Latest Cat Interlude

I had an unfortunate experience at my usual Cat Cafe on Monday. I don't want to discuss it. However, having had my belief in there being no such thing as a 'bad cat' severely shaken I decided to give that bunch a break and go back to Ebisu. My first visit was back in March and it was a bit busy. This time it was just me for most of my hour and proved a very pleasant interlude.

These two (below) were curled up together last time.

I thought the original one would object when the other tried to get in too but no, they were very happy together and it was so sweet when they were cleaning each other. They both had such long fur that sometimes they were cleaning themselves instead.

Beautiful blue eyes.

This little one was all playful and rolling around.

This one kept nudging the bowl until the water slopped over and then happily drank it from the floor.

This one still fascinated me with his/her amazing fur.

I was able to stroke her this time and could see the fur next to her body was white, only changing to black nearer the tip. I've never seen that before and she is so beautiful! I can't help wondering what her parents looked like.

And then of course there was Bruiser. Still as angry and pissed off as he was in March and still reminiscent of Phil Mitchell on Eastenders.

He kept coming and sitting near but not next to me wherever I was, and staring at me. I decided he wanted my attention but didn't want to look like he did, so, risking my fingers, I tentatively gave him a stroke.

His fur is as thick as any sheep fleece but as soft as velvet. It was like stroking a very deep, expensive rug.

It lasted for about 4 minutes. I was just stroking his head when he went to bite me. Ah well. One has to maintain one's reputation so I didn't take it personally.

The best possible shop to have outside a cat cafe is a shop where everything is cat themed.

My faith in cats, even cats like Bruiser, has been reinstated.

My Love Hate Relationship with Shrink Plastic

When I was young we did not have shrink plastic. We did have Blue Peter telling us that crisp packets got small in the oven and could be used as keyrings, but that was as far as it went. I only remember noticing shrink plastic in my teens and didn't have any use for it at the time. In my twenties I saw the occasional craft project using charms made from shrink plastic and I felt my time had come. That was when I learnt to love the shrink plastic, while it began its committed hatred of me.

I could have been a contender! But the more I desired the effects of shrink plastic, the less it happened. I invested in printable stuff and it burnt (BURNT) without shrinking one iota. I got on OK with the stuff you draw on but it just wasn't what I wanted. I retired from the field and slunk away into the darkness to allow my broken heart time to heal.

Then came yesterday.

I was meandering around a Mano Creare which is a chain owned by the Okadaya group (my favourite craft shop is one of theirs in Shibuya) and I saw...there...hanging nonchalantly on the display...shrink plastic. It was quite miraculous that I noticed it since it is naturally in japanese but somehow my shrink-dar was on the alert (perhaps it had been all these years) and here was a packet of the good stuff. It even had a picture of my printer on the front! A sign! This time it would be different. This time I would print on that plastic and it would be awesome. It would work. I'd be a God. Maybe.

Goddamn sheets are too goddamn small for my printer to work with.

After about 90 minutes of effort I managed to achieve this:

The picture is just itching to flake off so I need to find some varnish asap to sort it out with. The rest of the sheet got mangled so my idea of giving my sister a keyring type brag book of her ickle daughter for her birthday is out the window. Unless I draw pictures of her.

I'm no stormtrooper when it comes to drawing though.

I need to learn to leave the plastic to the professionals and stick to what I'm good at - the hexagons. Hence the state of the sofa.

I have a bag in mind with large wooden handles. We will see what appears.

Visiting the Jindai Botanical Garden and Jindaiji Temple

Japan is the least ethnically diverse place I've ever visited, but at the same time it is still quite unusual not to see a few other gaijin about on my travels. But this morning I saw not a single one from 9am to 2.30pm. The reason for that is that I was at an attraction that is just far enough from the city centre to deter the tourists despite how beautiful it is.

Although it was actually really hot and humid as well. That could have been a factor. Again, I was too late for the azaleas but just right for the roses. Having taken pictures of so many last week I took it easy this time.

But then there were also Peonies. I am very fond of Peonies.

And Rhododendrons...

And of course there were the forested areas, including this beautiful stream.

The sound of the water over these rocks was so idyllic.

I stayed there for ages listening to them and watching the water. There were some big koi pootling about there too. There were other areas planted with different varieties of maple tree which are at their best in December but still beautiful now.

Plus another area with different types of bamboo. This one with an extra outer layer was pretty amazing.

And I almost forgot this:

Wonderful! And more of the huge koi clustering at the surface.

Next door to the Park is Jindaiji Temple which as a building isn't particularly distinct from any other Temple, but the buildings and other shrines around it are very interesting. There were two that were especially moving. The first, don't laugh, was some kind of pet memorial/cemetery. There were *thousands* of pets being commemorated here.

Other cubbyholes had tins of favourite food in them. I was really moved! Outside was another shrine I couldn't get a decent photo of, but to one side were all these origami cranes.

I hope whoever made them had their wish fulfilled.

At the Temple, there were these amazing huge flowers at either side of the front entrance.

The fan of straw and Bonsai tree must also have some significance but I have no idea what that could be. The incense burner was quite large and has a special health significance.

I watched for a few minutes and could see people cupping the smoke in their hands and rubbing it on whatever part of their body was ailing them. Finally, there was the saddest part of the whole visit - the shrine to lost children, specifically those lost through stillbirth or miscarriage.

All the wheels moved slightly when there was a breeze and someone had left a very small pair of children's shoes on the table. The little figures on the right are capped and bibbed in red and represent those children who have been lost. I can't imagine going through something like that but it is heartwarming, even to an atheist like me, that there is somewhere for parents and family to come and pray for them.

First Yukata Making Class

Meet-up.com is a bit of blessing here in Tokyo. I found the Stitch n Bitch group there, the Werewolf people (have I mentioned that before?), the Asakusabashi craft group and now the Onigiri girls who had a chance to make a Yukata listed as a meeting. This post from February describes various traditional japanese clothes and a Yukata is one of them. Last week we met our teacher, a wonderful 84 year old, and the organiser who was also translator, and went to a traditional fabric wholesaler as a group. Photos weren't allowed (boo) but this is what I came away with.

You have to buy a whole roll which is 12m long, and they are generally a fixed width with men's designs a bit wider and children's designs a bit narrower. You use the whole roll in your Yukata regardless of your height although seams and sleeve lengths can vary and any extra length is tucked in under the Obi (belt) you wear with it. The rolls aren't cheap - mine was a mid-range one and came in at £35 but they went a lot higher than that and this is simply starched cotton. You can start to get an idea of what just the fabric for an embroidered silk kimono might cost.

Today's class was cutting out and starting to sew and because we only have three sessions there were lots of the Teacher's former pupils and now friends to help out. This is a skilled art form! Patterns need to match with as little waste as possible and apart from height everything else about the person's size is done by eye. It was very impressive.

The white mats you can see on the table are vintage cutting mats - "vintage" in that the Teacher got them as new 50 years ago.

They fold up and are covered with woven brocade. They are the perfect size for cutting out Yukata and Kimono. They were only the start of the specialised tools I saw. One particular beauty was this sewing machine which again she had had since new.

It was a wedding present and had apparently never broken down. Just divine detailing and perfect stitching.

I think she was a bit surprised about how excited I got about the various notions but also rather pleased too. The other two at this lesson had only really sewn in school whereas I was able to give her the english names for things like tacking, types of seams and so on. Here she is ironing one of those seams. I had never seen an iron like this. A close up:

Apparently sewing schools in Japan still use ones like this and it was very nifty - more like a small plasterer's trowel than a modern iron.

While the machine was used to join lengths of fabric, the seams and hems are all hand sewn. The hand sewing used a cotton thread the weight of lace weight wool - perhaps a light pearl cotton - and a fairly hefty needle so was quite tough on the fingertips. We used two stitches I'll go into another time, but I'd not come across either before. We have been given homework to do before the next lesson in two weeks time but the Teacher helped by tacking the armhole seams in place.

Such a dude. Incidentally the white smock she is wearing over her Kimono is what she described as 'mother's uniform' - a traditional apron for wearing over a Kimono and specifically to help keep the dangling sleeves out of sinks, pots etc. It tied at the back and was clearly one of her own creations.

As well as impressive cast steel scissors there were these mighty shears.

And of course she still had the beautiful box for one of the pairs.

Everything about her was high class. I'm a big fan of that Teacher already.

The final notion I wanted to show you was one a TV crew had apparently come to film her using because it is only used in this kind of work.

You knelt or sat on the bottom bar and a collapsible arm came up at right angles with a cord attached with a clamp on the other end. The clamp in itself was beautiful and had little cork pads were it gripped the fabric. You could then use it to hold the fabric taught as you folded the seam and finger-pressed it. The fabric was quite heavily starched so this gave you a crisp line. I'd certainly never seen anything like this before so let me know if you have and in what context.

It will be perhaps another month before the Yukata is finished but once it is we are all going to go on a little outing somewhere and take photos of each other. Wheeee!

Roses at Kyu-Furukawa Garden

First up thanks to those who commented on my last post. I guess I'll continue blogging for as long as I feel like it and then stop. Basically the same life rule I follow for everything else, especially chocolate.

Yesterday I had an outing in the rain to Kyu-Furukawa garden. There is an english-ish house and a formal english garden, then below that is the traditional japanese section. This was Walk 7 in the Flower Lover's Guide to Tokyo and the book lives up to expectations. You start at one station and end at another so you get to see all the bits in between as well as the garden. Traditional shopping streets...

A Temple (Muryo-ji) - I adore those trees with their balls of leaves on the ends of the branches. No idea what they are called.

A pink police hut.

These are not usually pink but sakura (cherry blossom) seemed to be quite a theme throughout this part of town. For instance...

Plus the buses all had sakura designs on them.

Getting to the garden itself, I was really surprised. I had hoped for Azaelias and I got....roses!

Plus a lot of people. I suspect a coach party of retired japanese had just arrived but there were also one or two groups of ladies-who-lunch. Otherwise I suspect I was the youngest there. The photo above was just the one bed along the side of the house. There were plenty more.

When the rain restarted there were the colourful umbrellas to contrast with the flowers.

I took photos of soooo many roses. I made a mosaic but the individual photos with the names of the roses are all on Flickr.

This is all that was left of the Azaelias - a week earlier and they must have looked amazing.

The japanese part of the garden was just as beautiful.

There was a lovely viewing platform where you could look over most of both gardens and I spent a while sitting there and mulling over life in general. It was a very pleasant place to be!