Tofu

A lot of the restaurants make their own tofu. It’s really good and pretty different from what you get in The States. Here is a regular style and a sesame style.

Elaborate Windows

We’ve been spending a lot of time in Ginza lately. Ginza seems to be the most elegant of the Tokyo shopping districts. It’s so clean, shiny and electric that it resembles some kind of a nighttime amusement park for adults. Right now the stores are all decked out with incredibly intricate, decorative window displays. Last night we saw a group of otaku camera enthusiasts, tripods and all, taking photos of the displays. These here are for Hermes and Barneys.

UNIQLO Absorbs This Shirt

This shirt from UNIQLO was part of a line of flannel shirts this fall, which looked an awful lot like Pendleton shirts. Even the label looks like a Pendleton label. I particularly liked this one, so I bought it. It was inexpensive, soft and sweet; and it got me thinking again about Japan’s ability to take examples of things from other countries and make them their own by enhancing and perfecting them to a T.

Japan grabs a lot of influence from around the world, so much so that it can be disorienting. Say you’re an American at a French restaurant, for example, surrounded by French décor, reading a French menu and being helped by a Japanese waiter who speaks French. It’s easy to fumble over which language to speak, and you can almost forget that you’re in Asia. It might sound silly but it’s true. The people here are just so darn good at taking something foreign, perfecting it and recreating it in Japan. This type of inspiration is all over the place. Don’t get me wrong; Japan definitely has its own style (obviously). But I do think their high regard for other cultures is admirable. And with all of the access and options it generates for people, it surely makes for an enjoyable lifestyle.

Palette New York

Palette New York gave a show recently at ggg gallery in Ginza. The inspiration seemed to focus on detailed, colorful knits of all styles and shapes, cheery stuff for winter. Here are a few highlights from the show.

Fabric!

I made it back to fabric town thinking it might be my last chance to pick up a load of cheap and awesome fabric before leaving Japan (no we don't have details, so far it's just talk). The experience was sort of overwhelming in that there was just too much to choose from and my arms were not strong enough to carry it all home. I resolved to come back to fabric town at least one more time before we leave Tokyo. Next time I figure I can bring Driscoll to help carry the load.

Here are a few favorite finds from this trip. I’m hoping to combine the wool and one of the shiny reds to make a holiday skirt.

Spend Less Money, Have More Fun

Ever since we moved to Tokyo and began exploring the irresistible furniture stores, we told ourselves that eventually we would collect some pieces to ship back to our house in Portland. But after recently watching The Grapes of Wrath, and as things seem to increasingly slow down economically, spending a lot of money on new furniture (or anything for that matter) is starting to feel like a bad idea. And although it is kind of a bummer not to be able to collect some of the amazing things we’ve had our eyes on, we were able to make lemonade out of the situation while perusing Nakameguro’s thrift stores last weekend. This cabinet cost a tenth of what we’ve found in the new stores, and it’s just as nice if not cuter. I'm hoping that, rather than lead to a period of low spirits and hardship, the economic slowdown will push people to be more creative and interesting with their time and money. And maybe even have more fun by focusing on things that don't involve (or involve less) money.…I’m hoping. I’m also hoping that things with the economy pick up again sooner than later.

Here are just a few examples of the stores holding Tokyo house candy…

unico
Bals
karf
Muji Furniture

Kanazawa + Shirakawago

With Driscoll’s parents in town last week, we decided to do some traveling around Japan. We headed west and visited Shirakawago, a mountain valley village filled with old Japanese farmhouses. Most of the houses are around 250 years old and were relocated to the area for the sake of preservation. Later, Shirakawago was named a UNESCO World Heritage site. The farmhouses are beautiful with tatami mats, paper sliding doors, dark fragrant wood and extraordinary construction detail. At five stories tall, the one we toured was enormous. We were struck by the incredible handcrafted detail; these farmhouses were built and even reconstructed after the move without the use of nails.

We also went to Kanazawa where we had a fantastic shabu-shabu dinner. Our favorite sites were the Kyoto-like geisha district, the incredible Japanese garden and the contemporary art museum, which was one of the best I’ve seen in Japan…or anywhere really. Below is a photo of Driscoll holding his breath inside Swimming Pool by Leandro Erlich.