A Nice, Too Short Weekend in Tokyo

This past weekend was a nice one. Friday night we saw a great art exhibit. It was at Roppongi Hills. It was all about laughter and funny art. The first part of the exhibit included ancient Japanese art. My favorite pieces were these 6th century sculptures of characters with big old goofy grins on their faces. It’s nice to know that even way back then, people were goofing around and having a good time. The second part of the exhibit was all new, modern art from all over the world. They explained the exhibit as a representation of a new art movement, a new kind of Dadaism. It was filled with quirky, strange, funny and smart ideas. I couldn’t help thinking of David Neevel, Seth Gross & Eric Mallory. There was a huge installation of wind up doll businessmen crawling over a map of the world, tackling each other over skyscrapers & horses. There was a lot of video, one of which starred a grocery cart filled to the brim with groceries. The cart was alone, bumping into things and wandering through the aisles of a grocery store.

After the show, we went up to the top of the Mori building. This was exciting because it was at night, and the view was outrageous. After exploring Tokyo for a while now, we could look out at the city and see all the places and directions we had been to.

Saturday morning we went for a jog. It was nice, sunny and cool. And I finally got to take Driscoll to my favorite restaurant in Nakameguro. After lunch, we strolled through Nakameguro and happened upon a really great thrift store. It had multiple shelves of amazing, vintage fabric, as well as some really nice vintage furniture. Some friends invited us over for dinner on Saturday, a rare but exciting event these days.

Sunday was spent lounging at home. I helped Driscoll cut some wood for a bed frame, which he actually managed to put together in one day!

I guess we’re starting to get more and more comfortable here in Tokyo. It’s feeling less like the biggest city in the world, and more like a familiar place that’s filled with a lot of the stuff we love. I do miss my people, a lot, but the good news is that I’ll be seeing you all soon!

Warm & Friendly Noguchi Lamp

I think Noguchi’s design of this lamp is dead on. It resembles a very sweet little animal of some kind. It also puts out soft, warm light. I can’t think of a better pairing for a lamp. When I look over at it, I almost feel like there’s a very friendly person or creature in the room with me. Aside from providing its owners with some creature company, it does a great job of lighting up the room. So smart.

Only in Japan

This happened a while ago, but I forgot to post it until now. I’ve gotten in the habit of carrying an extra pair of shoes with me. I do this because we walk everywhere, and sometimes, before you know it, you’re halfway across town in a fabric store or someplace, and you realize you’ve got a blister on your foot, and a long walk home. When we went to Kyoto, I changed my shoes on the train. I left the pair I’d taken off under the seat. I didn’t realize that I’d left my shoes under the seat until we had gotten off the train and watched it bullet away from us. In any other place I’ve been to, that would have been it. My little green walking shoes would have been lost forever. But, fortunately, we were in Japan. My shoes ended up traveling all the way down to Hiroshima, but they were mailed and returned to us within 3 days of losing them! Like I said - only in Japan.

Everyone, Stop What You're Doing

...and go to my 'David - Portland' link. Click on his link 'i went and saw the new david lynch film this weekend.' You've got to see ‘Neevel does Lynch’

So funny.

The First Signs of Spring

Okay, I know this photo is total blog-o-dork-out, but I just couldn't help myself. Here in Tokyo, the sun has been shining all winter long. I’m not sure if this is typical, or if we have good old global warming to thank. At any rate, the sunny weather has allowed me to, in the middle of February, begin imagining myself in skirts without stockings, tank tops, and brightly colored accessories.

I couldn’t resist this bag/shoe combo. The duffle print was created by Andre, the Parisian graffiti artist; famous for his “Love Graffiti” project. Andre’s prints seem to be especially adored here in Tokyo, and Medicom Toy is taking his art and making the coolest accessories. Miniature, hot pink, Monsieur Andre print duffle?!!! I’ll take it.

Look, we’ve even seen some of his graffiti in our new neighborhood, Azabu.

Lindsay's Request

Here are a few scenes from our not yet fully furnished or decorated apartment. This weekend we are on decorating patrol. I’ll post more photos when the place gets more put together. We're particularly excited about our new couch, which at the moment is being made for us here in Japan!

3D Tokyo Valentine, & 13 Reasons (Rated S for Sappy)

Day 45, Tokyo

Sorry, it’s been awhile since my last post. It’s strange posting from Tokyo. There are so many things I want to show and say. Sometimes it seems too hard to sift and choose, so I don’t end up posting anything at all.

I’ve been a mad lady lately, moving into our new pad. Tokyo has its own version of Target. It’s called Muji and it’s really nice. Everything there is designed and made in Japan. I went to Muji in Shibuya 4 times last week. I bought a washer, refrigerator, vacuum, coat rack, lamps, stuff & more stuff. There is ONE guy there who knows my address and me. This is very important because I don’t know how to write down my address in Japanese. I seek this guy out. He ducks behind the aisles when he sees me coming. He must think I’m nuts, showing up 4 days in a row pointing at the catalog, “I like, please. Do you keep? Can I take?” He’s a good sport. He laughs at my requests. We draw pictures in an effort to communicate. He says, “Ah, yes, you to buy? Okay, prease have seat, prease, so, you to buy and derivery anoda?”

Friday morning, our Muji stuff was all delivered, along with our US shipment. Friday afternoon we took off for a 3-day weekend in Kyoto. Today, I’m knee deep in our shipment, which is covering our apartment floor(s). We shipped a lot of stuff. I’m not sure what we were thinking. Perhaps we had high hopes of squeezing our belongings from our 2400-square-foot house into a 600-square-foot apartment. I may have to make an executive decision to toss some of this stuff before Driscoll gets home from work.

My hand is now bleeding from breaking down boxes. Next time we move across the friggin planet, I think we’ll leave most of our belongings behind. In the future, I'll remember that If we really need to cozy up a pad, there’s always some Muji-like store chalk full of accessories.