Life is beautiful

Picnic at Tamagawa.




















It was such a beautiful day.

あー幸せだなぁ

Every bird thinks its own nest charming

It has been for 3 weeks since I moved to Tokyo.
Everything goes well so far, I like my neighborhood, Tokyo friends, food, sakura, job and everything.
Also I like my apartment.
The building itself is not that cool, but after I put furunitures and hang the arts on the wall, it became pretty comfy.



My favorite part of my apartment is this fridge art.
Maden by the poetry magnets and snapshots.
Beth made some cool and nasty words.
The picture in the middle is from when I was 2 yeas old or younger.
My mom was so young like a girl in the picture and I was like a Chicken Little.



And I like this couches, too.
These are from the small antique shop in my neoghborhood, Nishiogikubo which is famous for antique and used shops.
The carpenter of the antique store was so nice and he said these couches came from the old cafe in Kamakura.

After this apartment, I wanna rent the small old house and share it with some friends.

I will stay in this apartment for a while at least for two years.
Come to my apartment to hang out and make some stupid words on my fridge!
Everyone is welcome!

話は変わるけど、最近思うこと。
日本にある古い洋風が好き。
Westernじゃなくて、西洋風がいいな。
明治・大正・昭和とかに人々が憧れた西洋の感じが素敵です。

横浜に住んでるお兄ちゃんのアパートのそばにはそういう建物がいくつかあるし、何年か前に行った神戸もよかった。
西洋だけどジャパナイズトされてるから、馴染みやすいのかな。
ごはんもフレンチとかハンバーガーとかにはそんなに惹かれないけど、オムライスとかコロッケとかいう洋食に弱いのです。
中央線沿いはちょっとマニアックな食べ物があるみたい。
おいしい洋食屋さん発掘したいな。

Want it? Make it!

My room in Tokyo has tatami, so I decided to make my room Japanese.
Japanese style's symbol is chabudai, which is Japanese style coffee table.

I went to so many antique shops to find the chabudai, but I never found.
It's rare and even though I found some, they were too big for my small room.
I want the chabudai, that means I have to get the chabudai!



Then I remembered my mom knew some good carpenters because she works with architecture.
I asked the carpenter to make the one exactlly i want,
and he made it for me!



I helped it little bit.
He is genius!

I'm moving to Tokyo day after tomorrow.

Visiting old friends

I went to Takayama for this weekend to see my friend.
Takayama is surrounded by the mountains and there is still old street from hundreds years ago.


Yuki, we went to highschool together.
She is the teacher of highschool in Takayama and she is getting merried this year.


Takayama is so traditional.


I felt the old good days of Japan.


It's good to respect the old things.
The past never comes back, but it was still there.
When I touched the wood post of old temple, I felt the warmness from back then.

After the sightseeing, we went to hotspring.
Nothing better than hotspring in the winter of Japan.

After the hotspring, I got a call from the friend, Miyoshi who was also from the same highschool.
She said she missed us.
She lives in Kanazawa which is 1.5hours away from Takayama.
Yuki and I were like, "ok we are coming!"

We did the party at her place all night long.
Next morning we were heading to the ocean!


Seaside drive!


Miyoshi is my oldrest friend.
We went to the kindargarten, elementary school, junior high, and highschool together.
Long history!


Congraturation on your wedding, Yuki! By Aya and Miyoshi


Did you know Japan Sea is this beautiful?

The short trip to Takayama and Kanazawa was really really fulfilling.
GFF!!!

Portland Scrapbook

The two years I spent in Portland was the most brilliant term in my life.

The last two week after Chie came was pretty fun and busy but still slow.
It was sunny throughout the two weeks, that's so rare in winter of Portland.
The sunshine was the gift from the god for me.



We went to some American breakfast places.


I think Portland has more unique breakfast places than the other cities.
My favorite is Juniors, Cricket cafe, and Genies.
Mmmmmm bisckets and gravy!!
I like the American culture which value the breakfast.
Having breakfast together is more meaningful than having a drink at the bar.
I can have a drink with straingers but I don't wanna have a breakfast togehter unless I know them well and like them because morning is a innocent time of a day.


Compound is definetelly my important part of my Portland life.


Coltong, his smile and hug is worth million doller.


Dell, he is very shy and cute boy.


Matt, I worked as his assistant, but he is not just my boss, he is like my uncle.


And Chris and Aira.
It was very precious time to work with the gallery and Compound crew.
I met many people through the work, and I absorbed so many things.


I really appriciate to Katsu who gave me the key to open the door of where I had never been to.
I don't even know how I can express my thanks; words are not enough...
I will be back there someday and I wanna hang out with them again!



You can't explain much about Portland without the bridges.
Willamett river and the histrical bridges connecting the West side and the East side.


Howthorne bridge.



Old town in downtown.



Bike.
He is my best partner.
I went everywhere with him.


I liked to go down to the water front and sat down on the bench doing anything special just thinking.



Danny, he is the sweetest guy I've ever known.
He is very social and always with the nice circle of friends because of his personality.
When i met him for the first time, he was Danny, and now he is Neo G Yo, the hiphop musician!
I can't wait he is coming to visit to Japan.


German, Brandon, Echo.


Artisit, Jer drew my mastache face.
Jer is one of my best friend in Portland.
She is always cheerful and thoughtful.
Love you, Jer.


Johnney is the Portland skateboard boy also the filmmaker, he is so sweet despite of his coolness.
Jer and Johnney is my ideal couple.


Jake, he is funny always and I liked to hang out with him.
Win and Lose. It's so obvious in this photo! lol
We played wii tennis.



Nightlife.
I liked to go to see the shows more than going to a movie, house parties, or drinking at bars.


My last show in Portland was Metromy from London.
I enjoyed dancing with cool hip kids.

80% of the shows I went to were the local bands'.
Now Portland indie music sence is so up and coming.
They woke me up to the indie rock music.


DJ Beyonda, she was the coolest DJ in the town.
Soul night, every second Thursday was my most favorite event.
Not only the DJing, but also the presence of her was so handsome.



I liked to go to the thrift shop to find something cool cheaply.


I also like the vintage clothes!



My bedroom.
I was not crying.
I was just blowing my nose.
I miss this vintage apartment in Ladd so much.


My last roommate in Portland.
She is my roommate, but not just a roommate for me.
She is like a universe and out of my control that makes me into her.
Tomochan, how have you been since then?



Coffee,
One cup of coffee a day was my lifeline especially when it was raining.
I came back to Japan, and I notice how tastey the Portland coffee is.


Also I like the time to spend at the cafe.
This is Stumptown at Ace, which is located in on my way to school, so I often stopped by there and do homework with the coffee.
There was my favorite hip barista, who has the cute smile and the master-hand of making the soy latte.



One day I was walking to home with Chie and I saw this beautiful sunset.
The silhouette of everything in my vision was emphasized clearly.
It was like the shadow picture with the orange backlight.
I will never forget the winter evening.


Keep Portland Weird.

Thanks PDX!!