MAY YOUR 2011 BE FULL OF KINGFISHERS

Japanese Christmas and New Year is pretty different to what I`ve known every previous year. Here`s a diary of my last 3 weeks including some food I`ve eaten, some music I`ve drawn, some old friends I`ve seen, Shinto Jinjas and Buddhist temples, museums and mountains, new shoes and a new years eve scratching cat

TOKYO

Rie of Small Color`s delicious traditional breakfast called teishokku

Small Color and their audience, Tokyo

The E-Jimas who looked after me so well when I lived with them for my first year in Japan

Naoki, Miwako, Leon and Tone

HAMAMATSU INSTRUMENT MUSEUM

a lot of beautiful banjos from around the world

a serpent from the UK

CHRISTMAS IN KYOTO

a Shinto Jinja up a small mountain

Oden (tasty steamed things) designed into a face by Daichan of cafe Yugue

Ichi and Suchan drawing

me and Mukuchan drawing

A happy belly at cafe Yugue, `gochaso sama deshita`!

a Buddhist temple made from stacking wood so presisely that no hammer, nails, glue etc. is needed....just wood!

my christmas shoes from Ichi fresh from the wrapping

a shoe and Ichi, playing in Osaka on Chritmas day

OOSAKA MINZOKU HAKUBUSTUKAN MUSEUM

world cultural museum

Ichi and an incredible sculpture by Taro Okamoto's "Taiyou no tou". It felt like the biggest thing I had ever seen made by a man. You can see it from miles away, like the angel of the north in England. When we were up close it made my knees bend and my stomach do little somersaults

A bad photo of a lady ploughing a rice field.

Later I want to make a whole blog about rice as I enjoy it everyday and it`s such an important part of Japanese culture

textiles from a remote part of northern China

textiles from Indonesia

BACK IN NAGOYA

a poster for our Triangle tour with Rozi Plain in February.

The poster and tour title was inspired by the pevious textiles and my new shoes

NEW YEARS EVE

during the day we walked to Tsurumai Koen, a park in Nagoya, and we spotted a kingfisher which felt like a rare treat amidst the metropolis of Nagoya. Ichi told me that to see a Kingfisher means you`ll have a good year.

A scratching cat.

Previously we had been out at a hidden talent party, where I performed a rap of Japanese tongue twisters while Ichi did breakdancing and scratching. The hardest part was not to laugh as part of our outfits were matching shorts and Ichi chose to wear his very high up his waist.

WALKING UP MOUNTAINS ON 1.1.11

Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu!

Happy new year!

May your 2011 be full of kingfishers

x x x