326. i know places

December 19th ~ 24th, 2016

After my tattoo appointment with Greem, I decided to spend some time on my own. I made my way to Harajuku and then walked to Aoyama because I was craving Cafe Kitsune's lattes. I used to like tea more (years ago) but because I spend too much time with little sis, I've become a coffee person.

I walked around Aoyama, window shopping is honestly one of the rare things that are free and makes me happy in life. BUT, I ended up buying some clothes and a (much needed) scarf. Also stumbled upon the Comme Des Garcons store and an art fair. Lucky!

There was an art fair going on in one of the buildings in Aoyama, I can't really remember the name of the building now but the fair was pretty huge. I finally found the artist that collaborated with Moomin almost 2 years ago. So, I bought a cute earring at the Fillyjonk limited pop-up store and couldn't be happier. I really like their rings too but it looked more like couple rings, maybe in the future.

There was a huge exhibition space,  from sculptures to paintings to installations. I spent quite some time there checking out the art and found some sculptures that I really like. After about what seems like forever, I finally went for dinner and made my way home.

I had some company for the next couple of days as someone I really care about came out to Tokyo. I finally was able to go to Chai Break, a cafe I always wanted to try in Kichijoji. Their french toasts are sooooo goooood and I don't even like french toast. Their menu is kind of pricey but I say it's worth it. They're best known for their chai, after having chai from here, I don't want chai anywhere else.

I had the Christmas special white chocolate chai and baked apple french toast.

I also managed to finally watch Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them that same night. Believe it or not, I have never been on a movie date, so it was nice to finally be able to.

I went to colour and cut my hair the next day. I was really craving for parfait, so I brought him to Silkream. I always bring people I like to Silkream. Even though he doesn't really have a sweet tooth, I'm glad he liked the cafe and parfait. Although he said it's really 女ぽい, he didn't mind at all because it made me happy. 

His name is 悪いことくん by Takashi Murakami.

I think I am going to keep grey hair for a long while. Lately, I just don't want colour in my life. Although I really did like my purple hair, I think that part of me already have died somewhere. The next day, the both of us decided to stay home. I was happy we did because that evening's sunset was so pretty, I was glad to share it with him. 

I've never seen the sky so pink. There were also fireworks that night, we watched them from my window.

Like I mentioned in my last post, December was quite chaotic for me. My emotions were going crazy because of so many things. I can't count the number of times I was so confused. I just feel so relieved now that everything has settled down. I think I'm much happier now. 

I remember talking to one of my friends that timing is everything. It really is.

325. the plague doctor

December 19th, 2016

I was lucky enough to get my last tattoo for the year by Greem. I met her back in October while I was getting tattoos from Hugo when both of them were invited to be guest artists at Traditions Tattoo Collective in Singapore. I decided to get a tattoo from her this time because I really liked her vibe when I met her and the longer I look at her work on Instagram, the more I became a fan.

I made my way to Heavyweight Tattoo Studio which is located in Nakano at noon since my appointment was at 1. I bumped into Hugo and Greem on the way to the studio and talked to them for a little bit before going into the studio. Both of them were surprised to see me again and Hugo asked about the tattoos he did if they have healed nicely and all that. It was actually really nice to see the both of them again.

It didn't take too long for Greem to set up her stuff and started tattooing me. This time, because of the placement of my tattoo, it really did hurt a lot. Also, I think I bled more than usual because of how much I drink in Japan (almost every day actually, haha). It took about just an hour and 30 minutes to get it done.

I decided to get a plague doctor from her because I thought her style really suited what I envisioned in my mind. Normally, I will get two tattoos from an artist but this time, I couldn't think of anything to match my plague doctor just yet, and also since I have been getting tattoos as of late, I haven't saved up enough to get yet another one.

The more I look at this piece, the more I like it. I put in a lot of thought into my tattoos so I'm happy with how this one turned out. I talked to her for a little bit before leaving the studio and decided to take a photo with her and Hugo since it was our second time meeting. (I normally don't take photos with people). I really like both of their vibes. It's important to me that I don't get tattoos from assholes.

Actually, I think I might see the both of them this year because they're going to guest spot again in Singapore. I plan to get another one from Greem on my other arm to match my plague doctor. Meeting artists always make me happy. Also seriously, I crush on girls harder than guys *__* 

After my tattoo, I went to walk around Aoyama and chilled for a bit before heading home. My December was really quite chaotic and if I remember correctly, this was one of the rare days that I actually had time to myself. 

I really enjoy spending time on my own, so days like this are important to me. I can't wait to collect more tattoos this year too. I plan to go to Korea towards the later part of the year to get them. There are a couple of tattoo artists I really admire in Korea right now and if I save up enough, I hope I can get my tattoos by this year or next. *fingers crossed*

318. double bass

On Monday, I met up with Laura and Mako in the evening for a photoshoot in Shimokitazawa. Shimokita is one of the many interesting neighborhoods in Tokyo, sometimes I get so sick of going to Shibuya and Harajuku because of all the tourists.

I thought Mako suit my label really well, so I asked Laura to contact her. I've met Mako a couple of times at Cyclamen's shows since she's their merch girl, I've always liked her chill vibe and style. Picking out girls who I want to represent my clothing line has been more difficult than choosing guys. It's very important to me that the people I choose are not pretentious and fake.

So, I'm not much of a photographer, it was a little nerve wrecking taking photos of the both of them. I'm really thankful to the both of them for being so patient and even helped me out with some of the settings on my camera. I'm still learning and I'm trying my best to not let anyone who has been supportive of me down.

Polaroids are always fun, I actually enjoy them more than using an actual professional camera. We went to get dinner at a soup curry restaurant after taking some polaroids. It was my first time ever having soup curry. It really made me change my mind about curry once again, curry in Japan at least.

On the way there, we passed by an interesting bar and Mako said it was more Avantgarde, which I actually want to try next time.

I didn't take photos of my food as usual, haha. We spent some time at the restaurant just talking before doing the second photoshoot on my dslr. I'm not going to post any photos from the shoot here, so if you like, please check out my clothing line @sanatoriium on Instagram.

I've always loved the murals on the shutters in Shimokita, but the guys holding fishes has definitely got to be my favorite one. I had lots of fun hanging out with Laura and Mako. Mako actually lives just a few train stops away from me, so I was talking to her on our way home. I finally got to practice my Japanese again after almost 4 months of not using it. I'm happy to know that it hasn't completely gone out the window, haha. Also, very happy to know that she loves Marceline The Vampire Queen (Adventure Time) as much as I do.

Even though it was a fun night, I somehow dropped my keys somewhere in Shimokita and got locked out of my house until the next day. It was really painful waiting for my housing agent to arrive. I finally got home at 2pm the next day and crashed not long after changing out. The last time I got locked out of my house was last Halloween. 

On a side note, since I just bought a new camera and am using it for work, I also hope to take more photos of my life here in Japan. Since I came back, some of my friends have complained that I don't take enough photos - with them or my life here. They even forced me to take photos with them because really, I'm not the type of person to take out my phone and go "let's take a selfie!!!11!!" I swear I am the last person on earth who will say something like that. So I plan to take lots of photos from now on because I feel very lucky to have a chance to live here and have met so many amazing people who I now call my friends.

I'll continue to work hard to achieve my goals and dreams. Thanks to everyone who have been so supportive since day 1. Sometimes, it makes me feel like all the shit I have dealt with in the past was worth it because I wouldn't be as happy as I am now.

314. pipes & pipes

Been pretty busy since I got back to Tokyo but before I post about my outings with Mad, I feel like I have to get this off my chest because I'm such an introvert it's not even funny.

I spent my entire evening being socially awkward but not in a bad way. I have been in talks with some friends about my new project and I made my way down to Shimokitazawa this evening to check out Survive Said The Prophet's exhibition.

Seeing familiar faces again is always nice, I've missed events like this for the last couple of months when I was in Singapore. Whenever I am in Singapore, I am such a hermit and when I get out of the house, it's with my sister most of the time. So, seeing everyone again here was pretty awkward for me and I froze so many times, I even told my friends "Oh my god, I don't even know what to say now." It does not help with the language barrier. My Japanese has so gotten so rusty, I'm literally saying all the verbs out loud and making my friends guess what I even want to say.

Thank god there were a couple of people who were fluent in English, if not I would have just crawled into a hole.

The exhibition was pretty alright, mostly about Survive Said The Prophet's merchandise. I was looking forward to the acoustic more. I also was pretty surprised to bump into Ryo because I haven't seen him in such a long time. Also, I'm really thankful everyone has been so supportive of me. Yosh even wore my shirt straight away once I handed it to him. I'm still in the talks with everyone, so I will still take some time to get where I want to be. But I promise to work extremely hard, I have to have some faith in myself.

SSTP's acoustic was really good. They're a melodic band, so it's pretty different from what I usually listen to. BUT they are one of the best bands I have seen live in Japan. I only know one song If You Really Want To from their old album, and I like their new song called 3AM. They just released their new album FIXED and are on tour now around Japan.

I think they played a total of 4 songs tonight with a lot of MC-ing (that I don't understand). I managed to only record the first song, also drag to the 1:55 mark to see Crystal Lake's vocalist Ryo, make an appearance, haha. Thanks Yosh for wearing my design!

Tonight was really productive, just a shout out to Yosh, Ivan, and Ryo for taking the time to talk such an awkward me. I'm not always like that but I think it just has not sunk in that I'm back in Japan and my life here is a totally different one from Singapore. LIKE, it's worlds apart. I'm still taking some time to adjust. 

I totally forgot how much of a social life I actually have in Tokyo, to be honest. I just got so used to being on my own for the last couple of months, it's so strange to be in a sea of people again. Adding in culture shock and the language barrier make me such an awkward person. 

306. up in the clouds

July 12th, 2016

I met up with Laura in Roppongi Hills in the evening to go to the Ghibli Exhibition at Mori Art Museum. To our surprise, it wasn't crowded at all, there wasn't even a line to get tickets. I thought it would be a long wait, so I bought tickets in advance at Lawson.

The view from the exhibition. Spot Tokyo Tower!

As usual, no photos were allowed to be taken at the exhibition. The Red Turtle exhibition was up to promote the new Ghibli film, their first post-Miyazaki. I've watched the trailers and it doesn't feel very Ghibli to me. They have teamed up with a French animation studio for their latest release and honestly, I'm not too excited about it. I'd probably watch it online than go to the cinemas.

There were huge posters of all Ghibli films at the entrance, and a small cafe (not to be dined at, just for display) with a Gigantic Totoro standing behind the counter. It was vintage looking and reminded of the Ghibli shop right outside Dogo onsen I visited 6 years ago. There also were soot balls hidden at the dark corner which people didn't notice till Laura was standing there and calling me over.

Next was a huge room with all drawings and official posters for all Ghibli films, nothing too exciting. My favorite room was probably the one where they displayed all past Ghibli merchandise and exhibits. The little ponyos hanging on the ceiling were really cute. They even had a Totoro wearing a Kaonashi mask, I wish they sold them at the store.

I thought the "Roppongi" sign on the bus was so cute!

The mouse eyes were lighted up too!

Finally, we were allowed to take photos in the next room. It was just a giant Catbus which I have seen before at Ghibli Museum. You can enter it and sit inside. It was hard to take photos because people were going in and out of the bus. I don't blame them though.

The last room was spectacular. There was a moving (yes, moving) airship from Laputa on display that would light up every now and then. I recorded a couple of videos because the details on this thing is incredible. It only moves up and down but the propellers were done really well.

The official goods store was nothing but disappointing. They sold stuff that you could find easily at any other Ghibli store. We went to The Sun cafe for dinner. Even thought it was a themed menu, it didn't really feel like it because it was just normal looking food but from the films. Laura got the "Laputa bread" served with a side of meatball soup, while I just got the pasta, probably from Porco Rosso? I also got dessert which was pretty good. Probably the best "themed" food I have had, ever. Themed cafes' food normally taste like shit (especially the Gudetama one in Osaka).

After dinner, we went into the exhibition again before heading to Starbucks. Luckily, we did because we got better photos this time.We didn't do anything much but just walked around and chilled at Starbucks before deciding to head home.

The next day was spent with packing my luggage getting ready to go home for a while.

Even though I love Japan so much, now, being back home, it feels nice. I just need some time on my own and time to think and figure out what I want to do with my life. I'm also really glad to be back in Melbourne, I have missed my hometown.

298. wandering into towns

Yesterday, I wanted to make full use of the cloudy weather and decided to visit the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum in Koganei. It wasn't difficult to get to since it was kind of near by, only 4 stops away from Tachikawa, and then take a bus from Musashi Koganei station to Koganei park and walk for about 5 minutes.

I found this museum while watching The Making of Spirited Away Documentary and have always wanted to go, yesterday I just felt like wandering around on my own, so I figured it was the right time to go. Some of the buildings here are the inspiration for the town that Chihiro walks into in the beginning of Spirited Away.

The entrance fee is only 400yen, and 320yen for students. The Museum is divided into two sections called the West Zone and East Zone. The east zone is where all "Spirited Away lookalike" buildings are at. Naturally, I went to that part of the museum first.

The first house I went into is a kitchenware store, I like how everything is arranged, especially the hanging pots. There is also a flower shop next to this building but there is an alleyway that leads you to the back of this building.

(+20 photos after cut)

290. cloudy swan boats

On Sunday, I headed to Kichijoji in the mid-afternoon for my second round of hanami. I met up with Laura at the station and we walked to Inoshikara Park. It was really really crowded on the way there, the crossings and the streets leading towards the park were so crowded already, I didn't really want to be squeezed or have problems going in and coming out of the park.

Luckily, it was still walkable. Not as walkable as Nakameguro but it wasn't too bad. Actually, the cherry blossoms at Kichijoji are much prettier than the ones at Nakameguro. I think I just like the swan boats together with the flowers, haha. Also, probably because they are more photogenic.

The line to rent a boat was so long! Understandable, though.

I liked how the water looks in photos, the textures of it. Just last month, while my sister was visiting, the water was all drained out, so I was relieved it's back to normal. It wasn't too hard to take photos, people were considerate and didn't take too long to move away once they were done. 

Laura and I walked around the river, it was really packed with people having picnics under the Sakura trees. Some of the food the people brought look so good. It was my first time seeing people having picnics, it feels nice actually. 

To be honest, though I am always dressed in black, I did feel kind of out of place because everything was so pink and people are wearing more bright and pastel colours now. I still won't wear colour but I do admit, I do get sick of wearing black sometimes.

After we were done looking at the flowers, I showed Laura around Kichijoji. It's one of my new favourite places. We went to the streets that were lined with cute shops selling furniture, paper, toys and all that jazz. Laura found a hidden gallery, I was pretty surprised there were even shops in such a small alleyway. There were no exhibitions though.

We also went to one of my favourite galleries. The last time I was there, I bought two mini wooden sculptures. The exhibition, this time, wasn't too impressive but I still enjoyed it.

After we were done checking out stuff, we went to a cafe one of my friends recommended. It's kind of a hidden cafe as well but the food was really good. I didn't bother taking photos because of the poor lighting but I really like their matcha latte. I'm really glad I live (kinda) near Kichijoji.

We didn't do anything much but talked at the cafe and went to Muji and Loft after that because Laura needed to get some stuff and we continued aimlessly walking around and walked back to the park and talked some more. I always enjoy my conversations with Laura mostly because we almost have the same taste in things. She also keeps me up to date with music, so I'm really grateful for that. If not I'll be like one of those old people that I mentioned in my music post a couple of entries ago.

We left Kichijoji at 11ish. 

Since my allergies have subsided, I thought of going to more places to look at the cherry blossoms before they are gone. I was taking the train today to class and the river nearby also has a row of Sakura trees. It looked really pretty next to the water. I wish I wasn't so allergic to pollen. 

I'm looking forward to all the concerts I'm going to this week and next week. It's not my usual routine of Japanese bands but international bands that I have been listening to since I was 16. It seems like I have been in a nostalgic mood lately. 

I have been revisiting old ideas as well and like how my work is penning out. Hopefully, I can stay inspired. I feel fresh about art again and I couldn't be any happier.

289. we meet again

It's April, that means Spring is here. Other than suffering from a severe case of hay fever, life has been pretty crazy. Well, I have a feeling this April will be.

Sakura tree in front of my apartment.

Yuri arrived back in Tokyo on Wednesday night and I met up with her on Thursday morning. Her friend drove her to my place so she could put some of her stuff down before we headed to Shibuya for lunch.

It has been almost 2 years since I last saw her, so I was happy to see her again. We had so much to catch up on, we were talking so much right away. We actually did our usual routine of getting sushi in Shibuya. After lunch, we decided to go to Nakameguro for hanami.

The last time I was in Nakameguro was, also for hanami, a year ago. This time was a little different because we were there in the daytime, the last time I went at night and it was difficult to get good photos of the cherry blossoms. Also, there are actually a lot of cute stores and cafes at Nakameguro that I didn't notice last time because they were all closed. I definitely want to go there again when hanami season is over.

It was much easier to take photos, of course, the sky was really blue that day too. There were many food stalls along Nakameguro river as well. Since we already had lunch, we didn't bother getting food.

It was pretty crowded but still walkable. We popped into some stores along the way. I finally went to Cow Books, I think the concept of the store was pretty cool but I didn't get anything there. Before we knew it, we had already walked to the end of the river. So we slowly made our way back to the station. 

We went to Harajuku because we both wanted bubble tea but once we arrived, the line was too long we decided to find somewhere nice to chill since we just wanted to talk. Yuri was also tired because of jet lag. We didn't do anything much but talked at Silkream till it was time for dinner. We left straight home after dinner because we were both too tired.

Yuri passed out almost right away when she got back and I continued painting. In the end, she woke up in the middle of the night and we talked till almost 6am (I knew this would happen, haha) and got up at 11ish am. I made breakfast for the both of us, took a shower before sending her to the train station.

I initially planned to go to some exhibitions, but my allergy from the pollen is so bad, I decided to stay home. There're rashes all over my face and even around my eyes so a mask is not enough to hide allergy's ugliness. I'm actually really shocked with this allergy reaction because I didn't have any last year. 

It was nice to see Yuri again after two years. I have Steph visiting me at the end of this week too, and she's another friend who I haven't seen in a long time. This week is going to be crazy, I can feel it already.