typical japanese fare

there's no such thing. really.

on our first week in japan, when we met one of stella's japanese professors, we asked him what his favorite food was. he said he liked that you could get such an international variety of foods - good italian, french, american. i might have scoffed a little at that - vancouver just might be a more multicultural mecca of cuisine than tokyo. and so we embarked on a two month odyssey of japanese-only dining. every day. every meal. (ok, not quite every breakfast). and it was fantastic. it was _all good_. but then we discovered the thai place under the train track in yurakucho, and the indian place on the edge of shinjuku, and the italian place in mejiro. and they were fantastic. i mean, pasta cooked perfectly - almost like the tortelli we found in sienna, and not at all like the mushy goo you get in vancouver. for $6. i'm a convert. the professor was right. but we're still eating japanese 6 nights a week...



christmas has been full on since november 1 here (october 31 being halloween after all), but despite the decoration there isn't anything special in the air. just a slightly increased shopping frenzy, if that's even possible.












atelier de fromage in mejiro. what's coming?






this. and cheesecake.

rake festival

tori-no-ichi

there's not a lot i can tell you about this festival - all i know is that you buy a rake, and you haul in the business. it's fixed, of course, so that the vendors are the ones raking it in - each year you have to buy a bigger rake for continued growth. nevertheless, people arrive in droves. i believe the word 'thronging' is required. thronging crowds. just thronging. (say it).

there seems to be two parts to the festival - the rakes (2000 vendors - imagine the crowds... thronging), and the food.



otori shrine in asakusa is the centre of events - the entire neighborhood is shut down, streets closed, stalls erected.
















the rakes are bamboo, and nearly unrecognizable as rakes after decoration with everything from cakes to hello-kittys. there's ritual handclapping and chanting too, which is always fun when you're hopped up on sake and squid.











heaven. where do you even begin?






how about grilled green peppers stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon.






grilled squid?






oh yeah.











would you buy chicken on a stick from this man?






of course.






yep, ate it.











look at that butter load!! no, that's not me.






this is me.











here we go. japan in a nutshell: kawaii!!! sugoi!!! oishii!!!






however, these were even tastier. with your choice of red bean, custard, chocolate, or ham and cheese filling.











i'd go again. in fact, i did.

think, food.

a good thought, for this day or for any day.

i know, i know, this is overload. but honestly, you have no idea. all of these were taken in just one department store, and there are several like this within walking distance. and i wasn't even close to rigorous with the camera...

100% design tokyo

another of the tokyo design week events, this one held outdoors at a downtown playing field.



container exhibits (background) were imaginative. the confined space concept was apt in tokyo, despite the immense show ground.






a tiny fraction of the student design competition - all seating concepts.











container exhibit - sanyo eneloop battery.

design tide

tokyo design week was fantastic. an inspiring cross section of design talent from student competition to commercial venture. ping mag has a nice round-up of exhibits.



the design tide event was held in a great warehouse site just off omotesando. too bad about the carpet glue on the floors...






markus freitag _not_ talking about his bags and how great they are, _nor_ the history of his humble beginnings wrecking his mother's sewing machine in an apartment looking across an expressway, and _definitely not_ wanting to promote his merchandise in the free form 'pecha kucha' presentation, but instead talking about cradle-to-cradle design. and then he drew a picture on stella's freitag and signed it, making him an okay guy.











climbing holds, fyi.