Hello everyone! What a glorious few days it has been.
Monday was spent looking around Nippori Fabric Street, which included a rather strange store called Tomato, where my mother spent some time and money on Traditional Japanese fabrics. I think it was time well spent, though I will always curse the Japanese for having such tiny feet for I found the most GORGEOUS shoes; thin-styled school shoes in a red tartan fabric. I was completely heartbroken when I was told that they only came in one size, and that it was 3 sizes below my own.
Allow me a moment to reflect on my loss and console myself... There, all done.
While shopping for fabric in this crafty little suburb we ran into some fellow Australians, who promptly told us about the Tokyo International Quilt Show that is going on at the Tokyo Dome until Friday. Naturally my mother had to go and I got some good footage and photos from it, so they are going on the edited version of my vlog once I get home to Australia and am able to perform such media surgery.
Anyway, after this we went and took the trains (which I navigated myself dear readers, aren't you proud?) and waited at Shin-Matsudo station for Noriko, the assistant teacher of Japanese last year at my school.
We all got there early of course, so we all headed off early as well.
(May I devulge for a moment to point out that everyone wears boots or high-heels here? No, I'm serious.)
Anyway, we all headed off to Matsudo Station and walked around there for a bit before Noriko got a call from her mother who insisted that we go to her house for coffee and then out for tea. We all agreed, naturally, and then kept looking around. Nori took us to the second hand clothing shop that her friend's mother runs and we found some rather nice things there. I got a jumper. It's very warm.
So, back of the topic of the day's events, we finally made it to Noriko's house after being put on a bus with the name of the stop and left, sitting at the bus stop for a while waiting for someone to show up (it was the correct stop, thank goodness) and following Noriko's mother home, while trying to figure out what she was saying.
(The blog writer willingly admits that she is in no way fluent in Japanese, and intends to re-take Japanese Pre-Tertiary this year to reinforce her knowledge and hopefully make it more useful and easier to remember).
After a while Nori returned home on her bike as she had taken it to get to the train station and wasn't willing to leave it there overnight, considering she needed it to get to her dentist appointment at 7.
While at Noriko's house it is safe to say that her mother and my mother bonded. Over patchwork. Don't ask me how, they just did. They don't even speak each others languages.
Eventually we headed out for Chinese, where Nori left us for a while. We headed back when we'd finished eating and Nori made a rather dramatic entrance while exclaiming "It's raining a lot outside". Poor dear rode her bike to and from the dentist.
Anyway, many a memory was shared that night, and many a gift given. And many a bellydancing dvd watched, strangely enough.
I must extend yet another apology (added to the many I have already sent) to my dearest beloved, who waited a few hours for me to be online while I was caught up with Noriko and her mother before finally giving in to sleep and heading to bed. I ask any readers to take a moment to send him and his team good luck at this year's Pedder Fishing Competition. ... ... ... ... Thank you.
Tuesday, after navigating trains (again, done by me) we finally made it to the Tokyo Dome for the Tokyo International Quilt Show which was... tiring. A great majority of the quilts were hand stitched and many held grand details with tiny stitches and wonderous pictures within it. I will, of course, post photos once my iPhone starts liking the internet connection again.
The Tokyo Dome itself is huge. There were hundreds of quilts and hundreds of stalls, all selling unique and overpriced things. Le sigh.
So that's all I'll say on that subject. By the way, did you know that there are two stations near the Tokyo Dome, one JR Train station and one subway station? No? Neither did I.
And finally to today, which happens to be Wednesday, my mother and I returned for a bit of retail therapy in Harajuku. Again, no photos. My apologies. Harajuku is a wonderous place and ideal for shopping... should you have a trendy fashion sense which I, unfortunately, don't. In fact, my whole mindset tends to lean towards the slightly darker, spookier side of life.
And I was not dissappointed by the multitude of punk-rock/grunge shops that seem to inhabit small spaces in Harajuku. In fact, my mother and I found a floor in a department store devoted to the spookier side of life, with an equal dedication to the Sweet Lolita fashion. My heart skips a beat just thinking of it.
Unfortunately, I wasn't willing to pay $100 odd for the puffy black and red miniskirt that I was drooling over, so I am going to try and see if I can find a photo of an item resembling it and get it made in Malaysia for, if my mother remembers correctly and it hasn't changed that much, is actually rather cheap.
Anyway, eventually the shopping must end. And I actually came back with something. Good stuff.
And this, dear readers, is the end of the blog. Apologies for the lack of photos and/or media evidence. There will be a lot of it once I negotiate communication between the wifi and my iPhone.
Much love and dark, bat-patterned kisses.
MRK
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