I am usually not the kind who jumps to buy things that other people are buying. But there was something that Tokuko has, that I have been admiring and wanting to buy. A shawl made by Niime Tamaki. She is fairly well known in Japan, amongst those people who love textile and spend money on well-made clothes. The problem is, you have to search for a shop that sells her products, and most online shops are always out of stock. Well, you have to get to her atelier-shop, which is not very conveniently located. It’s about an hour by car from Kobe or Osaka, when the traffic is good. But if you manage to get there, well, you will find yourself in heaven –…
knitting and slow life in Kyoto
Posts from the “**ENGLISH**” Category
Give an overview of your life – your education and career – in 60 minutes, explaining reasons, while occasionally being funny. It’s very hard. I had a pleasure of talking in front of about 40 college students as a guest speaker for a lecture series called “Global Career Lecture”… really? Me? Because I have switched jobs many times, willingly or unwillingly, I am used to explaining myself, why I had to quit and need a new job. But this is my 6th job, after going to 3 schools… so much explaining to do. It was fun, though. I hope the kids (now I’m old enough to call 20 year-old students “kids”! Whoa.) did not believe a thing I said. Because there is no one answer,…
While I was tidying up the remnants of boxes from the move (I always feel that the french word “déménagé is more appropriate – more specific), I discovered a very old sketchbook from my school days. I do have a vague memory of creating these, but cannot remember what I was thinking or what for. … so please don’t ask.
雨なので家の片付けをしていたら、学生時代のミニスケッチブックを発見。こんなのを描いたという微かな記憶はあるのですが、何を考えていたのか、何のためだったのかは完全に忘却の彼方。
Categories: **ENGLISH**, **日本語**
In every October, I make a point of buying a box of cooking apple from an orchard. Japanese cooking apples are, unlike American ones that I know of, not just good for cooking but also very delicious. Pity orchards don’t produce them as much as they used to. 毎年10月になると、青森や山形から紅玉を一箱買います。年中買いたいけれど、残念ながら旬が一瞬で過ぎ去る紅玉。りんごはあまり好きではなくて（甘すぎる）、紅玉が好き。 I didn’t feel like baking today, so I used about 10 of them to make apple jam. I don’t follow any recipe, I just add various things on a whim. This time, I added a little bit of red wine, small amount of lemon juice and sugar. 今年は調理用と指定して買ったので、箱にごろごろとたっくさん入っていて、食べきれない量です。タルトを作ろうと思ってはいるものの、気分が乗らなくてまずはジャムから。いつもだいぶ適当。皮も色付け用に少しだけ入れたり、丸ごと入れたり。ストウブでグツグツ煮れば、大抵食べられるくらいに柔らかくはなります。皮に栄養があるようだし。今回はちょっとだけ赤ワイン（飲むために買ったら甘すぎてまずかった）とレモン汁（本当は必要ない）と砂糖をちょびっと、そしてペクチンも少し入れました。シナモンを入れる時もあるし、オレンジジュースで煮るときもあります。いつも、てきとう。瓶の煮沸だけはちゃんと。 キッチンの片付けをしながら煮ていたらちょっと底が焦げちゃったのだけど、まあ愛嬌で。いずれにしても美味しい。 I went out in the afternoon, and on my way home, the moon was beautiful against the dark sky. I love biking…
Categories: **ENGLISH**, **日本語**
It makes me cry, strangely. I’m traveling the north-eastern-most part of Japan right now, just a short break of 3 days, eating and resting well. The cloud looks like a whale – swimming above a flock of sheep. I’m going home tomorrow.
Categories: **ENGLISH**, 10. Travel
Hi there. it’s been a while since I last written a post in English. Since moving to Kyoto, I hardly have any chance to speak in English, and my mind is switched back to Japanese. There are millions of multi-lingual people, and I wonder if they feel the same – I feel like I have dual personalities within me, and they function as two wheels of a wagon, rather than two sides of a coin. Both wheels need to be of the same strength, and be used the same amount, otherwise the wagon could be overturned. So I start to feel uneasy and restless if I stay put in Kyoto for too long, without having someone I can speak to in English often. …
Autumn is here. The weather has been so beautiful in the past few days. The sun finally came out, and I realized how much I missed seeing Mr. Sunshine. In Tokyo we have relatively dry weather except for summer, when we have a rainy season and frequent evening showers. In winter, it’s sunny and dry every day. I have been told by everyone I meet in Kyoto how it gets cold and wet and cloudy every single day during the winter months. This is totally new to me – wet winter – I am having hard time imagining it, let alone bracing myself for the super-coldness everyone keeps telling me about. I am struggling because of the printing company we work with…
Categories: **ENGLISH**, 2. Diary
Alert! Mediocre photos coming! I’ve been blogging a lot in Japanese these days, so this is going to be an English-only post for a change. Today was our day off. I didn’t do any work all day – I wrote a few emails, answered a few questions, but that doesn’t count, does it? I was able to organize my place at long last. I had to clean up a closet (clean up meaning truly “clean up”, not organize things in there, because it had been so damp for who knows how long), and move my TV set to the other corner of the room. I finally got around to do them. The house started to look more like my place. …
Categories: **ENGLISH**, 2. Diary
Looks like my summer has ended already. Or was there one for me this year? The weather has been crazy, in a good way for me, but not so for many people in Japan. It’s been raining almost every day, sometime with incredulous intensity. Which means, it’s been a rather cool summer for me. But it may have been because I am working in the office from 10 am to 11 pm every day in an air conditioned room. The summer program at the art college ended last weekend. It was a huge fun, despite being physically demanding, but I am very happy to be back to work. Although we are very busy right now, we enjoy the process every step of…
Categories: **ENGLISH**, **日本語**
Hi! It’s been a while since last I wrote in English. I have been so overwhelmingly busy this past several weeks. It takes triple amount of time writing in one language and translating to another. I rather write in English from the start, than translating a post written in Japanese. Did I tell you that I became an art college student? It’s a distant learning program (is this a correct English term?) consists of self study classes and several face to face sessions. I joined a textile weaving and dying program. Conveniently, the college is in Kyoto, where I have moved to. Today was Day 2 of Beginning Weaving class. The class is from 9 to 6 for 3 days. I had half expected…
Categories: **ENGLISH**, **日本語**
Sparkles*United 