Jonelle Patrick's Blog, page 6

How to scare away trick or treaters forever, J-style

Next year only the bravest hooligans will dare ring your doorbell after giving away candy that looks like THIS 😱 😱 😱 • If you enjoy the strange tweaks Japan puts on Western holidays…

More Halloween costumes I would regret

I’m not sure what would possess anyone to dress like a chicken on Halloween, but this is apparently such a popular idea in Japan that there’s more than one take on this dubious costume. To deepen the mystery…those red and white striped socks. • If you enjoy exploring back streets and thinking about stuff thatContinue reading "More Halloween costumes I would regret"

Most baffling toilet sign yet

It’s no longer odd to see signs in heavy tourist areas begging people not to use a Western toilet like a squat toilet or exhorting clueless foreigners not to flush anything but toilet paper, but WHAT THE HECKIN’ HECK is that middle one in the bottom row? Slicing up sushi in this toilet stall nearContinue reading "Most baffling toilet sign yet"

Jazz Age kimonos to die for

If you’re in Tokyo right now, drop what you’re doing and hightail it to this kimono exhibit at the Yayoi-Yumiji Museum! There are two floors of fabulous 1920s-1950s kimono ensembles on display, each more swoon-worthy than the last. If this museum were a shop, I’d want to buy them ALL! The unifying theme of thisContinue reading "Jazz Age kimonos to die for"

Minoru Nomata: Paintings of an achingly lovely apocalypse

In this fabulous Minoru Nomata restrospective, the paintings in the very first room are already asking the questions that only grow more pointed and subtle over the course of his career… Building or landscape? Construction or destruction? Past or future? And then you look closer, and wonder why the only plants growing outside the oasisContinue reading "Minoru Nomata: Paintings of an achingly lovely apocalypse"

Please don’t pee on the artifact

It’s not unusual to find some small traditional remnant of the once-grand Japanese house that used to occupy insanely valuable land that’s now home to a multi-story Tokyo apartment building, but I was still delighted to see this lovely, artfully-gnarled bashira doorpost holding up a portico in the back streets near the Nezu Museum. NotContinue reading "Please don’t pee on the artifact"

All Smoking, All The Time

These days, most neighborhoods are slathered with signs like this, banning smoking just about everywhere—on the street, at the train station and inside all offices/restaurants*—but there are few militantly defiant hold-outs, like this coffee shop I discovered yesterday in Ginza: Welcome to the Ranzu, a step back in time to when men wore bowler hats,Continue reading "All Smoking, All The Time"

Roppongi Art Night Returns!

Originally conceived as art from all over the world that goes on all night long, Roppongi Art Night returned for the first time in four years with a small—but choice!—fanfare of art and performances. The show-stealer was the “White Wings” production by a troupe from the Netherlands, whose diva singer, fantasmagorical drum corps and dancersContinue reading "Roppongi Art Night Returns!"

Japan’s most iconic sweets, but make them Italian

What fresh hell is this international mash-up? The most iconic Japanese sweets stuffed with cherry tomatoes and basil? Next they’ll be trying to sell us tomato-basil flavored donuts… • If you could use more weird food combinations in your life… •

TeamLab’s magical rainbow acorn forest

The permanent TeamLab installation at Higashi-Tokorozawa’s Musashino Woods Park features the exact same mildly-interesting, mirrored, schmoo-shaped things they have at TeamLab Planets… …but at night they will Cinderella your socks off! These mirrored “acorns” glow from within, but also reflect the colors of the lit-up foliage around them. Here’s the same view a few secondsContinue reading "TeamLab’s magical rainbow acorn forest"