Sendai

Visiting my cousin Jason in Sendai

Happy holidays

When I spent Christmas with my family last year we all dressed in matching panda  pajamas.
This year I didn't get to spend Christmas at home, but my best friends sent me a picture of them doing the same thing this year. I love this idea and I hope there will be more opportunities to wear matching pajamas with my family and friends in the future.
What a fun way to celebrate the holidays with the people you love.
Happy holidays y'all x

Inception

What has this experience taught me?

...Only that I need to bleach my roots.

Tokyo days roppongi nights

The nabe, which autocorrect is trying to change to babe, is taking a long time to heat up. Tensions rise high, but the water temperature remains low.

Sitting hungry and exhausted of an entire day of exploring and conversation, inevitably we are irritated and frustrated.

Actually everyone is pretty chill. Jelle got out his business cards and everyone is having a delightful bit of chit chat which distracted us from the wait. With that the magic of thermo-heat technology is working and sayuri has started adding vegetables to the pot.

Today we went to kichijoji, and the Mori arts museum.

There is currently an incredible exhibition on and I'm pleased we went to see it.

Takashi Murakami: The 500 Arhats

The times they are a changin'

2007 me, when I first came to japan for the first time on a holiday....And me tonight.

Tsutaya, Daikanyama

Let's go to a pretentious bookshop.

Avocado

There's an avocado cafe off cat street in harajuku.

Avocado smoothies, food and toys.

All night karaoke party

Be like

#SurrealismChangedMyLife

Spotted in the menu of a Japanese restaurant yesterday:

Painted by Rene Margritte in 1929:

A worthy comparison?

Flea market

We sold some things at the flea market in Shinjuku central park. The market there is held once every two months. Even if I'm not selling, I would like to go to more flea markets in japan, I've never seen so much great stuff.  We were supposed to pay 2500 yen to sell, but no one ever came asking for the cash, so whatever we made was automatic profit yay! Which is good because I hardly made much at all. However, I really enjoyed haggling with old Japanese ladies.
I learnt to say  "交渉" or "kousho" which directly translates as "negotiation" but is actually used in the context of asking for a discount. Which I was asked for by everyone.

I also couldn't help but buy a couple of things as a lot of women who came to sell off their old clothes offered everything for 100 yen in the last hour of the market. Everyone loves a time sale! Japanese people are known for preserving their clothes in good condition  (which really confuses me because their washing machines do cold water washes only), so it's worth buying things second hand here. 

Hiking Nokogiriyama

When struggling to climb down the mountain, Michi advises me to "be myself". 

We took a train, taxi, ferry and a bus to get to the southern peak of Chiba. A-HOY MATEYS.

Drinks at the Park Hyatt

Two old school friends Raph and Luke visited tokyo and booked a room at the Park Hyatt hotel in Shinjuku. We drank "old-fashioned" at the New York Bar.  Just like in Lost In Translation, there was an incredible view and a live jazz band.

Owl cafe

We went to the Baron Cafe Owl cafe in Koenji

Tokyo design festa 2015

Tokyo design festa 2015 at Tokyo Big Sight in Odaiba.