momiji

kyoto is the fall is one of the top destinations in all of japan. this is because of the brilliant fall foliage of the momiji, or japanese maple. people go 'momiji gari' which basically means 'leaf hunting.' last night i visited Hogon-in Temple, which is a sub-temple of Tenryu-ji in Arashiyama, which was lit up for the occasion. there were also many yummy wintery street snacks that were enjoyed!

tadaima!

...mean's 'i'm back' in japanese. this is actually a photo of the chicago skyline through the clouds while the plane was landing.

on one of the many flights i was on in the last 2 months, they let me sit in this section. that was when i was still on crutches, so i think they just took pity on me. it was grand.

i have a lot to catch up on now that i'm back in japan (including sleep; hopefully i will stop waking up at 3 am soon...) but one of the fun things i have planned for today is to visit a bookstore (like this one, showing yarn by avril right there on the shelves with the books) and check out all the new japanese craft books out for fall! and then perhaps a nap.

tanabata

tanabata is a summer holiday in japan, celebrated on the 7th day of the 7th month (traditionally of the lunar calendar). the story of tanabata is of 2 lovers, orihime a weaving princess (the star vega) and hikoboshi a cowherd (the star altair), who are separated by the milky way, and only allowed to meet once a year on this day. complete wikipedia info here.

bamboo trees are hung with paper strips with wishes written on them, the image above is from this site which shows how to make some of the tanabata paper crafts (sorry it's japanese only).

train hoop earrings by dmdmetal

in japan, i spend a fair amount of time on trains and subways. after i move next week, i will become a proper commuter, with even more train time.

these train hoop earrings by dmdmetal on etsy are customizable, you can have your own message included in the graffiti (something there is much less of in japan!).

old boar and baby wild boar

old boar, originally uploaded by vriad_lee.

i discovered this spectacular needle felted boar by flickr user vriad lee via craft. more work by this artist can be seen here.

here's another photo of our local boar, and one of the new baby wild boars that's about a week old. it's a little hard to make out, the baby is in the lower left corner.

no internet, and a special chirimen book

well, life in a foreign country is never predictable. and yesterday the internet at the house i am staying in went out! last time this sort of thing happened, it was the crows` fault...so perhaps they are the culprits this time as well.

i was all excited to get back into the daily posting habit, and this is definitly going to slow me down a bit, and make it harder to have pictures with my posts, which i really really prefer!

but, in the meantime, i was able to find a chirimen craft book that is out of print and a little hard to find, and it`s in the shop. http://www.feltcafe.etsy.com. oh, and i guess the computer terminal that i am on right now doens`t allow any http script, along with a ban on files (like photos for uploading). so please bear with me as i figure out some workarounds!

anyway, this is definitely a good time to do some more exploring, craft sourcing, photo taking, and start in on the felt fruits and veggies i want to make! i know that sometimes i let the internet suck all my time, so this is a good opportunity for me to be creative and crafty off line.

needle felted japanese sweets book

oh my, all the adorable japanese craft books are a little overwhelming! this one is all about japanese sweets, made by needle felting. and it is really really cute.

little bunny mochi
and strawberry chocolates
and look at this leaf around the sakura mochi! they are all just so sweet and realistic. and really they don't look very hard at all. more photos in the flickr set here, and the book is in my shop.