Fall is here and many trees have emptied themselves of their colorful flags, but there are many more in blazing orange, yellows, lime, and fiery reds. As I still take the same route I’ve taken for umpteen years to and fro to school, I notice the nuances perhaps more than others, as my eyes scan for beauty to turn the drive into something delightful. And…I saw the Northern Lights in my own front yard! I couldn’t believe it, yet it happened! Our God is a master artist!

Northern Lights and Paintbrushes my daughter made out of nature from our yard!

This past month I jumped back into creating art for Jehane’s Golden Thread as this month prompts are centered on birds. My grandmother painted beautiful birds, my mother paints birds, and now I continue this tradition. Though I normally draw digitally, since I took the painting course I’m practicing with watercolors, gouache, and acrylics. I also have been contemplating the direction I want to take in art - making picture books, patterns, and more! I’ve also been busy working on Folktale Week (next month’s post) and a few other things.

Last month I promised to tell you about my September trip to Tokyo. My son is studying Japanese over there and needed to set up an apartment as last year he stayed with a host family, and I was eager to help. No, he didn’t actually need me there, but it was a way to have loads of talk time with my adult son- something that’s more valuable than gold, and I got to explore in the process.

It was quite an adventure! After traveling for 2 days (and watching 3 WWII hero movies) I arrived exhausted and ready to crash. It being evening, I grabbed a bento meal from the grocery store nearby, ate it, and fell asleep, only to awaken to what I thought was someone jumping on my bed. Then I heard doors slamming all at once, but no, it was an earthquake. I checked in the morning and it was a 3.4 on the Richter scale. For the locals it’s a normal part of their life.

My son arrived and we proceeded to gather items to set up his apartment - trash cans, bags, laundry soap, utensils, a skillet and saucepan, clothes hangars, and the like, which all had to be transported in our backpacks on busy trains from all over the shopping districts. I could tell you about how tricky it was to get the electricity turned on, the hot water working (had 4 hot showers total), the internet connected, and a new bike assembled, but just use your imagination. Typhoon Shanshan was approaching which meant for 3-4 days I squished through town with wet feet with one hand holding an umbrella and the other grasping house purchases until the monsoon rains subsided. The rain was somewhat a blessing in contrast to the daily 90-95 degree heat. Would you rather be wet or sweaty? I followed the dress customs and left my shorts at home, but oh how I wished for them! Add to this the unspoken rule of not snacking or drinking when out and about - it’s customary to stand beside a vending machine or in an alley and take a swig, but you shouldn’t be seen carrying a Starbucks iced tea! When you arrive home you quickly turn on the AC which you leave off while out of the house as this is the custom (don’t even ask me about mold - unusual things grow here). I was pondering the differences of how people view personal comforts and politeness in society.

The Japanese are a beautiful, kind-hearted, polite, and very helpful people. I felt completely safe when out and about on my own, and if I got lost, which I did multiple times, I could always count on finding someone who spoke English who could help me find my way.

I have many, many stories about what it’s like in Tokyo that will stay with me for a lifetime, but since this is an art blog I’ll get to the point. What I noticed more than anything is that the Japanese people are a creative folk who imbue everything they do with a sense of quiet, understated elegance or kawaii cuteness.

Food is artfully prepared, clothing is refined, shop displays are beautiful, and I got the sense that their culture wholly appreciates the arts. I found myself wandering into as many bookstores as I could to flip through books. They use far more illustrations in adult books than here in the United States, and they are printed on gorgeous cream paper, which has a history of being handmade from the mulberry plant.

If you are a stationery lover, you would be delighted as journaling is a popular hobby and you can find specialty notebooks, journals, pens, and embellishments all over the city. Some of the art shops I visited are Bumpodo, Itoya, Tokyo Hands, Pigment, Sekaido, and Loft.

My son needed an official name stamp called a Hanko stamp in order to sign the apartment lease, so I decided to have one made. My name wasn’t available so I chose the closest to the meaning of my name Rachel/female sheep/lamb. I just may have to stamp my art with this!

At Pigment I was able to sign up for a class teaching how to make your own watercolor paints. I couldn’t believe it as the spots sell out quickly, and I happened to be there when someone dropped a spot. With great expectations I came back for the class on Saturday. The presentation was in Japanese, but I was given a handout in English, and I could copy what the instructor was doing. There were a few Japanese/English speaking gals across the table - one who was a former presenter at Adobe Max- who I asked to clarify a few things. We mixed and ground our pigments, added gum arabic, and swirled the pestle until the paint was smooth and glossy. When the class was over I happily selected about 30 colors from hundreds of bottles of pigments on the grand wall. It took me a long time to select and it was dark when I trekked the hour back to the apartment, but my trip to Japan had just reached golden status - anything that happened after today would be icing on top!

For those who are planning a trip to Tokyo, I highly recommend taking this class - just make sure to sign up far in advance to secure a spot!

Honestly, I don’t think I would have tried making watercolors on my own without taking this class, as I was unsure of the proportions and proper way to do things. I’m thankful that this store is sharing their knowledge as many people tend to keep their trade secrets under wraps.

Spurred on by this class, I looked for more art experiences and signed up for a kintsugi class. Although I could have learned the historically accurate way to do kintsugi using urushi lacquer, I took the faux version as I could take my project home immediately. The real method takes months of applying single layers of urushi sap (similar to poison ivy sap) to cracks in a broken vessel, drying in a humidity-controlled chamber, sanding, and re-applying, with the last layer being gold dust. The result is that your broken cup or bowl has been lovingly repaired and the golden cracks are stronger than before, reminding us to find beauty in imperfection and the scars of life leave marks but those flaws develop our character.

As I write, I realize that I would rather sit down in person to tell you all the inspiration I gathered, for it would take pages and pages to share what I saw. I’ll limit myself to saying that I also visited an open-air museum, which features homes from the Edo time period that you can walk through. Japanese architecture is so different than western buildings, so this was fascinating to me. I loved imagining how people gathered around low tables, sitting on the floor to converse, while opening the window walls to the beautiful nature outside. In addition to homes, there was also a vintage photo studio, public bath - something that continues today (onsen), and various merchant shops. I love learning how people lived long ago, which makes me think of eternity. We are born, we live, we die. We all want to use our skills and talents to impact others while here on earth, but the most meaningful work is to love God and love others. Relationships are so important - so treasure those in your circle!

Because I saw so many marvelous artsy things, it must suffice to list the highlights so you can research and take a virtual or literal trip on your own. You can also see the reels I made on Instagram - I didn’t film for YouTube this year.

Grocery Store Food: walked the aisles, loved seeing the variety of seafood choices, dried fish flakes, seaweeds, and unknown vegetables, and amazing ready-to-eat bento meals
Doriyaki: got one every chance I could - red bean paste pancake sandwich
7-11 Check out the fast food, make a pancake-fried-chicken sandwich
Church: loved worshipping with local folk who love Jesus!
Ginza Six: fancy shops, so elegant to peruse and enjoy the luxury beauty, must go to the basement to eat gourmet food. The food packaging is out of this world!!
MyLord Department Store: gorgeous! Uniqlo
Tsutaya Bookstores: visited several in the different districts, spent the most time here!
Shinjuku: where the young people hang out, lit up at night, so cool, great food
Traditional Food: ramen, sushi, miso soup, fish, matcha treats, gyoza, soba, fish cakes, wagyu beef
Don Quixote: a riot of color and craziness, kind of like an elevated dollar store
Daiso: dollar store, Muji: classic inexpensive fun home items
Bic Camera: the most amazing electronics store, please build one in America!
Mister Donut, IKEA, Nana’s Green Tea, Nitori, Nakano mall, grocery stalls, plastic food displays, Hachiko
Starbucks Reserve Roastery
Tokyo Station: Character Street, I got lost trying to find my way, ate some delicious curry here
Harajuku. Did I mention I rode the trains Everywhere??!!!
Edo Open-Air Architectural Museum, Yoyogi Park, Nakamise Dori Street (Sensoji temple area)
Tsukiji Fish Market - don’t miss this amazing place! I tried omelette on a stick, curry bread, and more
Ueno Zoo - stood in line for over an hour to see the 2 pandas (they were sleeping but it was worth it)
Passed by a Miffy Cafe, Cinnamon Roll Cafe, music stores, saw Godzilla, and lots of other amazing places
Queues-people stand in line politely, sun umbrellas, vending machines, cats everywhere, expensive fruit