customs: japan

things in japan / at my grandparent's house that really make you feel like you're in someplace other:

1// you can buy hot coffee and hot tea from a vending machine

2// you can buy normal food at convenience stores and have them heat it up for you- imagine buying a hot panini at CVS?

3// you take your shoes off to try on clothes in a dressing room, and are always given a face mask to try on clothes so you don't get makeup on it

4// you only heat portions of your house- the unheated hallway is used as a second refrigerator- imagine piles of tupperware full of perishable food, sitting in the hallway where you walk to go to yoru bedroom

5// you can see your breath indoors

6// you don't leave a tip anywhere, not at restaurants, not in cabs, not for a haircut

7// you only change the water in the bathrub (ofuro) every few days- it si used more as a hottub rather than a bathtub because you wash up before climbing in

8// bus drivers, salespeople, and anyone working in a service position has a very specific uniform.  imagine a bus driver in medford wearing white driving gloves? i don't think so!

100, japan

happy 100th post! i had something else in mind for 100, but being a bit incapacitated with lack of technology here in hokkaido, i'll save that for later.

thus far, it hasn't really felt like traveling or vacationing or going on much of an adventure yet- it is more visiting with family than anything else. the days are eat, sleep, eat, repeat.  maybe a bit of reading in there or going to the market.  i feel like i am catching up on eating and sleeping well, which is good.

ishikari is, in many ways, a desolate town; the people are resilient but the weather unforgiving. we have been seeing some russian people at the supermarket, and it doesn't strain the imagination to see that russia might be similar in many ways to here.

i thought about hopping on a ferry boat to russia, just to see what it was like over there, but it seems there is a lot of red tape for travelers and those small port towns aren't geared towards tourists (aka it would be a big problem that i don't speak a lick of russian, much less understand any of it).  so, that idea is tabled for now.

today, some relatives are coming to visit (atsushi, his wife and two daughters).  obaachan is preparing a feast- i think most of the photos i have taken in japan thus far are of food!

one thing i noticed both last year and this year is a sense of lack of the individual in japan.  i don't know if i feel this way because i am traveling with family and am around them all of the time, or if it is a result of the country and culture that i am living in. i suspect it is a bit of both.  it will be interesting to see how i feel once traveling alone.

by lack of the individual i mean: i don't feel as individuated, i feel like my own personal accomplishments or goals or desires don't matter much as long as they promote and don't upset the good of the collective, which can mean family, society, workplace, etc.  especially being female, i feel like the expectation of how i occupy space is incredibly different, and in a way, it would be unseemly to proclaim my individuation too loudly.  constant deference to others is a must, being female, a daughter, a granddaughter, and a guest.

it is pretty interesting to be reading the second sex while on this trip.  very opportune, i would say.

california

i'm back! these two weeks of recouping / funemployment in between my big trips have been perfect, and california has been a most gracious host.

the days since i said goodbye to the snow in boston have been filled with time to yawn and stretch, get hot at bikram, paint, play music, and eat.

i've had a lesson both with aaron redner (of hot buttered rum string band) and chen zhao (of sf symphony).  it was lovely to catch up with both of them and to so immediately be able to plug into the music scene here (like having a lesson in the bowels of davies symphony hall just a phone call away). 

i've been exploring san francisco a whole lot- it really is a very romantic city, which i don't think i ever realized before. i applied to an apartment in lower nob hill, and i walked around the neighborhood at night to check safety (perfectly safe!) and at the top of the hill, near the cathedral, you could see all the way down those steep steep streets right into the bay with all of the shimmering, twinkling lights below.  there is a little oyster bar on a nearby corner. can't you just imagine, sitting on that corner on a summer night, by the bay and the gentle lights and in good company and with good music?  just thinking of that makes me glow. i think i'm going to like living here. 

i really feel like i've come full circle, in a way.  it was definitely necessary for me to move far away, and get really confused and struggle and figure things out about myself and the world, as cliche as all of that is. of course we all continue to figure stuff out and struggle forever- but for now, coming back to california- i can let out a little sigh, enjoy, recoup, reconnect, and rediscover why i so loved growing up here. 

just in time

it is snowing outside, just in time for me to leave... 

im doing my last packing inside, where it's cozy, listening to etta james and looking at the snow and making the lighting just how i like it to be. i know, so sappy. 

davis square gets better each time i come back- most recently, a new speakeasy type bar called saloon opened up in a basement space.  it was lovely- dark wood bar and wall moldings and warm crimson oriental rugs scattered about.  dim light, jazz music- you know, the kind of place where someone might in all seriousness wear a vest or bowtie or fishnets and fit in just fine.  highly recommended for that perfect mix of relaxed and still 'out and about.'

thank you to penney and linda for a lovely hour of tea and cookies yesterday afternoon- i loved helping you pin images to the design board for the new show and catching up.  forever thank you for the impact you have had on my life in such a short amount of time of knowing each other!  also wonderful to catch up with joanna (kurkowicz), and get my hands on her new album.  i was sorry to have missed nancy bauer who is on leave, but am definitely paying her homage by finally working my way through simone de beauvoir. 

being in boston: orchestrating a lasagne dinner with lots of sous chefs, going to burlington to lunch on lobster rolls and wagyu sliders with kathryn and evan near their work (going to burlington is absolutely comical every time, i am just such a fish out of water there), meeting up with sharon by her work in the north end to have lunch with her at boston sail loft, visiting all my old employers at shops, and just in general be back and live with friends and be free to do as i please. 

getting on a plane (again!) tonight, heading back to san francisco for a few weeks before i head out to tokyo. let's see how many coats i'm going to have to wear tonight through security to get my luggage to not be overweight. at least it's actually cold here...

back in boston

i'm sitting here, on evan and sharon's incredibly comfy couch, back in somerville for one last time...for, i'm guessing, quite a while.

davis square feels very small. it got me thinking about how anonymity can make people feel free; you aren't held accountable to (aka compared with) someone you were yesterday; you are free to be completely new every day. for me, anyway, it feels like some level of being a nobody makes me feel like i can grow and develop most naturally.  and, of course, without having to make small talk with a million acquaintances. i guess the moral of the story is, i don't want to live in a small town at this point in my life, especially if i've already lived there before!

so, i was reading blogs this morning (as i regularly do), and a blogger mentioned something about clothing being "locationally relevant." this is exactly what i have been talking about.  especially with multiple cities on one agenda, one has to think about practicality and also relevance, and then overlap so you don't end up with a ton of overweight baggage charges (which i also regularly do, and then unpack and repack on the airport floor). 

for example, this year, i think i will do a much better job of packing for japan (wearing denim in sapporo just did not feel relevant or appropriate at all). washington d.c. was still a wardrobe mess- what i now realize would have been perfect is a military-style parka, maybe in an olive green or dusty gray.  i don't own one, but i think it would also be great for san francisco, so i'll be on the lookout. my two outerwear options that i had with me, a leather jacket and a full length coat with fur, were perfect for new york but made me feel positively ludicrous in d.c. amongst polar fleece and suits. 

the thing is, it's not really about blending in, because i wouldn't necessarily wear polar fleece nor a suit.  but, it is about thinking about how your personal taste can be relevant within a certain environment. it's about being yourself while still engaging in and being present with the world around you.  being on the same wavelength, i suppose. so, here is to locationally relevant dressing. 

on another note, i bought simone de beauvoir's "the second sex" at strand in nyc...i'm working my way through it. i'm still in the parts about biology and ancient history about women in tribes and such- and so far, have found the information to be relevant to things i've learned in class but not to things in my own life- but i have a feeling that as i keep plodding along through the pages, this will change. 

Washington, D.C.

Being in Washington has been marked mostly by late night dinners and catching up with friends.  Nearly the whole Fairmount crew was reunited this weekend, and we spent lots of time doing nothing in the apartments of those who live here, pretty much ignoring the world outside.  We attempted to go to one museum on Friday, but as a group were more interested in the food trucks...however, the botanical garden greenhouse museum thing managed to be somewhat of a hit (there are lots of benches and you don't have to read much...American History Museum was well done but felt too much like being in class for most of us). 

Friday night we went back to a place we all had dinner at over the summer, Oyamel.  It is a sensuous spanish tapas place with orange petals lining the ceilings like a carpet of flowers and white candles dripping wax everywhere with infamous pitchers of margaritas.  We spent hours and hours there, per usual. 

After walking around ALL the monuments, Saturday night we went to Founding Farmers- industrial interiors with exposed beams and pipes lit with candles with fabulous southern food.  I had pot roast; it positively melts.  I would highly recommend both of these places for anyone visiting D.C.!

Now, just relaxing for a bit with Peter, Angela, and the kids, until I go to Boston on Wednesday.  I have lots of work and play to do there. Stay tuned. 

i love how straightforward you are

really, where else would you see this?

"the jealous husband" necklace at the met 

valentines get delivered via bus

dinner i made for meredith and zeb: pork loin, wild rice with cranberries and walnuts, salad, and california wine

hmmmm

lower east side, near my favorite tailor (hemmed 2 pants in 30 mins for $10), orchard tailor by fabian.