Tokyo 2018

I had been meaning to blog about my Tokyo trip straight after the Kyoto post, but I have been too busy since we returned from visiting our new home in Canberra at Easter. So here it is at long last: Tokyo post! 

We travelled from Kyoto to Tokyo on the Shinkansen bullet train. The train ride was enjoyable. Our son and his family were with us. We were well prepared for our train trip. The grand-kids got books and toys to keep themselves occupied. I had a bag of sewing and some snacks for all of us.

In Tokyo, I planned to visit The Tokyo International Quilt Festival. It is held in the last week of January each year. I also wanted to take DDIL to Amuse Museum to see the BORO exhibition that I had visited 5 years earlier. Our son wanted to take the children to Tokyo Disney, but he was keeping it quiet until the end to surprise them. 

An extra bonus for me was to visit the Saori studio and spent a lovely day weaving using the Saori loom. You can't go to Tokyo without visiting Nippori Fabric Town. I also wanted to babysit the grand-kids so our son and DDIL could go out and see Tokyo's nightlife. 

We were expecting an early snow in Tokyo and we weren't disappointed. The day after we arrived we all went to Yoyogi Park to let the children and adults play in the thick snow. We had a super fun time.

BORO bag DGD made with vintage fabric we
bought at the Kyoto's flea market. 

Uniqlo Ginza, window display
goes up as tall as the eyes can see!

Park benches in the snow

We made snowmen

A peek at cherry blossoms in Tokyo

Tokyo manhole cover, my favourite so far

Tokyo Quilt International Festival day out. I took DDIL and DGD with me to the festival with me. I bought our tickets online. When we got out of the train station at Tokyo Dome and saw a long queue of people waiting to get into the festival I thought, OMG! We would never get in there today! To our surprise, the queue moved so fast and we were able to enter in less than 15 minutes. While we were standing in the queue DGD attracted a lot of attention from the Japanese quilters (they must be quilters!) with the boro bag she carried with her. She proudly told them she made it herself. "Kawaii", they were all saying to her. 

Korakuen Amusement Park at Tokyo Dome

View Tokyo Dome at you enter

Colourful Circles quilt and the maker

One of many beautiful quilts at the show

The happy lady at one of the stands

Both jacket and bag inspired me to
make them when I get home

The show's cover quilt

Blue and white quilts are my all-time favourites

Framed boro quilt

Special moment witnessing a reveal
her woven piece. 

Another special visit was to the Amuse Museum (boro museum). I was there on my last visit to Tokyo. I really wanted to take DIL to see these boro cloths and articles. I was glad that I got a chance to see them the second time around. The exhibition was a real treasure to share for both the Japanese and visitors.

Indigo items for sale in the museum shop

Boro quilt with red colour inspiration

Boro jacket

This boro piece was well preserved and displayed.

You can appreciate a hall full of boro treasures

The back view of a boro cloth

Some well-loved toeshoes

I love going back to Japan, any part of Japan really. I thought this would be the last trip I would make to Japan, but after I returned I thought I will have to go back again. Japan has everything that I love and it's close enough to Australia to get to. Let's see when is my next trip there. 

After we left Tokyo we spent another 5 days in Hiroshima. Hiroshima was on Mr Notjustnat's list of places to visit so we included it in our trip this time.

Until next time
Nat