Japanory

Imari Porcelain and Kyodai… aka SHOPPING!

Tuesday 25^th September 2007

After our regular "girls coffee morning" - enormous Latte, breakfast and a gossip at Starbucks, Peggy and I take a trip to a wonderful little antique shop I've discovered. Okura Oriental Art is a tiny little room situated just off a main road near Roppongi. I can't emphasise just how tiny the shop is (the pictures on the website are of a mysterious display building somewhere or taken with a very wide-angle lens). You have to be very careful just moving around in there in case you knock something ancient and beautiful off of a cabinet.

Antique tansus (chest of drawers and cupboards) are display cabinets for porcelain and storage for miscellany. These stunning tansu are also for sale. I wish I could get one, but sadly the terms of our stay here mean we are not allowed to ship any furniture. All our furniture in the house is rented and we gave away most of our furniture in the UK.

But there are many, small items I covet.

My soft spot is, and always has been, blue and white ceramics, pottery, porcelain - call it what you will - but here is the home of the best blue and white in the world. Imari.

The owner speaks English to a certain degree, and I have been doing my research, so we get along very well.

I am entranced by the numerous symbols of Japan. Stylised and zen-like brushstrokes take the painting of these icons to a subtle, yet strong level.

We spent a happy hour or so exploring this fascinating shop and I made my first foray into what would come a bit of an obsession. I bought the soba choku pictured above. This is a small cup that's filled with sauce to dip soba noodles in. It's about 6cm high. To my amazement I'm told that this delicate piece of porcelain is over 200 years old! In a land regularly shaken by so many earthquakes, how can something like this survive so long?

Periods of Japan are named depending upon the Emperor or Emperors ruling at the time. Most antiques here are from the following dates:

1603 - 1867 is the Edo era, generally sorted into 'early', 'mid' or 'late', without a particular date to these names. Tokyo used to be called Edo. For much of this period, Japan was completely closed to the rest of the world, allowing the arts and crafts to evolve in their own special and particular way. In 1854 the Japanese government was forced to open some port in order to trade with the world.
1868 - 1912 - the Meiji era.
1912 - 1926 - the Taisho era.
1926 - 1989 - the Showa era.
And, for reference, from 1989 to now, the Heisei era. But of course, no antiques from this one - yet!

So I guess my little cup is from the late Edo period - around 1807. Wow!

I also like boxes. Not sure why, but as the saying goes - what do you give someone who has everything? A box to put it all in! By no stretch of the imagination do I have "everything", but perhaps I am saving these boxes for when I do? I'm working on it!

Numerous little boxes exist in this shop. Suzuribako - inkstone boxes for storing calligraphy equipment, inbako - stamp boxes. I don't know what sort of stamps, but they have little compartments inside. Haribako are sewing boxes with an upright fixture. The small box at the top housed a pincushion and is thought to have acted as an extra 'hand' when sewing kimono.

It's hard to decide what to treat myself too. But then I spied the cutest little box with a hidden secret. 

When closed, it looks like a plain box, but lift up the front and there's a mirror! It's called a kyodai and is a dressing table box. At just 22cm high, this is the perfect size.

 

 

"Kore kudasai" ("I'll take this, please" - one of the first phrases I learned…!)

More than pleased with my visit and purchases, I head home happy and educated. Retail therapy is the best! It is, unfortunately, more expensive than a regular therapist, but it works for me! And you don't need to do it regularly. Allegedly.

This shop becomes "my" personal heaven over the next few years, so look out for more shopping posts to come!

Holiday Planning

End of September 2007

Yes, it's all about planning stuff at the moment!

We haven't had a holiday for ages. I don't count going back to the UK as a holiday as there was so much to do, and it felt very un-holiday-like. We've only got a week free at half term as Mum will be coming over again at Christmas.

So we need somewhere fairly close to Japan. However, nothing is close to Japan! It's quite surprising when we research further as all resort type places are about 7 hours flying away. We then have to decide what sort of holiday to go for. As usual, I lose.

Tim and Rhiannon like "ordinary" holidays - beach and pool. And, whilst I agree my type of travel won't work with a child in tow - previous trips of mine have included backpacking solo around South America and Asia - it still hurts that I can't visit places like Cambodia, Vietnam and so on. Yet… there's still time. Mum's a great traveller, heading off to far-flung lands and she's in her 70s.

Hawaii is settled upon and Tim books us a week in a bungalow near the sea with a hire-car.

I quickly warm to the idea of Hawaii; it has volcanoes! Seven hours away and we have to cross the dateline, so we will arrive before we leave.

Good to have something to look forward to.

Party Planning

Late September 2007

Rhiannon's birthday always catches me by surprise, which is ridiculous really. The date of her birth is obviously etched into my psyche - 12^th October. But planning for it has been left until the last minute this year.

The only reason I can think for this appalling memory lapse is that the new school term started only a few weeks ago and with all the new things I have to learn / do / organise / pay for, the fact that a certain little girl's birthday is looming gets squeezed out of my mind.

That is, until she starts asking how long it is until her party. What party? Heck!

The school have a policy of mixing all the children up each year, so she's no longer in a class with any her friends. There are four classes per year group. I'm not sure I approve, but can understand the reasoning from an adult point of view: the expat community is extremely fluid and the school takes the view that separating friends helps children adapt to when they eventually move away. From a child's point of view, however, this is disastrous.

So we decide to go all out this year and invite her entire class, plus her friends from reception year. That's a lot of kids!

In the UK, we had soft-play areas where all the stress of party-planning was removed. The children could run riot for a couple of hours, then the venue provided food for them. Not here though. There aren't any soft-play areas, no readily available child-friendly halls or restaurants prepared to put up with thirty 5 and 6 year olds; just nowhere (that I could find) to hold a party.

Under NO circumstances am I having the party at home. Even the mere thought of that sends me rocking into the corner.

It's too late in the year to hold a party outside - it's not that cold, but it is typhoon season so the weather is unpredictable.

What to do?

Tim came to the rescue, as ever, what a brainwave! We'd hire the big hall at his workplace. Perfect!

Invitations are quickly sent out with instructions to RSVP. It's vital to get the RSVP so that a) I know how many goodie bags to make and b) security to get to the hall needs to be sorted out. (OK, perhaps these points should have been reversed…!)

Rhiannon's very much into the "Under Sea" thing so Tim and I decide to decorate the hall with streamers of seaweed, shiny fish and other stuff on the walls to make it less "officey". I delegate much of the design work to him as I have loads of work on and he's a fantastic artist. We pop over to take photos in order to plan further. It's a BIG room.

Having so many children potentially coming we decide to have stations of activity and rotate the kids between them. Some crafty things, I will face-paint, pin the necklace on Ariel, and a couple of other activities I can't remember now.

Party Day is set for Sunday 14^th October. So just over two weeks to sort it out. YIKES!

Tattoo in Tokyo

Friday 21^st September 2007

I've mentioned my tattoos in a previous post. Now here's a bit more detail.

After several discussions and meetings with a tattooist recommended to me, I have decided on a way of getting my unsatisfactory piece sorted out. He's a true artist and a fabulous character.

There are very few pictures of me, so this is the only one I can find of the original. It's the Nazca Lines tree surrounded by an intertwined Celtic dragon and a snake.

This is what it looked like before it was coloured in, I should have just left it like that but I didn't.

 

After the tattooist in the UK coloured it in so badly.

 

 

 

 

My appointment is at 11am but before I can go and be 'me', I have to be 'mum' and attend the class assembly mentioned here. It all went well and I managed to whizz home, leave the car and catch a cab to the studio.

It will take a couple of sessions of about 4 hours each to sort it out.

We got on like a house on fire and the time just flew by accompanied by enervating chat about religion, politics and music.

I got back in time to do the school run wrapped in clingfilm. Rhiannon helped me clean it up and apply the ointment, bless her. She was very gentle, but I don't feel the pain really.

Next appointment on 15^th November.