Let's make happy
Archive for April, 2008
Off to Kyoto
Apr 14th
I had underestimated the traditional ryokan we’re staying at in Kyoto. Free wireless internet for all!
To get here, we took the bullet train, the highlight of which was bento boxes. Here is Bonney with hers before digging in. (I haven’t gotten her permission to use this photo, but I’m going to anyway because I think it’s great.)
We could identify about half of its contents before she ate it, and two-thirds after. (Mine was a vegetable bento, and much less mysterious.)
Once in Kyoto, we reached our ryokan by cab. The driver turned out to be a plush toy lover!
He was an older man, and hard of hearing, and that made the plush fandom even more endearing.
The place we’re staying is within walking distance of Maruyama Koen and Kiyomizudera, so that was our outing for the day. Both are extremely popular destinations, and the crowds were pretty incredible. But we had much fun browsing the souvenir shops that lined the steep streets heading up to the temple. For myself, I picked up the most adorable mousey!
It’s made from kimono fabric, though I can’t recall what this type of craft is called. (Any help?) There were lots of reeeally cute toys like these, and it was hard to resist buying more. There’s a whole museum/shop devoted to them somewhere in the city that I stumbled upon once. I’m not having any luck locating it again, so I guess I’ll just hope that I’ll have the good fortune to find it by chance.
Maybe a pic or two of the hundreds of temples and shrines in this city will make it into my post tomorrow.
Kewpies and More in Shibuya
Apr 13th
Hellooo from Japan!
Today was our first full day here. We had planned to do both Shibuya and Harajuku, but the former proved to be more than enough for us.
We spent a good part of the day in Loft, browsing the latest in stylishly cute housewares and zakka. Then we ogled delicious food at Shibuya station.
Kewpie dolls continue to be all the rage in the cute department. Here they are advertising a new TV show:
I love love love this ad! Each Kewpie is dressed up as a food or animal or other thing of Japan. Wouldn’t it have been fun to make all these outfits? They’re also selling cell phone straps of Kewpies incognito as various foods and animals—I picked up a Kewpie beer and a Kewpie mushroom today. So cute!
Here’s Kewpie dressed up as the horse character Rody.
If you look closely and can read Japanese, you’ll see that this particular crane game has a sign proclaiming it the “second most popular!” What a crowning achievement.
The “Kapibara” character is still going strong too, with a few new varieties added to the mix. Do these guys remind you of someone?
Perhaps a certain toupee-wearing mouse?
Now for edibles. We came across a counter with the most gorgeous, exotic varieties of honey.
Yuzu, lemon, thyme.. those are the ones I can remember, but there were dozens of flavors. I think we could have gotten samples, but we were too busy buying them up to think to ask.
Finally, yummy bright green sweets.
Made of sticky rice, sweet bean paste, and unidentifiable squiggly green thingies.
We’re heading off to a few days in Kyoto tomorrow, where I’m not sure if we’ll have internet access or not. I’ll be back when we do!
To Japan!
Apr 10th
Did I mention I’m going to Japan? I’m leaving in about 12 hours!
Husband John and I will be taking his mom and big brother on a 10-day tour of Tokyo and Kyoto, with a stopover in Nagoya to see friends. Yay!
I wasn’t necessarily expecting to return so soon (it was just about a year ago that John and I went for our last vacation), but the timing just worked out for all four of us. I think it’s going to be a riot to go with two people who’ve never been and don’t speak the language. We’re planning on lots of sightseeing, shopping, eating, and other fun activities that are so much more exciting there than here for some reason. Like crane games!
Like last year, I might be a tad bit slow to respond to emails, but I’ll be online when I can, and still posting to the blog.
I’m also hoping to find tons of toy inspiration and the prizes for this year’s Mochimochi Photo contest!
Speaking of the photo contest, it’s not too early to start working on your entries! The contest will probably be a bit earlier this year—I’m thinking summertime or thereabouts. Here’s an amazing photo already from Giolou.
Ninjabunzilla! I hope I get to meet him in person in Tokyo.
We Have a Winner!
Apr 10th
Yay, Jess of Knitten Purl is the randomly selected winner of the $15 Mochimochi Land gift certificate, for leaving a comment on the interview I did with Kristen Rask at Plush You.
Thank you so much again to everyone who left such nice comments. It was the most gratifying thing just reading through them all. And thank you again to Kristen for arranging the interview and giveaway!
Pat and Tap and Bit and Tib
Apr 8th
This is Pat and Tap, and their pets Bit and Tib.
These little guys have a secret. Can you tell what it is?
Pat and Tap are made from the same pattern, but flipped!
Of course, Bit and Tib have the same thing in common.
This acrobatic family has a long history of performing in circuses. They’re making me dizzy just watching them do backflips.
