Tokyo Midtown

[softgrey]

kawaii...



hrm-eshop.com

 

[Melisande]

Softie I found an online store in English for Japanese samui, indigo work/monk's clothes. They ship worldwide for 20 USD.

http://www.samue-e.com/en/

 

[softgrey]

^thanks melisande...
i didn't notice they had womens' right away...
can't say their selection appeals to me much...
and don't even get me started on the ones with the elastic on the sleeves...
...just, no!

i guess i was thinking something more along the lines of these...
http://www.kimonoboy.com/catalog.html?category=sold_gallery
something soft and worn feeling and possibly vintage...
not necessarily totally destroyed, because i would probably want to wear it...
but definitely not something stiff ...

i only recently came to understand about japanese boro...
suddenly junya's work means something completely different...
the way the monk's pants and the monpe are tied at the ankle also sheds some light on how some of yohji's menswear is designed...

anyway- the farming kind of clothing is the kind of shapes that i find really charming...
and all the different weaves and all the shades of indigo are really beautiful and really japanese to me...



i really think that if/when i go again i will need to find some sort of flea market that might have this sort of thing, and also maybe some old pottery/housewares and other vintage kind of stuff...

 

[runner]

just posting here instead of the YY shopping thread since it would get too off-topic.

options available this spring from ikkuna

ams
reli

 

[runner]

these are not even denim though anyway just for reference

ikkuna
ams
reli

 

[softgrey]

ikkuna is so nice and i can always tell what it is even before i read the credits...


the denim doesn't appeal as much as the other things though---
too straight...
the "wrap" pants are quite cool...are they linen or cotton?
i really like the tops and jacket with them as well...
even the shoes...
it's a great look for spring/summer...

*about the mercibeaucoup jeans from the YY thread-
thanks for posting those runner...
i was interested in those as well and i looked for them in tokyo...
i found them in seibu, i think...
while i like the overall shape of some of those styles- long rise, full hips, narrow ankle- i was not so crazy about all the extra details- seams, pockets, etc...

these seem interesting...
elastic waist with drawstring...!!!
http://www.mitsukoshi.co.jp/shop?Ec...0&hincode_f=0&soldout_type=0&soldout_link_f=0

i think they are sold out and i wish the blue was a bit darker...
but the whole elastic waist thing intrigues me...
a bit like a cross between jeans and sweatpants...
seems very practical and comfy...and cute!

 

[softgrey]

some varieties here, if you are interested
I haven't had the tomato one.
scroll down a bit until square thumbnails
http://www.kyo-kamekura.jp/index2.html


when you are in ginza area, this shop is available around there.
my faves these rather usual ones, though, as you know, I don't eat umeboshi.


ginzawakana

thanks for the pics and the link...
what are those two flavours, kudasai?

i am going to try pickling some daikon...
just really simply with sugar and rice vinegar and sake...
but i am also going to get some kombu and some yuzu and try another way...
the cucumber that i had in tokyo that was my fave was pickled with kombu...it was sooo good...
i thought it would be odd, but it wasn't at all...
it was just oishii~!!
i want to try to get that flavour...

i think i also had one cucumber with yuzu-
at the time i thought it was lemon, but now i realize it must have been yuzu...
that seems like it would be amazing, but i didn't really like it......

can someone translate this for me, please?
i had something like this cause i thought it was so pretty...
i thought it must be daikon, but maybe it was turnip?
tia
http://www.ginzawakana.com/shopdetail/003000000007/003/O/page1/order/

 

[softgrey]

also- can anyone explain what this is?
i saw this around tokyo and it always seems that things like this were sold as gifts...
there was one store that always seemed to have people in it that seemed to specialize in this sort of thing...

this is the first time i see it in a bowl of soup...
i thought there was bean paste inside, but maybe not?
or maybe there are different versions?

tia...


misukoshi.co.jp

 

[softgrey]

thanks for the pics and the link...
what are those two flavours, kudasai?

i just noticed that if i click on the pic of the pickles out of the package it says the name of the pickle in english characters...
very cool and helpful!

 

[runner]

the wrap pants are organic cotton.

the dark purplish thing is shibazuke. cucumber and eggplant minced and seasoned with shiso, great eaten with a bowl of rice, a rice ball whatever.

the greenish one is takanazuke. takana and takuwan minced. the flavor is sort of complex with a bit of pepper, ginger, sesame etc, but you'd definitely sense sesame oil subtly at work in an important way in the background. great with just rice, ochazuke, fried rice, etc.

the light reddish one is akakabu. yes sasuga captain, sliced red turnip (so it's natural color). pickled with rice vinegar, freshly salty-sweet, kombu included, good with anything.

good luck with your tsukemono project!


that stuff in the shape of sea bream from mitsukoshi is monaka. monaka is certain crust, light and dry, with something inside, for example, ice cream, bean paste, etc. and in this particular case, seems like it has the powdered soup in it so that it could be put in a bowl of hot water and be turned into the soup.
but there is another thing in the shape of sea bream called taiyaki. its texture is completely different from monaka.
more soft and so much less dry. the content of taiyaki is basically bean paste - anko. maybe what you saw could be a taiyaki shop.
taiyaki is always fish-shaped while monaka is usually just round or rectangular/squarish. the monaka above is rather exceptional.


ginzawakana

 

[softgrey]

i see---
thank you for explaining about the different ingredients and how they taste...
i think you described them well enough that i can imagine how they must be...
they sound very oishii and different than anything i am used to...
sesame oil has become something of a favourite flavour now that i have learned how to use it well...though i think i am still a biginner...
this sound like a more advanced way to use and taste it...
sounds just very delicious...as i said already...

i will have to wait to start my tsukemono project since i ate all of the daikon up...
munch munch munch...
soooo crunchy and juicy...!!!


thank you also for explaining about the sea bream shaped things...
now that you have explained it, i realized that i had some ice cream monaka ou tof a vending machine---
it looked soooo pretty that i had to give it a try---
it was not so good...::...
the outside was not crispy anymore, but a bit stale and frozen...
that's what i get for buying something out of a vending machine though...
i wasn't to suprised- i would have been more suprised if it had been delicious!


i understand what you mean about the taiyaki...
it must be almost like a cake in texture...
but why is it shaped that way? there must be a reason that there is an entire shop devoted to fish shaped bean cakes...
is it for special occasion or when you visit someone's home or what?

the fish shaped soup monaka seems really entertaining and funny...
i love the idea of the fish going for a swim and making soup...

not sure if it would taste good though...

this is the ice cream monaka...
and the different tsukemono i tried...
my pics

 

[softgrey]

um- sorry if the pics are not the right way around..
...

try to imagine me going shopping, unpacking and taking pics and cooking dinner while several hungry people watch and wait impatiently...
...stressful!...

and i basically made two meals- one for the adults and one for the kids!
but i was determined to photograph a much as possible...
i'm so glad that i did that now...

so- what are the white ones? can someone tell me?
i feel so boring now that i know about the ones you described runner...
the ones i picked are so safe and obvious and not at all interesting in comparison...

 

[runner]

yes the texture of taiyaki is somethat thicker and harder than that of crepe, and is much thinner and less spongy than pancake. but today you'd come across some taiyaki whose texture is more like pancake or even ladyfinger, which I don't like frankly. and that kind of trendy taiyaki often has some stuff other than bean paste in it, like chocolate cream. it's alright in its own way, but it's no more taiyaki in my opinion.

traditionally sea bream is supposed to be a bringer of good luck and is treated as something auspicious.
so you'd see sea bream served at a celebration. even if it's not real sea bream - it's just the shape of it, it can never be considered a bad thing. some people should feel attached to its shape. perhaps that's part of why taiyaki is so popular and comes to have its own shops everywhere. but also it's just cute and most of all it's simply oishii. they say steven tyler, who might not have that cultural attachment in particular, is so fond of taiyaki that he has his own taiyaki maker in his house btw.
but, since taiyaki is not sea bream itself, it cannot be treated as something formal. so you'd hardly see taiyaki used as a gift for special occasions, generally speaking. instead, when there is some close friend of yours who invited you to their place for DVD's watching or something and somehow you feel it's hard to visit them without taking anything, then taiyaki would just be the right thing to take, especially if it's winter. this way, taiyaki is something on the casual side.
on the other hand, that soup monaka is definitely sold there as a gift because it's monaka with the soup inside in the first place where they finished it off by molding it into that shape which enhances the festive mood.
there are some kinds of soup as gift options available over here. and certain quality monaka is regarded as something formal. for example at toraya (the shop you ate kuzukiri) you could tell from the overall presentation that they are trying to make monaka refined and graceful.

more later


grilled sea bream from yagyu
monaka from toraya
monaka from oumitousai

 

[softgrey]

many japanese words, phrases, or expressions are about double meaning.
for instance, although appare is a word for brilliant, appare means what sad means at the same time, at heart.
you might recognize this in yohji's work. when he does something obviously brilliant, something you can call appare, he is expressing certain kind of sadness. if he does something blatantly humorous, that's because he is meaning to be serious or even angry.

gomenasai for going back so far...
but this keeps running through my head...
also- since this post, i recognise when i hear people say appare and i hear it pretty regularly on japanese programs...
thanks again for this explanation runner...
it's really very interesting and helps very much with understanding the language/culture...
especially now that it is time for sakura...
it's on my mind even more...
what you had explained about the beauty being close to sadness because it is gone so soon, the blossoms die so quickly...
the english word that comes to mind for this is poignant...
there is a poignancy in the japanese appreciation of beauty and nature and life, itself...

i'm going to go find a cherry tree now, and see if it is blossomed yet...

 

[softgrey]

no blossoms yet!
......

about taikyaki-
yes, i can understand that it is just cute and that is actually the main reason why i even noticed it, isn't it?...
*what are those cute little fish shaped cake things?* - is what i was thinking...
thank you for explaining about them...
when you say steven tyler has a taiyaki maker- do you mean there is a machine or a tool for making it?

the grilled sea bream i the gift box looks quite impressive...
i didn't know sea bream is considered lucky...
that is interesting...
the japanese seem to have many many different methods of trying to get good luck or good fortune...
by praying or by eating certain things or by getting charms at the temple or writing a wish and tying it to something, etc...
i didn't know they were so superstitious...
i guess some might call it religious or something...
but as and outsider and as one who has no strong religious beliefs, it just seems like believing in magic spells or wishing on a star...
or maybe it's just old traditions that people carry on without really believing in them fully anymore?
i find it all very curious and i wonder how many of the old legends and stories are treated as facts and how many are treated as mythology...

the pics from toraya do make those monaka seem very elegant...
and unquestionably japanese in style and shape...
thanks for posting them runner...

 

[runner]

^ a set of tools for baking taiyaki


to the japanese basically legends are legends, facts and mythologies separated.
but depending on contexts, they might leave disparate impressions to you. they don't believe in magics, supernaturals, or whatever in the middle of social routines. on the other hand many of them should really be serious in wishing on a star when they are at certain places which make them somewhat modest or open, based on the viewpoint that what one knows is much less than what one doesn't know. a bit like jodie foster around the last scene of contact which we might have discussed long ago.
this could be related to the double meaning thing above as well ( thank you ma'am for the word poignant, I think here I got the nuance which is impossible to get from the dictionary).
disjointedness in a way, but also undeniable cohesion at work, since "those are all differences, extreme divergences of the same something", as merleau-ponty says.


excerpt from that controversial stuff we once discussed again, just for reference

" What stopped inside you yesterday was what people have been telling you the world is like. You see, people tell us from the time we are born that the world is such and such and so and so, and naturally we have no choice but to see the world the way people have been telling us it is.
Yesterday the world became as sorcerers tell you it is. In that world coyotes talk and so do deer, as I once told you, and so do rattlesnakes and trees and all other living beings. But what I want you to learn is seeing. Perhaps you know now that seeing happens only when one sneaks between the worlds, the world of ordinary people and the world of sorcerers. You are now smack in the middle point between the two. Yesterday you believed the coyote talked to you.
Any sorcerer who doesn't see would believe the same, but one who sees knows that to believe that is to be pinned down in the realm of sorcerers. By the same token, not to believe that coyotes talk is to be pinned down in the realm of ordinary men...

... No, In order to see one must learn to look at the world in some other fashion, and the only other fashion I know is the way of a sorcerer. "

 

[runner]

um- sorry if the pics are not the right way around..
...

try to imagine me going shopping, unpacking and taking pics and cooking dinner while several hungry people watch and wait impatiently...
...stressful!...

and i basically made two meals- one for the adults and one for the kids!
but i was determined to photograph a much as possible...
i'm so glad that i did that now...

so- what are the white ones? can someone tell me?
i feel so boring now that i know about the ones you described runner...
the ones i picked are so safe and obvious and not at all interesting in comparison...

seems like the ones you picked are all what is specifically called asazuke. a kind of tsukemono for sure, but the point of them is the freshness, lightness, almost like salad. short time pickling thing. so, considering the taste of the kids, you did select the right things.
the dark purple and the dark green are of longer and deeper pickling thing. could be more salty therefore more preservable generally. but these are what could be regarded as the obvious choices really.
the white ones are asazuke of cucumber and mini-turnip, lightly pickled lightly seasoned.
thanks for the pics! I enjoyed them. I see the white ones are from kinokuniya. that is where rei shops. if it had not been during the fashon week, she might have been checking them next to you.

 

[runner]

there is a new spot just opened the other day in nihonbashi.
seems like they've got some interesting shops and restaurants there and have been doing some opening events.


fashionheadline

 

[runner]

then, one of the shops/restaurants is this branch from the tsukemono specialist based in kyoto.
they serve something called tsukemono sushi.


gion
fashionheadline

 

[softgrey]

so- is sushi basically anything served like that on rice?

seems like the ones you picked are all what is specifically called asazuke. a kind of tsukemono for sure, but the point of them is the freshness, lightness, almost like salad. short time pickling thing. so, considering the taste of the kids, you did select the right things.
the dark purple and the dark green are of longer and deeper pickling thing. could be more salty therefore more preservable generally. but these are what could be regarded as the obvious choices really.
the white ones are asazuke of cucumber and mini-turnip, lightly pickled lightly seasoned.
thanks for the pics! I enjoyed them. I see the white ones are from kinokuniya. that is where rei shops. if it had not been during the fashon week, she might have been checking them next to you.

yes, well- they are all from kinokuniya because that is where they do their grocery shopping locally, so that is where i went too...
i got things like dumplings and sweets in the food halls...
or i just looked around in awe of all the choices...


i wish i had a chance to check out some more basic neighborhood grocery store but i didn't see one at first and then when i did it was at night and it was closed...
tbh- that is a big thing i missed on my trip...
at least it's big for me...

if i had seen rei i think i would have choked...
...

i am glad you enjoyed my silly pics...
thanks for explaining about them and making me feel better about my selections...
i was indeed pleased that the kids ate them...
they even tried some cucumber with some fresh miso- the way you told me to try...
and some raw daikon cut up like french fries...

based on the viewpoint that what one knows is much less than what one doesn't know

so so true...
and i am reminded of this almost every day...
i think the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know...
thank you, runner, for being such an excellent sensei!
i am your grateful pupil...

...