A day in Ginza

My mother and I had a long walk and some fine window-shopping in Tokyo's Ginza neighborhood last week. Ginza is often compared to Madison Avenue around E. 57th Street. It's a mix of designer boutiques, galleries, and shops that sell jewelry, the finest Japanese classics like kimono and geta (wooden sandals), expensive crafts and other items that are coveted in Japan, like handmade paper. Here are several images from the day:

A top-drawer kimono shop.


A flower shop, presumably for weddings or high-end events...


...with sequins on this orchid and (gilded) lily!


The Ito-ya stationery and office-gadget store, which had a gazillion fancy fountain pens on the second floor. Check out the giant paper clip outside!


This shop sold modern wood-block prints and also had originals and reproductions of ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world") woodblock prints) from masters like Ando Hiroshige.


Takumi, which had carved wooden items and woven tatami mats.


In Ando, a cloisonne mecca, we liked the "green tea and tea whisk" pin on the right (but didn't care for the endless collection of boring vases).



We loved the Kyukyodo stationery shop, an apparent favorite with flocks of aging housewives who clustered outside the front door. Inside, there are rolls of gorgeous handmade washi paper for giftwrapping and craftwork, and all sort of neat paper-y items.




Here's Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton.




A stunning teal gown and matching ostrich-feather bag at Valentino... and then some gray Armani.



The Rolls-Royce at the top was very appropriate, neh?

Lame blogger!

I've been a terrible blogging correspondent, alas. I will try to do better by setting up several posts in advance.

My mom is visiting - the fourth time in 2 years - and we're having a very relaxed time. The children have three days of vacation for Japan's "Golden Week," and we're keeping it pretty low-key. Last week, when Blaine was in D.C., my mom and I made French toast and pancakes on separate nights for dinner, and, wow, the kids loved it so much that they chattered away to Blaine about it when he returned yesterday.

On Saturday, we went swimming at the Tokyo American Club. On Sunday, we went shopping in Yebisu Garden Place for birthday gifts for Lucinda's friends. Today, we went to Kodomo no Shiro (The Children's Castle) so the kids could play in the jumpy-ball thing on the roof. Tomorrow we'll have a playdate at our house.

And when the kids were in school last week, my mom and I went on some walking tours of Tokyo: to Asakusa (a very old, traditional neighborhood) and Kappabashi (Kitchen Town); to Ginza, where we looked in art galleries and stationery stores; and this Thursday, when the kids are back in school, we'll go to Kamakura so I can show her the Great Buddha.

Post-election post

Geez, it's been almost an entire week since the election, and I'm finally getting around to writing about it. Thrilling result, obviously.

My mom, Sheila, was visiting with my stepfather, Blake. So we threw an election-day party. The Denver mother of a Tokyo friend, Susan Mulcahy, was here, with another Denver friend - whose daughter, it turned out, went to elementary and junior high school with me. Does that make sense? Grandmothers, mothers, and daughters - that sums it up. I also invited some American friends from Nishimachi. We had pastries, lots of coffee from Tully's and, eventually, sandwiches for lunch.

We turned on CNN at 8 a.m. Wednesday in Tokyo, which is 6 p.m. Tuesday on the East Coast, just as the first states were done voting. Things went pretty quickly in Obama's favor, as everyone knows.



Arno was an unexpected party guest; his teacher called me at 10 a.m. to say he wasn't feeling well. I brought him home and gave him a little medicine, and he was fine; he even refused to nap so he could hang out w/the grownups and watch election coverage.

Election in Tokyo

In a few hours, we'll go to sleep while America votes. And then we'll wake up on Wednesday, November 5, 2008, and watch the election returns on CNN. I think the first polls close at something like 8:30 a.m. in Tokyo.

My mom, who is a huge Obama fan and volunteer in Denver, is visiting, so we've invited some friends over to watch the returns with us. Should be fun. Full blog report tomorrow.

And if, by some stretch of horror, Obama loses, we're well-positioned to commit suicide.

Mother's Day

My mom, Sheila, just returned home from a weeklong visit with us in Tokyo and, wow, do we miss her already!


We shared a Mother's Day excursion to busy Shibuya on Sunday while Blaine took Lucinda and Arno to the Tokyo American Club. The kids behaved horribly on the bus that day, but I didn't have to deal with it - my Mother's Day present.


Lucinda is especially close to her grandmother, who is teaching her how to knit and sew and needlepoint. On Monday afternoon, when we were all gloomy about Grammy's departure, Arno suggested that we draw pictures and send them to her to cheer us up, which we will surely do.

Thanks for the visit, Mom! We'll see you this summer in the U.S.