Jonelle Patrick's Blog, page 32

Why I’d Totally Follow This Guy’s Instagram If He Hadn’t Died In 1889

Kawanabe Kyosai. He’d have had the best instagram ever.

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Because Goth WAY before Goth

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Because FART BATTLES

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(Excuse me, can we just zoom in on that action for a moment?)

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Because elephant shenanigans

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Because before magical folkloric foxes can turn themselves into alluring women bent on tempting silly humans to their doom, they have to PRACTICE TRANSFORMING

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Because even spooks have to go to school

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Because in the endless battle between cats and carp, sometimes the fish sets a watery trap, and sometimes the cats get together and torment the drunken carp with tweezers, yes, TWEEZERS

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Because even crows have their bitchy days

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Because who WOULDN’T want to see an endless stream of drawings from a guy who draws smoking cats lying on carp boats being pulled by kittens?

Of course, these are just a small appetizer – the show is HUGE, and so full of great stuff, it took me over an hour to see it all. If you’re in Tokyo before “This is Kyosai: The Israel Goldman Collection” ends on April 16, 2017, GO. It’s at the Bunkamura in Shibuya, costs ¥1400 to get in, and subject me to an hour in the room with the winner of the fart battle if it’s not worth every yen. Here’s the link. All these images were shot from the show’s catalog, which is also worth every yen.

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Jonelle Patrick writes mysteries set in Tokyo. Her  fourth book –  Painted Doll  – is just out in paperback 

Watch the one-minute trailer (1:04)

Shiba Inu Rice Balls

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I don’t usually crave a quarter pounder of rice and seaweed in the middle of my day, but if I knew one of these was in my brown bag, I’d be counting the minutes ’til lunch.

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It goes without saying that I squeeed all over this the minute I saw it, then I bought the whole rack. (Which was, actually, just this one, because a rabid pack of shiba shoppers had obviously coursed through Tokyu Hands before me.)

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Unlike the DIY plastic beer and the diabolically difficult bunny pop, these instructions look plug ‘n play enough that even I should be able to turn a wad of white rice and a sheet of seaweed into an adorbs shibface

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The only problem might be that they’re too cute to eat

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Jonelle Patrick writes mysteries set in Tokyo.  Nightshade  is the first one…

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A young woman is found dead in an abandoned car, with a pair of strangers old enough to be her parents. Their suicide note apologizes for a disaster that hasn’t yet happened. And someone is stalking the…Read more

Where To Take The Best Cherry Blossom Photos In Tokyo

You know how those “Top Places To See Cherry Blossoms In Tokyo” websites always tell you to go to Ueno Park? Well, this is how Ueno Park actually looks during cherry blossom season:

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I mean, the places on those lists might be nice for seeing cherry blossoms, but a lot of them aren’t so great for taking pictures. If you want photos that look more like THIS…

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…here’s where you should go (and when!):

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Death By Food Stylist

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Is it just me, or does this omelet kind of look like it was on the losing side at the Battle of Sekigahara?

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Jonelle Patrick writes mysteries set in Tokyo. Her  fourth book –  Painted Doll  – is just out in paperback 

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When Tokyo Detective Kenji Nakamura’s phone rings with the news that his mother’s death ten years ago wasn’t an accident, his world begins to unravel. New evidence links her to…read more

Tamao Shigemune: Modern Kimono To Die For

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Paris model photos all by the ultra-talented Tsubomi Photo Studio

So you think you can’t rock a kimono because you’re not Japanese? Think again! Tamao Shigemune designs modern versions of traditional Japanese women’s wear with a distinctly Parisian twist, and guess what? You can see them (and try her new summer collection on!) right now in Tokyo, through Sunday March 26th.

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The first thing I thought when I saw photos of Shigemune’s summer collection plus Zaaka Vincent‘s whimsical accessories was “haute couture” not “oh, look – foreigners dressed in Japanese costumes.”

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Even a visitor having a deathly hair malfunction feels elegant when being dressed in fab kimono like this. And check out the obi: it’s designed so that the second wrap is narrower than the first, so the contrasting fabric peeks out above it!

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The entry gives you a little taste of what’s to come, including a few of Shigemune’s eyepopping obis, metal-spiked pineapple pins and a hamburger hat

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The summer collection of kimonos is a mix of bold geometrics and beautifully rendered birds…

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…and they mix & match with new obi designs that are backed with fun contrast materials, which wink at you from inside the obi bow when it’s tied

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She was showing a really large assortment of obis – each more wantworthy than the last – plus two cute x 1000 purses

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I was totally You can see why I was tempted to say “I’ll take one in every color” when it came to the accessories too

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See the supercute dotted obiage peering out from atop Shigemune-san’s moon obi?

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Naturally, your zori have to up their game to run with the big dogs, which is whye shiny red and polka-dotted footwear were invented

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And THESE. Don’t you think we all need a pair of these? Because what else are we going to wear with our tiaras JUST SAYIN

Tamao Shigemune will be showing her collection at that Gallery Triplet on the 4th floor of Minami Aoyama 3-8-2 from 12:00 til 19:00, every day through Sunday, March 26, 2017. Here’s a link to the Tamao Shigemune web shop in case you want to feast your eyes on the lovelies but can’t make it to the show (and, uh, you’ll probably kill me for telling you this, but she ships internationally!)

If you ARE in Tokyo and want to try them on in person, here’s a Google map link to the Gallery Triplet. It’s a little hard to find – the ground floor of the building is a restaurant, and you have to go down the narrow and unpromising-looking alley to the left to find the elevator, which you can’t see from the alleay. It’s hidden at the end, to the right.

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Jonelle Patrick writes mysteries set in Tokyo. Her  fourth book –  Painted Doll  – is just out in paperback 

“A genuinely gripping crime thriller which wrong-foots and perplexes the reader throughout, drawing us in emotionally . . . Highly recommended.” –Raven Crime Reads*

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When Tokyo Detective Kenji Nakamura’s phone rings with the news that his mother’s death ten years ago wasn’t an accident, his world begins to unravel. New evidence links her to…read more

What’s Blooming In Japan Right Now?

So, around this time of year, I get to thinking about how everybody is about to crowd into Japan to see the fluffy pink things, but that cherry blossom season is far from the only time that this place delivers yowzah-level flower extravaganzas.

So I made a thing. Here’s what’s blooming when, and the best places to take photos that will have your friends turning green, pink and purple with envy. (If you click on the links, you’ll be taken to a page that not only shows you lots of pictures of each place, but also maps, so you can find them.) And if you aren’t planning to come to Japan soon, click on the links anyway, just to feast your eyes. I bet Japan will move up your travel list BIGTIME.

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JANUARY

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The very first of the plum trees start blooming, and the best place to see the earliest of them is at Koraku-en Garden.

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FEBRUARY

Plum trees explode in all their glory for the entire month, and there are quite a few gardens and shrines where you can see whole groves of them in bloom. Like this:

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Here’s where to see the best plum blossoms in Tokyo.

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MARCH

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First off, go see the quince. There’s an amazing patch of bushes at Shinjuku Gyou-en Garden. Japanese quince flowers are unusual, because they start out pink then turn to white over the next few days, so there are both pink and white flowers blooming on the plant at the same time.

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Then – near the end of the month, predicted breathlessly and in excruciating detail every year – the most famous season begins. The first wave of cherry blossoms is the clouds-of-pink, single flower variety.

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Here’s where to see the best cherry blossoms in Tokyo.

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And here are the best places to see cherry blossoms lit up at night.

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If you don’t love crowds, here are the best secret cherry blossom spots in Tokyo.

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APRIL

After the first wave of single-flower cherry trees, the late-blooming varieties kick in. These are the double-flower, “hanging basket” style cherry blossoms.

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Here’s where to see the best late-blooming cherry trees in Tokyo

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And then there are the peonies. Acres and acres of almost-too-perfect-to-be-real fluffballs, as big as dinner plates.

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Here’s where to see the best peony gardens in Tokyo.

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Next come azaleas. I think I can safely say that you’ve never seen azalea extravaganzas quite like the ones in Japan. I don’t know how they get whole bushes to bloom at the same time, but go gardeners.

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Here’s where to see the best azalea explosions in Tokyo.

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And you’ve probably never heard of a plant called shibazakura (often translated as “ground cherries” even though they are not the least bit cherry-like) but there’s a place near Tokyo where they paint entire hillsides with them in the month of April. Here’s what one little corner of the place looks like:

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This is the place to see shibazakura.

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Next up: wisteria. So much violet goodness, you’ll swoon.

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Yes, this is one plant. You can see this monster wisteria at the Ashikaga Flower Park near Tokyo, but you can also ogle amazing displays right in the city at the Kameido Tenjin Shrine.

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MAY

Near the end of the month, whole fields of iris burst into bloom.

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Here’s where to see the best iris extravaganzas in Tokyo.

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JUNE

If you think of hydrangeas as those boring white puffballs growing by grandma’s porch, think again. Japan’s hydrangea gardens are an over-the-top fluffbomb explosion, with varieties you’ve never seen before.

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Here’s where to see amazing hydrangea gardens in Tokyo.

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JULY

July is sacred lotus season, and the vast pond of them in Ueno Park does not disappoint.

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The best lotus bloom in the Shinobazu Pond in Ueno Park, next to the Kiyomizu Kannon-do Temple.

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AUGUST

Weirdly, there are no flower extravaganzas in the doggiest days of summer, but it’s a great time to visit the greenest of the Japanese gardens.

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Here’s where to stroll in the most serene green gardens in Tokyo. (My favorites for August are Koraku-en, Rikugi-en, Kiyomizu Koraku-en, and Shinjuku Gyou-en.)

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SEPTEMBER

Near the end of the month, a whole flurry of little-known but wow-inducing flowers start blooming. First: cosmos. Individually they aren’t that spectacular, but planted in vast fields they are amazing. First, the orange ones.

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Then, the pink and purple ones.

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And finally, the yellow and white ones.

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Here’s where to see big fields of cosmos in Tokyo.

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Next – for just a few days around the autumnal equinox on September 21 – a native variety of amaryllis called higanbana bursts into a carpet of red in the forest near Koma Station.

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Here’s where to see the enchanted forest of higanbana near Tokyo.

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And finally, there’s a native flower called bush clover that is beloved of haiku poets as a sign of fall, but it’s pretty unassuming…until you plant a whole tunnel of it.

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Here’s where you can walk through a long tunnel of blooming bush clover.

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OCTOBER

Okay, I know autumn leaves aren’t exactly flowers, but I think you’ll be happy to know where to see the best ones in Tokyo, once fall rolls around. The Japanese maples start turning color in the parks on the outskirts of Tokyo at the very tail end of October, and continue through November.

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Here’s where to see the most spectacular autumn leaves in Tokyo.

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NOVEMBER

The last – but arguably the most amazing – flower extravaganza of the year is the chrysanthemum competitions that happen every November. Shrines vie with each other for the most perfectly trained specimens, some even bonsai-ed into samurai made of living flowers.

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Here’s where to see the most jaw-dropping chrysanthemum displays in Tokyo.

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Japanese maples continue to be spectacularly red during November, but at the end of the month they’re joined by towering gold gingko trees.

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Here’s where to see the best gingko promenades and tunnels in Tokyo.

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The gingkos continue to blaze into the first week of December, but naturally flowers become scarce as Tokyo slides into winter. As a bonus amid the gloomy months, though, there are…illuminations! If you love holiday lights, get thee to Tokyo in the month of December! Every year they get better.

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Here’s where to see the best winter illuminations in Tokyo.

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Jonelle Patrick writes mysteries set in Tokyo. Her  fourth book –  Painted Doll  – is just out in paperback 

“A genuinely gripping crime thriller which wrong-foots and perplexes the reader throughout, drawing us in emotionally . . . Highly recommended.” –Raven Crime Reads

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When Tokyo Detective Kenji Nakamura’s phone rings with the news that his mother’s death ten years ago wasn’t an accident, his world begins to unravel. New evidence links her to…read more

In Which We Encounter Japanese Engineering At It’s Finest

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Teamwork • Precision • Duct Tape

It’s always reassuring to know that the Tokyo subways are state-of-the-art.

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Jonelle Patrick writes mysteries set in Tokyo. Her  fourth book –  Painted Doll  – is just out in paperback 

Watch the one-minute trailer (1:04)

Lost In A Forest Of Blooming Plum Trees

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This is just the entry forest

Yesterday I got to stumble around doing a 360˚ gawk in a forest of plum trees wearing all their favorite clothes at once.

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Everywhere you look, tunnels and tunnels of plum goodness

Kairakuen Garden in Mito was planted by a genius of a daimyo who totally got that too much of a good thing is never enough. 2,490 fluffy-branched trees later, I think I can safely say that this is the plum blossom extravaganza to end all plum blossom extravaganzas….

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And as the sun goes down…

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…the lights go up!

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Jonelle Patrick writes mysteries set in Tokyo. Her  fourth book –  Painted Doll  – is just out in paperback 

“A genuinely gripping crime thriller which wrong-foots and perplexes the reader throughout, drawing us in emotionally . . . Highly recommended.” –Raven Crime Reads

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When Tokyo Detective Kenji Nakamura’s phone rings with the news that his mother’s death ten years ago wasn’t an accident, his world begins to unravel. New evidence links her to…read more

Girls’ Day Dolls…On Steroids

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There’s a little town about two hours from Tokyo called Katsuura, where one a year, dolls rule. 12,000 of them, to be exact.

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Just for comparison, this is about the most extravagant Girls’ Day display I’d seen before going to Katsuura. Most families just put out the emperor and empress, but the ones who are willing to lay out the really big bucks collect the whole set: three ladies in waiting, five musicians, two hoity-toity ministers, three drunken uncles and a bunch of furniture and occasionally, livestock

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The most famous display is at the local shrine, where the dolls are set out every morning and put away every night by an army of volunteers

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But it’s not the only doll extravaganza in town – the other shrines and temples put out crazy numbers of them too, and because the town is small, you can just walk around and see them all

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There’s even a gym with the biggest doll cheering section ever

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And it’s not just the boggling number of dolls that thrill – there are some really gorgeous examples wearing 12-layer court dress kimonos, so you can get a sense of the fashions that rocked the Heian world.

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There are really old dolls on display too – these are Meiji Era Beauties

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And how do you one-up the neighbors when you’ve already shelled out for the creme de la creme of dolls? Why, build them a palace, of course!

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As you walk around town, pretty much every business has a doll-themed display outside…

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…and some are not exactly traditional

So, how did Katsuura get so many dolls? The truth is, pretty much every Japanese girlbaby is given a set on her first New Year’s, but if you run out of girls to hand them down to, they’re really hard to throw away!

It’s not just because they’re hella expensive – these dolls actually have to be cremated. Yes, because they’re invested with the power of Shinto gods, they fall into the category of sacred garbage. Which means you can’t just bundle them into a plastic bag and kick them to the curb on burnable trash day, you have to pay priests at a shrine for a doll funeral. (Nevermind the shoot-me-now horror of throwing away dolls and beloved stuffed animals – admit it, you have a scruffy collection in a box in the closet too!)

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Jonelle Patrick writes mysteries set in Tokyo. Her  fourth book –  Painted Doll  – is just out in paperback 

“A genuinely gripping crime thriller which wrong-foots and perplexes the reader throughout, drawing us in emotionally . . . Highly recommended.” –Raven Crime Reads

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When Tokyo Detective Kenji Nakamura’s phone rings with the news that his mother’s death ten years ago wasn’t an accident, his world begins to unravel. New evidence links her to…read more

 

Rose Foam Beauty Whip!

I scoured the drugstores at obscure Tokyo subway stops so you don’t have to. This face wash disappears off the shelves as fast as it’s put out, because who WOULDN’T want to wash their face ten times a day when the foam comes out shaped like a rose? (Hey, I know you made extra-long blue poops with your Play Doh Fun Factory too ADMIT IT)

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This is what Evita Beauty Whip Soap looks like on the shelf, if you’re lucky enough to find some. It’s sold in the Kanebo section of ordinary shopping street drugstores, not in fancy depaato. It also smells like a rose (some might say it rather AGGRESSIVELY smells like a rose), just to warn you

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Jonelle Patrick writes mysteries set in Tokyo. Her  fourth book –  Painted Doll  – is just out in paperback 

“A genuinely gripping crime thriller which wrong-foots and perplexes the reader throughout, drawing us in emotionally . . . Highly recommended.” –Raven Crime Reads*

Watch the trailer (1:04)