手作り(tezukuri)

I have become addicted to sewing lately! In Japanese, "tezukuri" means "handmade" and it is a popular hobby or trend to buy things that are handmade. It makes them seem more appealing, doesn't it?


Well, I am still in the process of decorating my room--borrowing my friends' sewing machine to make pillow cases and stuff. I found a lot of cute ideas on this online store called Etsy. I decided to try to make some coffee cozies for Starbucks cups. They are eco-friendly and cheap! All my materials are purchased at the 100yen store. The only problem is it takes a long time to make each one because everything is sewn by hand and there is a lot of different colored thread and embroidery involved. Anyway, enjoy my cute Totoro, Jiji, and Hello Kitty cozies! 

Which one is your favorite?

Kenrokuen

Earlier in February, my friend and I took a day trip to Kanazawa. Kanazawa is located in Ishikawa prefecture and is on the west side of Japan (Sea of Japan side). It is about 2.5 hours from Osaka, passing through Kyoto, Shiga, and Fukui. It is amazing to me how far you can travel in just a couple of hours and how you can end up in a completely different place than where you started. I had been interested in visiting Kanazawa’s famous garden, Kenrokuen, because I saw pictures on the internet of it in the winter and it looked beautiful. The pictures showed scenes of it covered in beautiful fluffy snowy and I hoped that it would be snowing when we went. I had my doubts though, because they show pictures of Kinkakuji (the golden pavilion) in Kyoto with snow but I don’t think snow piles up in Kyoto anymore. I kept checking the weather everyday to see if it was supposed to snow or not. The weather forecast showed some snow and some rain throughout the week, but I imagined it to be like when it snows here in Osaka, which is only for about 20 minutes at a time and it never piles up.

There is no shinkansen (bullet train) in that direction, so we took a special express train there. After going through Kyoto, we started going through a bunch of tunnels, which made it perfect for taking a little mid-morning nap. After what seemed like an hour or so of tunnels, the train suddenly emerged into open air and we were surrounded by bright, blindingly white snow! My jaw dropped in surprise and I let out a small gasp but was speechless. I had never seen anything like it and did not expect it at all! The scene was breathtaking. We traveled through the Japanese countryside and saw little houses with about a foot of beautiful white, marshmallow-like snow of their roofs. The forests were also lovely, with random clumps of snow on the trees and what seemed like mounds and mounds of snow on the ground. The snow was so white it hurt my eyes. That’s okay though, because I didn’t feel like sleeping anymore after that.

In my almost-four years living in Japan, it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. There may be other parts of the world that have arguably more beautiful sunsets, beaches, cityscapes, etc. but Japan wins in the winter-cuteness category. The little Japanese houses with their clay-tiled roofs looking like cute little huts covered in snow look like they came straight out of a Ghibli movie. We passed through dozens of towns like this and it made me all the more excited to arrive in Kanazawa where I now knew there would be snow. Snow! Piles of fluffy white snow! What is it that makes snow look so soft and touchable? Not being exposed to snow growing up, it is very easy to feel like a kid seeing snow for the first time and to feel tempted to roll around in it—it is also very easy to forget that snow does not feel the way it looks and it will make you wet. And cold. When we arrived at Kanazawa station I was happy to see snow outside. The station looked very big and new, which was kind of surprising for a remote location like Kanazawa. We popped into a nearby Starbucks and picked up some caramel white hot chocolates with a shot of espresso (it’s basically dessert in a drink!) for the road. We walked along the neatly-plowed roads to explore the town. The area around the station seemed to be mostly businesses and hotels, with some apartments, but it had a nice vibe.

We strolled through the town and found some fresh fish markets. People were lining up to each ikura (salmon roe) and crab…crab is so expensive in Japan! It can be up to $100 for one! We walked around for awhile and found our way to Kenrokuen and Kanazawa Castle. We had some nice hot udon for lunch and then walked around the garden. It was very pretty with all the snow—I think it was the perfect time to go.

It was a fun day trip and great experience seeing snow in Japan. I hope I’ll get to visit other new places this year.

Bits and Pieces

Here are a few photos of my new apartment...

New fuzzy green rug

Ikea bird place mats and curry for dinner

Souvenir from the Osaka Aquarium

New pictures hanging in my bathroom

Love my spacious bathroom

Cath Kidston-inspired toilet mats

Ikea lamp and a favorite stapler

Kitchen artwork (made out of a fabric panel)

Fuzzy and cheerful shower mat

One of my favorite kitchen appliances

 Inspiration @Crate and Barrel

One reason I wish I had a porch right now

Look at these cute pumpkin ideas from Martha Stewart!

I need some kids to make Jack-o-lanterns with!!

Hiroshima

Last weekend I went on a day trip to Hiroshima. I have only been to Miyajima before but never to Hiroshima and I figured that since it's so close to Okayama, I have to go there before I leave. I really enjoyed the city and it was a beautiful day. It reminded me a lot of Nagoya the way the city was laid out. There were lots of foreigners, too, like there are in Nagoya.

First, I visited the A-bomb memorial and park. I chose not to go into the museum, because I've already been to the one in Nagasaki and it's very depressing. I think the memorial was enough for me that day.

This was the only building that remained standing when the A-bomb dropped above a hospital nearby. It was some government building. The architecture was very unique and beautiful.

There were tons of paper cranes and posters made of paper cranes on display in the park. Most of them were made by elementary school classes across Japan.

 Lunch was Hiroshima-yaki which is the Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki. It is cooked differently than Osaka-style. It tastes different (read: not as good as Osaka-style, but still delicious).

First they cook a crepe and lay it on top of shredded cabbage and toppings like bacon or kimchi. Then they cook noodles and finally stack everything together with a fried egg on top.

I got cheese on top of mine. We ate one with udon noodles and one with soba noodles. I recommend soba noodles with Hiroshima-yaki though!