Shibuya, Friday Night

Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. – Miriam Beard

Shibuya at night: like Venice or Paris, it's one of those places that exceeds your expectations. You go there for the first time thinking, there's no way it can be as exhilarating/dreamlike/surreal as depicted in the movies or in your craziest fantasies. And then you're blown away because it really is that unreal. I'll let the photos say the rest for now.

Persimmon Season

Actually the season for kaki (persimmon) is drawing to a close here in the Bay Area, but while I was in Tokyo in October, persimmons were in the spotlight. Persimmons are well-loved in Japan, not only as a fruit used in many types of dishes and sweets, but as an admired symbol of the autumn season, its pleasing form adorning stationery, textiles, paintings and ceramics.

With its stunning vibrant orange color (one of my favorite colors), symmetrical shape and gorgeous tree with broad leaves that become fiery-hued in fall, I think the persimmon must be nature's most beautiful fruit. I love looking at them and decorating my home with them. But sadly, I just cannot appreciate their flavor and texture. My neighbor has a Hachiya persimmon tree, laden with fruit that nobody eats. I pick them for my mother and her Japanese friends, who all go nuts over them.

The photo above is of last-second gifts I found at an elegant sweet shop (can't remember the name) in Narita airport on my way back home. They were super expensive but so lovely I had to take these back for my mom. The persimmon-shaped container in the little basket holds persimmon jelly, and the other item is some sort of persimmon-flavored sweet.

I found this recipe for persimmon pudding cake so I'm going to try putting my rapidly softening fruit to some use. If it turns out okay I'll post photos. This site also talks about the difference between Fuyu and Hachiya.

Japanese Stationery

Tissue-thin slips of paper for writing memos.

Incense for stationery - scented little inserts to put in letters.

More stationery incense.

Scented bookmarks.

Winter postcards.

Tiny accordion-fold booklets, about 1.5" high.

Postcards with gold accents. Japanese have a tradition
of exchanging New Year's Day postcards. 2010 is the
year of the tiger, so tigers are everywhere right now.

Postcard featuring bamboo with gold.

A vintage woodblock print from 1903 featuring stylized bamboo.
I like the citrus green on brown and art deco feel.

Kurodaya's handmade business card is decorated with
a piece of colorful goldfish chiyogami.

One of my favorite things: a stunning hand-printed
envelope with chrysanthemum design and gold accents.
The ink scent and paper texture are delicious.

Kurodaya's paper bags.

Maybe my second favorite thing: mini envelopes with
hand-printed elephants, about 2" square.

Autumnal postcards: mushrooms and
gingko leaves with a swirl of wind.

A set of 5 postcards featuring autumn leaves.
(Japanese products usually come in sets of 3, 5 or 6,
rarely 4, as one pronunciation of the number 4 -"shi" -
sounds like the word for "death" and is considered bad luck.)

A sweet set of whimsical owl postcards.

Artist Yumeji Takehisa apparently was not respected by his peers
during his time, but was popular with "ordinary people"
and is loved by collectors now.

There's a slight roughness to his work
which is part of the charm. Great color.

Playful kitty letter set. Cats and dogs are well-loved in Japan
and used as motifs everywhere.

This is beautiful...letter paper which tucks into a flap
to form its own envelope, and matching slips of memo paper.
Small slips of decorative paper for writing that "hito-koto" -
- literally, one word, or brief note - are popular items.

Sights of Japan's regions advent calendar/card.

Sumo card! The wrestlers perf out and players make them
bounce and "wrestle" in the sumo ring.

Delicately ornate, panoramic lasercut card. I love the
minimal palette, all brown with just accents of soft pink.

A simpler, elegant lasercut card featuring a
panel in the background with color photo.

I love these ladies in kimono, skiing and snow-golfing.

These floral cards are hand printed in rich jewel-tones.

I've devoted a decade of my life to the stationery industry so you'd think that would give me more than my fill of it, but even now I see a nice paper goods shop and I'm in love all over again.

Japan is the paper and stationery lovers' mecca. Much care is placed in the creation of paper and keeping up the various traditions of handmade paper crafts and seasonal letter-writing. I appreciate most Japanese design, but it's in stationery where you most readily find the expression of traditional Japanese aesthetics and values: respect for simplicity, reverence for nature and changing seasons, a sense of nostalgia, a love of whimsy.

Another thing I enjoy about good stationery is the almost full sensory experience it offers. A well-crafted postcard or greeting card engages your vision first as you take in and appreciate its design, then your sense of touch as you pick it up and feel the papers and other materials used. Sometimes even your sense of hearing and smell are involved if it happens to be a music card, and in Japan, I noticed the trend of adding incense adornments to your letters. The only sense missing out is taste, but who knows, maybe that will change in future. And then, there's the emotional aspect engaged in a card: perhaps the image or the sentiment evokes something, a memory, a longing, a laugh, a message you want to convey, or simply a deepened awareness for beauty and the urge to share it.

Japanese stationery is especially tactile, which I really anticipate and savor each time I enter a stationery shop. When crafted of quality paper, simple cards - some even bordering on being visually boring - change and come to life as soon as you pick them up and run your fingers over them. There is a pleasing texture to handmade papers such as washi that is like no other sensory experience. Its coarseness and warmth in your hands bring dimension and spirit to whatever you're creating.

There are stationery and paper shops all over Tokyo, but a few I recommend:

Kurodaya - in Asakusa right near Kaminari-mon and the subway. It was established in 1856. This is my favorite store - sometimes the larger stores can be overwhelming, and this shop is charming, unique and manageable (plus it's in wonderful Asakusa right at the Nakamise-dori shopping district). You can find traditional stationery and paper-crafted goods, kites, origami paper, washi (handmade wood fiber paper), chiyogami (elaborate silkscreened paper), and new and vintage wood block prints in a range of prices.

Ito-ya - this huge stationery and office/art supply emporium is in several locations, the largest found in Ginza (2-7-15 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, phone 81 3 3561 8311). I stumbled on a smaller one off the metro in Shibuya and still spent a good half-hour browsing through a wide range of greeting cards and postcards - traditional, contemporary and imported. At this time of year, you can find a variety of non-Western holiday and New Year's cards, many beautifully printed or with intricate lasercut designs.

Loft - there are several locations but I always go to the one in Shibuya for old times' sake. There's a good selection of housewares and gifts, but I pretty much head straight for the stationery floor. Cute letter sets, a large assortment of journals and planners, and nice art supplies.

Tokyu Hands - again, I go to the one in Shibuya. This place is so fun for the crafty DIY-ers. There's a lot of stuff for the "creative life," including wacky party supplies and costumes, supplies for beauty and health, housewares, art supplies, and of course, stationery. Their stationery seems to range in quality each time I visit, some years not so great, but this year, better, with a great collection of calendars (which was actually not in the stationery department) - so it's still worth visiting.

Check out my post on Japanese calendars here.

Sayonara, Almond

The Almond Roppongi intersection in March 2008.

The same corner in November 2009.

Demolished!

Anybody who has memories of being in Tokyo in the last couple of decades will understand what I mean when I say Roppongi will never be the same without its famous Almond Cafe. I was in Roppongi briefly for lunch a couple of weeks ago, ironically enough, thinking as I emerged from the metro to meet my lunch date: "no matter how much Tokyo changes, Almond will always be there."

I walked from the metro exit, anticipating the old pink-and-white relic from my youth. I looked around at the intersection, confused and disoriented because there was no Almond! The building had just been demolished, with a big gaping hole in its place.

To those of you who lived there back in the 80s like I did: how many times did you make a date with someone, saying, you'll meet them at "Ahmondo no mae?" Definitely the end of an era. I'm really glad I got to see it one last time on last year's visit, and as if knowing it would be the last, took photos and lingered over tea, basking in the natsukashi-sa of it all.

The building was no longer earthquake safe, so the business was relocated around the corner earlier in January. A new building will go up in its place, a modern-day landmark where people can meet out front. Whatever takes its place, it won't have the same retro charm as the old cafe with the striped pink awning.

To learn more about Roppongi and Almond, read this Japan Times article about its beginnings as an international meeting place in Tokyo.

Shopping in Asakusa

Hanafuda card game - I used to play this as a kid but
need my mom to teach me again. I always loved the images.
I'll blog more about this later.

Beautiful fabric remnant I found for a couple of bucks
at a tiny vintage kimono shop. Colors are not reproducing
well...the purple is really vibrant and the gold is rich.

"Eco" is the popular term in Japan for anything "green" or
eco-friendly. Cute shopping bags can be found everywhere, but
I especially like the ones with traditional prints. These tuck into
their own inner pockets.

Handmade business card holders in a variety of beautiful fabric.
I always stock up on these and save for future gifts.
Also, mini nioi-bukuro charms - scent sachets.

A small boy's cotton jinbei - a kind of short yukata with
matching shorts. I got this for my friend's son.

A tenugui with gorgeous brown and teal pattern -
a traditional cotton multi-purpose hand towel.
Traditional textile items such as tenugui, furoshiki and
yukata seem to be enjoying a revival in recent years.
I'll blog more about these soon.

A box of traditional sweets - small pastries filled
with sweet bean paste. I think I bought it
more for the packaging than anything.
I love the wrap depicting a crazy festival
scene at Asakusa's famous temple.

Asakusa Tattoo Museum Exhibition

My favorite piece, featuring a blue-faced oni (demon) and other
mythological beings. Oni can be formidable, or they can be protective forces. Click on photos to enlarge.

Tribal Village Asakusa cafe/bar/event space.

Popular figure from folklore, Kintaro (Golden Boy), a boy with
tremendous powers. He is a beloved symbol of bravery and
strength, often depicted wrestling a giant carp.

I love these photos of this beautiful, fully tattooed woman heading a
matsuri (festival) procession, which is traditionally a male-dominated affair. She looks like a total badass.

A clan of tattooed fellows...not sure if they are
firemen, yakuza or just horimono enthusiasts.

A goddess with dragon, possibly Benzaiten.

A photo of actual human skins, preserved for their tattoos.

Unfortunately this is so blurry I can't even ask a kanji-reader
to translate. I believe the woman is the same as in the above matsuri
photo, and the man is her tattoo-artist husband.

I don't know a thing about tattoos (irezumi or horimono in Japanese) so I won't even try to write intelligently about the topic. I did, however, appreciate these beautiful tattoos on display from a design standpoint. Apologies for the poor quality of the photos...I decided to post them anyway in case they are of interest to the tattoo enthusiasts out there.

I came across info on this exhibit on the Tokyo Art Beat site, which is an excellent, up-to-date resource for exhibits and gallery showings in Tokyo. There are many museums, shows, hole-in-the wall exhibits, events and live performances all over the city, some of them free. Offbeat exhibits that frequently rotate can often be found in large department stores and other venues.

This tattoo exhibit was held at Tribal Village Asakusa, which we discovered (after some searching) was a small cafe/bar/gallery. The exhibit itself was free, but we decided to be polite and stay for a drink, which meant a 500 yen table charge, but this included snacks.

About the exhibit, to quote Tokyo Art Beat:

"This is a rare, temporary recreation of the Asakusa Tattoo Museum that Choshiro Nakano used to run underneath his office. At the time, actual tattooed human skins were framed and put on display. This exhibition, however, introduces viewers to various drawings, paintings and photographs of these tattoos, in addition to old tattoo tools."

If anyone can offer more info on Nakano Choshiro, this exhibit or Japanese tattoos in general, I'd appreciate it. I tried to research Nakano but didn't turn up much in the English language. From what I can gather, he was also known as Horicho - his professional name? A woman at the exhibit gave me some details on the artist, as well as the award-winning tattooist husband/wife team depicted in the photo above...I scribbled this info on a scrap of paper, then promptly lost it. I'd also consumed a few drinks at dinner before visiting the exhibit so my memory isn't serving me well.

I did, however, turn up an excellent article by journalist Ben Hills. He writes a little about the history of Japanese tattoos, secrets of the craft, and the preservation of tattooed skins as valuable works of art. Read Hills' article here.

One more resource: a work of fiction that I thoroughly enjoyed. I recommend The Tattoo Murder Case by Akimitsu Takagi, first published in Japan in 1948. It's a fascinating escape into gritty, post-war Tokyo and the underground world of irezumi-bearers.