Narrative Disorder… in Japan!

Opening the blinds today to take advantage of the bliss that is a day cool enough to open the windows, I was met with a lovely surprise! I had thought that the variegated grass plants in our tiny terrace garden were just for greenery but it turns out they are for lilac-ery too!

More cream and pink crockery I’m afraid!    This teacup and bowl are part of a set available at Nitori for around 299yen a piece. I got plates too which are a lovely organic semi oval shape.

The five-petaled flower is a very popular design here, indeed I almost bought another set which had the same flower and was much more pink - very pretty as individual pieces but as I began to load the full setting into my basket I was quickly overwhelmed by the amount of pink building in one place and the repetitive nature of the uniform design. This setting has just a blush of pink on each one and the design and colouring are not strictly the same on each piece making for a much more elegant effect on the whole.

If you are wondering what on earth the teacup is sitting on, it is actually the lid of the box in which the floral fan of the post “Prettinesses Pt 2″ came. The traditional box is made of wood with a lid exactly like a sushi mat and a leather thong with a wooden badge on it to close it. I have taken to using this as a case for my fountain pens which get lonely when left in the plush boxes they were bought in but are too delicate to flop around in a pencil case!

Note also the peach slices in the bowl - a Prettiness all nature’s making! For those in Sydney (or California, from experience) wondering what the red blush is on the inside of the slices not just on the skin - that’s what happens when peaches are allowed to ripen ON THE VINE lol. The flavour of these peaches is magnificent as is the flavour of most of the fruit and vegetables here in Japan - things just taste… right!

Need I say more..?

Also pretty in it’s own way, after much (possibly too much) research and investigation I have purchased my first DSLR, my first real camera since I lost access to the family SLR 17 yrs ago! I swear I was going with Olympus but when I picked up the camera I had chosen (mostly because of the new Zuiko lenses… drool) it was just too darn heavy! SO after some changes to my analysis I am a Pentax girl again!

I know, I know, superzooms aren’t the best thing to go for but all the tests say this one is a beauty of an S-zoom and, as a beginner, I don’t yet know which lenses I wanted to spend money on! I figure with this one I can find out which lengths I use most, whether I need something wider or even longer and have the option for macro, all the while feeling my way with a camera again. And what a place to do it!

Like so many people, one of the things I’ve always loved about Japan is their design. The Zen-influenced minimalism of their architecture and landscape architecture was introduced to me as the ultimate design when I was a small child and so I have held simple elegance above all other design for as long as I can remember being aware of such things. This is not to say that simple elegance has no roots in the West - the Scandinavians are, of course, expert (often producing eerily similar pieces to the Japanese at times) but Western minimalism, no matter how sun-drenched, is always, it seems to me, so severe. Being raised in Melbourne, severe suits me to an extent. I have an aversion to bright colours (esp when it comes to clothing hehe) but also to the cluttered patterns or frilliness of design which is ‘prettiness’ in the West. What I really love about Japanese design is that their philosophy of simple elegance does not prevent them from venturing into the very very pretty.  A girl likes a little pink in her life (literally and metaphorically) so I intend to make the most of being here by getting some.

So, here is prettiness purchase number one - simple ceramic bowls and plates from a variety store called Daiso which sells everything from candy to laundry bags to simple shelving racks. These were 200yen each - about $2.00AUD

Hmm that white kitchen bench washes out the lovely cream colour - I’ll have to get myself a background cloth to make these shots better in future.