Yesterday evening the boys went training and I went out on a photo walk through Arita, wandering the sun drenched streets and finding little statues, temples and so so so many textures. There’s a whole heap of photos, because, well, I couldn’t stop myself from snapping away. Japan, you’re some kind of pretty, that’s for sure.
A few days ago we headed to Akihabara. We haven’t done a whole lot of touristy things on this trip mainly because, well, that was kind of the point. But this place was on Peter’s to do list. Akihabara is apparently the electronics district (+ the maid cafe area, but we avoided that proper cause a wee bit yuck) and on weekends they stop traffic on the main road. We wandered up and down the middle of this massive road, filled with people just hanging, wandering, photographing. It was kind of neat. I attempted some sort of street photography, trying to be all stealth and stuff with varying results.
When our feet were tired from walking we found this little covered plaza that hosted a bunch of little stalls. They offered sake tastings (+ stuff for sale, of course!), which Peter of course had to try. For me, the sake non-lover a couple of stands offered beer, so we sat down on the sidewalk, people watched and sipped some tasty beverages. Just as we were finishing up I looked up and there was a pet duck. I kid you not. A spanking white duck, on a lead with tiny tiny tiny little red booties. It was odd and quite captivating. I am now wondering if there’s a duck boot store in Tokyo. If yes I’d really like to go. Anyone know of any?
Late night wandering around Shinjuku with its plentiful skyscrapers and lights. So many lights. All the lights!
I celebrated my 2 year businessversary yesterday (of my lil photography baby Gold and Grit) and we did it at Commune 246. Well, we started in the arvo with working from a cafe in said commune (which is like an outdoor food court filled with the cutest lil stands) followed by a bottle of bubbly and vegan treats. Plus we managed to pick a night with a night market so there were a bunch of tiny stalls filled with cute wares. Yay Tokyo, I like you!
Without a camera. Which is weird but my new norm. So far we’ve done a lot of nothing, catching up on Game of Thrones (almost there! A few episodes left!), lounging in bed, cooking, a wee stint of stomach ache. And oh! Yesterday night we went out and chatted to a friends-of-a-friend on a rooftop, and then onto our fave bar. All-you-can-eat food and drinks. Boom! That’s how we Saturday. And no camera! So weird. But kind of liberating.
We’ve got our Fridays off here. So yesterday we did the only thing we knew how to: walked until our feet blistered (both of us, we carry those patches and they barely helped) and spent the day wandering + eating & drinking. This time we headed for Nakameguro, which was one of our favourite areas when we were here 3 years ago.
On the way we stopped at a vegan restaurant with a hawaii theme, which served up some killer garlic edamames and mean fake chicken. We topped that lunch of with ice cream (two photos, guess which is the plastic examples and which are the real things? Impossible!), a lounge in a park and more walking. Our goal: the river/canal of Nakameguro and it’s many little shops and eateries. We wanted to go back to this one place; Malmö, which we loved last time we were there, but apparently they went out of business 10 weeks ago. What bad luck! Instead we had drinks at three other places, one which was a french bistro on a rooftop serving sangria, followed by food + Kenyan beer at an Ethiopian place, listening to some African harp being played.
After that we headed homewards, but stopped by a local little bar which made silly good cocktails, played swell tunes and quickly became our favourite little local place ever.
We’re in Tokyo. Days are filled with trying to cook, reading menus, wandering streets and working from cafes. And for me, apparently taking photos of textures? I think I got more than one weird look while I was photographing walls, rather than stuff today. Or it could be my two layers of black clothing, felt hat and boots in the 30-ish degree heat. To be fair though, I was wearing a dress.
I went up north to see Peter’s family. There was food and drinks and talking. And one day I went out for a walk.
Midsummer in the countryside! It’s lush and green and filled with people. Oh, and we had a Tropical theme to this one. As you do.
When I arrived in Sweden my mum handed me a paper. It was apparently supposed to be an invite, but looked more like a 6 yo had used word to write up a message and include some clipart. Anyway. It was an invite. To a surprise activity on a Sunday evening. We had no idea what it was and my mum wasn’t telling us a word either, just that it was for me, her, my niece, my auntie and my cousin.
I had theories. In the back of my head I thought “Play! It has to be a play!” cause my mum likes that cultural stuff and from the brief memory I have of that “invite” I think I remember reading something like that? But boy was I wrong. We had a hat class. Or, more correctly, a fascinator class. Oh, and I managed to not photograph my creation. If you’re curious, check out this insty post instead. Try to guess colour + decoration beforehand. I bet you can’t guess it. Or can you?
