Why hello there!
I’ve arrived home from Tokyo and I really don’t know where to begin about my mind-blowing experience there. Here are some of my insights…
Japanese people are SO nice. Not that I thought that they would not be nice. But they are above and beyond NICE, friendly and helpful. On one occasion when we were trying to navigate, we had not one, but 2 people approach us one after the other just to make sure we knew where we were going. And they spoke perfect English.
Fancy toilets… I didn’t take pictures because that’s just gross. All of their toilets were fancy, consisting of buttons which did different things, from making flushing or nature sounds for discreetness, to Bidet and shower settings, to seat heating and deodorising. One of the restrooms I walked into had the toilet lid open as I entered the cubicle and a blue light lit up the bowl, I nearly crapped my pants!
But enough about the toilets (but really they are amazing)…
This was the view from our hotel room, with my Watermelon sock/s in progress. Everything in Tokyo is so damn cute, so I though this would be the perfect project to take.
The crafting culture is huge, obviously, you all knew that. Knitting plays a part, but only a part. Sewing is HUGE. The craft stores also boasted needle-felting, crochet, loom beading, weaving, stitching, tatting, jewellery making, polymer model making, paper crafts… it goes on. We saw a few ‘handmade’ gift-type stores which carried beautiful simple items made from clever crafts which met design. And I was inspired to become a little ‘multi-craftual’. I used to do more crafts, but now it’s just knitting/crochet and spinning. But I can do more! I’m not about to go out and buy a sewing machine, but I did pick up a few little kits just to put my toes into the water.
I also bought a little bit of Washi tape, heaven knows what I’m going to use it for? But how cool?
And I bought some yarn, I tried to make sure it was all Japanese yarn. A lot of the stores import European yarns, which are beautiful, but not ‘special’ to me kind of souvenirs.
Here I am outside Avril!
I also hope to have a crack at knitting this Japanese pattern:
We did Karaoke. Twice. For 3 or 4 hours, each time.
How cute are the rooms? Just like singing at home in your bedroom!
We went to Disneyland! I totally had a moment whilst walking through the Entrance Hall otherwise known as the World Bazaar, it was just like watching Disney at 6:30pm on Saturday evenings as a youngster. I don’t know what overcame me. I didn’t know that I wanted to go to Disneyland that badly. Luckily Damian had not noticed the tears streaming down cheeks. How embarrassing. But what’s not embarrassing is wearing Minnie ears all day and all the way home back to the hotel through reception. It felt like the most natural thing ever.
I ate a lot of sushi, and some other interesting ummm things.
To finish, here’s just a small view from the very top of Tokyo Tower, all 250 metres above sea level. This town is huge.
There really is too much to say about this place, I hope you enjoyed my snippet.
Sonia Knits 