favorite white skirt

it’s really old and washed out, but i can’t bear to get rid of it still.

stand-up buffet dinner (i know, i wear this blazer a lot…)

classical concert

research meeting

afternoon tea (i know, this photo is an abject failure, but i was too lazy to take another one, or to edit this one properly!)

shopping at shibuya

“put on a dress and get out”

so, i pulled myself up and got out of the closet-room rather reluctantly last night, and brought a japanese friend to ebisu for some singaporean food. it used to be that you could count the number of singaporean restaurants here in tokyo (3?), but the number has somehow mushroomed over the years, and now i have no idea how many there are.

this particular one in ebisu has decent food (although my singaporean palate thinks that our rich flavors have been watered down for the japanese, who are probably less accustomed to strong, spicy tastes) but oh, the merlion at the door! i wish they wouldn’t. i also have my doubts about the (american?) man in the cowboy hat, strumming on his guitar and singing country music at intervals, and then chain-smoking in between.

it has something to do with what i study, but i find misrepresentations disturbing. it is always interesting to consider the possible thought processes behind representations, but also… disturbing.

it was a very cold day. i had to be really woolly. and i had to put a temporary end to my shopping ban and buy new gloves, because i realized that i had brought dad’s gloves over to japan instead of my own. i put them on and couldn’t stop laughing because they were so huge and ridiculous. and because i really am such a muddle-headed fool.

i wish someone could tell me why photos taken with my iphone have that blurry dreamy look about them?

turtleneck: uniqlo
dress: some shop in harajuku, many years back
woolly tights: tutuanna
new gloves: muji

felt the love

i have been busy and tired, then lazy, and pulled down into a slump by the miserable weather. in that order. we’ve had one sunny day, and countless dark and rainy ones. more impetus to just sit around in my sweatshirt and track pants, with books and abstract thoughts, mad men, oatmeal cookies, and lots of hot tea.

oh, and my furry felt friends. a choir friend gave me this snowman two days ago. he has such a quizzical look on his face, i had to stand him up at various places and just… laugh.

busy busy busy. i haven’t managed to clear a single item from that to-do list, and here i am, blogging. so, the handy black organizer thing is a birthday gift from good friends back home (i love how me that message is), and there’s my elmer the patchwork elephant. and post-it flags. i love post-its. i rarely use them, but have a grand collection anyway. i even have m&m post-its.

and more furry felt friends. all made by a friend (her real job is in graphic design, and she is really good at it. really.) she has a delightful little shop on etsy called kush kush, and it was through her that i first found out about etsy. i blame her for my addiction to pretty handmade things. thanks, em!

insomnia sheep charm. this was the first thing i bought from her shop… which then led to many more sheep things. i love things that have a duh look about them. it also happens that i was born in the year of the baa-baa in the chinese calendar. i suppose i have a duh look about me too.

yummy details. love the little birdie hanging halfway up the chain. and it’s a good conversation starter too. people always ask me about this necklace when i wear it.

i wish i could take better pictures, but like everything else… i’m just too lazy to learn. but you can have a look at her etsy store to get a decent view of what her creations really look like, while i return to rolling around in bed.

ps: if you are just a little bit curious about tokyo, i wrote just a little bit about it here. thanks to the glamorous grad student, and A for putting in those good pictures!

recent reads and eats

left to right –

inventing japan, by ian buruma. picked this up in a little second-hand bookstore in nyc. a good, simple read on japan’s modernization process. and the most adorable penquin bookmark from loft.

the cave, by jose saramago. oh, ever so good! my first saramago was death at intervals, which simply blew me away. the cave is a different animal altogether, but no less witty, perceptive, and thought-provoking. he is part of my plan to conquer the literature nobel laureates. i have such a long way to go.

gitanjali, by rabindranath tagore. bedtime reading, or anytime i feel in need of a spiritual boost. the most beautiful poetry. ever. i cannot do justice to it because i am such a poor, inadequate, shallow person.

the somnambulist, by jonathan barnes. one of several books cast out by a friend. i would never have picked up a book like this myself, but it is an intriguing read nevertheless.

a friend and i stumbled across this cafe/restaurant in shibuya last week. it is actually part of the newly-opened opening ceremony store in tokyo, and has the best coffee i have ever tasted in japan. i do not exaggerate. blue bottle coffee. a first in japan, apparently.

the colorful salad above also blew me away. the vegetables are tasteless, but the dip! the dip! the dip is a blend of tofu and mysterious things that make the entire salad taste both healthy and savory, all at the same time.

i will be back in a few days for more fantabulous coffee, and also to try out these vietnamese-style sandwiches they have. banh mi. they look like any other sandwich to me, but we’ll see.

visit potluck at opening ceremony before word gets around and it becomes impossible to get seats.

oh, and there are cute, english-speaking waiters there. so do not rave about how good-looking they are in english because they understand. i cannot begin to describe just how mortified i was.

yellow is the color of sunshine and egg yolk

did i mention that i was a tropical girl at heart? well, i am, and i am missing the blazing singapore sunshine sorely (hooray for alliteration!). tokyo weather has not been the most cheerful of late.

i also miss having eggs on sunday morning. that is not exactly my ritual, but my dad’s. i miss seeing sunny side-ups with dark chinese soy sauce drizzled on them (that’s how we do it), or eggs benedict, or half-boiled eggs in a little red pail (that’s how the hawker stalls do it), or omelets.

yellow was my favorite color when i was a kid, till peer pressure made me like blue instead. nobody wore anything bright yellow, bright red, or bright anything then.

i am making up for it with a vengeance now. i love my new yellow pumps. i would wear them every day if i didn’t have to think about how all my other shoes would feel.

bedroom slippers: 100 yen store
yellow pumps: cocue (japan)
white cardigan: ticklish ticklish (or so the label says… i remember it as some store in jiyugaoka)
purple camisole: mango
jeans: some heartland-mall-store in singapore
crotchet flower brooch: christmas gift, handmade by a friend!