lijunlaopo.com

Patrick is still at work and it is midnight.

I am torn between feeling horribly sorry for him that they have to get whatever road or bridge it is they are building finished by this evening, and secretly glad he is really going to understand the meaning of hard work now.

It’s still 27 degrees or so now, so not such a nice environment to be outdoors all day either. I am getting a bit bored waiting for him to come home though, and rather hungry as he is bringing dinner…

I have amused myself by having a nap, taking the dog for a walk, washing everything I can find, studying beauty blogs, and finally giving myself a facial.

I think I am going to be good at this housewife stuff.

All I need to do now is work out our new address so I can start online shopping at MoMA Store…

Patrick and I posted off two boxes of winter clothes to China this morning to make some room in our luggage.After we had done so, I immediately decided we had enough room for some craft books and materials to take back to China with us.

I have heard that the beautiful Japanese Craft books I have seen online are much much cheaper to buy here, so I don’t want to miss the chance to pick up a few bargains!

I also bought another box from the post office, just in case I buy too many.

As I was browsing around trying to find some craft books, I found these amazing egglings.

They are the sweetest little things I have seen for a long time. You have to break the egg yourself, so I am sure I would accidentally smash the thing to pieces before it had a chance to grow, but it would be great for more coordinated people then me!

Patrick has been calling every dog breeder in China trying to find the perfect dog for us when we get to China.He has become the world expert on Chow Chows, which are very cute dogs… just kind of large and hairy-ish.

I have fallen in love with little red toy poodles while in Tokyo, they are absolutely everywhere. Little red toy poodles and pugs. Pugs are just so adorable with their eyes that boggle out and look in different directions at the same time and all their snorting.

Patrick thinks pugs look they have just been off for a days work in the mines with their sooty faces and feet. Now he has said that I think they are even cuter.

I want a little dog. I love the way their back legs walk just a little faster than their front legs until they are walking almost sideways, either that or they just bounce along all four legs off the ground at once.

I want a little dog, because if I had a little dog, I could buy him a little yukata from d.o.g web.

There are just so many beautiful things here.I like the way that regular items/buildings/foods seem to have been reduced to basics, then improved just a little to make them completely new.

I have seen these outline vases by Yuko Tokuda a few places now, and love the simplicity.

I can think of a few places they would look nice.

They are available at MoMA Store under Home Accessories.

Another inspiration for my dragging Patrick to Japan was the books by Yoshimoto Banana, Ishiguro Kazuo and Murakami Haruki. Each author seems to see the world from a slightly different angle than most, and creates amazing beauty from the dullest of situations.

I don’t seem to have absorbed any of this way of thought during my six months in Tokyo unfortunately.

We walked through the Omotesando Hills complex yesterday, I hadn’t been up that far previously, as usually the sight of all the pretty things I can’t afford slightly irritates me.

I was glad we bothered, as the building itself was striking. I was about to take some photos when I noticed the signs about the place prohibiting photography… You’ll just have to imagine it.

I noticed when I looked up the website to link to for this post that the complex was designed by Tadao Ando, the same architect who designed 21_21 Design Sight we visited recently for the Chocolate exhibition.

Again, Ando seems to see things from that perspective the rest of us don’t quite grasp.

I have decided I don’t mind at all that I am not creative, as long as all these others just keep on making pretty things for me to look at.

Japanese Craft Book #2,
originally uploaded by Bella Dia.

This photo among a bunch of others on the Japanese Craft Book set on Bella Dia’s Flickr Site was one of the things that inspired me to come to Japan.
I want to know how to make beautiful things like this.
I haven’t seen as many crafty places here as I had expected to, which is lucky really, as we already have two boxes of excess luggage to send ahead.