Friday, October 9, 2009

Signs on the street indicating that we are in "Fabric Town"


This store called Tomato had six floors of fabrics!

Ack! Has it really been three months since my last post?! Yikes. Well, I have to admit that things have been a bit crazy these past few months but this is ridiculous! We had some stuff going on that led to my posting negligence, but hopefully I can get back into a little bit better routine. Maybe many of my faithful followers have left me already, and all I can say is, "Gomenasai" or "I'm sorry."

If you are wondering, things are going okay here. I passed by my two-year mark in Japan, which just shocks me. I can't believe that it's been that long. We're supposed to be here until February of next year, but I'm learning with the navy that anything can change and it does. We also made it through the typhoon that passed by us yesterday. It rained a lot and the wind was strong, but thankfully nothing was damaged at our house. The entire base was closed as a precaution though.

I'm still going to my craft classes and volunteering my time to the baby blanket project on base. We haven't been doing much in the way of sightseeing, but earlier this week Seiko changed that when she took me on a trek to Nippori, an area of Tokyo that is known as "Fabric Town." (Here I must tell my Martingale friends to breathe deeply and not freak out too much. Yes, it was pretty darn cool.) I posted a few photos so you can get an idea of what the area looks like. I didn't go too crazy with my shopping. The majority of shops were small and sold really fancy fabrics, like kimono silks, wool, and stunning evening-gown polyesters---fabrics I would never dare to sew with because of my lack of experience. We did find a fair number of shops with fabrics that didn't intimidate me, and I bought a few cottons, including an adorable Hello Kitty sailor print. I have no idea what I will make with my fabric treasures, but after working for several years with women who have amazing fabric stashes, I've learned that you don't always have to have a project in mind to buy a piece of fabric.

After our fabric excursion, we had lunch at a Persian/Turkish restaurant that Seiko had seen advertised on t.v. The food was awesome and really inexpensive. We were so full by the end of our meal. The only thing that we weren't too crazy about was the Turkish Delight. Seiko said it looked like soap, and after she said that I couldn't get it out of my head!

Since this was a outing with Seiko, who is famous for her never-ending energy levels and awesome ability to pack in loads of stuff in a trip, we continued on after lunch to Ueno, which has a zoo, lots of great museums, and cool shopping. We went for the shopping district, a strange mix of food and clothing vendors all side by side. One booth would have seafood on ice, and the next one racks of funky shirts. We headed home after that with all of our loot, tired but happy.

So, I'll try to be better about posting. Really. :-) I hope you enjoyed this one.