I visited a gallery near Akihabara the other day and thought I might pop on over to Ueno koen to see the sakura while I was in the area. Wow, I'm so glad I did. That pink tree was breathtakingly beautiful.
I walked around for a little while stopping to take photos, and then ate an onigiri and combini sandwich on side path ledge. Sometimes it's nice and relaxing to have a mini picnic by yourself in the park isn't it.
I can't tell you how much I love bike riding along Kandawaga, especially when the Sakura are in full bloom. Today's ride to Inokashira Koen was breathtaking.
Cruising along with this view for about an hours ride was such a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
The Sakura were in full bloom today so finding space to place your leisure sheets can be a little tricky.
Sandwiches, there will be no more above ground Odakyu-sen trains at Shimokitazawa station ever again. It's so sad. The Odakyu-sen at Shimokitazawa went underground from today. They are calling it 'Shimo-chika'. ('Chika' means basement.)
We went and watched the last train pull into Shimokitazawa station at 1:03am this morning and recorded it in this little video below. This video even made me cry - and I made it! The music in the video is by the incredible Priscilla Ahn (if you have headphones please plug them in before watching this little movie).
I'll cherish the memories of the fumikiri and above ground Odakyu-sen trains at Shimokitazawa.
If you have any interest, you can see more videos of the final train on the Shimo-chika facebook page.
I just finished making this obento furoshiki using the Martha Stewart adhesive stencils. Perfect for taking to hanami picnics!
I will be hosting a workshop where you can make your own obento
furoshiki like this at the Japan Hobby Show next month! I hope you can
come along! Remember last years?
Happy Hanami Sandwiches!
I'm trying to get all of my work done super fast so I can ride my bike to Yoyogi koen and take photos of the cherry blossoms! がんばります〜！
I just started a new job helping to promote Martha Stewart Crafts in Japan! I will be demonstrating how Martha Stewart Products (such as the gorgeous punches) can be used to create beautiful crafts. For instance last week my company couriered me two giant boxes of
Martha Stewart Crafts products and I had to make cute and fun crafts
using these items. It's a hard life ;)
I'll be hosting workshops and demonstrations here in Tokyo (and maybe in some of my companies other 23 stores Japan wide, too) and making various promotional materials using Martha Stewart Crafts. We will soon be setting up a blog where I'll be posting some tutorials and such so I will be sure to tell you the url once it's live. In the time being, you might like to visit our facebook page.
The role is very flexible so there is still lots of time for other fun Hello Sandwich projects! yay!
And off we went. The tour started from Higashikitazawa station which is about three minutes walk from my apartment.
We stopped at each fumikiri and Kimura-san gave a history of each fumikiri.
Times like this I can't believe I live in Japan. I kept thinking to myself...OMG I live in Japan. I. am. on. a. community. walking. tour. where. everyone. is. speaking. Japanese.
I've been here for almost three years but sometimes it still hasn't sunk in. When I was working at VOGUE Living designing away at my Alexandria desk I doubt I could have imagined I'd soon be spending my Saturdays on a community walking tour.
Translates roughly as 'Please wait a moment'. I'll miss this!
I wonder just how long I've spent standing with my groceries watching these signs to see which way the train is coming (and how long we have to wait) at the fumikiri.
The fumikiri just a few minutes from my house.
Kimura-san used photocopies to show us what each fumikiri used to look like. Seriously, I felt so special to be involved in this community walk. It cost ¥300 and was so informative complete with maps and information booklets.
I'll miss lovely smiles like this bowing and helping everyone cross the fumikiri.
It's a bit of a popular photo taking hot spot at the moment as from next week these train tracks will be stopped forever.
Our walking tour group! Actually the guy in the purple wasn't on our tour - he just turned up and took some photos for us and then we asked him to be in our photo. Kind of hilarious.
I often take the Odakyu-sen train from Higashikitazawa station towards Shinjuku. In between Yoyogi Uehara and Yoyogi Hachiman is one of my favourite views in Tokyo. Without fail, I always keep my eyes peeled to the window watching over the grey residential buildings. It's a pretty ordinary view of Tokyo I think but for me, it's always so beautiful.
The above image was taken by Maimaiki on instagram (ありがとうまいまいきさん！）and shows a photo-crazed group of passengers at the Shibuya Toyoko-sen ticket gates. Everyone making memories of the last above ground Toyoko-sen train before it closed and went underground yesterday. Times are really changing here in Tokyo.
Okay, so that's my train post over. Anyone visiting Hello Sandwich for the first time might be surprised - ha ha I don't usually post train tracks! But this one is close to my heart.
