya and is a very nice place to spend a day exploring around. The contrast between the futuristic skyscraper of Minato-mirai and the Yamashita/Chinatown area oposite from it is quite interesting. My favourite way to explore is to start from Minato-mirai Station and walk around towards Akarenga-soko (Red Brick Warehouse), to the osanbashi terminal, walk through the Yamashita Park and head to the Yokoham Chinatown which is said to be the biggest Chinatown in Asia and one of the biggest in the world. The night view of Yokohama minato-mirai is spectacular when it's all lit up, so stay till it gets dark!
Shichi-Go-San literally means "7-5-3" and is an anual event in Japan which parents celebrate their childrens' growth when they are 3, 5 and 7 years old. (3 and 7 for girls and 5 for boys.) And these photos are from my Shichi-Go-San when I was turning 7 taken with my brothers and mum. I really loved my kimono my grandmother had made for me, I still have it somewhere in my parents house. If I ever will have a daughter I want her to wear it for her Shichi-Go-San :)

November 15th is the original date for this festivity, but most people do it on the closest weekends to this day. So if you are in Japan this weekend there is a good chance you might see cute little children dressed up in their kimonos going to the shrines with their parents!

All images are from biotope.
I went to an exhibition of a Japanese ceramic artist Makoto Kagoshima held at a lovely little shop called biotope in Gakugeidaigaku. I first saw his plates at aaA of yu (she has a great collection!) and later at ii-ne-kore. I instantly fell in love with his works and I did get to go to a little exhibition at the spiral but there weren't so many left there though I got a little plate for myself :)

At biotope today, I was literally surrounded by all his works from beautiful plates, bowls-big and small, coffee cups, vases, cute little objects and paintings! (you can see what it was like here) It was marvelous and I got really excited!!!! I liked many of them and didn't know which one I should get so I ended up not getting anything at all. The ones I really liked were too expensive for me anyway (30,000yen+). But I might go back soon as the exhibition will be going till Sunday, hmmmm.
You can buy them online here too, though am not sure they'd ship internationally.

Well, hope you will have a great weekend!!

biotope
5-14-1 Shimouma Setagaya-ku Tokyo 154-0002
Open: 14:00-19:00 Weekdays / 12:00-19:00 Sat&Sun&holidays / Closed on Wednesdays.

*biotope has moved to aoyama
 
[nid] is another wonderful lifestyle magazine that introduces "all good things of Nippon (japan)". And this current issue of [nid] features Japanese folk crafts and all the images of beautiful tablewares, kitchen tools, furniture, etc in it are just making my eyes sparkle!

Each Japanese prefecture (there are 47) has its special folk crafts and I've been enjoying to collect little bit of each when I visit different places in Japan. Kurashiki in Okayama prefecture is the next destination I'd love to visit for the beautiful Kurashiki glasswares!

In the [nid] website they have an online shop and you can buy some of the items that are seen in the magazine which is wonderful! These are some of my favourites:
"Onta-yaki" (小鹿田焼) from Oita prefecture, "Enkoji-gama" (延興寺窯) from Tottori prefecture.

Wooden potholders and coasters from Asahikawa, Hokkaido.

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