Yanaka - The Only Place I Know That Combines Train Spotting, Shrines, Cats, Sculpture, Master Craftsmen and Sewing in Pleasing Proportions

It seems very odd that I have been a regular visitor to Nippori's fabric district (using the East exit of the station) without ever wondering what I would find if I used the West exit. It turns out the answer is Yanaka! A small area of West Tokyo between Nippori and Ueno. The first things you come to when you visit are two Temples. The first is Hongyoji which has been there since 1709.

The sticks on the graves in that last photo are called Sotoba and are essentially a kind of memorial stick showing that the ancestor is still being honoured and remembered by the family. The temple will add a new one each year on payment of a small something.

Next up is Kyoouji.

There were two buildings within it. I wish I knew more about what they are, but the one below had amazing carvings on it, including the dragon.

While this one had the ritual hand washing place just to the left.

The long, colourful rope at the front is for bonging the gong.

A little further along and you get to some steps, at the bottom of which is an amazing traditional bamboo shop - the initial incentive for my visit. I made a rather purse shattering purchase which I shall come to later. Most people were making instead for the busy, traditional shopping street which is at the bottom of the steps. It looks traditional at first glace but a lot of the shops are for tourists - and japanese tourists at that since many menus and signs were only in japanese.

The area is famous for wild cats (I only saw two domestic ones while I was there) so everything is a little cat themed.

See the little black puddle bottom left in the picture below? Meow!

This shop was selling cats' tails, which is a traditional cake/sweet. They looked like tubes of sponge or possibly wafer filled with something but closed at both ends. The menu was only in japanese so I woosed out.

As well as the shopping and religion, there is an *amazing* house called the Asakura Museum of Sculpture.

It used to be the house of Asakura Fumio (brilliant sculptor) and he designed every aspect of the house himself. Since his death in 1964 it has been a museum. Not only is his sculpture amazing (Rodin is the only person I can think to compare him to) but the house and garden is amazing too and you get to see the majority of it. Basically - this is the most beautiful venue I have been to since arriving in Tokyo. Unfortunately photos were not allowed indoors but there are some on the website here which is in English.

For the train spotting element we need to go back to the exit of Nippori station. The West exit comes out on a bridge which happens to span across about 8 sets of train tracks including the ones used by the latest bullet trains. When I first arrived there were some grown men with cameras but on my way back to the station it was a few very excited little boys.

The bridge itself was rather beautiful having pictures cast in hexagons across it with sakura flowers in between.

Once I arrived back home I very excitedly got ready to striptease my purchase of its beautiful packaging.

Squeeeee! The little vessel is to go inside to hold the water and flowers. You see, just as this whole japan-venture was taking shape I was developing an interest in weaving. I got this book (amazon link)...

...and got quite excited by the whole thing despite living in central london where grass is the only natural material you get. I then found out I would likely be off soon and gave it to my cousin who actually lives in the country. Since arriving in Tokyo I've frequently got excited by the basket weaving scene over here where there are several Living National Treasures (a lovely idea I think) who are Masters of the art. Googling led me to this shop in Yanaka and hence my visit. I hadn't actually meant to buy anything though. Or at least, nothing like this. 

I love it so much! I bought the flower especially. 

My only move towards actually giving basket weaving a go is Pinterest and some 100 Yen shop weaving strips. What I would love is to be able to make one of the handbags I saw in the shop today for...£300. I know some people (only two really) who would think £300 was cheap for a designer one-of-a-kind handbag but I am not someone who spends so much on them. The craftsmanship is amazing though. I stayed in the shop for ages carefully not drooling on the vases, baskets, creations and whatnots before coming back a second time to make my purchase, much to the delight of the lovely man there. 

Overall I would definitely recommend a half day in Yanaka for anyone visiting Tokyo. Plus it leads you straight into Ueno Park if you continue on instead of turning back as I did - and the Park is very beautiful with Tokyo National Museum (which I blogged about a few days ago) on another edge of it. I suspect the only people who wouldn't find something to interest them in Yanaka would be angsty teenagers, but then surely no one would waste Tokyo on a teenager. And if they did they should simply point them in the direction of Harajuku and arrange to meet them later. 

Sakura Overload

Pooch says that once you've seen one cherry tree in blossom you've seen them all. I disagree, which is why I have three further gardens to show you, while Pooch spent his time with me at one of them keeping firmly to the footpaths and determinedly not enjoying himself.

It all began last week at the Tokyo National Museum which only opens its gardens for the few weeks of cherry blossom season. Determined not to miss this opportunity to visit both the Museum and the Garden I went over there.

The Museum is very impressive, being a kind of V&A equivalent for Japanese artifacts. It also allowed me to take part in my first ever Stamp Rally - something that is apparently quite big here where you collect stamps at different points around a venue or area, and when you have sufficient you get a prize. In this case the little badge top left.

 

The gardens were quite small but very well kept. They also contained my first 'zen' garden I've seen since arriving here. By that I mean with the raked gravel.

One of the oddities of Cherry Blossom is that as well as the main branches, you get little puffs of it on the trunk itself.

These give you the opportunity for close up shots, since the branches are often a bit high up for that.

Just opposite the Museum is Ueno Park - a big park famed for its blossom and thus PACKED with people. I should explain the schools are on holiday at the moment with the new school year starting tomorrow, so everyone was up for a party.

As you can see at the far end of the pond, this park is famed for its walkways where there is blossom on both sides and it often meets overhead.

Wherever you find blossom you will also find Hanami Parties sitting on their large tarpaulin sheets under the tress.

You get office workers, families and also groups of teenagers getting politely drunk on the national equivalent of Diamond White (cheap cider english people my age will remember with slight revulsion from their youth).

These parties were also in full swing at Shinkuju Gyoen National Garden which Pooch and I lastvisited in December (and which I blogged about here). The difference the spring has made was very evident. I'm just going to let the photos speak for themselves.

Plus of course the Byrne in full bloom.

Hopefully this post gives an idea of why I do not get tired of looking at cherry blossom - the variety and the context are both very special factors.

I am off to England on Thursday to help my sister out. I hope to fit in one more cherry experience before then and to continue blogging while I'm away. I have been squirreling away various props for use with Jasmine when she and I are left alone together so be ready for some unconventional baby photos in the near future!

Cherry Blossom Fit For a Prince

Naturally since my niece Jasmine was born at around the same time as Prince George, and further because she is the cutest thing ever...

...I expect them to marry. Perhaps they will honeymoon in Tokyo in April. Then they will truly make the title of this blogpost true and not just a long winded way of saying this is the garden of the Prince Sakura Tower Hotel. If you are in Tokyo then the garden is free to visit, although to be honest there are much better ones. I was just in the vicinity and it is open on Mondays, which is when I went.

I know I have already gushed about this in a previous post, but the masses of flowers are very beautiful and just ridiculously japanese.

This garden also boasted the largest Koi I've ever seen.

Random woman's hand included for scale.

As if two blossom visits were not enough, yesterday I went to the gardens at Tokyo National Museum which are only open to the public for a few weeks during the blossoming. The Museum happens to be opposite Ueno Park which is another blossomtastic venue and I took many pictures, which you can expect to see here in coming days.

Before I forget, registration for this swap closes in a few days.

There are still places left so click here to read more about it.

March Makes

Considering this month included a week of parental visit I think I've achieved quite a few FOs.

Going top to bottom and left to right we have...
1. Whale for Jasmine - see below for more
2. Washi Picture Frames - a kit my Mum chose when they were here and asked me to make for her.
3. Scrapbooked photo album - of when the parents were here. This is my first go at any kind of paper craft since my ATC phase in about 2007 and I'm rather pleased with it.
4. Owl socks - see below for more
5. Jasmine's cardigan
6. My hat - epic
7. Cat bag
8. Swatch holder from the online Colour course I did
9. Patch for one of my oldest tops made out of 1/3" hexagons.
10. Lucy Boston block for Jan
11. Mum's bling earrings - see below for more
12. Sian's bling ring - see below for more

I am not exactly an inactive blogger but it seems I've failed to blog about more than half of these which seems odd. Here are a few close ups of things. Jasmine's whale first.

This is a kit from the washi paper shop which intrigued me as it uses the (patented) Easy Tuck! system.

You stick printed stickers on the wrong side of the fabric, cut out your shapes, peel the sticker off the fabric and the board (which is pre-cut and also sticky) and pop the two together. You then stuff the ends into the gaps with some sort of purpose made thing I didn't buy, or a bodkin.

My first attempt left a few loose threads tufting out but I always enjoy trying something new and this was a quick little project.

The other thing for Jasmine is a summer cardi which I knitted using some discounted red cotton from Yuzawaya.

The pattern is a free one from Knitty which you can find here. My other knitting feat was finally finishing the socks I'd been doing a row or two at a time on.

I used the free pattern 'Aquaphobia' which you can find here but omitted the cable. I think this is my third pair with this pattern which is a great one for hand painted yarn that you suspect is going to pool.

Finally, last month I made myself a blingy ring after seeing a sample at Kiwa in Asakasabushi. I took my Mum there and she loved it too, but wanted hers in white as earrings. She's a clip-on wearer so the availability of such things is limited. We bought the parts and...ta da!

When I made my ring I offered to make my sister one too but with more stars (she has a thing about stars). Hers is on the left, my original make is on the right.

I really like using the smaller elements together. Perhaps more of this bling will be appearing in the future!

Recent knitting leaves me without anything on the needles, other than a mass of UFOs of course but then we know those don't count. I will need to think of something since I have a 12.5 hour plane ride coming up when I return to the UK for a visit!

Cherry Blossom in Tokyo

The blossom is just starting to come out. Everything in the shops has been blossom themed for weeks but this is the actual event. Pooch and I went to drink it in by walking along the river at Nekameguro, about 25 minutes walk from here.

The blossom was about 50% out which was plenty to have attracted a lot of visitors. There were stalls and booths up both sides of the river selling food and pretty much every second one had a cherry themed drink. I had a Martini Rose with strawberries bobbing in it. The lanterns really were neon and are lit up at night. The writing essentially says "Buy the best from Cooper's Creosote Ltd" or the equivalent for the local businesses.

There was no scent from these but the colour was lovely. A very, very pale pink whereas the buds looked properly pink. It all reminded me of the flower fairy colouring.

Although looking at the flower fairy, she's not pink at all apart from her sash. Hmmm. Anyway. 

It was pretty awesome. 

Sadly things here have not worked out quite as planned for Pooch (I'm having a brilliant time, not working and all) so it is possible we will be coming back to the UK much sooner than we had originally thought. I won't know how much longer we'll be here for some time yet but in the meantime it means I am appreciating the experiences I am having all the more!

Making a Hat and What It Shows About Pinterest

Long story short, I made a hat.

I rather like it although Pooch's response has been less positive.

I mentioned my intention of wearing it on our outing today and he immediately told me there was no need because it was going to be very cloudy, no sunshine at all. This is despite the sun beaming in through the windows onto our breakfast.

I used a pattern I found on Pinterest which you can find here. I cut the pieces out of iron-on interfacing which I then used as templates for piecing scraps, sewing onto the iron-on/shiny side. Once covered I duly ironed and trimmed the edges then got to sewing. I made a lining but only interfaced the brim of that. The whole thing took about 2 hours which would have been less if I had just used plain fabric for both sides.

However, the interesting thing from my point of view is that this highlights how I now use Pinterest as my first choice search engine when it comes to patterns, tutorials and visual inspiration. A year ago I would have used google every time but this has definitely shifted. I use the 'search' function of Pinterest a lot. The benefit to me is that you are looking at links that have already been "peer reviewed" as worthy of pinning and they have sometimes made their own version so have road tested the pattern for you. It cuts out the adverts, selltorials and, sadly, rubbish versions nicely.

There is a counter argument to be made in that you are only seeing what others have already seen, but then it is a sun hat. I'm not trying to reinvent the bra or develop brave new nail designs.

So here I am...boldly going where many sun hats have been before...

...rather grainily...

R&R

I am so lucky. Don't think I don't know and appreciate it! I never thought I'd not be working when we came over here but I am so happy it turned out this way. It has meant I've had to improve my cooking skills and I have had to do far more cleaning than I would like, but the benefits outweigh that! For instance, the weather here is more like british summer then spring already. It's been at least 18 degrees the last few days and it went up as high as 23 on Monday. Which is when I set myself up like so on the balcony...

I stayed in the sun for half an hour before sellotaping the umbrella to the railing. It's not exactly elegant but pale skin and freckles do not a sun worshiper make! My chair has two drink holder pockets - one in each arm - but clearly these are better used to hold knitting and my phone respectively, so I could bliss out while listening to an audiobook for a couple of hours. I'm knitting baby Jasmine a lacy summer cardigan.

Japanese women apparently prefer to stay as pale as possible and so avoid the sun and use spf 50+ sun lotion - the lowest I could find in the chemist was spf 35. According to my in-depth research (google) a lot of japanese sun lotions aimed at women have skin whitening agents in. I'm not sure how true that is, but I'll definitely be avoiding those. I'm Casper enough as it is! Which reminds me of this meme:

My sister and I cackled when we saw this because it is so true for both of us.