Shinjuku

After visiting the Ghibli Museum, we decided to go to Shinjuku.

According to Lonely Planet, it is the place to go to to experience modern Japan in all it's screaming neon glory. And they were right. Coming out of the station, even with the grey sky and slight drizzle, the neon lights and mass of humanity give the place a buzz.

I had a hard time concentrating since my eyes were constantly drawn up to the large electonic screens and beautifully presented window displays as well as to the very chic-ly dressed people I was meeting on the street. I managed to take some pictures, taken from the back most of the time as I didn't have enough courage to ask them to pose for me. Had it been the Sartorialist, he probably wouldn't have had any qualms taking their photos. sigh.

But it was great. Ginza just didn't compare to Shinjuku and I was actually expecting to see more well-dressed people in Ginza. I did see a lot of kimono-clad ladies in Ginza so that was another visual feast.

Photos to be uploaded later.

Ta-ta!

In Japan

Hullo,hullo

Day 2 in Japan. Have not been able to update since was too tired yesterday. Arrived yesterday and was so beat. Managed to go around Ueno, where we are staying right now, while waiting for the room to be ready. Will write about it more later.

Today we went to Kamakura, kinda similar to Kyoto according to one description. Would not really know since have not been to Kyoto. In case you guys are wondering why I am spelling it out everything, it is because the keyboard here is on an international mode, meaning, it has Japanese, Chinese and English characters but the apostrophe key seem to be missing. Anyway, lots of temples in Kamakura but could only go to 2 major ones and 3 minor shrines. Will upload the photos later.

Food is not that expensive since we eat at relatively cheapy but good eats places. We tried Yoshinoya, a popular fast food, and Suki-ya which from what I understand specializes in beef. I even started liking miso again. There are a lot of Western style restaurants but we didn't really want to eat there since we could have them back in Melbourne. Lots of sweet shops here too. I bough mochi, sticky rice thingies, at the the Giant Buddha temple. They even have them, the mochis, similar to bochi from what I can tell, in the shapes of the buddha. hehehe

That's all for now.

Tomorrow, we will probably go to Akihebara, the electronics city, since we want to see other things aside from temples and shrines.

Nyt, nyt.

Still Packing

Sorry for the long silence. I was just busy (reading manga) preparing the itenerary for tomorrow's trip (wohoooo)and as the title states, I still haven't finished packing (because I've been sitting infront of my laptop watching manga online for hours on end).

One goal I have for this trip is to get inspired. By the culture, by the lifestyle, by the temples, by everything!(maybe not by the cold)

I'll be taking lots of pix and will upload them in my multiply account. =)

Cheerio for now!

New Task

Bought 3 metres of cotton fabric yesterday. I'm going to try to sew a shirt, the shirt I did for class but with a bit of variation. I'm going to shorten the sleeves to 3/4.

I'm also thinking of turning the 2 (or less) metre of silk fabric I bought last year into a long skirt. Dunno how I'll go with that.

Will update on how I go. I'm still waiting for them to dry since they have to be we washed prior to being sewn to avoid shrinkage of the final product.

UPDATE: I've ironed the fabrics and have cut the cotton fabric using my school patterns. Now, I understand all those red marks and notes on my patterns and why my notch placements were wrong. Not to mention, those pesky 3 mm differences. Whohoo, I really did learn something from school. hahaha

2nd UPDATE: I've finished hand sewing the shoulder seams, the princess lines, and the back yoke. Unbelievable! I didn't think I'd have the patience to hand sew not to mention to make my stitches small! I had to make another adjustment to the neck since I forgot to add some allowance when I decided to turn the button down shirt pattern to a closed one. I'll be attaching the fusings later.