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By Little-Akiko, August 11, 2010 1:22 pm

I created New flower Rings at TinyShiny.com.
There are 6 different colored cotton rings.

I used 100% cotton yarn.
These cotton crochet flowers are about 4cm wide.

View Details: Crochet Rings at TinyShiny.com

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By Little-Akiko, August 6, 2010 1:13 pm

100th birthday of Akira Kurosawa.
Akira Kurosawa (黒澤 明) was born in 23 March 1910 in Tokyo, Japan.
He was a famous Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor.
Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sugata Sanshirô　/ Judo Saga　姿三十郎 (1943).
Kurosawa directed 30 films.

Akira Kurosawa’s 26 films will play at Cinéma du Parc.
From 6th August to 2nd September.
Kurosawa:A Centennial Celebration
Schedule

　Cinéma du Parc　3575 AVE DU PARC　Montreal　(514) 281-1900
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

My favorite　Akira Kurosawa films (Top 10):
1.七人の侍　　　　　　SHICHININ NO SAMURAI / SEVEN SAMURAI
2.隠し砦の三悪人　　KAKUSHI-TORIDE NO SAN-AKUNIN / THE HIDDEN FORTRESS
3.醜聞　　　　　　　　　SHÛBUN / SCANDAL
4.用心棒　　　　　　　 YÔJIMBÔ / YOJIMBO
5.椿三十郎T　　　　　SUBAKI SANJÛRÔ / SANJURO
6.生きる 　　　　　　　 IKIRU / TO LIVE
7.赤ひげ　　　　　　　　AKAHIGE / RED BEARD
8.醉いどれ天使　　　 YOIDORE TENSHI / DRUNKEN ANGEL
9.白痴　　　　　　　　　HAKUCHI / THE IDIOT
10.野良犬　　　　　　 NORA INU / STRAY DOG

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By Little-Akiko, June 19, 2010 2:59 pm

May 21 (Friday)

Today my friend N took a day off and we went to Enoshima.
I used to go there often when was a child. Last time I went there was about 16 years ago.

We met at Kamakura station and took train called “Enoden” to Enoshima Station.

It was sunny and hot, almost 30 degrees.
　Enoshima Benten Bridge

　Blue bronze gate (built in 1821)

Place hasn’t changed much since I last visited. I remember that there were a lot of shops on either side of the hill on the way to the shrine and the street was always crowded with people. It was early morning so there were not many people around. I thought the street seemed cleaner than before.

　the entrance of the shrine.

When we went up the stairs and arrived at Zuishin gate. There were two paintings of lions by Kayo Kataoka. In front of the gate there were statues of Benzaiten and Doshi.
Benzaiten is the goddess of music and entertainment.
Enoshima-jinja Shrine consists of three shrines.

　　　Enoshima Shrine Hetsuno-miya

We prayed and we bought written fortunes. The fortunes we both drew predicted very little good luck. We bundled them on a tree and left Hetsuno-miya.
After going through the little garden, we came upon a beautiful ocean view. A lot of birds (Tobi – kite) were flying about.

We arrived up Nakatsuno-miya. The escalators (surcharge) are also available.
　
Samuel Cocking Garden has a lighthouse. We didn’t go inside.
The entrance fee is 200 yen and the lighthouse is 300 yen.

　Souvenir shops.
　Enoshima Shrine Okutsuno-miya
In the bathroom, I washed my hands with the water coming out of the dragon’s mouth.
My friend N saw a lot of turtles rendered as paintings, statues and objects.

　　Wadatsuminomiya
The stone hut was closed.

We were getting hungry so we decided to go to Uomitei Restaurant, located on the highest spot on the hill. They had fresh caught Shirasu (baby sardines) from the bay. Shirasu is a kind of baby sardine or anchovy. From January to March fishing Shirasu is not allowed.
Uomitei is a long-established Restaurant in Enoshima.

　
　
I had choice between raw or steamed fish and I chose the raw Shirasu don (fish on rice). The fish was a little bit bitter. The steamed one would be sweeter.
My Friend chose the Enoshima don. The dish is made with egg and turban with sweet sauce on top of rice. Both dishes were 890 yen each.

The terrace was narrow but the view was great. We could see the Pacific Ocean clearly.

　
We felt good just sitting there.
After dinner, we went down the steep stairs to the sea.

　
That ocean was pretty clean.
There was a cave that was closed from 1971 until 1993. The place is well known as it appears in a Hiroshige Utagawa picture. Admission fee: Adults 500 yen and Children 200 yen.

The inside of the cave was cool. It was nice to get out of the heat.
Had there been no clouds, we could have seen Mount Fuji from the cave. There were many short stone statues in the cave.
Inside the cave, we found a plaque that explained the story of Enoshima. A heavenly maiden and a dragon with five heads. The evil dragon with 5 heads tormented the villagers. One day a heavenly maiden appeared to the island. The dragon fell in love with her. In the end the dragon changed his ways and married the maiden.

This explains why I had seen so many dragon objects everywhere in Enoshima.

We had a good time in Enoshima. There are many more places to see. I would like to visit again.

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By Little-Akiko, June 19, 2010 1:54 pm

May 19 (Wed)
This morning,　my parents and　I went to the Nezu Museum in Omotesando to see Korin Ogata’s painting “燕子花 (Kakitsubata) – Iris ”. Iris is a painting on a folding screen and considered a national treasure in Japan.

The exhibition was on until 23rd of May. The museum was so crowded because it was close to the end of show.

Admission fee adult: 1,200 yen per person.

“燕子花 (Kakitsubata) – Iris ” has not been exhibited in four years, it is rarely seen.
The painting is missing many gold leaves originally applied to the screen.
I wanted to see the painting from a distance, but too many people crowed in the front and I couldn’t see well.
There were many other folding screen paintings from the Edo era. They were also beautiful.

We went to other floors and saw various exhibits. Most of the exhibits were from China.
I expected more interesting landscape in the garden. I was a little disappointed. The irises had almost finished blooming and the garden did not have many flowers. There were several tea houses but we couldn’t get inside.

The museum opened at Kaichiro Nezu’s private residence in Aoyama in 1941. It is set in a spacious traditional-style garden with a pond surrounded by several tea houses. Nezu was an enthusiastic practitioner of the way of tea. The Nezu Museum is considered especially strong in arts related to tea.
Architect Kengo Kuma designed and supervised the rebuilding of the museum building. The new museum has been opened since October 2009.

There were statues everywhere in the garden.
　

The Japanese-style museum building itself is beautiful. It would be better, if it wasn’t so crowded.

Nezu Museum
6-5-1 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku
TEL :03-3400-2536

We took the same street back to the station. On the way we had lunch at Blue Brick Lounge (YokuMoku Aoyama). We waited over 30 minutes.
I had a set of sandwiches for lunch. The tartar on shrimp sandwich was okay. The nuts and chocolate mousse cake was delicious. It was nice of them give us some of their famous cookies.

Blue Brick Lounge (YokuMoku Aoyama)
5-3-3 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku Tokyo 107-0062

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By Little-Akiko, June 18, 2010 8:08 pm

May 6th(thu)

My mother wanted to go to Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo. We decided to go there that morning.

It was a little windy but the weather was nice. we enjoyed walking on Marunouchi-Naka-Dori Ave.

Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum has just been opened this spring.

The Original building was taken down in 1968 because it became too old.
The new red brick Museum is a reproduction of the original Mitsubishi Ichigokan building.

Mitsubishi Ichigokan was designed by British architect Josiah Conder and completed in 1894. It was the first Western-style office building in the Marunouchi area.
The building was a red brick building of the Queen Anne style.

The admission fee was 1, 500 yen.
It was pretty crowded.
Everybody had to start from the third floor and followed the directions.
There were many small rooms in this museum.

The exhibition was showing more than 80 pieces by Manet and his contemporaries: oil paintings, drawings, prints, construction drawings, sculptures and about 80 photos. the show is an introduction to the artistic background that Manet was experience while living in Paris.

I liked well-drawn lithographs by many different artists and Manet’s cat drawings.

Manet and the modern Paris exhibition is on until July 25th, 2010.

Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum
2-6-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo

Last time I was in Marunouchi Brick Square, it did not have so much greenery.

We went to New Marunouchi building and bought a Gyoko rolled cake at 14 Juliette Tokyo.

Gyoko rolled cake was delicious. It was fluffy and not too sweet. I prefer more cream. Gyoko is the beautiful ginkgo tree-lined street that goes to the Imperial Palace from Tokyo Station.
The egg sponge is made of 100% domestic flour. 1,200 yen
I would like to eat it again.

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By Little-Akiko, June 18, 2010 7:26 pm

May 2nd (sun)

It is Golden Week Sunday. Golden Week is a civic holiday in Japan. Me and My friend N met at Takao Station North Exit en route to Mt. Jimba and Mt.Takao.
There is a bakery at the station sells bread, rice balls and candy. It would have been a good idea to buy lunch here.

　Takao Station North Exit

We took a bus from Takao Station and got off at Mount Jimba Kougen. Cost:¥ 540-
　
We walked for quite a while on the concrete road before entering the mountains pass.
We started up a mountain pass that was so steep we couldn’t see the top.
At this point I wondered “can I make it to the top?” . . .This was not going to be easy.

We climbed and climbed, pondering over and over: “Are we almost there”.
Finally we came close to mountaintop of Jimba (857m) and we saw some beautiful flowers.

　
I was a little relieved but we still had to make it to the top.

Nice! I took this photo on the way to the summit. When we finally arrived at the mountaintop, we could see Mt. Fuji.

　　Mt. Jimba
It was tough but good climbing. The view from the mountaintop of Mt. Jimba was a wonderful. We had an early lunch before leaving for Mt.Takao.

We walked slowly through the green woods (it was a lot easier going downhill), toward Myoou Pass.

　　　Myoou Pass.　

We had to turn back a little and take a different path to get to the mountaintop of Kagenobu (727m). There was some beautiful scenery on the way there.
　　

　Kobotoke Pass （６７０・３ｍ）

Climbing the stairs near Mt. Takao was challenging but we made it.

The top of Mt.Takao (599m).
　Mt. Takako
We arrived at Mt. Takao around 5 o’clock. Most of the shops were already closed.
Also Yakuōin was closed.

　Yakuōin

We went down and found a store that had ice cream. We had grape ice cream ¥ 300-.
Delicious. It was more like a sorbet than ice cream.
I bought a bottle of tea.

It was hard to walk down the steep hill. We ate yam soba noodles at Takahashi-ke restaurant near the cable railway station. It was tasty. Free refills on soba tea. Delicious.
　　　Yam soba (Tororo Soba)

We just managed to finish eating, as the restaurant was closing, so we had to go home. We walked about 18 km today. I was so tired but we had a good time.
The question is do I want to climb again? ? ?

We did not have much time to see around Mt. Takao. I would like to visit some other time.

Mt. Takao (高尾山) is located within an hour of downtown Tokyo.

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By Little-Akiko, June 10, 2010 5:58 pm

April 7th (wed)

Today the weather wasn’t great but we went to Kamakura anyway.
We got off train at Kita Kamakura station to go to Engaku-ji temple.
Engaku-ji temple was founded in 1282.
　　　　　Sanmon Gate
There were beautiful cherry blossoms on the way to the Sanmon Gate. I hadn’t visited at Engaku temple a long time and it is the first time I have seen cherry blossoms here.
Sanmon gate. This gate was rebuilt around 1785.

　Butsuden　

Butsuden – The Main hall is in the front of the gate. We tossed some coins and prayed.

　Senbutujyo

Senbutujyo – the dojo for meditation was built in 1699.

We saw the Koumyochi ponds and Shariden (National Treasure) which is open to the public only on the first three days of the year. Then, finally there was Oubaiin.

We went up steep stairs to the lookout. I was a little disappointed because it was cloudy and we didn’t have a clear view.
The bell on the lookout is a national treasure.
　　　
We left Engaku-ji.

We came in front of Tokei-ji temple but it started rain, so we skipped it and started walking toward to Kencho-ji temple instead.
When we arrived Kencho-ji, it was raining very hard.
The small cherry trees on the path to the gate were full of lovely blossoms.
Kencho-ji temple was founded in 1253.

　　
After we visited Butsuden, we stayed at Hojo garden a while.

I wanted to go to the Hansōbō, but it was still raining hard and the cherry trees along the way were being tended to by the landscaping crew.

We couldn’t see much of the place and we left Kenchoji.
　The Shidare cherry tree in front of the toilet was beautiful.

We took the bus to Kamakura station and walked to Komachi-street. It was raining and we didn’t want to look around for restaurants. So we decided to try a kaiseki lunch at Akimoto restaurant on the third floor of the building near the entrance of the street. We orderd Shirasu-don lunch set. This was the first time I ate Shirasu-don. (Shirasu is baby sardine.)
Cheese Tofu was served first. It was delicious.
The vegetable tempura were delicious: two types of sweet potatoes, turnips, broccoli, komatsuna, maitake mushrooms and carrots. But it was quit big and a little hard to bite.
Shirasu don is steamed and raw Shirasu on top of a bowl of rice.
Delicious ginger and the shiso are a good contrast to the dish. I add a poached egg when half the dish was eaten. It was good, but the taste of the Shirasu disappeared.
Dessert was Yuzu sorbet. It was delicious. the tea was also tasty. It was all very satisfying.

　Cheese Tofu　

　Shirasu-don lunch
Miso soup was red miso. Pickles were cucumber with shiso juice.

　Yuzu sorbet

Tsurugaokahachimangu was crowded, so we stayed at the entrance.
I would have liked to see Tsurugaokahachimangu after the big famous ginkgo tree has been destroyed by strong winds in this spring. That was so sad…

The cherry blossom at Dankazura were not so pretty and quite small.
　Dankazura

We walk through Wakamiyaooji Street and back to the Komachi Street. We bought some souvenirs on the way back to station.
It wasn’t nice to go out in the rain, but I knew what to expect before we left home…

　Yuzu honey – Sugimoto bee farm
　Bean snacks – Kamakura Mameya
　Hato Sabres – Toyoshima ya

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By Little-Akiko, June 3, 2010 8:02 pm

March 22 (national holiday)

Today I had an appointment with my friend N at the Printemps Ginza. I arrived early and read a free magazine that I picked up at the station while waiting for Printemps to open.
After Printemps opened, I had time to do some window shopping before the meeting up with N.

She took me to the Thai buffet restaurant on the 8th floor of a building nearby.
We arrived before the restaurant opened and were the first ones to seated. But more and more people came in, there was a big lineup at the buffet.

After dinner, we walked through a back street towards the Imperial Palace.
On the way, we stopped at the Brick Square Marunouchi, there were many beautiful buildings and shops to explore. There was a big lineup at the Maison du Beurre Echire shop (they selling butter products).

People like lineups!

We arrived at the Imperial Palace and walked through the palace square to see the Double Bridge. It was a little hard to walk on the gravel road.

Square in front of Imperial Palace　 Double Bridge

We couldn’t enter the big gate. You need to book the tour ahead of time.
A ‘Shidare’ cherry tree in front of the entrance had already bloomed.
Otemon Gate　 Shachi
This stylized dolphin used to be the roof finial of an old armory building that was destroyed during the war, in April 1945.

At the entrance gate, we received plastic ticket that must be returned when we leave.

We entered the Museum of the Imperial Collections (Sannomaru-Shōzōkan) and saw an exhibition of gifts from different countries destined for the Emperor and Empress.

One Hundred Bandokoro (one of the checkpoints that guard the castle).

Garden flowers are still blooming but not much. I was able to see my first cherry blossoms this year. The garden will have different views depending on the season.

We went up to the Edo castle.
There were not many people in the palace. I think because it was almost closing time.

The Imperial Palace is a fairly large, so we walked a lot and we were pretty tired. The weather was pleasant and we were able to see some cherry blossoms. I had a good time.

We passed through the Wada Fountain Park and walked toward Tokyo station.

We were pretty tired from all the walking and had to eat some sweets. We went to the Marunouchi building and had cheesecake and coffee at cafe HARBS.
It was delicious.
cheesecake and coffee　
Coffee 600 yen, Cake 630 yen.

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By Little-Akiko, May 29, 2010 10:24 am

I am happy to announce that I have published my first origami book.

It’s called the TinyShiny Origami Bird Book and features Twenty (20) hand-drawn, full-colour origami bird projects, with simple instructions that anyone can follow.

The book is available at http://www.tinyshiny.com/OrigamiBirdBook.php

Also available at Amazon.

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By Little-Akiko, February 19, 2010 1:30 pm

I created some new hand carved rubber stamps.
Each stamp is designed and hand-carved by me (little-akiko).

Hand-carved stamps at TinyShiny.com
Visit Site: http://www.tinyshiny.com/Stamp.php