Jonelle Patrick's Blog, page 24
February 17, 2019
Spot The Elvis
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If you’re looking for a country with absolutely zero junk food guilt, you found it. Behold the bagel sandwiches available at this shop I spotted while walking through Azabu Juban last week.
Yes, in addition to the Elvis (#15: peanut butter/bacon/banana) they also offer The Rainbow Colored (#20), which features a multi-colored bagel filled with vividly colored cream cheese and (no apologies, no euphemisms, no beating around the bush) pure, unadulterated, SUGAR.
But the pièce de résistance isn’t those sweet temptations. It’s this:
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Cheetos/sundried tomato cream cheese
You’re welcome.
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When not yearning to devour a cheeto cream cheese bagel, Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Tokyo
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A young woman dressed as a Gothic Lolita is found dead in a car with a pair of strangers. But the more Yumi Hata learns about her friend’s death, the more she’s convinced it was murder…read more
February 14, 2019
Plum Blossoms Lit Up At Night
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The Yushima Shrine is famous for its plum blossoms, and until the end of February, you can see them lit up at night! Even if you’re a cherry blossom loyalist (in which case I sentence you to visiting all my favorite plum tree gardens and upgrading your flower preferences JUST SAYIN’) it’s a grand opportunity to see this gorgeous wooden shrine glowing against the night sky.
But they do have lovely plum trees, and a festival that’s on every weekend until the end of the month, including monkey shows and such. Here are a few photos to show you how extraordinary the flowers look when lit up at twilight:
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At 5:30 it’s still pretty light out, but the spotlights are already giving the blossoms a warm tint against the sky
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As dusk falls, the flowers and the sky strike a perfect balance
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As twilight deepens, these backlit pink ones look like they’re glowing
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By the end of the magic hour, the spotlights pick up the hint of green still on these fresh blooms
The Yushima Shrine is the only place I know of that lights their blossoms at night, but there are plenty of places around Tokyo to feast your eyes on the trees in full bloom and breathe in their heavenly fragrance. My favorite places are here, with maps.
The trees and shrine buildings at the Yushima Shrine are lit up every night until 19:30, through March 8, 2019.
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When not doing contortions trying to get pictures of plum flowers, Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Tokyo
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In the wake of a deadly earthquake, fans erupt in a frenzy of mourning when it’s discovered that their favorite pop star is among the dead. But when Detective Kenji Nakamura is sent to investigate a death at a local shrine, he finds evidence that suggests the impossible: How could the head priest have been murdered by…read more
February 12, 2019
Flowers By Naked 2019
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This year’s Flowers by Naked (at the same Coredo venue that hosts Art Aquarium during the summer) was better than last year but not as engaging as the first year I saw it. The art of projection mapped animation has taken such huge strides in three years that it kind of amazes me how wowed I was by the original production, but this group of artists has done a pretty good job of keeping up with the times, even if it’s not on the same scale as the TeamLab Borderless digital museum.
The new twist this year is fragrance, and although there were fewer different things to look at this year, the animations are sophisticated and entertaining.
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The entry features two rather baffling “wells” that deliver steamy fragrances and a blooming flower animation that kindles in your hands if you cup them inside, plus a nice animated mural on the right wall…
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…and three interactive “windows” on the left. The “shoji screens” pulse enticingly until you stand in front of them and throw them open with a gesture. Then a nice floral animation plays.
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The central piece of 360° floral animation is really nice, but the wait to see it is a little annoying. An attendant in formal hakama stops you in a “grove” of bamboo, and invites you to listen to the stalks. I didn’t hear anything interesting before it was time to enter the animation area, which was a sit-down-and-watch-to-the-end affair, not something you could wander in and out of, like before. It also is attended by a guide, which makes it obvious one isn’t supposed to return to watch it again without coming in the front and standing in line.
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The corridor from the animation area to the bar is lined with a blooming floral mural…
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…and carpeted with two swaths of interactive flower paths. This one “parts” as you walk across it.
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At the end, you arrive at the bar (where you can of course buy cocktails and flavored tea to sip in the room beyond) and the fragrance area.
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The last attraction is a room where you need the Naked, Inc. app and a QR code scanner installed on your phone if you want the sensor to “scan” you and formulate a personalized scent. I couldn’t get the app to download on site, so do it before you come if you want to try this.
If you’re in Tokyo and you’ve never been to a Flowers by Naked exhibition before, you should go. It’s not a vast interactive environment of projection-mapped animation like the TeamLab Borderless digital museum, (and the Flowers by Naked folks bumped up the price this year, making it less of a must-go) but it’s an entertaining thing to do with friends, and worth seeing the different ways this new tech is blossoming.
Open: Every day until March 3, 2019
Hours: 10:00 – 20:00 (last entry 19:30)
Admission: ¥1600
Address: Nihonbashi Mitsui Hall 2-2-1, 5th floor
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When not fruitlessly trying to download obscure apps to her phone, Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Tokyo
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When Detective Kenji Nakamura’s phone rings with the news that his mother’s death wasn’t an accident, his life begins to unravel…read more
February 9, 2019
Shirakawago In The Snow
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For years, I’ve wanted to see the old-fashioned farmhouse hamlet of Shirakawa-go all lit up at night in the snow, and this week I got half my wish.
It turns out that ever since it was named a Unesco World Heritage Site, viewing the farmhouses lit up at night has become such a crazy tourist madhouse that you can only see it now on official tours, and by the time my friend Mika and I tried to book, they’d all been snapped up this winter by mainland Chinese on their annual New Year’s holidays. We managed to snag two bus seats for a little daytime walkabout, which was lovely, but we didn’t get to see them at night.
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The temperature that day was seriously springlike, so the beautiful little watercourses running through the town were merrily bubbling away with snowmelt
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You can see how dry and warm this winter has been – they usually have about two meters of snow at this time of year, and have to use those white “windows” on the second floor as doors
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The nicest part of town is the part you have to pay extra to go into, so even on a busy day, it was peaceful and uncrowded. They’ve set aside some of the more interesting buildings as an open-air museum. This is a little soba mill.
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You can go inside the buildings, where they’ve pointed out fun details like this cat door of yore.
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You can see how thick the thatch is on the roofs. Replacing it is a major undertaking these days – I was told by an artist friend who lives in one outside Kyoto that they have to farm the reeds specially now, because all of the rivers have been paved for flood control, and there are no longer enough growing naturally to meet the needs of his village.
If you want to see the Shirakawago village lit up at night, here’s the email address for booking tickets on the night tour bus: kikaku@hokutetsukoku.jp. It costs ¥5,980 for a round-trip ticket, leaving from Kanazawa Station at 15:30, giving you from 16:50 – 19:10 to walk around the village, and returning to the station at 20:30. A bento bus dinner is included in the price. The difficult bits are booking early enough so you get a spot, and paying them. They don’t take credit cards, so you have to pay cash no later than 24 hours before you leave. Which means you need to be in Kanazawa the day before your trip and go to their office to hand over the loot.
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When not franting about in the snow, Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Tokyo
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When Detective Kenji Nakamura’s phone rings with the news that his mother’s death wasn’t an accident, his life begins to unravel…read more
February 2, 2019
Tokyo International Quilt Festival 2019 PART TWO: Just Beautiful
It was so hard to choose only a few quilts to feature from the embarrassment of riches at this year’s Tokyo International Quilt Festival, but here are some of the overall stunners, and a couple that had details to die for.
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You can see why this piece won the 2018 Machine Quilting Award…
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“Life IV” by Noriko Misawa
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Here’s a closer look . Yow.
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There weren’t as many “photographic” quilts this year, but I thought this one was pretty wonderful.
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“Girls in the Holy River” by Emiko Ōsawa
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It’s hard to see in photos, but this quilt was accented with sparkly sequins and beads
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There also weren’t as many illustration-style quilts, but this one made up for the lack of quantity by over-the-top quality. Look at the border – even the binding looks like melting chocolate!
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“A Chocolate Factory” by Osami Gonohe
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And this one. Are you surprised that the artist is an 18-year-old guy? Love the use of fake fur for the hat and mittens.
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“I Like” by Leon Kawasaki
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There were a number of quilts made with traditional patterns, but very untraditional colors. Isn’t it amazing how different this floral pattern looks with a dark background, rather than the usual white?
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“Roses in the Park in my Hometown” by Toyoko Nakajima
And this waterlily quilt just killed me, with its deep watery blue ground:
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“Soon the Rainy Season Will Be Over” by Shoko Matsumura
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There weren’t many “whimsical” quilts this year either, but the quality was super high…
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“Forest of Blessings” by Chieko Akada
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“Heart Series VIIII” by Keiko Goke
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You can see through the round appliques to the background of this firefly-themed piece, which depicts the lightning bugs as circles of light
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“Fireflies” by Shoko Harada
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Here’s a close-up of one of the “fireflies”
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This quilt took first place in the “Japanese” theme category. At first, it seems like a strange choice because it doesn’t exhibit insanely skilled traditional quilting chops like the other entries. What it does show in spades is the long rural history of reusing “boro-boro” rags to make things of beauty, and how raw edges and random shapes and imperfection can come together to make something that can be lovelier (in a different way) than those that are meticulously planned and executed.
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“To Mom” by
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Here’s a detail showing the unusual construction
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In contrast, this gorgeous thing placed second among the “Japanese” themed quilts. Check out the fabulous use of Hawaiian quilting techniques for the snowflakes.
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“Snow Falling on Our Mountain” by Mayumi Mochizuki
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I really enjoyed how this next quilt deconstructs a traditional rose motif, unspooling it and playing with scale and orientation. And look how she has “pixellated” some of the elements:
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“Sleeping Woods” by Izumi Okazaki
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This is one of the most inventive “autumn” themed quilts I’ve seen, focusing on what happens after the leaves fall. The skeletal ones are composed of hand-appliqued fabric ribs and endless embroidery.
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“Fallen Leaves”by Chiyoko Takayama
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This landscape piece makes use of eyelet pieces for the background and selected lace appliques to suggest the delicate patterns of hoarfrost. Nice use of a fabric seldom used in quilting!
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“Hoarfrost on the Tree” by TaeHwa Kweon
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A close-up of the pieced eyelet background and the lace appliques
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There were a couple of quilts in this show that were masterpieces of stitching rather than piecing. This landscape was handpainted, then intricately quilted, using thread colors to create subtleties of light and shadow.
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“Yu Shan Rhododendrons in the Morning” by Yu Chen Liang
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Detail, showing the use of thread color and pattern to enhance the texture of various elements
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This next one was made from vintage kimono pieces and quilted in traditional Japanese washi paper patterns. The colors are a typical Edo-era combination, often found in kimonos of that time. A dyer who is trying to recreate the lost dyeing techniques of that time once explained to me that these are the colors that Japanese people look best wearing.
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“Connecting” by Sakai Suzuki
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This next one is a tour de force of optical art. The farther away you stand, the more organized the pattern looks. Up close, it seems to be a pleasing, random patchwork of Japanese indigo patterns. Step away a little farther, and you notice the diagonal squares and the “basket weave” created by alternating similar patterns and colors. And from across the room, the central square swims into glorious focus.
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“Releasing” by Etsuko Misaka
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There were a lot of delightful quilts in the group piecing competition. This year, the theme was “houses.”
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I loved that each artist who contributed a square to this one made it a “dog house.”
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There was also a fun display of 3-D quilted houses by well-known quilter Suzuko Koseki.
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“Spring” by Suzuko Koseki
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And finally, THIS. It was hard to get a photo of the entire thing (which was enormous), because it was mobbed by people with their noses right up to the quilt, who couldn’t quite believe that every strand of the latticework is hand-appliqued and every border crest hand-embroidered.
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“The Kumiko Suite” by Keiko Morihiro
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View it and weep.
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In case you missed it, Part One (amazing quilts from this same show, with Japanese designs) is here. And just for comparison, here are the pieces I posted a couple of years ago, from the 2016 Tokyo International Quilt Festival.
And arg, if I put up all the beautiful pieces I took pictures of, this would be the Only Quilts blog, not Only In Japan. But if you’d like to see the outtakes, I’ll put them up in my Dropbox and temporarily post my personal email in the comments. If you’d like to see the rest, send me your email address and I’ll send you an invite!
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When not swooning over quilts, Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Tokyo.
“A genuinely gripping crime thriller which wrong-foots and perplexes the reader throughout, drawing us in emotionally . . . Highly recommended.”
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When Detective Kenji Nakamura’s phone rings with the news that his mother’s death wasn’t an accident, his life begins to unravel…read more
January 31, 2019
New “Digitized Lakeside and Forest” Outdoor Art Installation!
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If ogling giant resonating eggs and gawking at color-changing trees isn’t what you’re planning to do this weekend, cancel your plans and get thee out to Hanno to see this new digital art installation instead! It meanders halfway around the small lake in the Metsa Village recreation area, and it’s everything glow-in-the-dark entertainment should be.
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The first part features these resonating spheres, which are tethered on short leashes so they bounce around in the breeze. If you touch them, they change color
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As you make your way around the shoreline, you can see the delights ahead reflecting in the water
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As you draw near, the reflections are amazing…
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…and changing faster than you can click the shutter
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Once you get into the forest, the path is lit by the eggs and trees, in a kaleidoscope of changing hues influenced by visitors walking among them. The natural forms of the trees and bamboo become intricate designs in the dark
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As you make your way along the path, you catch a glimpse of these ovoids through the bamboo, floating in the water and sort of, uh, “breathing”…
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A short flight of steps brings you right up to the water’s edge, where you can watch them resonate in a symphony of colors
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I would probably still be standing there, mesmerized by the glow…
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…except it was Chilly McChillface out there, so despite the nearly unbearable urge to take just one more photo, I eventually had to move on
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But was rewarded for reaching the end of the path by this installation of many many resonating eggs
Here’s a little walk through the ultimate eggy part:
“Digitized Lakeside and Forest” was put together by (you guessed it) TeamLab, but this one is a temporary installation, which is why you need to get your butt on a train soon. It’s only on until March 3, 2018. Miyazawa Lake is in Metsa Village, which is outside of Hanno, a 50-minute express train ride from Ikebukuro Station on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line. From Hanno Station, there are regular buses ferrying people back and forth to Metsa Village.
Open: Every day until March 3, 2018
Hours: 18:00 – 21:00
Admission: ¥1000 on weekdays, ¥1200 on weekends and holidays
No need to buy tickets in advance – you can get them from the ticket machines near the entrance when you get there. There’s a nice selection of indoor and outdoor food and drink places at the entrance/exit, including coffee, beer & wine.
Here’s a map of the installation:
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As you can see, it’s a nice little hike. The trail is unpaved, so wear comfy walking shoes and dress warmly.
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After strolling among the psychadelic trees, Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Tokyo
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The #1 hostboy at Club Nova makes a handsome living, whispering sweet nothings in the ears of women who pay him a fortune for the privilege. But the party’s over when Tokyo Detective Kenji Nakamura is assigned to investigate the death of…read more
January 25, 2019
Tokyo International Quilt Festival 2019 PART ONE: Eyepopping Japanese Motif Quilts
I didn’t think it was possible to be more blown away than I was in 2016, by the sheer artistry and sewing chops I ogled at the Tokyo International Quilt Festival, but yesterday it happened again. In fact, there are so many quilts I want to show you, I’m going to break this into two posts, for your swooning pleasure.
The first burst:
Quilts with Lovely Japanese Themes
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“Dancing in the Wind” by Masako Sakagami
Not only does this one have the most Japanese theme ever (a woman in a kimono doing a dance called bon odori at the summer festival where spirits are welcomed back for a few days), it’s made from vintage kimonos.
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“Vermilion Delight” by Hitomi Mishima
This one is also pieced from vintage kimonos, and has some killer 3-D bits made with silk scraps. It took the Grand Prize this year.
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“Flowers in Mode” by Michiko Sonobe
Also crafted from vintage fabrics, I loved this outside-the-box design based on a traditional piecing pattern. One of the biggest ways my sense of the beautiful continues to be explosively expanded in Japan is by the colors that are put together in art and fashion here. This particular combination is utterly Japanese, a set of color choices I never would have considered, but it really works, don’t you think?
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“Goldfish Versus the Fish Net” by Satomi Tominaga
I loved this one because not only is it about a beloved childhood rite of passage (scooping up goldfish at a shrine festival with a round, paper net that ALWAYS tears just before the fish makes it to your waiting plastic bag), the fish pieces are cut from the kind of traditional Japanese dishtowels you can find on any neighborhood shopping street.
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“Rice – Things We Can Do”by the 8th & 9th grade students of
Kawaguchi City Junior High School
I loved this one before I even knew it had been made by middle school kids, because of its exuberant use of ramen noodle-evoking knitted bits to spell out characters from spelling tests. Sort of a Japanese version of alphabet soup.
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“Yamaboshi Flowers at Sunset” by Toyomi Fujima
Yamaboshi are a kind of weed that grows everywhere it can get a toehold, but this quilt elevates them to a thing of beauty, don’t you think?
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“Memory of An Unspoiled Landscape” by Kazuko Tanaka
The red flowers in this lovely landscape are “higanbana,” a kind of amaryllis that grows wild in Japan and blooms for only a few days around the autumn solstice. They have a sort of wistful (or even creepy) aura because they’re often planted around graveyards. The artist chose to show this scene at a time they were blooming to give a little extra meaning to the “memory of how a place used to be” theme.
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“My Hometown in Yamagata” by Mikiko Ochiai
This, believe it or not, is also a landscape! The artist lives in a town where the main occupation is growing rice, and this quilt celebrates the development of a new variety “Snow Mountain” from the current favorite, “Rain Princess.” I don’t know how long it took them to breed this new rice, but the artist tells us it took her two years to make the quilt!
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“In Memory of Father” by Yoshiko Kawakita
The bamboo, fireflies, demon masks and festival coats suggest this artist’s father lived in the countryside and loved the annual summer festival.
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“Auspicious Wrappers” by Toshiko Shimada
“Noshi monyō” are the papers wrapped around gifts given on auspicious occasions like weddings. The gold one in the middle of this magnificent quilt is a depiction of this traditional kimono motif.
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“Wisteria and Peonies Throw a Party” by Sadako Kagoshima
Wisteria and peonies bloom at nearly the same time in May, and are often used to signify “early summer” in paintings and Japanese poetry.
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“Roses and Clematises”by Harue Yumoto
Roses and clematis are definitely not Japanese, but this composition is! These two immigrant flowers also bloom at the same time, and are slowly being welcomed into the Japanese artistic pantheon as a symbol for summertime. That’s an obijime (the cord used to hold a kimono obi in place) entwined with the flowers.
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“Song of the Ground Cherries” by Kazuko Toshida
This fabulous thing is also a classic seasonal reference. The ground cherry (which I’ve seldom seen growing outside Japan) enjoys its own festival every summer, and the way its papery shell naturally disintegrates into a skeletal cage with the berry trapped inside is nothing short of magical. I know this isn’t the post focusing on amazing technique (Part Two, with more detail shots is here) but I can’t resist pointing out that this masterpiece of appliqué is entirely hand-stitched.
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“Fireworks” by Makiko Mori
Fireworks are synonymous with summer in Japan, and before Valentine’s Day and Christmas Eve became the hottest date nights of the year (go figure), heading out to see the fireworks dressed up in brightly printed cotton kimono (like the fabrics used to piece this quilt) was the most romantic thing going.
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“Congratulations, I Want to Eat, I Want to Love” (Medetai, tabetai, koishitai) by Chizuko Kojima
A whole red snapper is the traditional good luck dish people feast on when celebrating milestones, and this small multi-media quilt captures the delight of that occasion perfectly. I had to laugh while admiring it, because all around me, Japanese visitors were saying the same thing I’ve overheard them say when viewing the fish at aquariums: “Oishisō!” (which means “that looks delicious”).
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“Voice” by Yoshiko Karagiri
I think this quilt is called “Voice” because the artist disagrees with the famous Japanese saying, “One crane’s voice is louder than a thousand sparrows.” I’d like to believe she’s quietly saying that the opinions of the common people ought to be stronger the pronouncements of the powerful.
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“Kimono Meet-Up” by Akiko Yoshinaga
And, last but not least, this jaw-dropper of a quilt made from 1500 individually hand-sewn and embroidered kimono ladies(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*). I returned to this quilt again and again to try and get a picture of the whole thing, but it was mobbed three-deep all day long. Nobody could resist patiently waiting to get close enough to examine all the different kimonos, to see for themselves that no two were alike. I finally went back a few days later and snagged this photo during the nanosecond it was free of admirers!
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I know you’re dying for a close-up, so here it is!
Something I particularly love about this artist’s depiction of people meeting up to wear traditional dress is that she gave them many different colors of hair, not just black. As someone who belongs to a group of women all around the world who like to wear kimonos, it feels good to have a Japanese artist say, “Yes! Everyone is invited to this meet-up, no matter where you come from. Let’s each wear our unique kitsuke.”
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Also, about the annoying shadows on some of the pieces – the one beef I had with this year’s show is that the lighting must have been done by monkeys with clothespins and flashlights. No matter how I adjusted the exposure, there wasn’t much I could do about the shadowy bottoms of the quilts without blasting the tops to never-never-land, so I’m sorry that some of the detail isn’t as clear, nor the colors as true, as we’d all like them to be.
Okay, YAY, Part Two, with more amazing quilts and some detail shots so you can marvel at the techniques is now posted!
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Jonelle Patrick doesn’t have a stitch of talent for making quilts, so she writes novels set in Tokyo instead
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I don’t know about you, but there’s nothing I like better than to discover a new mystery series. And it’s even better if they take me to a place I love. If you know anyone who’d like to spend more time in Japan…these
Tokyo International Quilt Festival 2018 PART ONE: Eyepopping Japanese Motif Quilts
I didn’t think it was possible to be more blown away than I was in 2016, by the sheer artistry and sewing chops I ogled at the Tokyo International Quilt Festival, but yesterday it happened. In fact, there are so many quilts I want to show you, I’m going to break this into two posts, for your swooning pleasure.
The first burst:
Quilts with Lovely Japanese Themes
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“Dancing in the Wind” by Masako Sakagami
Not only does this one have the most Japanese theme ever (a woman in a kimono doing a dance called bon odori at the summer festival where spirits are welcomed back for a few days), it’s made from vintage kimonos.
•
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“Vermilion Delight” by Hitomi Mishima
This one is also pieced from vintage kimonos, and has some killer 3-D bits made with silk scraps. It took the Grand Prize this year.
•
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“Flowers in Mode” by Michiko Sonobe
Also crafted from vintage fabrics, I loved this outside-the-box design based on a traditional piecing pattern. One of the biggest ways my sense of the beautiful continues to be explosively expanded in Japan is by the colors that are put together in art and fashion here. This particular combination is utterly Japanese, a set of color choices I never would have considered, but it really works, don’t you think?
•
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“Goldfish Versus the Fish Net” by Satomi Tominaga
I loved this one because not only is it about a beloved childhood rite of passage (scooping up goldfish at a shrine festival with a round, paper net that ALWAYS tears just before the fish makes it to your waiting plastic bag), the fish pieces are cut from the kind of traditional Japanese dishtowels you can find on any neighborhood shopping street.
•
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“Rice – Things We Can Do”by the 8th & 9th grade students of
Kawaguchi City Junior High School
I loved this one before I even knew it had been made by middle school kids, because of its exuberant use of ramen noodle-evoking knitted bits to spell out characters from spelling tests. Sort of a Japanese version of alphabet soup.
•
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“Yamaboshi Flowers at Sunset” by Toyomi Fujima
Yamaboshi are a kind of weed that grows everywhere it can get a toehold, but this quilt elevates them to a thing of beauty, don’t you think?
•
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“Memory of An Unspoiled Landscape” by Kazuko Tanaka
The red flowers in this lovely landscape are “higanbana,” a kind of amaryllis that grows wild in Japan and blooms for only a few days around the autumn solstice. They have a sort of wistful (or even creepy) aura because they’re often planted around graveyards. The artist chose to show this scene at a time they were blooming to give a little extra meaning to the “memory of how a place used to be” theme.
•
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“My Hometown in Yamagata” by Mikiko Ochiai
This, believe it or not, is also a landscape! The artist lives in a town where the main occupation is growing rice, and this quilt celebrates the development of a new variety “Snow Mountain” from the current favorite, “Rain Princess.” I don’t know how long it took them to breed this new rice, but the artist tells us it took her two years to make the quilt!
•
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“In Memory of Father” by Yoshiko Kawakita
The bamboo, fireflies, demon masks and festival coats suggest this artist’s father lived in the countryside and loved the annual summer festival.
•
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“Auspicious Wrappers” by Toshiko Shimada
“Noshi monyō” are the papers wrapped around gifts given on auspicious occasions like weddings. The gold one in the middle of this magnificent quilt is a depiction of this traditional kimono motif.
•
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“Wisteria and Peonies Throw a Party” by Sadako Kagoshima
Wisteria and peonies bloom at nearly the same time in May, and are often used to signify “early summer” in paintings and Japanese poetry.
•
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“Roses and Clematises”by Harue Yumoto
Roses and clematis are definitely not Japanese, but this composition is! These two immigrant flowers also bloom at the same time, and are slowly being welcomed into the Japanese artistic pantheon as a symbol for summertime. That’s an obijime (the cord used to hold a kimono obi in place) entwined with the flowers.
•
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“Song of the Ground Cherries” by Kazuko Toshida
This fabulous thing is also a classic seasonal reference. The ground cherry (which I’ve seldom seen growing outside Japan) enjoys its own festival every summer, and the way its papery shell naturally disintegrates into a skeletal cage with the berry trapped inside is truly magical. I know this isn’t intended to be the post focusing on amazing technique (I’ll try to put Part Two up tomorrow) but I can’t resist pointing out that this masterpiece of appliqué is entirely hand-stitched.
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“Fireworks” by Makiko Mori
Fireworks are synonymous with summer in Japan, and before Valentine’s Day and Christmas Eve became the hottest date nights of the year (go figure), heading out to see the fireworks dressed up in brightly printed cotton kimono (like the fabrics used to piece this quilt) was the most romantic thing going.
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“Congratulations, I Want to Eat, I Want to Love” (Medetai, tabetai, koishitai) by Chizuko Kojima
A whole red snapper is the traditional good luck dish people feast on when celebrating milestones, and this small multi-media quilt captures the delight of that occasion perfectly. I had to laugh while admiring it, because all around me, Japanese visitors were saying the same thing I’ve overheard them say when viewing the fish at aquariums: “Oishisō!” (which means “that looks delicious”).
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“Voice” by Yoshiko Karagiri
I think this quilt is called “Voice” because the artist disagrees with the famous Japanese saying, “One crane’s voice is louder than a thousand sparrows.” I’d like to believe she’s quietly saying that the opinions of the common people ought to be stronger the pronouncements of the powerful.
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“Kimono Meet-Up” by Akiko Yoshinaga
And, last but not least, this jaw-dropper of a quilt made from 1500 individually hand-sewn and embroidered kimono ladies(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*). I returned to this quilt again and again to try and get a picture of the whole thing, but it was mobbed three-deep all day long. Nobody could resist patiently waiting to get close enough to examine all the different kimonos, to see for themselves that no two were alike.
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I know you’re dying for a close-up, so here it is!
Something I particularly love about this artist’s depiction of people meeting up to wear traditional dress is that she gave them many different colors of hair, not just black. As someone who belongs to a group of women all around the world who like to wear kimonos, it feels good to have a Japanese artist say, “Yes! Everyone is invited to this meet-up, no matter where you come from. Let’s each wear our unique kitsuke.”
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I’ve got lots more quilts to show you, but it will take me some time to crop the rest of the photos and translate the credits. I’ll put the rest up as soon as I can, but I wanted to show you a few right away, because if you’re anywhere near Tokyo, you have to go see this show!
It’s at Tokyo Dome through next Wednesday, January 30, 2018, from 9:30 – 18:00. Admission is ¥2100, and you can buy tickets at the booth outside the entrance.
Also, about the annoying shadows on some of the pieces – the one beef I had with this year’s show is that the lighting must have been done by monkeys with clothespins and flashlights. No matter how I adjusted the exposure, there wasn’t much I could do about the shadowy bottoms of the quilts without blasting the tops to never-never-land, so I’m sorry that some of the detail isn’t as clear, nor the colors as true, as we’d all like them to be.
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Jonelle Patrick doesn’t have a stitch of talent for making quilts, so she writes novels set in Tokyo instead
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I don’t know about you, but there’s nothing I like better than to discover a new mystery series. And it’s even better if they take me to a place I love. If you know anyone who’d like to spend more time in Japan…these
January 19, 2019
Lighting Up The Winter Night
Because I’m helplessly drawn to things that glow in the dark (gee, ya think?), I recently returned to two of my favorite lit-up-for-winter amusement parks, because I’d heard that they’d updated their gazillion-fairy-twinkle extravaganzas. (And you can check them out too, if you’re anywhere near Tokyo, until Valentines Day!)
SAGAMIKO “ILLUMILLIONS” THEME PARK
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This year there’s a much-improved “Deep Sea” quadrant
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I’d have been rooted to this spot for hours, surrounded on all sides by the field o’ color-changing beach balls, if it hadn’t been so freakin’ cold (Note: Bring gloves. And Russian cossack hat with ear flaps. And a bonsai’d polar bear parka lined with living polar bears.)
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A promenade of golden trees lines the path to…
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…the “cherry blossom” stage, where the trees cycle through a dance of seasons that turn them pink and white and gold
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From the top (as you freeze your meat flaps off) there’s a grand view of the beach balls again
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And on the other side of this tunnel…
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…is a “zoo” themed quadrant which is not so riveting, except for this peacock
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To be honest, like most of this park, these butterflies look a lot better in photos than in real life
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Blessedly out of the coriolis wind blowing straight from Antarctica, this indoor attraction is an entertainingly flashy stage set you can stand inside of, with a (how did you guess?) “diamond” theme
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From the top of the mountain (cold on the way up and even colder on the way back down) you can see the Paddington-themed play area for kids, lit up by “balloons” and featuring a baby roller coaster and lit-up play structures. I didn’t include any photos of the lights at the top of the hill, because they were so not worth the sub-arctic chair-lift-of-death to get there, I didn’t take any.
Fair warning: the Sagamiko “Illumillions” park is instabae heaven, but while it’s fun to walk around and look at all the lights, it does look better in pictures than in real life, and it’s HELLA COLD AT NIGHT because it’s on the side of a mountain out in the country.
This place is a bit of a trek from Tokyo (it takes about an hour by train from Shinjuku Station, then a short bus ride), but if you love whole hillsides carpeted with lights, Sagamiko is fun to see once. Tips & tricks for getting there are here.
Open:Until April 7, closed Wednesdays and Thursdays
Hours: 16:00 – 21:30 (last admission 30 minutes before closing time)
Admission: Adults ¥1000, Children ¥700, Pets ¥700
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YOMIURILAND
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Yomiuriland is my favorite light-up destination because they cover everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) with colored lights, and they employ reflecting pools to double the instabae experience
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Especially excellent is the long, twisting tunnel made completely of lights that pulse and ripple…
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…making you feel like you’re strolling through a galaxy of stars
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Not a single object remains unadorned with lights at this vast amusement park…
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…whether it’s the old-fashioned carousel…
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…a Matterhorn-ish mountain surrounded by mysterious polygons that occasionally flash…
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…an avenue of trees planted with color-shifting “flowers”…
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…or lawns and trees of every size and shape
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Resistance is futile
And I dare you to walk away mid-spurt during the dancing fountain shows. That wheel o’ vortex thing in the middle also becomes a shimmering screen of mist, onto which they project bubbles, snowflakes, (and, more mysteriously) herds of reindeer.
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And usually I scamper past concession stands like a tanuki on a hot tin roof, but how could I pass up this soda served in a lit-up lightbulb?
Getting to Yomiuriland takes a little time, but it’s worth it! The best public transportation option is to take the Keio Line to Yomiuriland Station, then either hike up and over the hill to the park (takes about 20 minutes, but it’s free) or hitch a ride on the gondola (which isn’t).
Open: Until February 17, every day except Jan 21-24
Hours: 16:00 – 22:00*
Admission: You can go see the illuminations with a special Night Entrance Fee that starts at 16:00 and includes a free pass for all the attractions: Adults(18-64) ¥1400; Middle and high school students ¥600; Children ¥300 (under 3 are free); Senior(65+) ¥600
*Check their English web page here for other prices and hours, because sometimes they’re open later
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Of course, some of the Tokyo Illuminations stay up until mid-February, and they’re free. Check their end dates and photos and maps here.
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Despite her frozen appendages, Jonelle Patrick still writes novels set in Tokyo
“A genuinely gripping crime thriller which wrong-foots and perplexes the reader throughout, drawing us in emotionally . . . Highly recommended.”
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When Detective Kenji Nakamura’s phone rings with the news that his mother’s death wasn’t an accident, his life begins to unravel…read more
January 13, 2019
Before There Was Uber Eats, There Was…
Sushi delivery vehicle, on the streets of Tokyo
…this.
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When not craving sushi delivery, Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Tokyo
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The #1 hostboy at Club Nova makes a handsome living, whispering sweet nothings in the ears of women who pay him a fortune for the privilege. But the party’s over when Tokyo Detective Kenji Nakamura is assigned to investigate the death of…read more
