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

Crane #152 - #180

I came up with the idea of origami-bombing after seeing some yarn bombing near my house. I got inspired by this video to do something similar by brightening up the local area with origami cranes:

Hammock - Breathturn from David Altobelli on Vimeo.

And so I started stringing up cranes, and weather proofed them with some clear acrylic spray paint. I've got my eye on a big project with 100 cranes, but as a trial, Jo and I tied up 29 cranes (there were 30 but one fell off on the way down the stairs) to the railings next to my house.

This guy stopped and chatted to us for a little while - it was nice to know that we at least made one person smile...