Exploring Tokyo :: Ebisu

These photos were taken around Ebisu on my trip last month. There are some lovely little streets to wander around in and sweet little shops to be found. A word of warning though if you're heading to Tokyo armed with shopping directions from blogs: make sure they are current, or be prepared for the possibility that shops have closed or moved. I spent hours walking around with various maps and directions (in other parts of Tokyo too) and didn't find a single one of the shops I'd hoped to visit... not because I'm directionally challenged, but because they weren't there! Once I got over my frustration I did enjoy Ebisu though!

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Exploring Tokyo :: Kichijoji

In three trips to Tokyo I'd never made it to Kichijoji before, but this time I did, and I loved it there. There is a maze of tiny streets behind the "Shopping Street" (theres a big sign that stretches across the street, saying just that) where you'll find a lot of fascinating little shops selling all sorts of wares from stationery to furniture, zakka, and clothing. The park with the swan paddle boats is a lovely haven on the other side of the station.

If you're heading to Tokyo for fabric and craft shopping the well known Yazawaya store has moved from it's previous home adjacent to the train station. Thanks to Amy for the heads up on the move, I was able to find it easily by heading out the Park (Koen) exit of the station and heading down the lane way in front of the exit. Yazawaya is in the OIOI department store which you'll see directly ahead of you as you walk down the lane way. There are two floors of fantastic craft supplies, stationery and fabric.

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Tokyo Design Festa

I first went to Design Festa in 2008 and I was blown away, and couple of weeks ago when I was in Tokyo I went for the third time. You can read my previous posts here. Design Festa is so full of fabulous energy and thousands of exhibitors (I think there were 7,000 this time). I walked around for 6 hours non stop and still didn't get to see any installation art or performances. It's huge! I didn't take any close ups of people's work this time, but you can see some on previous posts, and I'll show you what I bought soon. It's not all as outlandish as these photos might lead you to believe!

Melanie and I tried to meet up at Design Festa, but it didn't quite work out. Check out Melanie's post on Design Festa (with great photos) and also Ebony's.

The next Design Festa is on in Tokyo on the weekend of November 10 and 11. If you love handmade you'll love Design Festa.


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This is Where...

I found this note from Roxy placed prominently on my desk early last week.

To add some context, this is one of the songs in high rotation in our house at the moment.



More about my trip soon.

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LOVING :: Daiso

If you've been to Japan you would have been to a Daiso store. They are all over the place and everything in the shop is 100 Yen, which last time I visited was about AUS$1. Daiso stores are brimming with japanese kawaii and zakka that you just can't walk away from.

Did you know that there is a Daiso in Sydney (Chatswood) and there are 2 in Melbourne, soon be joined by one in the Melbourne CBD? With the school holidays starting in just over a week I am already being nagged about how many times we will visit Daiso. Last school holidays we seemed to be there about twice a week.

Everything in the Sydney store is priced at $2.80 and Roxy and I agree on how many things she can buy before we enter. Usually I buy her two items, but she often takes her pocket money too. The shop is big and the shelves are jammed with stock that is constantly changing. Even with 2 visits a week we found lots of new things each time.

Cute overload! Little plastic containers, purses, stationery, notebooks, drawstring bags.

A little book of what Roxy calls "tickets", lovely fabric tape, the cutest packets of tissues you'll ever see, and a fab on trend fluro stripy bag.

Of course Roxy always adds to her origami paper stash.

How cute are these little jars with polka dot lids?! They would be great to put little gifts in.

Apart from the obvious cute things, I've bought everything from cooking utensils (they have great kitchen scissors), to cosmetic purses, to storage boxes, to a toilet brush at Daiso... $2.80 each, I'm not kidding!

It's a fun and inexpensive way to spend an afternoon in the school holidays. There's also a great sushi train in the same shopping centre that has a fixed price for all plates. See you there!
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UGUiSU

Hello, would you like to visit a great online shop with me? UGUiSU is chock full of lovely Japanese goodies and I'm trying to resist a shopping spree there (they ship worldwide).

Love, love, loving these beautiful pleated and crumpled Eco-Bags. Stylish. Tick. Functional. Tick. And green. Tick.

I just have to have some of these lovely paper napkins.

Naturally UGUiSU stocks a big range of Japanese masking tape: wide and thin, patterned and plain, in packs and single rolls. And if you use your tape for gift wrapping you can also get some stunning wrapping and origami paper to compliment it.

There's lots to love at UGUiSU. 

All images from UGUiSU

How beautiful and simple is the apple and pear card?

With the Aussie dollar so strong now it's hard to resist shopping online.... but I must. I just bought a pair of boots and a pair of shoes! Ooops.

Enjoy your weekend. I hope you get to do something you really want to, whether it's having a big night out or a quiet night in, being surrounded by lots of family and friends or chillaxin' on your own. Whatever it is, enjoy! See you Monday.

x
Lisa

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A little comfort for children in Japan

I was shocked to read that according to charity Save The Children about 100,000 children have been displaced as a result of Japan's recent earthquake and tsunami.

One hundred thousand children.

A lot of those children are existing in desperate conditions. Some have lost one or both parents, siblings or extended family, they've had their homes destroyed and many are suffering anxiety and emotional trauma.

Image Source: LIFE

The priority for charity Save The Children has been to establish child friendly places where children can connect with each other and play and hopefully ward off long term emotional trauma. I know that some of us might be suffering from donation fatigue following the natural disasters in Queensland and Christchurch, but what has happened in Japan is on such a huge scale and they really need our help. You can donate to Save The Children here.

If you aren't in the position to donate money you could join us in making toys/softies. Lexi (Potty Mouth Mama) and Jac of Operation Angel have got together to organise soft toys for the children of Japan. The toys can be handmade or new. There are drop off points in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide and they will be distributed to children in Japan by Save The Children. This is such a small thing that we can do that will bring joy and comfort to a little one in need. Can you help? Click here to go to Lexi's post with all the info.

Yesterday afternoon Roxy and I headed over to Calico & Ivy in Balmain to donate a couple of Ooshkas.

It was my first visit to Calico & Ivy, but it won't be my last - it's so gorgeous there. The pitched roof has lots of skylights and the sun was streaming in on the beautiful displays of yarn and fabric with all their vibrant colours and patterns. Roxy was thrilled to see that they stock my Sweetie Petites and Ooshkas and she chose some fabric for her quilt. (That's the quilt that I have promised to make for her bed, but have no idea when I'll get around to it.)

All of this of course is in stark contrast to the haunting images and stories coming from Japan - one of my favourite countries. Please help if you can.

Update 28 March
I received the following email from Lisa Boswell over the weekend:

I was so inspired by your post yesterday about the children in Japan that my husband and I have decided to donate 50% of the proceeds from our new parenting e-book to Save the Children from now until 4/4.

I wanted to do something bigger than just a one-time donation to a charity to help the earthquake victims, but it wasn’t until your post yesterday that I really struck upon the perfect idea. You’ve truly been our inspiration.

Ben Boswell MD's book  Too Much Love, Too Much Discipline: The Perfect Mix for Changing Your Defiant Child’s Behavior and Restoring Peace and Harmony to Your Life and Family, is available to purchase here. You can read more about it on Lisa's blog.

Thanks so much Lisa and Ben!
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gratitude

My heart goes out to the Japanese people, and those in Christchurch, Queensland and Victoria, who have recently experienced such huge loss and devastation at the hands of mother nature. The scale of what has happened to the beautiful country of Japan, and the possibility of what is yet to unfold is really unbelievable, scary and heart wrenching. It humbles me and makes me feel so very grateful for my safety, for those I love and all that I have.

Tokyo 2009

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Japanese Washi Tape :: Mini Bunting Tutorial

After I returned from my first trip to Japan with a mountain of gorgeous washi paper tape I started to make mini bunting out of it. The tape is now quite readily available online so I thought I'd make a quick tutorial for my mini bunting. It's fast and fun and with all the colours and patterns available you can make lots of different variations.

You'll need: Japanese washi tape and embroidery floss, or waxed thread, thin string, or similar.

Start by choosing your colours and cutting lengths of tape. The length will depend on how big you want your bunting flags to be. Mine vary in size, but they're roughly about 4.5cm (or about one and 3/4 inches). Cut your tape twice that length. There's no need to measure them though - half the charm is in the variation of size.


Cut a piece of embroidery floss to the length you want your bunting to be and lay it out in front of you.

Take a piece of tape and place it sticky side up under the floss. The floss should be about half way down the tape. Carefully fold the tape over the floss making sure the edges line up. It's easier than it sounds and if the edges don't align the paper tape is easy to lift up so you can try again.

If you are making a double width flag place a second piece of tape next to and underneath the first one so that they overlap slightly. Fold the second piece of tape over.


Cut a straight edge along the bottom of the flag then cut a triangle up into the center. Or if you'd like triangular flags cut up from the center bottom to the top corner on both sides of the flags.


Mix up the colours and patterns when making your flags. With this design I like to space the flags unevenly apart and vary their size for more interest. But with triangular flags I think a more even approach is better. But experiment, mix it up and have fun.


When your bunting is the desired length hang it up using a couple of pieces of washi tape. Easy!



If you're looking to buy some of this gorgeous tape you might try these 548 results from an Etsy search.
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Vintage Japanese Confectionery Molds

While doing one of my usual searches on Etsy for "Japanese vintage" I came across these amazing cheery wood confectionery molds in Vintage From Japan's shop. Wouldn't they look fabulous grouped on a wall.



There is more detailed information about these Kashigata sweets molds in Vintage From Japan's listings.
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0313 zero-san-ichi-san

Image Source: 0313

When I visited Design Festa in Tokyo last May (it was fantastic - you can see my post here), I bought some beautifully illustrated books by 0313. Rie and I struggled to communicate with her not knowing any English and me unable to speak Japanese. Our subsequent email conversations have relied on an auto translator, which always adds unexpected twists! But really, her lovely whimsical illustrations speak for themselves.

Photos above taken of my personal copies of 0313 books.

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Happy Weekend

It's such gorgeous weather here in Sydney today, and the weekend is going to be more like summer than spring. So I thought it would be nice to end the week with these fabulously bright and very retro illustrations by Toru Fukuda. I can't tell you how much I love his work - the colours, the styles - delicious! There's a lot more in his Flickr sets too.

Image source: Toru Fukuda

Have an equally bright and fun weekend. See you Monday.

xx
Lisa


Toru Fukuda found via grain edit (one of my favourite blogs)

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