New Year in Tokyo

New Year in Tokyo is about going to the shrine on New Year's day and about shopping. Today was bedlam as the shops opened after a day off yesterday. There were people queuing at the door for the shops to open and for the Fukubukuro or 'lucky bags'. I bought one which had clothing adding up to about 5 X the price of the bag. Only one item didn't fit. I was careful to choose a shop which had clothes 'free size' i.e big. Only one item was too small and one was far too big but the other three items are really nice.

This kitten which is trying to climb out of the cage via a very small hole, costs about NZ$2000. The price is reduced for New Year sales.

Tokyo continued...

Today was our last day in Tokyo and we all went in different directions. My older son and I started off at the National Gallery of Modern art and saw a great exhibition of  dolls, then we went to the Mori Art Museum and saw weird skeleton-like sculptures by Odani Motohiko.

Then Chris went off to find Jazz cafes in Shinjuku. My younger son dissapeared in the Ginza Sony display room and my husband is somewhere up in the hills - he got tired of Tokyo crowds.

 Above is a photo taken in Shibuya, showing the crowds as wel as a large poster for the band 'Bump of Chicken'. I must find out what sort of music they play sometime.

Tokyo is still New Year sales mode. Lots of shops have Lucky Bags or 'Fukobukuro'. As you have no idea what is in the bags, it is best to find a shop which has mostly things you want,  like socks!
Here is a Fukobukuro (I hope that is spelt right) from a kimono shop. There are two bags - 5000 yen and 10000 yen ($75 or $150). I'd love to know what is inside.

We saw Mt Fuji from the roof of our hotel today. It is amazing how clear the sky is in Tokyo in winter.

Yesterday we went up to Matsushima on the train. It is about 3 hours North of Tokyo by shinkansen and local train. Long train journeys are great for  giving our feet a rest from walking.
I love seeing the trees with strings to stop the  snow breaking the branches. Below is a picture of some handmade snowboots.

The photo above is of octopus flavoured icecream at icecream-town in Namja land, Ikebukuro. This is in the local big shopping area to where we are staying.

I hope to be able to add more info and photos when I am able to find a more comfortable position to use the internet. It is hard typing when sitting on a high chair with the computer on a coffee table. More later!

Some strange things in Tokyo

 Hello Kitty madness at Venus Fort in Kawaii Land (cute land). You can have your photo taken int a totally pink land full of Kittys.

 Then you can buy clothes for your dog

 Or a pushchair for your dog

Christmas decorations in Venus Fort. The ceiling changes from daytime to night time over about half and hour.

Tokyo New Year

For New Year's night , my son James and I went to Zojoji Temple to see in the new year. 3000 balloons were released at midnight. They looked like soap bubbles. Then people started queuing to go into the shrine for the first time for the New Year.

Tokyo in winter

30th December 2010
We spent the day in Ikebukuro, and Akihabara looking at the shops, the crowds and the computer and Cosplay crowds. Each doorway has a rice stalk decoration for New Year. Here are some examples

 Here are some of the dolls dressed as characters in Japanese comics or  Manga.

 If you want to get a new hairstyle for your doll.

 Here I am outside the Gundam Cafe in Akihabara

Getting ready to count down the New Year in Ginza with a giant sparkly clock.

Tokyo

Here we are in Tokyo, It is pretty cold and very quiet. The airport wasn:t buzzing with tourists like it usually is and the locals are getting ready for New Year so are getting ready to go home to spend time with their families. We came straight to our guesthouse from the airport so havent been anywhere much yet but it is great to be back in japan. This time I have brought my laptop so can load photos onto the blog as we travel around instead of doing it retrospectively when I get home. Our Guesthouse is a little gem. It is called Family Inn Saiko and the owners invited all the guests to eat a meal with them last night which was fantastic as we had just arrived after a 10 hour flight and didnt want to go looking for food at the convenience store.
We stayed there 8 days altogether and thoroughly recommend the place. Although it is a little far  from the station, it is wonderful to stay in such a friendly place and nice to be there over New Year.

Finding Textiles in Tokyo

Here are some of the places I found in Japan as well as links to other people's blogs, websites and information. Please feel free to let me know of other places to find fabric or craft materials in Tokyo.

Amuse Gallery
Closed Mondays
2-34-3 Asakusa, Taito Ku, Tokyo, Japan 111-0032
- East side of the Sensoji Temple compound,
adjacent to the national important cultural property "Nitenmon Gate"

The gallery has a permanent exhibition of Boro.
Special exhibition on working women's clothes till April 2011.
Amuse Gallery is very close to Sensoji temple in Asakusa. Go right down the shopping street, Nakamise Dori then at the main shrine turn right into a side road. Amuse Gallery is on your left opposite a Duty free camera shop.


Blue and White Shop.
Azabu Juban.

Bunka Womens University Textile Museum
Closed Sundays and public holidays
Instructions and map on the website.
Shinjuku Station South Exit. Turn right, walk about 5 minutes, museum is on the other side of the road.

Bunka Fashion School
Click for info.

Nuno Corporation

Nippori Textile Town
A road of textile shops.
Check out Floating World blog for instructions on how to get there.

Yuzawaya 
This is a craft/hobby/textile shop.
Shops in Kamata, Kichijoji, Yokohama and more, click on link to see a list.

Kichijoji store
Go to Kichijoji Station, exit via Park Exit, walk out the station exit and straight ahead. Yuzawaya is on the 7th and 8th floor of Marui Kichijoji store (head for the store with the big OIOI on it).  It is no longer in the station building (which I found out by wandering around for ages). Click on this link to see a picture of the logo.

Tokyu Hands
Mega DIY/craft shop with shops in Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro etc. Branches in cities across Japan.

Kinokuniya Bookstore
Has a good range of English books, craft books in Japanese and English as well as calenders and magazines. The best one I found was in Shinjuku but there are other stores in cities across Japan.

Day 2 Tokyo, 8th April.

We spent the morning in Yanaka cemetary taking photos of the cherry blossom and exploring the Yanaka shopping area which is a lovely place to visit.
Instructions
Catch the train to Nippori. From the station it depends which exit of the station you go out of.  The  cemetary is on one side, walk through it to head towards the old style shopping area.  The 'Textile Town' is the other side.

I think most of these photos are mine. I win the cherry blossom photo comp today.

This is the window of a paper shop in Yanaka. The cats are all paper mache and they are sitting on sheets of hand printed paper.

Chris then headed off to have a look at the castle and I spent a few hours in Nippori Textile Town. I used information from a blog called 'Floating World Views' which has information on the best shops and a copy of the map. It was very useful. I didn't buy much till I found a shop selling second hand kimono and some old pieces of fabric.

Chris and I met up again in Shinjuku where we went up to the top floor of the Shinjuku City hall tower (free). I like the building on the right, the patterning may have been inspired by sashiko stitching?

Chris had arranged to go on a Jazz tour with Mr OKJazz (aka James). James runs tours on Thursdays to some hidden Jazz clubs, bars and coffee shops. He was incredibly helpful and gave Chris a lot of ideas for Jazz related places to visit around Japan. Chris didn't have the camera but says they went to a Jazz bar which had thousands of Maneki Neko so inspired by that we have started our own collection. The music scene is pretty big in Japan. We went to one area where we couldn't believe the number of guitar shops in the same street.

There is lots of interesting architecture in Shinjuku including this building which has tiles on the side which look like a jigsaw puzzle.

Japan trip 2010 - day 1 Tokyo

Hi everyone
We are back from Japan but I am going to write up the journey now , day by day. I wasn't able to load photos while I was away so this seems the best way to do it.

6th April we flew to Tokyo after a really early flight from Wellington. We had to be at the airport at 5.15am. Above is a picture of ice that formed on the window,  looked like a bullet hole! This trip t Japan, I  travelled with my 17 year old son.

7th April we spent in Tokyo. In the morning we went to Asakusa Senso-ji temple. Chris and I were in competition to see who could get the most classic shot of cherry blossom. Chris won this round!

Above are some photos from the Amuse Gallery in Asakusa. I went there last year but was only allowed to see a small section of the museum because it is closed on a Monday. This time I was able to see the whole museum which included a collection of Boro clothing, Kogin clothing (sashiko stitched) a temporary exhibition of wool embroidered aprons and these amazing salmon skin boots (see above). There was also a young girl demonstrating 'sakiori' weaving which is done by ripping up old clothing and using the strips to weave new cloth.

The museum also has a collection of sashiko embroidered clothing. It has a really nice shop and a few publications available for sale. It is worth a visit and easy to find.

Instructions
From Asakusa Senso-ji temple. Face the front of the main building of the temple. Turn right (East) and go to the side street. On one side is a duty free shop and on the other is Amuse Gallery.

Drum Museum
My son plays the drums and the Drum museum is also in the Asakusa area. He was able to try out the steel drums, Japanese Taiko drums and all sorts of percussion instruments from around the world. The curators close themselves into their office and just let visitors 'go for it' on different drums.
Instructions
Face the main gate of Asakusa Senso-ji temple. The gate is called Kaminarimon. Ahead of you is Nakamise Dori, a long shopping street filled with tourist souvenirs and strange food items. To get to the Drum museum turn left and walk till you get to the next really major street. The Drum Museum is straight across the road in front of you.

In the afternoon we went to Studio Ghibli Museum. I went there last year but wanted to take my son there as he and I really like the Ghibli Movies, such as 'My Neighbour Totoro', 'Nausicaa', 'Spirited Away'.
Instructions
You need to book this via the internet before you get to Tokyo. I booked my tickets through JTB in Auckland when I bought our JR Rail passes.

Here is a picture of a single room at Hotel New Koyo in Tokyo. Minami Senju area (up near Asakusa, Yanaka area.)  This is a 2 mat room. I could lie across it and it was exactly my length so 1.6metres wide. My son had to lie across the room diagonally or sleep with his feet either out the door or in the microwave. His room was the gold painted 'Samurai room' with swords decorating the walls. Mine was a much more boring colour! It was nice to have a single room rather than sharing with 7 other backpackers :-)

More photos of japan

The blow-up NZ rugby ball under the Tokyo Tower (actually its round the back where no-one can see it)
Notice on door of lift
james finds his dream roller coaster at Tokyo Dome
I didn't know that you get a container full of ball bearings to play pachinko. I thought they were just slot machines.

Shrine on Miyajima Island
A jellyfish on parade at Jidai Matsuri Parade, Kyoto.
Some sort of dessert!
Autumn festival at Meiji Jingo Shrine, Tokyo
Map-eating deer, Nara.