Origami House Gallery in Tokyo and Nippon Origami Museum at Narita Airport

While in Japan, I visited two origami exhibits that were both amazing.  One was Origami House Gallery, operated by one of my favorite origami artists, Makoto Yamaguchi.  In the glass showcases, I saw a lot of pieces by Satoshi Kamiya and Eric Joisel, both of whom were featured in Between the Folds documentary.  They create the most complex and realistic origami models that I have ever seen.  I didn't take any photos there because they don't allow it, but you can see some of the artworks in their website here.  There, I also found out about Japan Origami Academic Society and became a member.

The other origami exhibit that I visited was Nippon Origami Museum at Narita Airport.  I have been there when I traveled through Narita last time, but I'm glad to visit there again and to snap some photos. 

There were just too many art pieces to share in this blog but the photos above are of some of my favorites.  Compared to the artworks that I saw at Origami House, these are closer to my style so I can relate more.

Next time when I visit back home in Japan, I would love to visit Nippon Origami Museum in Ishikawa-ken.  I've been wanting to go there for quite some time now, but I just didn't have time to make it this time.  It's supposed to be the biggest origami museum in the world!

Harajuku and Sugamo

At the end of our trip to Japan, we stopped in Tokyo for a night.  I know that a lot of foreigners are still afraid of going to Tokyo for possible exposure to radiation, but I believe it is safe, at least for adults without children to visit.  We stayed at a hotel right by Mejiro station.  Mejiro is on the Yamanote Line, which is the main railway in Tokyo that goes in circles.  The hotel was close to everything we wanted to go, had lots of shops and restaurants around, and best of all, it was only less than US$100 including yummy breakfast buffet.

From our hotel, we visited two different districts.  We went to Harajuku, which is where young people like to go to hang out at the shops, restaurants and bars.  We went there at night for a taproom that my partner wanted to visit for beer, and it was very busy.  By the time we got out of the taproom, most shops around there were closed.  I loved their mural artwork on the roll-up doors, though.

Another district that we visited is Sugamo, which is known as "Harajuku for the old ladies."  There is a street with a temple with a Jizo (Bodhisattva portrayed as a monk) and shops for older generation.  In comparison to Harajuku, Sugamo is more traditional and less western influenced.

A street view of Sugamo

A dried fish shop

Japanese sweet shop

These two districts are very different in contrast, but we really enjoyed visiting both places.  I guess we are somewhere between young and old.

Wearable Origami

I've been so busy that I had forgotten to post about another new program I am offering at the libraries this summer!  The program is called Wearable Origami, and it's about making jewelry and accessories out of paper.  I will show how to make origami rings, bracelets and other accesories that people can actually wear.  It's a teen program, but it's not too difficult even for grade school age children so younger ones are welcome as well.

I taught how to make the origami rings to my nieces during my visit back home.  They got so excited that they each decided to make a few.

Note: the funny face on their table is of Anpanman, a Japanese cartoon character.  He is a superhero with a face of a red bean paste bun and very popular among Japanese kids.

Here is my niece showing off her sparkly rings.  They are made of metallic origami papers but can be made of gum wrappers instead.  Fun!

I also made an origami fan with my niece.  After she was done folding it, I told her she could decorate it however she wanted.  Within the 10 minutes she had before school, she whipped up a collage cupcake (?) and a bow to go on top of the fan.  I am so proud of her creativity!

Both the ring and the fan, as well as more fun items will be introduced in Wearable Origami program.

Sunday, July 17   2:30-4pm at Holgate Library
Wednesday, July 20   4:30-5:30pm Midland Library
Sunday, July 24, 2011   2-3pm Hollywood Library
Wednesday, August 3   5:30-6:30pm Albina Library
Saturday, August 6   2-3pm at Gregory Heights Library

A visit to a Japanese grade school

 
While I was at home in Japan, the grade school that my nieces go to was having an Open House.  This also happened to be the school where I attended as a child.  Any family member was welcome to visit, so I went.  I felt nostalgic to visit, especially since much of it seemed just the same even after all these years.  I was also glad to see how my nieces are doing at school.  My littlest niece was learning hiragana in her classroom during my visit. 

The older one was in a swimming lesson. 

They were both so enthusiastic, happy to show off how they are doing at school.  After visiting them, I enjoyed looking at the children's artwork displayed all over the school.

The last photo is of the school entrance.  In a Japanese school, there are usually shoe cupboards at the entrance because they change into indoor shoes from outdoor shoes when they enter the school building.  Isn't it a nice custom, to keep the building nice and clean?

It's a public school in a small town in Japan, which can't be more different from the school that I've been working at (a private Montessori in an urban setting in the United States).  I feel strange that I ended up there from the environment that I grew up in.

My Trip to Japan

Since I got over a week off work between my jobs recently, I went to visit my home in Japan with my husband.  We made a last minute decision to go so we were spinning our heads around to get ready.  But the trip was well worth the hustles.  We spent a lot of time with my family.  We took a chartered fishing trip with my siblings, which was especially memorable.

Of course, I didn't forget to bring my origami spirit with me to the trip.  I did some origami with my nieces who are now in grade school.  I stocked up on a bunch of origami papers.  I visited Origami House Gallery in Tokyo as well as the Origami Museum at Narita Airport.

Just as soon as I returned to Portland I got busy working at my annual arts camp job, but I'd like to blog about my recent trip whenever I find time. Besides all the origami inspiration, I also want to report the effects that I saw from the March 11th disaster.

Although my hometown area is not directly affected by the earthquake or the tsunami, there are some "side effects."  One of which is that the government recently ordered to stop operating the nuclear power plants near my hometown, which is located on the coastline and near the epicenter of another great earthquake predicted in the future.  Because of this decision, the people are making effort to save power and refraining the use of AC, making the summer extra hot.  The photo below is of a sign that I often saw, which says "Stay Strong, Tohoku.  Stay Strong, Japan."  It seemed that this phrase is becoming like a national slogan.

Alpacas and Winery Tour

Itching to have a getaway day trip from Portland, my partner and I just drove to Sherwood area.  While looking for a place to visit, we found out that this weekend, an alpaca farm in Sherwood is open to public, while many wineries in the same area are open for wine tasting.  Ever since I heard about alpaca wool being much warmer than sheep wool and hypoallergenic, I've been curious about alpacas.  I wanted to see what they are like.

The alpaca farm is just 30 minutes drive from southwest of Portland in Sherwood, Oregon.  We enjoyed the drive through the rolling hills.  As we arrive the farm and come close to these animals, I keep hearing funny noises that they make, different from any other animals I've heard.  It's hard to describe or try to imitate the noise.  They are just as funny looking as they are funny sound,  but soooo cute!

After the visit to the alpaca farm, we visited a winery nearby for wine tasting.  Unfortunately, I am ultra sensitive to alcohol so I just let my husband enjoy it.  But it happened to be sunny at the moment, and the scenery there was beautiful, so it was definitely worth visiting.

It's so gorgeous out there that made me wish that I could sit on one of these chairs and fold paper all day!  I bet I can be so inspired by the beauty there.

Looking at the alpacas at the farm made me want to make an origami alpaca after I got home.  I seem to do this every time after I see an animal.  I didn't know of any origami alpaca instructions, but I realized that I do have a book with an origami llama. Which made me think what's the difference between alpacas and llamas anyways? 

I ended up researching on the web, and I found out that the llamas are roughly twice as large as alpacas.  Llamas have very coarse outer coat over softer inner coat, as opposed to alpacas, which have very fine, single coat. In addition, llamas produce far less fiber than alpacas, despite its much larger size.  This is because alpacas have been domesticated and carefully bred for thousands of years as a luxury fiber-producing animal. On the other hand, llamas have been bred for the same amount of time as pack-carrying animal.  But they are very similar in looks.

So here it is, my origami alpaca.  He currently lives in my succulent garden pot.  But I will eventually move him in my origami farm diorama.

The origami llama/alpaca instruction can be found in Fun with Animal Origami by John Montroll.  I should do a book review on this sometime.