Babachan's House Take Two!

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I bumped into Babachan yesterday and she invited me over for temaki dinner tonight! I can.not.believe the kindness of this family! She said she looks up at my light on at 12:30am and worries that I'm still up working! So sweet! Also - dinner at 6pm on a Saturday night! Soooo cute!

Babachan sent me home with an Ozeki bag full of kome!

I asked them about why they invited me over and how they knew I wasn't a crazy foreigner stranger, and they replied 'because you're always smiling'!

I've found my Japanese family!

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I have really, really missed Japanese home cooked meals lately. Also the setting with the fabric place mat and tissue box on the table! Ah, Japanese house dining!

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Dramatic Taste for 21 Century.

Nihonshu time!


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After dinner it's time for Nashi (pear) and Momo (peach).

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And, after everyone has enjoyed some Nihonshu and a bottle of Australian wine it's time to be silly with the little flag.

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Satomi-chan with the flag and the little Australian apron from Mama-sando's studio.


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Goodness, I can't believe I am so lucky to have been able to made friends with these incredibly kind people! Life has a funny way of working.

Love you, Japan! And love you my lovely new neighbour friends!

xoxo

Weekend

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It's not everyday you have a team of eight people from Japan's largest advertising agency, Dentsu, in your teeny Shimokita apartment! Seriously, the last time I had eight people in this tiny apartment was at a Christmas party in 2010! The poor Dentsu people had to sit on my bed. We shot a campaign for POSCA which will be released in October. As usual I hid all of my belongings in my bathroom. I can't wait to show you the link when it's live.

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After the shoot I headed to the Sophie et Chocolat exhibition opening at Gallery SPEAK FOR in Daikanyama. Those clever bunnies.

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Love this girl to bits! She is a fortune teller!

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I want this hair so bad!

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A nijikai at the tiniest live bar in Daikanyama.

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Missed-the-last-train ramen in Shibuya.

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The other day I said 'Konnichiwa' to my cute obaachan neighbour at the fumikiri and we exchanged phone numbers. And on Sunday she called and invited me over for tempura lunch! I feel soooo lucky to have these incredible experiences in Japan even though I'm a gaijin. LUCKY! I left with a bag of eel paste, rice and a pretty tin of tea! Amazing people!

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This is Babachan's sewing room! She sits on a tiny low stool to sew. So Japanese. Swoon!

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Babachan's house.

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Live by Satomi-chan. Was feeling super untalented by this point.

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View from Babachan's rooftop! Over lunch we convinced her to have a BBQ on this incredible rooftop.

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And on Sunday afternoon, I indulged in a few of my favourite things. Eating at my computer, miso with too much wakame and rice topped with gomashio.

Did you have a nice weekend? Tell me what you got up to.

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

mt School Shiogama!

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Sandwiches!

I have some pics of the mt school in Shiogama for you!

Ohhhhhh I LOVE mt so much! And it's a dream come true to work with them.


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Okay, so let's get started. First of all, is this not the cutest family you've ever seen? OMG! I want to be this girl! I took a photo together with the girls and including the odangos on the girl's t-shirts, all together we were a photo of six odangos! Now that's impressive!

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The first thing I saw when I walked up the stairs was this adorable 'SOLD OUT Sorry' drawing of me! Those clever mt people.

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You know, I still can't believe that my face is printed on a mt poster.
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Enter the shop and things start to get dangerous...So. Many. Tapes!

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Shiogama is in Tokohu where the 2011 tsunami hit, so this special Tohoku edition of tape was released.

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The shopping baskets, also amazingly cute!

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These photos were taken before the shop was open, and that was the only time you got to see this area without being surrounded by a frenzy of mt fans. These particular tapes are discontinued so for ¥500 (about $5 AUD) you could fill a pencil tin full of tapes! ヤバイ!

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The mt Shiogama event was held at Birdo Flugas. If you ever find yourself in Shiogama, you absolutely must visit.

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The adorable cuties I got to work with.

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As per all mt events, there was a free space where visitors can enjoy using the tapes. This time around visitors could make a little kokeshi doll. 

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Swoon.

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The Hello Sandwich workshops were sold out before I arrived. Yatta!

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This was the beautiful workshop space where I was given to host my workshops.

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Birdo Flugas' owner Aya-san prepared delicious coffee for me each morning. She has THE best ceramics and mugs. Everything in her kitchen was divine.

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Absolutely love these dotty mt windows. I am so tempted to do it at Hello Sandwich HQ.

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There were four Hello Sandwich workshops over the weekend, each with 15 participants. So wonderful to meet 60 new crafters.

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We each made little envelope file folders decorated with mt, Avril string and a little Martha Stewart Crafts punch clasp.

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At each mt school the teacher is asked to issue mt school membership certificates.

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These certificates are to be signed by the teacher. He he.

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mt jenga!

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Not too far from Birdo Flugas space was the Marine area with this brilliant blue and white mt installation.

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On the second floor was a sign pointing to the best location for photos.

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And so naturally I had to take one.

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Ah, what a lovely time that was! Thank you to everyone who came along. I'm absolutely in love with Tohoku and already planning my next trip back. Actually I was even imaging spending some time in Ishinomaki on a working residency or such...

Hope you enjoyed these pics, Sandwiches. And I hope you can come along to the next mt event!

And thank you so much Aya-san, Kawai-san and all of the team at Kamoi for this wonderful opportunity!

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

Shiogama

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Hello Sandwiches.

I'm just back from a trip to Shiogama in Tohoku for the Hello Sandwich mt school workshops (more photos on that to come).  After I finished my workshops it started raining heavily in this little Miyagi city. These are a collection of photos taken from under an umbrella on a little walk around Shiogama.

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Shiogama was hit by the tsunami so the town is now dotted with higher land signs.

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The font!

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Reminds me of my last trip to Kyoto.

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THIS vest shop installation! I adore.

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Beautifully aged retro hair salon poster.

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It's a beautiful and cool evening here in Tokyo tonight. 23 degrees. For the first time in months I haven't had to turn the air conditioner on and there is a lovely breeze flowing through my mini-me Shimokita apartment. I'm listening to Miyauchi Yuri mixed with the sound of cicadas and wind chimes coming from outside.

The trip to Tohoku was refreshing and inspiring in ways I couldn't have imagined. There are so many photos to sort through, lots of which are from a road trip to Ishinomaki. I was incredibly lucky to have met the most wonderful people, including an artist who moved to Ishinomaki after the tsunami hit and built his own creative studio in Ishinomaki city. He is currently working on a project documenting the changes in the community since the disaster. Meeting him made me rethink my current practice and want to move to Ishinomaki. I teared up a little as my shinkansen left Sendai. For the moment though, it has to be business as usual. Things are crazy busy working on my new book.

I can't wait to show you the pictures from the mt school! And photos from my road trip.

Love Love
Sandwich
xoxo