Yoyogi Koen Hanami 2016

Sandwiches!

Woah! The annual Yoyogi Koen hanami was yesterday.

People drank gold foil sake. My beastie brought me 'in line wine' delivery when I was in the never ending queue for the toilet. We snort laughed. We mixed ume wine with dark beer. And we saw box wine hanging in a tree.

"Do you have some tape in your bag Ebony?"

"You brought those Sandwiches, didn't you? I can tell because the packaging is cute"

"You're the always the most colourful person, Ebony. You're the most colourful person in Tokyo"

"I drank the pickle juice and I lost it for a bit"

I'll meet you at the orange balloon, okay?

I mean, those colours!

Wine box meets scooter meets ash tray meets chips meets tree.

Still life with scooter.
Mixed media.
Yoyogi koen, Tokyo.
2016

"I saw him take them off and I've never seen anyone ease out of Converse with such grace"

My beastie werkin dat Fujifilm.
Why you die?
Because he's so cute? Totally pragtig.
 

Some people bring a box for a table.

Then some people level up and bring two boxes for tables.

And then there's some people who just show off and pack a table cloth for their table.

I want to marry this dude.

I mean, look!

Ah, such a fun day!

Follow over at Hello Sandwich snapchat to see the videos!

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

Ohanami 2016

Sandwiches!

It's that time again! Sakura spam time!

It's so, so fleeting, and whyyyyyy do a million jobs always come in during Sakura season each year without fail.

Here are a few shots when I managed to sneak out to enjoy some blossoms.

It's become a yearly tradition for me to put some sakura blossoms in my odango, but this year I had to get creative with my scarf. I'm kinda digging it, though! Wouldn't it be cute to wear fresh flowers in your hair everyday? I once did a corsage making class and decided that I would wear fresh corsages as much as possible. Hmmm...that plan wasn't so successful.

The lovely peeps at The Little Drom Store gave me this tray on my last trip in Singapore. Look at the little blossom petals that have fallen on the tray! I like to bring these trays along to hanami so that people can rest their drinks on them.

The view from Hello Sandwich HQ is so pretty at the moment. And this tree isn't even in full bloom yet. I die!
 

I totes need a back basket for my mamachari.

Little sandwiches wrapped in furoshiki from The Souvenir Society and Zara Home.

Along the nature walk. I die!

Matt saved the day and brought along some batteries for my portable record player. He also packed his 45s collection, too.
 

Babachan, why you so cute!

Have you guys used this Fujifilm instax share? It's sooooooo good! So much fun! You can print Instax mini photos directly from your phone! I love taking a few shots at hanami and then giving to guests to take home as a little memory.

Baba-chan packed a photograph of Jiji-chan so he could also enjoy hanami this year. And we printed out a picture of Baba-chan and placed them together on our little table. Someone said "Look, they're on a date!". How adorable.
 

And it's a wrap! Look at this divine basket that my beastie gave my for my birthday. He found it in a little vintage store in Kichijoji. Only my beastie could pick out a basket perfect for Hello Sandwich.

Okay Sandwiches, I better be off now. After sitting at this iMac designing from 7am I'm now off to another hanami! I hope you're having a lovely hanami, or picnic time wherever you are.

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

Ohanami - How to Picnic!

 

Hello Sandwiches!

Ohanami party season is just a few days away here in Tokyo.

Here are some fun tips from my book 'Hello Tokyo' to help you prepare for the loveliest of picnics.

Pack your picnic essentials in a retro picnic basket.

For this picnic I designed a custom label for some cava and used tape glue to attach it on top of the regular label.

If I can, I like to secure a location in a park close to a tree so I can attach some pretty bunting. Unfortunately many parks in Tokyo don't love you attaching things to trees, so be sure to check this first. I'm sure it would be fine in Australia, though! Once I got around this by attaching some bunting from my bike to the basket.

Pack an assortment of coloured picnic rugs and 'leisure sheets', as they like to call them here in Japan.  My beastie David, (pictured above) always brings me back a plastic floral table cloth each time he travels to South Africa. These ALWAYS come along on hanami picnics. Love you, beastie.

Bring along some sturdy trays or baskets to sit food and drinks on at your cute picnic. Bonus points for a little table!

Food artist Bisaiji-san made all of this incredible food seen above!

I love the line up of shoes along leisure sheets at hanami parties.
 

How can you not die for him?

Pack some fun games for picnic guests to enjoy.

Onigiri are a fantastic ohanami and picnic snack. They're pretty, delicious, healthy and easy to snack on.

Add some embellishments to your straws so guests will know which drink is theirs.

 

If you have some park-friendly musical instruments or a portable record player, be sure to bring them along!

You can check out some of my favourite ohanami parties from previous years over here and here.

Happy weekend, Sandwiches!

Photography in this post is by the amazing BOCO-chan for 'Hello Tokyo'.

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

IF YOU LOVEd reading THIS, THEN YOU'LL ALSO LOVE ...

Lithuanian Cottages

 

Sandwiches!

The incredible volunteer team from NOW JAPAN festival took me to Trakai, a quaint little town just out of Vilnius, Lithuania so I could explore and photograph these adorable little cottages!

 

Absolutely stunning.

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

IF YOU LOVED READING THIS, THEN YOU'LL ALSO LOVE...

Amsterdam Airbnb

 
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You guys!

This is the cute Airbnb I stayed at in Amsterdam late last year. Do you die? I die!

Click over here to see more. 

My trip to Lithuania came about all of a sudden so I had to book accommodation for my little side trip to Amsterdam at rather short notice. How on earth I got so lucky to find this gem, I have no idea.

I've put my review down at the bottom of this post, but here are a few shots of the studio apartment.

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O. M. G. Do you know what it was like going into a Western supermarket and stocking up on Western goodies. BLUE CHEESE guys!!! And DIPS!!! Dips, yo! And the best packaging!

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So many pretty colours. Making my lunch, with all of these incredible ingredients, gah, I could have stayed forever. The thought did cross my mind.

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Nienke left this adorbs card and a stack of Stroopwafles. OMG, how did I not know about Stroopwafles already?

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"It's me, Skinny Orange"

And, yes, of course I bought Dubbelvla just for that packaging. But as my friend Bjorn suggested, it was in fact, delicious.

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My apartment looked out over this rooftop, which I could also walk out onto. SHUT UP, right?

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Bedside details. It was always 10 o'clock, though. Hah.

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I woke up to the most incredible sunlight every morning.

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And then I would make drip coffee and pour my well-designed-milk-packaging-milk into my coffee.

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I'd listen to tunes on this cute retro radio.

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I'd light a candle, pour a glass of wine and bathe in this gigantic brand new spa bath whilst reading monocle.

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This is the view from the bathroom. Ridic, right?

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If you're looking for a little European getaway I can't recommend this apartment enough.

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Here is my Airbnb review:

Oh my goodness this place was sooooo hard to say goodbye to. If you're coming to Amsterdam I INSIST you stay here.

The studio is AMAZING! Ridiculously clean, beautifully sunny, impeccably styled and furnished, and stocked with the best essentials. The daylight that pours into this amazing top floor apartment will fill you with joy every day. It was hard to leave the apartment and explore Amsterdam. I just wanted to sit in the cute apartment, drink coffee, look out the window and listen to the cute retro radio.

The entire apartment is recently renovated so in perfect condition, and the bathroom is just WOW. Enjoy taking a soak in the giant tub while looking out over the park.

Upon arrival I was met by the sweetest Jordy who carried my gigantic suitcase up the stairs for me. We stood chatting for a while and he showed me all of the essentials such as how to operate a Dutch washing machine! He reminded me of my best friend and I felt instantly at home. Nienke and I emailed almost every day while I was there. Incredible communication! I would ask for an iron and it would instantly appear on my stairs! Or I would do a load of washing and Jordy would bring up a clothes drying rack for me. They were both so friendly that we ended up meeting for glasses of wine and Nienke even invited me down for drinks with her friends. For me it was perfect. So homey!

I fell in love with all of the cute plates and cups that Nienke had stocked the cupboards with and spent half of my morning instagramming shots from the apartment. As I was leaving Nienke offered to give me some of the plates! She is just the sweetest ever. Upon arrival there was a stash of Stroopwaffles for me. OMG. They were gone in a flash. And a beautiful handwritten vintage postcard. When it was time to say goodbye to Nienke I think we must have hugged about eight times. Haha.

It's super easy to get to the center of town from here either by walking, tram or rental bike. But, trust me, this place is so cute you won't want to leave. The perfect place to stay in Amsterdam and I will definitely be back.

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

 

Lithuania

 
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Sandwiches!!!

Hello Sandwiches!

Happy New Year! 2016! It's our year!

Are you having a nice break? I can not tell you how nice it is to be able to sit down and listen to this as I post some pictures from late 2015.

It all happened ridiculously fast, but at the start of October 2015, I was flown to Lithuania by Now Japan to give two presentations about life in Japan. Those of you who follow my instagram would know about this already, but being 1/2 Lithuanian and 1/2 Australian, I was invited to fly to Vilnius for an all-expenses-paid trip to the motherland.

After my father passed away in 2013 I don't have any family connections with Lithuania anymore. In fact, my last trip there was in 1998 with my Dad. So, as you can imagine, this trip was important and emotional. I was incredibly lucky to be selected to take part in this conference. Revisiting Lithuania with this group was honestly the best possible way to revisit!

The Now Japan festival had a team of 70 volunteers who helped us 'guests' with anything. From picking me up at the hotel, driving me around, showing me local cafes, and on my last day in Vilnius they even drove me to the countryside so I could take photos of cute little colourful huts! I can not possibly tell you just how amazing it was to revisit the motherland with the help of these wonderful volunteers. I made friends with the cutest girl, Dovile, who is a few years younger than me, and as we walked the pebbly roads of old Vilnius, she told me stories of how she recalls her life when Lithuania became independent. It could have just as easily been my life, I thought.

I have so many photos to show you, but to start with, let me show you just a few.

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Transferring in Amsterdam.

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View from my hotel in Lithuania.

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Old Soviet style decor in my Lithuanian hotel.

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Lithuanian hotel breakfast. Eggs in baskets, a million cold meats and cheeses AND BROWN BREAD!!! Sooooooo rare in my Tokyo supermarkets. AND herrings. My grandmother used to cut cucumber like this. I almost cried when I saw this hotel breakfast set up.

Lithuanian hotel breakfast. Eggs in baskets, a million cold meats and cheeses, brown bread!!! (BROWWWWWNNN BREAD, GUYS! Sooo rare in my Tokyo supermarkets) and herrings! My grandmother used to cut cucumber like this - See more at: http://iconosquare.com/viewer.php#/detail/1081668563994433494_3481556

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Guys, do you die for these cuties? On my first morning in Lithiania I was whisked over for a TV interview at Body Talk studio.

These girls had the cutest studio and were ridiculously sweet and creative. Can you imagine being flown from Tokyo and within hours of landing in Lithuania, being taken to the coolest place in town? I felt soooooooo incredibly lucky! I was pinching myself in the bathroom as I retouched my MAC Lady Danger lipstick ready for the film crew. How did I end up here? Life can be weird and wonderful.

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After my first TV interview it was time to explore Vilnius on foot with the team.

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Dovile colour matching in Vilnius.

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Ridiculously pretty!

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I met THE BEST people!

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We sat riverside and I ate zeppelini, which I hadn't eaten since Mr Y and I ordered it at the Lithianian Club in Bankstown, Australia. Ahhhhhh, so amazing.

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THIS is the grand stage that I presented at during the conference!

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As soon as I got a break from the interviews and presentations I snuck out to take photos. This is one of my favourite shots taken from the tower down the road from my hotel. Such incredible colours.

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It's hard to take a bad shot in Lithuania.

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I have so many other shots I want to show you from the Lithuania trip, and then I popped over to Amsterdam and have so much to tell you about that trip, too!

Stay tuned, Sandwiches, and a very happy 2016 to you!

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo