Hello Tokyo

30+ Handmade Projects and Fun Ideas for a Cute, Tokyo-Inspired Lifestyle

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• Publisher: Abrams
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN:
  9781683350088
• Print ISBN:
  9781419723957

CHAPTER 1
HELLO, TOKYO

Being a foreigner in this city—being able to see the city with fresh eyes—is so, so utterly inspiring

DAILY LIFE
*
in Tokyo

I’ve been living in Tokyo for five years now, and not a day passes that I don’t catch myself smiling at something uniquely Japanese on my travels. It might be the striped tape seal on a brand-new package of plastic wrap, the Tiffany-blue garden hose around the corner from my apartment, or a passing polka-dot truck. The inspiration in this city is never-ending. One of my favorite pastimes is wandering around the local suburbs “looking for photos,” as I call it.

TOKYO CITY SCENES It blows my mind that I’m lucky enough to be able to live in this incredible city. Spending lots of time in my local neighborhood, it’s easy to forget that I live in such a megametropolis! Every now and then, I love to stop for a moment and catch a glimpse of the city from a high-rise building. It’s mind-boggling. Looking down over the vast city from these heights, I’m amazed that somehow I’ve made a life for myself among the millions of people living here.

SEASONS Tokyo really is a four-season city, and it’s fascinating to watch the city change from one season to the next, especially in the local shops. Supermarkets sell umeshu (plum wine) kits and green curtain kits (to keep out the sun) at the start of summer, bamboo decorations for the new year. . . and so on. Without a calendar, you could safely guess the date with just one visit to a supermarket.

Each season comes with its own unique events. Spring brings a week or two of hanami (cherry blossom viewing parties) and picnics. My favorite parts of summer are the festivals: I often sit in my studio and hear the drumming of passing processions. In autumn it’s time to travel to Hakone to see the changing colors of the leaves, and in winter it’s time to look forward to the snow.

Tokyo is very well equipped for each season. Trains have heated seats in winter and strong air conditioning in summer. Cafés offer hot wine, blankets, and heated hand warmers in winter, and kakigori (shaved ice) and frozen beer in summer. No matter what the season, it’s wonderful exploring and living in this amazing city.

YUKI (SNOW) Coming from Sydney, I rarely ever saw snow, especially not in a city environment. It’s such a brilliant experience to see your city nestled under a blanket of white. On occasion, it snows where I live in Shimokitazawa, usually in February. Waking up to the quiet of a new snowfall is utterly incredible. The snow absorbs all the neighborhood sounds, and it’s the most beautiful silence you can imagine. You know it is there before you peek out your window.

In February 2014, Tokyo experienced its heaviest snowfall in forty-five years. I arrived back from Kyoto on the shinkansen (bullet train) just in time to see it. I wasn’t even able to roll my suitcase from my local station to my house. My bike was completely covered, and the following morning I could only just make out the top of the washing machine on my balcony. It was a great excuse not to do the laundry—much wiser to spend time building a snowman, right?

Whenever this happens, I head out to take photographs, armed with my makeshift plastic bag camera protector. Those special moments in the freezing cold, snapping photos, are some of my happiest memories of Tokyo life.

The day after a big snowfall, the community comes out and scrapes the snow to the side of the streets. Business owners turn these piles into snowmen, some bigger than life-size.

For this reason, February is one of the months in Tokyo that I most look forward to.

combini (convenience store) life

TOMODACHI (FRIENDS) I’ve been so lucky to have made such wonderful friends in this city. I have to pinch myself sometimes in situations I never thought possible: sitting at my craft-book-author idol’s house making miso (soybean paste), for instance; or visiting famous Tokyo-based creators Sophie et Chocolat’s studio space for afternoon tea.

I have recently become friends with the family who lives opposite my apartment. I call them Obaachan and Ojiichan (Nan and Pop). They opened their home to me and often invite me to a home-cooked family dinner, water my plants for me when I travel, and cheerily greet me when we pass one another in the street. It’s so special to have such a wonderful network of friends in this city.

photographer Boco-chan;
love this lady to bits

CHAPTER 2
HOME STYLE

Making good use of a compact living space is a challenge for many in Tokyo, but there’s always room for cute ideas

HELLO SANDWICH
*
HQ

Hello Sandwich HQ is a tiny 125-square-foot (38-square-meter) apartment in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo. This buzzy and friendly centrally located neighborhood is just four minutes by train from Shibuya (one of the most exciting and busiest suburbs of the city). The apartment is about a quarter of the size of my Sydney apartment, so it was a matter of quickly getting good at Tetris once I arrived in Tokyo. It’s honestly like a little doll’s house. I can almost touch the ceilings, and tall friends have to be careful when ducking through the doorway.

My corner apartment is super sunny and in a fantastic location. My landlord lives on the floor below me, which is quite comforting, and I’ve made friends with the local Sagawa Express and Yamato Transport delivery teams (couriers), and the post-office lady also knows me, so I really feel as though I have made a nice mark on the community here. It would be hard to leave this little apartment.

CUTE LIVING TIP
COLLECTIONS

HINT
Put together assorted ceramics to make artwork out of a table setting

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Hello, Tokyo
• Chapter 2 Home Style
• Chapter 3 A Handmade Lifestyle
• Chapter 4 Collect & Record
• Chapter 5 Correspondence
• Chapter 6 Gift Wrapping
• Chapter 7 Parties & Events
• Creative Collaborations
• Glossary
• Useful Websites
• Project Index
• Acknowledgments
• Copyright Page