Sunny and Summery Thursday with Hello Sandwich having a nice lunch at favourite cafe, buying charity artwork, lovely walk with non-stop instagraming, working together back at my apartment. Such a jolly afternoon it was.

The artwork I bought is by a Swiss artist called Mirjam Joss. I googled her name but not much was found. Does anyone know anything about her? I want to tell her that I really love what I got.

Also bought some help japan badges from the cafe ohanaya (they do a couple of charity drinks too), and some help japan project post cards from gellerie doux dimanche by SOLEDAD and AT-SWIM-TWO-BIRDS (her original artwork was also exhibited and it was so beautiful! wish i could afford it......)!!!

You can see all the artworks that were donated from all over the world here!

I hope everyone's Thursday has been and will be lovely too!
And Happy Golden Week to those who are in Japan :)
tsubaki
red bridge
magnolia in the window

sunday picnic

It's not just white and pink and sakura in the Tokyo spring time. I also found reds here and there and everywhere. Oh do I love spring!

天然生活 =Tennen Seikatsu which means "Natural Life" is another of my favourite Japanese lifestyle magazines. And this month's issue vol.77 is one of the best issues I've read!

The top feature of this issue is the beautiful home of the famous furniture company TRUCK's owner Hiromi Karatsu san in Osaka. It shows their great and inspiring storage ideas using baskets, boxes and shelving etc.





Another main feature of the issue is Japanese craftsmanship. The basketry, oh I LOVE the bamboo baskets they are really durable and useful, the square ones are on my wish-list now!


Folk-craft toys:

The first monthly column of a flower stylist, lovely Kazumi Hirai san who did my wedding flowers, who also is the owner of my favourite cafe ikanika.

And so many cooking recipes using the early summer vegetables that I want to try!!

I just can't get enough of it!

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I hope you are all having a good start to the new week like I did. I had a delicious lunch (photo here) at this really nice new britto place in Aoyama with my dear friend Ebony followed by my first visit to the cutest A to Z cafe! (photo here) Had a really fun relaxed afternoon :)
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Sakura Walk in Nakameguro
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Normally the streets along the canal here in Nakameguro have lanterns and it gets all lit up in the evening, but this year like everywhere else in Tokyo no light-ups had been held to save electricity for the concern of unexpected power shortage due to the temporary shutting down of the nuclear power plants in Fukushima. But that was no big deal, without lanterns I think it looked all white and extra beautiful. It would actually and probably (or hopefully) be the only year I could photograph the sakura here looking like these without lanterns in sight. (You can see what it normally looks like here in my old post.)

Sakura was all over the place, up in the sky, down on the ground, in the reflections and in the shadows, fallen petals even in my hands. Looking at people having great time, smiling, made me smile (half crying) I must have looked insane but I will remember this year's sakura as a very special memory and I hope you enjoyed my sakura photos! :)
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I'm a bit behind I know, the petals have already all fallen and it's all green with young leaves by now. I know they'd all look the same, every year I get so many photos that look almost the same, but it's just too hard to stop photographing! But oh what a beauty it all was. What a comfort it all has been!









All images are from ROLLS TOHOKU.

I'm sure many of you have seen enough devastating imagery of the Tohoku disaster and I never meant to post any sad images here. But these, I simply could not help sharing. These are all taken by the people in the worst damaged areas, mostly by children who have lost their houses and their possessions. These are from their everyday life, a few weeks after the disaster.

A Japanese photographer Aichi Hirano went into the earthquake & tsunami-hit areas around Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture carrying lots of instant cameras with him. He handed the cameras to the people in the evacuation centres and asked them to photograph what they see, what they want to record or remember, people around them, the ones they love, or just anything they want to photograph. And he asked them to enjoy it as much as they can.

ROLLS TOHOKU 3/31 - 4/3 is the project Hirano set up, to showcase photographs of the disaster-stricken areas by the victims themselves to tell the world what's really there and the people's thoughts and views other than what have been brought to us through media hoping that people who thought and felt something from seeing these photographs will act to help for the recovery in the way and through what they can/want/believe, and most importantly "to continue doing it for as long as possible".

Most faces seen in the ROLLS TOHOKU are with smiles. They are not the sad photographs but are filled with lights of hope.
All so amazingly beautiful.





The world is so beautiful, that is why we have to take a good care of it.
I hope for the better tomorrow.

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