colorful memories of Tokyo

Ni-Ni

This is a little korean girl I just started tutoring in English. She's holding a picture of a bird she drew and named Ni-Ni. She is an incredibly bright and spirited girl and speaks English just about as well as I do. I get a kick out of hearing her thoughts. The first day I tutored her she gave me this story she wrote. It's amazing!

Title: Bye Head

One day there was a little girl who wanted to smack her own face. And she did.
"Oh," she said. "I will never smack my face again."
Then a unicorn passed by and said, "Is that poop next to you?" Then the little girl knew the unicorn was a boy who was pretending to be a unicorn.
She saw a table that was alive. She was so scared she dipped her finger in the toilet. She was so scared she bought a camera. She saw a map and when she looked at it she died. She took a shower with the camera. But it was too late. The camera broke! Then when she stopped she knew she was dreaming.

Adult

Several big things have happened in my life recently that have made me feel that I have finally arrived into my adult life, and that I have done it successfully. I can't wait until I'm 30 though. Hell, I want to be 50. I'll take wisdom over youth any day.

cutie

Check out this cutie! I got to observe her class when I was in Tokyo last week. Yoriko's friend took us to her children's elementary school for a few hours and I took pictures in each class. This little one wouldn't stop making these adorable faces and doing cute things for my camera. This day was filled with some pretty intense cuteness.

follow me!

Dear blog readers of mine,
I recently added a feature to my blog on the right hand column where you can follow my blog and receive an email whenever I've just posted. Please subscribe to my blog if you like!

Fondly, Brae

Betty Boop and Jesus on Valentine's Day

I saw this door decoration the other day while I was driving through my neighborhood. I was camera-less, so I wrote down the address and returned today. I find it fun and strangely suitable for a Valentine's Day post! What in the world could it mean? I have no clue. The only thought I had was that 'Jesus' could be the name of some Spanish boyfriend of Betty Boop's. Otherwise, it's just a wonderful, quirky enigma!

I thought this car was pretty.
And the red matches Betty Boop and arguably fits into the theme of Valentine's day.

Happy V Day peeps.

Back in the U.S.A.

Here's the last picture I took in Japan at the Mcdonald's in Narita airport where I ate a hamburger and small coke. I want her shirt! But it's especially great on her.

And now I'm back in my South Philly neighborhood. It's a pretty great neighborhood. Fun window displays, a decorated air conditioner and some disney statues below.

portraits

a shop keeper

cutie pandas!


A local woman who is famous for her crepe stand. I'll devote an entire post to her soon. She's one of the most fascinating people I've ever observed.

also a shop keeper

shop keeper

check out her funky style and her 'dreamy days' bag

a pleasant couple

Her skirt is made of patterned material I've only seen on tacky older people in the states. And check how she's pulling it off.

Can anyone translate his apron thing?

She worked in store that sold vintage fashions from London and Tokyo, so a sign said.

I spent the day yesterday with Yoriko and two of her best friends. They all went to the same university and they were all math majors. We had an amazing day. We went to a natural hot spring on a mountain where we all bathed nude. Then we went to a winery for some wine tasting. Then we went to a traditional udon restaurant where we sat on bamboo mats and ate the most delicious udon in the world. They we went to Erico's house where we had home made hot pot. Heaven, I tell you. More posting about the amazing day that was yesterday soon to come.

Yoriko

Eriko

cute things and the emperor's palace

Yoriko took me to the business district of Tokyo, comparable to Market Street west of Broad in Philadelphia. We went to the 45 floor of this corporate building so that we could see a view of Tokyo. This city is gigantic. The view was pretty impressive. The thing I liked most about the location where we saw the view was the gift shops for the tourists. I didn't see many postcards to commemorate the view. I just saw all of these cute things, which I found far superiour to any such postcards anyway. The cuteness here is overwhelming. Japan can make a stuffed animal adorable like American will never be able to.

An icing-dipped kiwi! And a bit of waffle.

What is he? He's adorable.

My favorite Miffy. It's all can do not to buy all of this cute stuff. You'd be proud of me though, whoever you are. I have a very small bag of sweet pencil cases and postcards. I don't need to fill my life with cute clutter. But I need to photograph it and put it on my blog.

Here is one of the veiws. The grassy area is the location of the emperor's palace. I learned that he does not have a political position, but rather is a respectful symbol of Japan.

Today's my last day! I'm off to explore.

swank and swag. this place is so sexy.

Check out that sexy cleavage! Ow!

So fancy. So coquettish.

Wanna be your valentine. Sweet Love Story.

A dust bin (trash can) in front of a poster in shopping mall.

Obama and Wutang are similar motifs. Obama kind of looks like Kanye on that t.

Another pleasant bottom half.

Funny toys!

Just standing there looking perfect.

Toturos and Popples.



It wasn't a sex shop. Just a cute clothing store.

patterns

Kid's fashion is pretty dang adorable over here.

7 pictures for you instead of the 35 I wanted to post.

A shop girl who was willing to pose for me.

Obama is the hippest president ever. His face is all over this city.

A flashed toilet.

She was sitting there looking great.

Who doesn't love a sexy panty?

Fabulous.

This sums up the truth about so many things.

Her shirt has some kind of mohawked hamburger going on. I think?



Ok. I can't handle Tokyo anymore. It's too good to be true.

don't put your thumb on the inside of the rice bowl

This poster in an elementary school tells children not to put their thumbs in the rice bowl. It's rude!

Yoriko's friend Eriko took us to her children's elementary school. I got to go in to all of the classrooms and take pictures! The best part was taking pictures of kid's meals at lunch time. You've never seen anything so perfect. The most remarkable thing about visiting this elementary school was how well behaved all of the children were. After greeting me hardly any of them were distracted from their songs or work or rhymes they were doing, which was a perfect situation for me to get great photos! You wouldn't beleive how neatly they ate their lunch. One girl dropped two pieces of rice on the table and immediately picked them up and ate them. At the end of their meals they had to bring their bento boxes to the teacher to show her they'd eaten every last bite. Wow.

A trashcan for sale on the street.

It decorated a school's fence.

The Mcdonald's workers look so chic.

A mini Hello Kitty figurine celebrating Girl's Day. There are decorations all around for this holiday, but the mysterious thing is that the symbol for Girl's Day is a princess and prince on their thrones. What's the hell is the prince doing there?

A nice looking bottam half.

An interesting window display.



These pictures are a fraction of the thousand I've taken so far!! Having an amazing time! It's so great here I can hardly handle it.

glimpses

I didn't realize that women still wore kimonos for daily life. I've seen several of them on the subway.

Yoriko's sister's house has an elevator. A bunch of Star Wars and baseball figures decorate inside the elevator.

Yoriko's sister got this done near the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. I want to make one!

These cute little demon toys were everywhere in China and Thailand too. This one decorate's Yoriko's tv.

The schedule Yoriko wrote for our week.

Yoriko and her mini coke container used to hold little candies.

Delicous snails I pulled off the belt at a sushi bar.

Sushi bar.

School children posing for a picture in front of a temple.

A girl doing a ritual inside a Buddhist temple.

That's me. I'm happier than I look.

These men threw soybeans into a crowds of thousands for the Setsubun festival. People scrambled to pick up and eat as many soybeans as their age. Yoriko wanted me to, but I couldn't stop taking pictures. Setsubun is a festival that celebrates the opposite of Winter solstice. Spring is coming! Also, all of the men who threw soybeans had been born in the year of the cow. Yoriko told me so many interesting things about this festival. I need to read more about it on Wikipedia!

Tokyo and Yoriko's house

Fun tv decorations.

Airport sign I've been waiting to see all my life.

Starbucks!

Yoriko prepares breakfast this morning.

Breakfast is rice moshi sprinkled with soy sauce and wrapped in sea weed. Delicious! Green tea too.

Cute teapots in Yoriko's house and Doraemon toaster in the back ground that prints toast with his face.

Magnets that resemble Maurice Sendak illustrations.

Beauty and the Beast figurines decorating the liquor shelf.

Toturo cup in front of a bouquet of flowers I gave Yoriko yesterday.

A famous morning tv program, so Yoriko told me. Love it!

a few fun observations

I arrived safely in Tokyo! I can't stop smiling. Everything around me is fascinating and interesting, most especially the fashion. It's a good feeling. I'll post pictures soon, but for now some fun observations:

1. On the train I took from Narita airport to Tokyo city to meet Yoriko I was able to sit in a smoking car! I felt like I was in the 50's with my suitcase and sunglasses, staring out the window and puffing away.

2. The public restroom in the airport had a bidet function. That made me feel like I was zapped to the future in the 2050's or something. What a clean and developed culture! I must admit, I was afraid to use a public one. I'll probably try Yoriko's though.

3. Speaking of toilets, Yoriko's toilet seat is heated. That makes me want to get up in the middle of the night to go pee.

4. The safety signs in the subway that say things like 'watch your step' or 'yield these seat to the elderly' are illustrated with Hello Kitty's face. Just for fun!

5. I bought a snack at the 7-11 while I was waiting to meet Yoriko: salad with seaweed, ginger dressing, and octopus on top. It was really good.

6. I'm sitting at Yoriko's 'heated' coffee table in her living room right now. The table has a sort of bed skirt that keeps in the heat and there's a remote that I can use to adjust the temperature. It's pretty amazing. My friend Yoriko is just visiting Tokyo now. She has lived in Philly with her husband for three years. She said that when she first arrived in America she couldn't beleive there were no heated tables!

7. Last night Yoriko drew me a bath and while we were sitting in the living room waiting for it to fill a robot lady voice on the intercom announced that the bath was full. The water turned off automatically. How amazing is that? I've learned the Japanese always shower before they get in the bath so they aren't bathing in their own filth. It's a good idea. So I showered in a spot right next to the hot tub and then I got in. I am convinced that besides a mother's love, hot tubs are the most nurturing thing possible for human beings.


Pictures soon!