嵐山 – Arashiyama Trip
Posted on: May 7, 2013
I went to Arashiyama in Kyoto in November 2011 and seeing as it doesn’t seem to feature in many guide books I thought I’d write about it here, as it’s definitely a day out I’d recommend. Although Kyoto is beautiful all year round, I’d say autumn or spring really is the ideal time to go; for me looking at the red and gold leaves is almost better than cherry blossom viewing in spring.
Arashiyama has quite a small, old-fashioned station so you get a sense of having gone back in time a little as soon as you arrive. The delicious smells that come from the various food stalls scattered around selling things like dango and roasted chestnuts are accompanied by the soft sound of the wide river that runs through the district, making for an exciting yet serene atmosphere.
First we ate lunch in a little restaurant beside the river. It was a traditional restaurant so the seating was at low tables with cushions and koto music was piping in, as if to remind visitors that they’re not in the city any more. I had a soba set meal:
In the white bowl on the right is the tsuyu (thin dipping sauce) for the noodles and on the dish on top are wasabi and spring onions to mix into it. I’d only been in Japan a month at this point and still didn’t know a lot of the customs or rules, particularly when it came to eating, so I didn’t add my wasabi and spring onions into the tsuyu and instead tried to just paste them on top of the tempura, causing my boyfriend to laugh at me…so heads up for any newcomers planning on having this dish. There were also pickles, rice with finely chopped pickled vegetables and tofu. Due to the huge volume of the dish I only managed the tempura, noodles, pickles and a spoonful of tofu but it was absolutely excellent and all the green and orange colours of the noodles and vegetables made it the perfect meal to compliment the scenery outside.
Next we went to the monkey park which involved climbing up a fairly steep, narrow and rocky mountain path. It was a little tiring but worth it for the views. Monkeys were roaming the park freely but they weren’t as aggressive as the deer in Nara can be, and only seemed interested in people who were actually offering food, which you can do from the safety of a little hut with wire over the windows:
After admiring the view from the plateau above the monkey park, we went back down the mountain and hired a boat to row down the river. It was a grey, windy day but the water was fairly still and there were plenty of people out enjoying themselves on the river.
After half an hour’s rowing, we decided to look round the gardens by Tenryuji Temple. The water in the ponds had a strange milky quality that muted and blurred the reflected colours of the trees, making for a sort of mystical effect.
Apparently if you can land a coin in the niche on top of the statue’s head it’s extra good luck~
I believe the bamboo grove (above), as well as other sites in Kyoto, featured in the film Memoirs of a Geisha, so you may have already seen it without realising~
As Arashiyama is a tourist district there are all sorts of shops, cafés and cultural sites to visit but we wandered, just by chance, into a tiny café set back from the road. It seems almost pointless to write about it as I can neither remember the name nor the location but it was such a charming place that I’d like to mention just in case anyone happens to see it. There were some posters of oil paintings outside the café, which is what intrigued us. It turned out to be one room inside the house of a middle-aged couple, with the wife preparing tea and coffee out of a tiny kitchen behind a curtain. The small tatami room had no furniture but the walls were covered in paintings and there was a bookcase full of art reference books on the impressionists and pre-Raphaelites etc, which customers were free to browse. From what I gathered listening to the chatter of the two friendly hosts, the husband dropped out of a prestigious Tokyo art school and now works making reproductions of famous paintings, as well as of photographs that clients bring him. All the art work around the café was his and you could also buy teas and herbs that the woman grew herself. The café and its menu were tiny but the owners were friendly and fascinating and there was lots to look at with all the books and pictures so if you are ever in Arashiyama and spot a small coffee house with oil paintings outside I hope you’ll take 5 minutes to look inside~
Renting a Kimono
Posted on: May 6, 2013
I went to Kyoto with my boyfriend and he asked if I wanted to try wearing a kimono. For a westerner it’s a pretty rare experience seeing as even if you buy a kimono you need someone with the right knowledge to put it on for you, so of course I took the opportunity.
We went into a grey building that could have been offices but arriving on the second floor we were ushered into a tatami hallway with a room full of kimonos and yukatas on one side, and changing rooms and hair-dressing on the other. There were hundreds of beautiful kimonos and there must have been a design and colour to suit everyone. I chose a floral pink one and a purple obi, although there were so many other combinations I would have liked to try. Next the complicated bit: putting it on. I went into the small changing room where two women were helping everyone to get dressed (girls only of course). Looking at a kimono-clad woman you can see that there are several layers involved but you only realise just how much goes into it when you try it yourself; after putting on the kimono the assistants tied endless pieces of white fabric around my waist before tying the obi, leaving me completely curve-less by the end. Next I was given some shoes, sort of plastic clogs, which, combined with the restricting shape of the kimono, force you to walk very daintily and slowly. Finally someone did my hair for me, with hundreds of hair pins and nearly a whole can of spray, to make a sort of plait/bun/ponytail combination.
By this time I was feeling pretty much like a princess and looking forward to capturing it on camera and then going; for some reason I just assumed that we weren’t supposed to leave, I thought there’d just be a photography room or something to use and then get changed and go. I suppose the kimono seemed too nice to take outside. It wasn’t until I was made to put everything I needed in a bag they lent me and they took away my old clothes and shoes that I realised we were going outside.
At first I felt self-conscious out on the streets in this traditional Japanese dress; I always have the feeling in the back of my mind that I’ll be judged for trying too hard to ‘fit in’ or something and besides this I tend to stand out in Japan whatever I wear because I’m really pale and have blue eyes. However I quickly forgot this because visiting the temples of Kyoto in traditional dress is one of the best experiences I’ve had in Japan. For any foreigner considering wearing a kimono/yukata out in public (apart from at festivals) Kyoto is definitely the ideal place for it. There are plenty of elegant Japanese women and girls (and even a couple of maiko) also out in kimonos so you don’t feel like the odd one out, and besides this all the old-fashioned architecture and beautiful scenery (it was autumn when I went – red and gold leaves everywhere) provide the perfect backdrop to the gorgeous clothing.
The bag I rented, I would have happily traded the bag I came with for this!
Matcha parfait at a Kyoto cafe~
Sweet potato risotto and pasta with green peppers – Kyoto is famous for vegetable cuisine
Overall I probably spent about 4 hours wearing the kimono and by the end my back was aching and taking baby steps was getting tiresome. Viewing temples and gardens in a kimono is fine as you can just drift slowly from one pretty sight to another without having to walk too far in one go, but walking down long roads to get back to the rental shop was difficult. Despite this I was so glad to have been able to wear a kimono and a few months later I went back to Kyoto with friends from my university dorm in Kobe to look for second-hand ones. There is a great shop with loads of used kimonos in fairly good condition and relatively cheap (annoyingly I can’t remember the name but will update this if I do). Buying a kimono is a fairly expensive commitment as you also need the obi, shoes, tabi (socks), undergarments etc, so I just bought a kimono for 4,000 yen and decided to collect the other parts gradually. I chose this design:
I couldn’t resist the added luxury of the gold embroidery – tho goodness knows when I will have the chance to wear it. While a kimono makes a fantastic souvenir or an extravagant present, I’d recommend renting one so that a professional can dress you~
Hisashiburi…(It’s been a long time)
Posted on: July 22, 2012
It’s been ages since I posted…over the summer when I was just lounging about the house I had plenty of time to blog but then I came to Japan and so much happened: I made a lot of new friends from all over the world in my dorm, I found a boyfriend and I travelled to hundreds of exciting places in Japan and even Korea.
But now that I’m leaving in a few weeks things are winding down and I’m going to start going back over the year and write about the things that I thought would interest anyone who likes Japan. Also I thought maybe I could write about what it’s like to date a Japanese guy. It’s not like I’m the first person ever to do it, but foreign girl/Japanese guy couples are way rarer than American or English guys who go out with and marry Japanese women. So I thought there probably aren’t that many blogs about it.
Anyway, at first I’m just gonna write about a couple of cultural things I did this year: seeing two art exhibitions in Osaka and attending the performance of the all-singing, all-dancing, all female theatre troupe Takarazuka.
Kusama Yayoi (草間彌生）’Eternity of Eternal Eternity’ Exhibition
I had never heard of the artist Kusama Yayoi before but once I saw a photo of her wearing her distinctive trademark red bob wig (see here), I was sure I’d seen her before. As the above board suggests, a large amount of the work was white with red spots or vice versa. One room was full of giant flowers, made out of of fiberglass I think, all white with big red spots which reminded me of the garden in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it was playful and fun. The main body, however, was about 100 large, square canvases with detailed abstract designs. Motifs included eyes, black spots and thick, wobbly black lines that looked like long centipedes. The eyes and the insect-like patterns were unsettling and had a sort of hallucinogenic quality and I didn’t want to look at them for too long…I read that the artist was troubled and suffered from strange visions as a child and I think this is evident in her work.
When it comes to art, I’m kind of a beauty snob. I like things that are pretty or at least have some kind of beauty to them but Kusama-san’s eyes and odd black patterns were too creepy for me. However, before leaving I wondered around another room and saw some paintings by an artist called Ozawa Sakae, which I really liked. Her colour schemes and technique of bleeding colours into each other reminded me of the Northern lights:
With the dark, tall pines and the mysterious light there’s a Nordic fairytale quality to the art – I feel like the Moomins or perhaps the characters from a Grimm story would be at home in one of these paintings. There’s something slightly eerie about the strangely glowing animals but I like the haunting feeling that comes from them. My boyfriend found them too spooky, probably because his natural disposition is bright and cheerful, but I like melancholy things and one day I want to have one of these prints in my house~~~
The other exhibition I saw was ‘Unleashing the Museum’ by Enoki Chuu (榎忠)
All the exhibits were made from reclaimed materials (bullet casing, shrapnel, gun components etc) from World War II, which of course made it a very thought-provoking exhibition. A lot of people just stood and stared at the heap of shells and bullets above, it’s hard to find the appropriate thing to say. But I felt that there was something triumphant in the fact that this ammunition that killed, or would have killed, so many, was now just piled up like a heap of dead things, harmless and useless. And now humans were looking at it, for entertainment, as art. The message of the exhibition for me was that even though weapons are terrifying, once war is over they are lifeless and become no more than scrap metal, whereas humans continue to live their rich lives.
The final, and most striking piece, was a whole lot of shells and casings standing upright in a meticulously planned arrangement so that from a distance they resembled a sprawling futuristic city:
The light moved across the ‘city’ and dimmed and brightened in a way that mimicked the sun’s cycle. There’s something ironic about artillery, which serves to end people’s futures, being used to create a futuristic city. I felt like the artist was saying something about humans’, and particularly Japan’s, ability to recover from war and create something beautiful from it.
One more thing; outside the gallery were large cubes with romantic phrases written on them. I think it was a nice touch to surround a war exhibition with messages of love~
As usual this turned into a far-too-long monologue of my rambling about art so next time I will write about the Takarazuka musical, which is more pop culture and a must see for anyone after something uniquely Japanese : )
A picture book of Kobe
Posted on: October 6, 2011
- In: Fashion | Food | Japan
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Above is a view of Kobe from the top floor of a public building ( I forgot the name…) It’s just one of the wonderful things I have seen since coming here. This is basically a photographic diary of life in the 6 days since I arrived:
There are A LOT of insects around, luckily I have so far only encountered them outdoors but a friend told me he once found a praying mantis in his shower....
My friend's adorable dog. She is (imaginitavely) called 白 (Shiro, meaning white)
Watched a street performance in Sannomiya. The monkey could walk on its hands, jump over hurdles while on stilts and leap over huge distances!
Typical Japanese architecture and foliage~
和室 (washitsu) a typical Japanese-style (as opposed to western style) room. I stayed here (a friend’s house in Amagasaki) for 3 nights before moving into my dorm in the Nada prefecture.
The night view from my dorm window. Normally I’m happy enough with the low quality photos from my old digital camera but in real life the view is so beautiful and breathtaking, I wish I had a proper camera to capture it with…
SHOPPING:
Sannomiya is great for shopping. In the main shopping arcades there are lots of high-end shops and western brands such as Gap and Zara but if you explore the narrow lanes beneath the station there are all sorts of bargain shops where you can find the same items for less than half the price^^
I hit the shops with some friends and bought some new shoes. What I love about Japanese fashion is all the minute detailing such as in the bows on these suede-look shoes:
I got these for around 2,000 yen each pair. That's less than £20~~
I feel at home now that all my clothes are hung up in the wardrobe~
I got a Japanese mobile phone! I've been waiting so long to upgrade from my 6 year old English one. This one has a constellation-like display of colour changing lights whenever I close it~
I had to buy this air freshener, the packaging was so cute and cheerful I thought it would brighten up my small room
First shopping! I love asian food so I got kimchee, noodles, sushi, shredded cabbage, wagashi (seasonal sweets) coffee flavoured soy milk and a huge apple~
There were so many delicious looking sweets and cakes and a lot of fried foods like tempura in the supermarket. I had to keep telling myself that I have nearly a whole year to try them all, no need to eat a lot of unhealthy things now. Everyone here is so slender, I can’t lose my resolve to have a healthy diet and lose weight!
That’s it so far. In truth I took a lot of pointless pictures of things I bought, like shampoo and drinks which I’ve since deleted. I think it’s just because looking at the Japanese packaging reminds me that I’m actually here – it’s such a great feeling to finally be in the place you dream of coming to~~~
I hope the next six days will be as fun as the first ones~
From West to East
Posted on: October 4, 2011
- In: Japan
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Finally, I arrived in Japan! Just two days ago I was waiting in Gatwick airport at 6am and now I am sitting in the student dorm in Kobe. The flight time was around 16 hours total but as I flew with Emirates I stopped over in Dubai. Dubai airport is really impressive. The design is very sleek and clean and the staff were very respectful and called me ‘madame’. Their clothing looks like military uniforms so they can seem a bit intimidating but they were all very helpful.
Dubai airport looks more like a Las Vegas hotel...
I stayed a few days in a friends house in Amagasaki. It’s a typical house with screens and tatami mats and futons but each room has a huge Hitachi tv in it, so there’s a contrast between tradition and innovation. The toilet was a mystery…the seat is heated, everything is controlled by a panel on the wall and good luck finding the flush if you can’t read Japanese! In the morning we went to the 7/11 to get breakfast. I had some fried fish and salad with cold coffee:
Not exaclty refined cuisine but really delicious and cheap
My friend’s mother was so friendly and charming. She spoke to me in plain form so I didn’t have to worry about using formal Japanese and she held a barbecue for everyone on Sunday. My friend’s grandmother was there too and she gave me a present:
An unexpcted gift of shrimp flavour crisps, biscuits and tissues~
I think it must be a tradition for women to present gifts to female guests in their house because a male friend of mine who also stayed was given nothing. At the weekend we went to Sannomiya which is a large shopping district. It has loads of gorgeous clothes shops, huge electronics stores and too many restaurants and cake shops to choose from. It also has a beautiful shrine:
A Shinto wedding ceremony was taking place~ The shrine attendants were wearing beautiful ceremonial dress. It was so lucky to see something like this on my second day in Japan~
Before entering there is a cleansing ritual where you wash your left hand with your right and vice versa then wash your mouth with water from a small font:
Cleansing with the shrine water
In the evening we went to China town. It was very busy and lively and as the evening was just beginning there was an exciting atmosphere as people came out to eat from all the stalls:
Nightlife beginning in China town
The food looked and smelled wonderful but we didn’t eat anything as we decided to go to an izakaya instead. An izakaya is probably closest to a pub in terms of comparison with England. It’s a place to drink with friends but unlike in a pub where you don’t always eat, at an izakaya there are lots of small dishes for everyone to share. I tried some deep fried chicken cartilage (by tried I mean I was forced to by my Japanese friends…) it was a very bizarre texture and hard to eat it knowing what it was but there are lots of strange foods in Japan that I’ll have to get used to…or avoid.
I have been here four and half days now and so much has happened. To write and explain all of it would take too long so I’m planning to just post some of my recent photos wit captions to try and convey the weird and wonderful experience that is living in Japan~~
Until then~
Beautiful vintage
Posted on: September 26, 2011
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One of the hardest things about packing for a 10 month trip is fitting 10 months worth of clothes into a suitcase…
I have a lot of vintage clothing and jewellery so I don’t want everything crammed in and getting damaged. Looking at it all spread out over my bed made me want to write a bit about it here, to celebrate vintage style. I love the patterns and motifs on vintage items as well as the history behind them. One of my favourite items is this vintage purse that I use when I go to clubs or bars:
I found this in a charity shop, one of the best places to find a quality item cheap. This only cost £2.50 and came with a smaller coin purse inside.
The gold thread in the fabric gives this a luxury feel and the pattern reminds me of 1920s or 30s upholstery. It originally had a chain attached but it broke off so I use it as a clutch now. This is typical of the sort of fabrics I like. I laid a lot of items out together as a sort of collage of the styles I like most:
Vintage-style silk scarves, string gloves from Paris, old-fashioned brooches and even a notebook - I love this glamourous and refined fashion
I always look in the cabinets or loose trays in antique shops for old brooches, pins, lockets etc. I love costume jewellery – the sort of thing that wouldn’t be out of place in the Agatha Christie Theatre Company’s wardrobe – and when winter comes around there is an excuse to use vintage brooches for pinning scarves into place against the cold. If I buy modern gold (or gold-look) accessories I tend to let them take a bit of wear and tear so that they look a bit burnished and a bit older:
The bracelet is modern but has become quite tarnished since I bought it, the pink brooch was a christmas present that came from Birmingham indoor market and the gold brooch in the corner belonged to a friend's grandmother
The items are laid out on top of an old Chinese-style jewellery box that I bought in the same charity shop as the clutch. I really recommend looking in charity shops; you won’t often find actual vintage but there are plenty of treasures hidden amongst the hideous sweaters and Ant and Dec CDs…
*****
Yesterday I went with my family to the China Garden restaurant in Brighton as a kind of farewell meal. There was Chinese writing on the wall by our table and my dad was sat in front of the kanji for alcohol （酒）and for joy （喜）This seemed appropriate as for my dad alcohol = joy haha
The rest of my family can’t speak any Chinese or Japanese but they still had fun reading the menu:
My brother remarked that he would always be up for some 'ho fun'...especially in Malaysian style...
The service and the food at this restaurant is wonderful. We went at lunch time and ordered from the dim sum menu, mostly dumplings, spring rolls and croquettes:
Duck in noodle soup, barbecue spare ribs (favourite) and yam croquettes and sesame pork char siu buns
It was so delicious! A great place to eat~~
Money and movies
Posted on: September 21, 2011
- In: Film | Japan
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Today I went to collect my yen for Japan, the last thing I had to do before leaving next Thursday. It is so strange to hold a note with 5,000 written on it! The notes feature influential figures on them such as 紫式部 (Murasaki Shikibu)
Murasaki Shikibu wrote 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji) in the 11th century and it’s widely considered to be the first novel ever written. This image appears on the 2,000 yen note and in the other corner is an image from The Tale of Genji:
Because Genji is such an important piece of Japanese literature I decided a while ago to read the English translation before going to Japan. This was slightly ambitious as the book (my edition) is over 1,000 pages long and there are a lot of extra notes explaining the customs and laws of the time as well as the importance of the poetry in the novel etc.
The Tale of Genji, Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition
The Penguin edition has illustrations too:
I have read about a third of it but haven’t picked it up for a long time. It’s fascinating reading about society in the 11th century although the main character Genji is rather unbelievable as everything about him is apparently perfect. Despite the strict rules of conduct that make it very hard for him to be alone with the women he wants to pursue, Genji somehow manages to have countless affairs – he is basically the Japanese Casanova! The characters often communicate through poems, most of which are only a few lines, and the images of nature are really beautiful. Hopefully one day I’ll finish reading it…
*****
Last night I felt like watching a movie so I watched a couple of dvds that I got from my best friend as a Christmas present. Knowing me as she does, she bought me this:
Of the films featured in this collection I only like two out of the four. Donnie Darko is brilliantly weird and sinister and Proof is a great human drama. The Good Girl is described as a comedy but I found its story of a woman trapped in a dead-end job and a loveless marriage too depressing, as for Moonlight Mile, it felt quite slow and I found myself wondering when it was going to end (although Jake was superb in both of them of course~~~) It was lovely present but I wish Brokeback Mountain had been in this collection ><
*****
Now there is only one week left before leaving for Japan…I have to spend it studying hard for the placement test and be careful to eat healthily so I can be at my best when I get there – I hope I can keep my resolve…
Written while listening to Interpol, Interpol, Interpol… they are all I’ve listened to these past few days, I should vary my playlist I think…
Little things
Posted on: September 18, 2011
Lately it’s been so dull in my home-town; my best friends have all been on holiday so I’ve been stuck at home a lot, finding little things to do with my time. Like making this coffee cake (above) for example. I love the flavour of coffee; in Selly Oak in Birmingham, where I lived this year, there is a Korean supermarket where I would always buy iced caramel macchiato. I can’t remember the brand but even the can was really pretty, with a picture of a girl amongst some leaves and flowers on it. I used to drink this stuff a lot too:
Famous House Pearl Milk Tea. It has a milky sweet flavour and there is tapioca pearl at the bottom.
The tapioca in this has a bit of a slimy texture and looks like frog-spawn so it’s probably an acquired taste, but there are plenty of varieties without tapioca. I know that there is a huge range of iced tea and coffee in Japan so I can’t wait to try some different flavours~
*****
I decided to try combining some different nail varnishes to get a more interesting look than usual. I combined:
Wet ‘n’ Wild glitter varnish, Natural Collection clear varnish and Barry M Strawberry varnish
To make this look:
This pink sparkly look is maybe a bit too close to himegyaru but I like it : )
The glitter was done quite messily and in a still photo you can’t see the sparkle but it looks lovely when it catches the light.
I also continued my ongoing mission to learn how to make a bun on top of my head. I really like the look and I have long hair so I can make a big bun but it’s so hard to get it right. In the end I got my sister to help me and she did it really neatly and beautifully:
She even put a ribbon in the back for me. I hope she’ll teach me the secret of this…
*****
I did a little shopping, like always. When I visited a friend in Cardiff I got this in H&M:
H&M Vanilla and Apple Body Scrub
It smells like apple pie~ The actual scrub is dark green with black exfoliating beads in it, which was surprising as from the scent I expected it to be golden coloured like vanilla essence. It can feel a little rough, which I actually think is a good thing, a body scrub needs to be rough to be effective. I wanted to get more but couldn’t find any in Brighton : ( So instead I went looking for some autumn/winter clothing and got some warm over-knee socks and earmuffs. I love wearing earmuffs in winter:
They are so comfy~
*****
Finally my friends came back yesterday and we went to eat at Wagamama. The food is hardly authentic Japanese food but it’s really delicious. I had Chicken ライスカレーcooked in lime and coconut sauce. It was so beautifully presented it was a shame to mix it all together:
There was too much rice for me but the curry was a perfect mix of flavours and it had a lot of vegetables in it which gave lots of different textures. I hate what is normally called ‘karee’ in Japan as it is nothing like the English/Indian/Thai idea of curry. It is more like thick gravy in texture and taste and has none of the exotic spicy flavour of something like Madras or Rogan Josh. I think it’s one dish I will be avoiding in Japan…
Written while listening to Interpol and Thom Yorke~
London
Posted on: September 8, 2011
- In: Art | Japan
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On Tuesday I headed to London to apply for my student visa at the Japanese embassy. This is in Picadilly, between Hyde Park and Green Park and all the surrounding buildings are very grand. When you enter you are IDed by a body guard, your bag is x-rayed and you have to walk trough a metal detector! Besides this there are two very important things that my friends neglected to tell me:
1) If anyone else comes with you they need ID just to enter the building!
2) You can only pay cash…
Luckily the person who was with me had their credit card as ID and also had a £50 note to pay with (I felt like such an idiot, waving my debit card at the guy behind the counter…) I wanted to speak Japanese but ended up falling back on good old English, just adding ありがとうございました when we were done haha
The embassy is just as grand as the buildings around it – even the waiting room has huge gold chandeliers. Unfortunately you don’t get to see much of it when applying for a visa, just the waiting room and the application counters…
After submitting my application I went to Trafalgar Square to visit the National Gallery:
St Martins in the Fields
Traflagar Square and Nelson's Column
I love the National Gallery^^ I don’t really have much interest in modern art and prefer 15th-early 20th century works. One of my favourite artists is Anthony Van Dyck, a 17th century Flemish painter. Besides his technical skill, the figures he depicts have real character, such as in this portrait:
Portrait of the painter Frans Snydersa. Rather than simply staring into space or smiling benignly, as is the case in many classic portraits, Snydersa has a slightly sarcastic and cold look about him which gives the work much more personality
Another of my favourite artists is Caspar David Friedrich, a 19th century German landscape painter. His art is romantic and has an air of fantasy about it:
Monastery Graveyard in the Snow. A haunting image with Gothic undertones
Friedrich’s paintings usually feature large areas of open sky which I feel gives them a sense of the infinite and reminds you how large the world is when compared to man. There is also a feeling of great possibility for example:
Boats in the Harbour at Evening. The large span of sea and sky with no land in sight gives an idea of all that could be waiting to be explored in the vast world...at least I think so^^
Hopefully, when I have my own house I will get a big Friedrich canvas for the bedroom. I didn’t have time to look all around the gallery and even if I had I think you can’t go on looking at paintings for ever or you stop appreciating them as much and a whole century’s worth of art starts to look the same. If you’re going up to London you should definitely go to the National Gallery! Next time I’m there I think I’ll also go to the Portrait Gallery~~~
Written absent-mindedly while listening to 分島花音 and trying to find books on Friedrich~
Lately…
Posted on: September 2, 2011
- In: Beauty | Exercise | Film | Japan
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I don’t have much of a particular subject to write about today so I decided to talk about some of the things I’m excited about/interested in lately.
Firstly, I got new headphones. For about four years I’ve been using metallic red Skullcandy Lowrider headphones (I bought them in a phase of loving bright colours) but, typically, they stopped working in one ear.
My old headphones. R.I.P~ (I don’t own this picture)
So it was time for a new set, sleeker and less conspicuous. Normally I can’t find much in Lewes (my hometown) due to the small range of shops but luckily I got exactly what I wanted in Currys:
Goji headphones £17.99
I’ve never heard of this brand before, the name sounds Japanese but I’m not sure. (and too lazy to check even tho I’m at my computer right now ><) The sound quality is good and they fold up to about half the size~
Next up, I did a bit of shopping today with my little sister. (I say little – she is taller than me!) We went looking for perfume but ended up buying completely different things. I bought:
Miss Sporty XX Volume Mascara, Garnier Eye Roll-on and Barry M lipstick
I kept wanting to buy eye roll-on because I never get enough sleep and consequently look like a zombie…But I don’t usually trust any kind of ‘miracle product’. However, I decided to give it a go; I chose the version which contains concealer and I’m really pleased with it^^
The colour blended really well with my skin tone to cover dark circles instantly. That’s what I expected. But since then I have taken a shower, washing off all the concealer, but my eyes still look great. I recommend eye roll-on!
A quick word about the Barry M lipstick. It has the rather unimaginative name of 101 033 but I guess I’d describe the colour as pale peach. I have very pale skin so I thought making my lips paler would make me look washed out – or ghostly…but the pale pink somehow brightened my whole face, especially my eyes. I’m gonna be on the look out for more pale shades in future~
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Today I cycled 12.5km on the exercise bike! The conservatory, where the bike lives, is too messy to show a photo but here it is on the Argos site. The great thing about indoor cycling is that I can watch TV – today I watched New Tricks^^ I burnt almost 200kcals. This model measures time, speed, distance, kcals, rpm and pulse rate. I used resistance 3, which is low, because I haven’t been working out properly for a long time (I used to train 6 hours a week as gymnast) It feels so good to be exercising!
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A couple more things: some of my favourite films. The first is Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift, the story of an American guy who gets sent to Japan and discovers the underground drift racing scene. I love the glamourised portrayal of Tokyo and the flashy cars:
Tokyo Drift, a recent new edition which comes with a poster for Fast and Furious 5
This movie features the song ‘Tokyo Drift’ by Japanese rap group Teriyaki Boyz (it also includes their song ‘Cho Large’) The song is notoriously catchy even if a little comical to fans of Western rap:
Secondly there is Goemon. This is a fairly recent release in Japan -2010 I think – and is an epic story of love, betrayal and friendship set against the background of 16th century Japan at war. The costumes and sets are breathtaking and there is the same lush and fantastical recreation of a bygone era that you see in the Pirates of the Caribbean films:
Goemon, don’t be fooled by the cover it’s not just an action film
This beautiful still from the film demonstrates the gorgeous scenery and attention to detail:
Trouble brewing at sea in Goemon
(This picture, it’s from HK films so full credit to the author of that site)
Finally, my favourite at the moment: Prince of Persia – The Sands of Time. I’m not much of a gamer but I have fallen in love with the Prince of Persia games. I’m addicted to the ancient orient whether it’s far east or middle east so these games, set in ancient Persia, really appeal to me. The movie features the gorgeous Jake Gyllenhaal in the role of the Prince:
Here’s Prince Dastan in poster form on my bedroom wall^^
The film is loosely based on the ps2 game of the same name but the pixel-y zombies and squarish scenery are replaced with elaborate costumes and highly choreographed action sequences.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
I can’t watch it enough times.
(image from this site – not mine!!)
There were lots of other things I was going to write about but this is already far too much of a ramble as it is. Maybe next time~~
fillevanille 