Kokochi

Ele!

She is here and I am thrilled!

Home sweet home

	Click to see video.
Click to see video.

Dav and I went over to visit Ian and family in their new house in Alameda. They just moved in today! It's a beautiful house...built in 1936 with lots of art deco details preserved (see Ian and Dav looking at the original blueprints?). It's in the cutest neighborhood with a yard full of kid stuff to climb on. I can tell Tyler and Julia will love this home.

The house is obviously still full of boxes. Upon Tyler's request, we all hunted down his super robot/car thingy. He sure was happy when we finally found the box it was in (the video shows him assembling it from car to robot and back to car).

Although Dav and I really didn't help around at all, it was special to share this very first day with them. I appreciate all the more that Ian and I live close together so we can share these moments.

デイブと私はアラミダに引っ越したイアン家族を会いに行きました。今日、新しい家に引っ越したばかりです。とても素敵な１９３６年に立てられた家で、まだ昔のアートデコ風が残っています。（イアンとデイブがオリジナルのブループリントを見ている写真があります。）かわいい近所で庭には子供達が遊べる場所もあります。タイラもジュリアもこの家を気に入っているようです。

家は当然箱でいっぱいです。タイラは好きなロボットおもちゃを探してもらいたかったので皆で探しました。見つけた時はタイラは嬉しくて、ビデオでみれるように早速私達にロボットの返信を披露してくれました。

デイブと私は何も手伝いをしませんでしたが、この大切な「最初の日」を少しでも分け合えて嬉しいです。こういう時だからこそ、近くに一緒に住めて幸せを感じます。

おばあちゃん My grandmother

I am most grateful that I got a chance to visit my grandmother during this trip. Actually, she's おばあちゃん to me, not "grandmother." She is losing her memory and can't walk well anymore. So she splits time between a special home and at my aunt's where my aunt and my mom take care of her. I was bracing myself for her not recognizing me, but she totally did. In fact, she couldn't stop showing off and repeating to all the staff that I was her まご (grandchild). We ate dinner together and shared a strawberry shortcake.

I love my おばあちゃん。When I was a kid, she used to make for me the most fantastic clothes. They were so well-made and she would always incorporate my fashion whims. I loved feeling like I had tailored made clothes. She also bought me a sweater once (which I can, eek, still fit in). What beautiful memories she gave me.

今回の出張で一番嬉しかったのはおばあちゃんと会えたことです。彼女は記憶が段々なくなってきているし、あまり歩けません。今施設と家を行き来してます。もしかしたら、もう私のことを覚えてないのかなと覚悟してたが、大丈夫でした。スタッフの皆さんに「孫です」とずーっと自慢してました。ご飯とショートケーキを一緒に食べました。

わたしはおばあちゃんが大好きです。小さい時、彼女は私の為に洋服を作ってくれました。とてもよくできていて、私の依頼通りにしてくれました。一回素敵なセーターも買ってもらって今でも着られます（ちょっと恥ずかしいけれど、、、）大事な思い出です。

Need costumes? 仮装

I definitely wanted to hit this shop that is located in Harajuku. Always crazy stuff, lots of fantasy and cosplay-type costumes. Yep...I got some nifty outfits that I can't wait to wear. One is for Halloween for which I plan to be a Goldfish Superhero!

原宿にある仮装の服がいっぱいあるお店へ行けました。この店はいつもクレイジーな仮装やコスプレーっぽいものでいっぱい。早く着たい面白い服を買いました。ハロウイーンで『金魚ヒーロー」になりたいのでその為の衣装も見つけました。

Conversations at Seco Bar

Click to see video.

I was most fortunate to be able to meet up with the coolest friends at Seco Bar, which had yet again changed its decor to a cool vintage 1960s lounge with funky lights and jazzy ambience. (See the table of flyers? A big "BLOG" flyer!!) Along with Paul, Gen was there and he looked happy and relaxed ; ) ... I have a hunch I might see Gen more than before which makes me very happy.

Paul just started Tokyo Art Beat, a much-needed art and design listing of events in Tokyo. It's well done, in English and Japanese, and already gaining steam. I am sure it'll take off and spread to other cities. It was most wonderful to hang out with Paul and see his eyes light up as he talked about this. He's found a channel for his passion and I can't wait to see where this goes! It was a blast hanging out with him and seeing him so involved in Tokyo. Congratulations Paul!!

Kei-chan, from my group of Japanese friends who run Nu Balance Productions, and who introduced me to the best music scene in Tokyo, dropped by inspite his usual crazy-busy schedule. He started and is growing an interesting party event called Nino Shokutaku. Along with great DJ's and live music, people get a discount if they come with some sort of food ingredient. Then based on what they have, everyone gets together to cook, all while listening and dancing to music. They also have other fun stuff like Play Stations with games you play as a group.

Kei is definitely into music, but what is most important to him is creating spaces where people can enjoy, share, and meet new people. Cooking, and talking about how good or horrible the food came out is a great way to get strangers to open up.

Nu Balance Productions is similar in that they experiment in combining music, visuals and smell. I highly recommend any of their parties if you're in town.

**Sorry I didn't have much time to meet everyone else. I'll definitely let you know earlier when I'm in town next. ごめん！

Mr. Honda

Paul works for Honda as a designer. As we were walking, something caught his eye and he whipped out his cell phone for documenting it (...a cell phone with a navigation system like you find in cars that was guiding us to where we going...which made me very very jealous). It was a cool Honda bike! I would never have noticed. Now that's a Honda instinct!

Boutique opening in Omotesando

Paul's girlfriend, Akiko, works at a bali barret boutique, and was involved in the opening of "Boutique 02, Red Box Military Tent." Champagne and sushi. And some pretty cool clothes. Too expensive for me, but I did buy a nifty wrist band. I will not disclose the price I paid for it though! The third pic shows Paul crouching so he wouldn't tower me, Akiko, and jet-setting traveler Izumi.

A desk

I won't say who's...

I love Freaky Randomness

Here is a wonderful email I received just after arriving in Tokyo. I totally remember this person and all she writes about. I'm going to try and meet up with her and Jeff tonight.

It may be Freaky Randomness, but for me it's the normal overlapping of paths that weren't perceivable before until the internet and blogs. : )

Post Meeting Feel-Good Dinner

After pretty intense 2 days of meetings during which a lot of progress was made, and during which I interpreted enough to make my brain go on strike, we all went out to dinner together. Ahhh, the feeling of sitting down to relax after work. See how happy I am with my Ume plum drink?

**the 2nd picture is Ben after the dinner when I took him and Michael to my favorite hideout, Enoki. But since I'm having to use my email client, it messed up the order of pics and I'm too tired to rearrange them so it's stuck there. Mama-san took a pic of us three together, but it was too blurry to use. Technology just isn't user-friendly yet...when such glitches are fixed, I guarantee everyone will be moblogging, but not until then.**

Anyway, the scenes you see are:

A drawing of a potential entry to the mascot promotion we're doing.

Joi trying to be discreet using his laptop. He said he didn't want to ruin the atmosphere, but actually this made for a picture I couldn't resist.

Barak studying intently Joi's cell phone's features.

Hirata-san opening the gift we gave him because his baby will be born any day. Being us, we *all* whipped out our cell phones for the occasion (we look rather pathetic as a group when we do this...).

Hirata-san showing off the fuzzy soft orange giraffe that I hope his baby will adopt.

A group picture I insisted on taking, Japanese style.