Senkiya and Sunshine To You Atelier and Shop

Hello Lovely Sandwiches!

How are you? It's getting warmer in Tokyo. The ume are starting to blossom and are so pretty. Springtime is so beautiful here, but at the same time it scares me that we are creeping closer to Tokyo's awfully hot Summer.

Do you remember my friend Sachiko-chan? (I first met her a few days before the big earthquake when I helped her with her workshop. )  Sachiko-chan (Sunshine To You) has had a beautiful little atelier and shop in Saitama for over three years now which sadly will close this weekend because she will move to Hayama . Yesterday I finally went to visit. ギリギリ！

Sunshine To You will be open this Saturday and Sunday, with a little closing party on Sunday from 12pm and you are all invited. Sachiko-chan will also be doing a live performance on her saxophone! If you have a chance, please visit her on her last day in Saitama. She would love to see you.















While Sachiko-chan and I were chatting away, neighbouring architect Nao-san, bought over a box of mikan to share with us! He was wearing woolen socks and outdoor slippers which was extra cute. 









'Sunshine To You' is located in the same renovated house as Senkiya.



Senkiya's owner, Hideyuki-san (pictured right), cleverly renovated his family home to turn it into a cafe / zakka / gallery / bookstore and small shop.



This is what Sunshine To You looked like previously before Hideyuki-san worked his magic.



Hideyuki-san's renovation includes lots of beautiful Showa era glass which I absolutely adore.







There is a real community feel here, with Nao-san's wife, Ryoko-san, working as the chef at Senkiya cafe. I just love her and her beautiful smile.



Also on the same block is a cute little gallery and Otama, a handmade accessory studio (pictured above).



The afternoon visit was filled with sounds of traditional Japanese sliding doors, rattling glass windowpanes, laughter, and my favourite, sounds of Sachiko-chan calling out to 'Ryo-chaaaan' like family.

If you're in Tokyo, please go and visit these lovely and talented people. If you're lucky you can catch the bread man, or the bagel man, or even the massage tent. Access details here.

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

SANAA Starstruck!

I am a little starstruck after meeting Ryue Nishizawa from SANAA architects this week!



Do you remember my post on SANAA here?





Well the lovely Nishizawa-san came to Sydney for a one night super speedy stopover on Thursday night for an exhibition at Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation .

I was so lucky to be able to listen to his 1 hour special presentation about his favourite projects. He was so delightful and I could not wipe my smile from my face! I somehow gathered up enough courage to ask him for a photo and he very politely replied that my Japanese was very good! So sweet!



And - oh my goodness he signed my book (I am never using that pen again! )



If you are in Sydney be sure to see the exhibition!

Love Love
Hello Sandwich

xxx

SANAA + Make it Easy + Shibuya-kei Music

Do you remember the pic I posted on My Tokyo Blog Post just the other day?





See more about this book here.

Well,  it was a lovely pic by SANAA, a team of Japanese architects made up of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa. They are the amazing force behind beautiful buildings such as the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, the Christian Dior building in Tokyo and the Towada Art Centre in Aomori.


The New Museum of Contemporary Art






Towada Art Centre

Check out some more lovely images of the Towada Art Centre on Spoon and Tamago and on this flickr photostream. You can also read more about SANAA on designboom.

Over the weekend I spotted some more of SANNA's work on my new blog crush Make it Easy. The lovely Aron posted here about Moriyama house in Tokyo.















Isn't is just divine! Can we please move in?

Here is what Dwell had to say about Moriyama house: On a double suburban lot in Tokyo, the Office of Ryue Nishizawa built a neighborhood-scaled, flexible-format minimalist steel prefab compound for Yasuo Moriyama—a very private individual with a powerful social bent—and six rental tenants. Every room is its own building—even Moriyama’s bath is a freestanding box.

I am so happy that I found Aron's blog! I especially love this Make it Easy post about being alone but not lonely.

But the loveliest of things is Aron's Perfect Day found on Tiny Abstraction blog.

I would like to wake, naturally, on my own at around 8am. feeling very refreshed and new, and not tired at all. the bright sun would shine through my window slowly warning me up, yet, there would be a nice rain outside that i know is there just from hearing it. i would do the small things i do every morning to make me smile and set up my day for the better. things such as watering my plants, feeding/playing with the cats, checking blogs online, having a nice breakfast, etc. Turning on relaxing music while its still slightly raining outside would be nice too.



As noon approached the rain had stopped and the sky couldnt be any more clearer. a friend or 2, and myself, would decide to go to the beach up at the North Shore. we would pack home made musubi's for our lunch. since the drive there is on a long one-way road, we would have our windows rolled down so we could feel the wind. it would be the kind of drive where no one would have to say anything to each other as we shared a mutual enjoyment for the simple drive itself. if we would glance at each other, there would be a true smile, and nothing more or less. the perfect song for this would be "afternoon speaker" by The Sea And Cake.



The beach would be crowdless, the sun would be glowing on us, and the water would be more than welcoming. everything would be just right, even the breeze would be perfect. we would swim and take polaroid pictures and share the musubi's we made. we would stay until maybe 4pm, or until we turned to a nice golden skin tone.

When i get home, i take a nice cold shower to rinse off all the sea salt. (after a shower from the beach, your skin tends to feel extra soft and has a beautiful glow to it.) i would then start cooking my moms homemade dish that consists of string beans, ground beef, onions and garlic, in a asian stir-fry style. i would bring this dish to my friends house where we are having a intimate get-together where everyone would bring a homemade dish to eat, and some wine. the dinner would be outside in her veranda/garden, under the stars with lanterns, soft string lights, and candles. we would spend the rest of the evening eating delicious food, drinking sweet wine, and talking about the things in life that we all have in common that bring us together as friends. conversations such as love, the future/past, family history, favourites/dislikes, and just anything we tend to share with best friends on an amazing level of understanding that no one else could know.

Lastly, we're put out a huge blanket for all of us to lay on as we stared into the universe. there would be star-gazing music playing as we counted how many shooting stars we could see. with a great group of friends, laying under the vast sky...it feels so good to feel so small.

That would be my perfect day.

So delightful! Reading that makes me smile! If you visit Aron's blog, and I urge you all to, you will hear the most peaceful music, but in case that is not lovely enough, Aron has posted about some other great Japanese music. And now I can't stop listening to the super cute music from Advantage Lucy on Myspace and Nagisa Cosmeic who remind me of Capsule (remember I mentioned them here).

It reminded me how much I love Shibuya-kei music! If you're in the mood, listen to some Shibuya-kei music here. 

I can't wait to buy some new Japanese music from Shibuya's Tower Records in June!
楽しみにしています！