That's Hot

Ooo wee. Its getting cold outside. Time to bid farewell to our friend Andy as well as the warm fall weather with an outdoor hot wine party.

Smoke Room got it all together: 20 plus humans (please bring snacks), 20 bottles worth of spiced wine, fire, tent, badminton set, and frisbee. Took about 4 cups of hot wine vapors to whack me in the face before I started to get toasty.

Good luck in Germany Andy!

Sorry to taint this post with this vulgarity but I had to.

Don't Be Sad- Read a Book.

It’s tipping into fall and easy to feel kind of sad and lonely. The trees are losing their leaves, the light has a nostalgic quality, and its grows dark before you know it. Must keep head out the clouds, feet planted on the ground, and nose in a book.

Lately I’ve been trying harder to read some stuff in Japanese. A friend told me that only 20% of what people read gets retained anyway, so “just skim for the feeling!” Easy for you to say! I thought, as she handed me a big ol fiction book.

Good bookstores you ask? Get on your bike northbound to Keibunsha. This place is like Candyland. It’s overflowing with not only books but stationary, house wares, and stuff stuff stuff. If for some reason you didn’t find a single solitary thing, there’s another funkier little spot called Gake a stone’s throw away. Happy reading!

Keibunsha is in the Ichijoji disctrict here.
Gake is on Shirakawa North of Imadegawa

Errare Humanum Est

I believe the full quote is: errare humanum est, sed perseverare diabolicum: 'to err is human, but to persist (in the mistake) is diabolical.'
diabolical?!!!

This video is retarded for viewing but... this song!

from the album Est A Tabua de Esmeralda ('74)
For when you feel like this and the only thing that can express it is Jorge Ben's crooning.

K-Chan's Maiko Transformation

Have you ever been walking in Gion and you see the back of a makio-san with and you’re all, ooo…And then when you finally see her face you’re all, whaa? Because she doesn’t look quite right…because she’s not Japanese. Well, it’s prolly thanks to a company called Kokoro Maiko that transforms ordinary people into maiko.

R-Pool busy-body K-chan went to find out what it was all about and below is her account:

The shop was located at the end of a long stone-lined path down
Miyagawa suji in Gion. The atmosphere was really Kyoto-like.
As soon as I walked in, the friendly staff greeted me with big smiles.
They took my coat and lead me to the locker rooms where
the they explanained the whole process of transforming into a maiko.
Once I got changed into the thin robe you wear underneath the kimono,
they showed me to the make-up room. They plastered my face, neck and back with this white stuff which was really cold. I had never seen myself so white. After they were done with my face, they fitted me with a maiko hairstyle wig. Next, we
moved on to the dressing room and I got to choose from a variety of
different kimono. The fitting took about 20 minutes. The staff
were really nice the whole time and made sure my make up was perfect
until the end.

Once I looked the part, I checked myself out in the mirror a couple
times then walked over to the nearby temple with the cameraman and took about a 100 pictures. The whole outfit and surroundings made me feel like I was in a Japanese geisha movie. The cameraman showed me how to pose and where to look so it wasn’t so awkward. I got a lot of attention from the strangers passing by. Some commented on how cute I looked which made me feel like a celebrity.

I got to go home with some pretty cool pictures and an
awesome experience I could only have had in Kyoto. I think my mom
enjoyed the pictures the most. I would recommend it to anyone who wouldn’t mind taking a time slip and experiencing a day in the slippers of a maiko.

Smart Souveniers

I was asked by kyotokyoto to do a write-up on a shop called J-Spirit in the Fumitsubaki Building behind the Starbucks on Sanjo x Karasuma.

J-Spirit is part gallery, part product shop. At the moment, the gallery is showing an artist/illustrator named Ichiro Tsuruta, who makes paintings, drawings, and prints of 80’s-looking Japanese ladies. The work extends out into the hallways upstairs and inside the Neutron café on the second floor. The products on display at the moment are some very nifty reversible lap-top cases in retro print material, jewelry, and other small goods.







I was was also immediately drawn to the pottery made by this couple.




OMG they are so cute. They like to drink sake, so a lot of their pieces are for sake-drinking (ochoko and tokkuri ). But look at these adorable geta chopstick rests! They live and work in a machi-ya in North Kyoto, a pottery wheel right next to their dining area. The woman let me choose an ochoko to drink the sake of my choice out of- gochisosama!








If you're visiting, I highly recommend getting tasteful gifts for your friends and family here rather than finding kitch souveniers at shops along Shinkyogoku or the tourist traps.

You know what Beavis? This sucks.

Uhhh...You want us to be what for Halloween? Sexy nurses? Slutty maids? Boring witches? Yeah right, dumb ass! We’re gonna be, like, Beavis and Butthead!!! Uhhh huh huh. Yeeeah! Yeeeah!

If you have no idea who they are you are sleepin’. Wake up to the greatness of The Great Cornholio!

tacos are one of the most delicious things in the world

Aw man. I miss me some real… Californian Mexican food. My co-worker was taking a vacation to the U.S and did I want anything? Yes! Some fish tacos from La Familia, or a few greasy 2am Oakland taco-truck tacos wrapped in foil and thrown in a brown paper bag, or a nice juicy burrito from El Farolito please. Too bad she was going to Texas.

But still, my sweet friend came through with a box of Taco Bell shells and meat spice. And in a Wal-Mart plastic bag to boot.

It being Sunday Funday, I called up a few friends. Made some guacamole, salsa (minus the cilantro-where do I get that?), opened up the sour cream, and whipped up our own little taco feast. There’s no comparing these suckers to the tacos so near and dear to my heart. Apples and oranges.

So that and some beers, good convo, good friends on a hot summer night. A plus in my book.