Hello Tokyo on iTunes!

Whaaaaaaaat?!

I definitely didn't think Hello Tokyo would make it over to iTunes! It's all so surreal for me!

If you can't wait for the hard copy to go on sale in your country, head on over here for the digital version.

Also! Gosh, it's a nice day in Tokyo today. Summer has settled down so I can come out of air-con lock down and open all of the windows. This apartment is on the corner and has more windows than walls so the breeze is one of my most favourite parts of living here. Tonight I'm off to see my amazing friend Grace's work in a special show for Rope Picnic! This girl is crazy talented!

Currently playing in Hello Sandwich HQ.

Here is a little review on Hello Tokyo book.

There's an interview about Hello Sandwich over here. I'm going to try and start blogging more, and trying out some Periscope live feeds. If there are things you'd love me to post about / share, please let me know! A few people have suggested a FAQs page and have even sent through a few questions they'd love answered. If you have any questions, please pop them in the comments or send me an email. I'd love to hear from you lovely Sandwiches!

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

Sandwich in Lithuania and Amsterdam!

Did you know that I'm 1/2 Lithuanian and 1/2 Australian? It's true! And...because of that....Now Japan is flying me over to Lithuania this month to give a presentation about my Lithuanian background and life in Tokyo! I'm soooo excited! I haven't been back to Lithuania since I was 18 years old. 

And - Then I'm sneaking off to Amsterdam to speak at Citinerary event at the Hoxton. I'd love to host a workshop too in Amsterdam too if I can make it happen somehow. Any ideas welcome! 

And ZOMG! 

Look at this super cute hotel I'm staying at briefly in Amsterdam! 

I'm staying in this adorable pink and blue "printed house" room where everything is 2D printed! 

Hotel not hotel describe the room as:

Wouldn’t it be ideal if you could simply print everything you want? Of course there’s a massive trend in 3D printing, where revolutionary developments are bringing us closer and closer to this scenario. Sometimes though, progress lies not in technological development, but rather in approaching things from a completely different angle. Why print in three dimensions when you can also reduce reality to two? This whole room is a conceptual translation of that fine line between reality, and the aspects of modern, often digital life. The TV, the chair, even the façade: everything is scanned, printed and presented to you in 2D.

Naturally, things as the bed, fresh sheets and towels, the safe, and your breakfast will be provided in a more practical 3D format.

The hotel has so many cute and fun rooms to select from!

They also have rooms hidden behind bookshelves, too! And it's just around the corner from my airBnb which I can't wait to show you too!

But how could one resist a mini pink and blue house?!

See you soon Vilnius and Amsterdam! Bring on the Krupnikas!

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

(All pictures in this post courtesy of Hotel not hotel)

P.S. Guys! Check this out!

Kate Spade at NYFW

Just the other day I got invited to the Kate Spade show at New York Fashion Week! Whaaaaaaat?

I wish I was in NY to be able to go, but it baffles me that they would even invite me!

I really thought my cool invitation days were gone the moment I stepped out of the Vogue offices.

I DIE!

(And please ignore my totes dodge retouching of the RSVP details ha ha)

UPDATE - because I couldn't make it to this show they've invited me to an event in November and to the fashion show in February! I DIE!!!

xoxo

Sandwich in S I N G A P O R E !!!

SANDWICHES!!! OMG! The Little Drom Store are flying my assistant and I over to Singapore in October to host workshops, have a little pop up shop, and meet all of you lovely little Singapore Sandwiches and I CAN NOT WAIT! It's the first business trip my assistant and I have been on together and we are pretty excited.

When I sent out all of my Hello Sandwich Tokyo Guide zines, most went to Melbourne, and then the second biggest selling country was Singapore! You guysssssssss T H A N K Y O U ! So this makes me even more excited to come and meet you all.

So, back to the workshops! 50% of the workshops sold out overnight which I couldn't believe! And although the HELLO SCRAPBOOK workshop has completely sold out, there are still a few spots left in both of the HELLO PARTY workshops. These workshops are, ahem, ways to make your party more instagrammable ha ha, and we will make party garlands, photo backdrops and customise straws and paper cups to get you all set for your next celebration. Click over here to book your spot.

On my 'Hello Tokyo' book shoot my photographer Boco-chan would sneak in extra cute shots like this one while I was off prepping the next shot! Love this lady to bits. Also love this 'fancy straw box'.  I'm going to pack this in my suitcase and take it to Singapore. If customs open my bag they are going to think I'm nuts.

Mama-sando always thinks I'm nuts when I go back to Sydney and my suitcase is filled with 80% craft stuff and 20% clothes. WAIT - no 78% craft stuff, 20% clothes, and 2% presents for Mama-sando's little Schnoodle, Schnaupi.

Seriously, do you die? These two!

Mami-chan took this super cute photo of my book! She is the styling master and she will also launch her new online shop tonight at 21:00 Tokyo time, so head on over to her website.

The Little Drom Store were smart and bought a stack of the Hello Sandwich Tokyo Guide zines off me before they sold out so we will be selling them at the event, and also my new book 'Hello Tokyo'!

(Thank you all for your emails and interest in a re-print of the Tokyo Guide, or a PDF version, but unfortunately I won't be doing either. So sorry if you missed out. You can still get some at a few stockists mentioned in the post below, and also at my booth at the Tokyo Art Book Fair on Monday 21st September)

Early September Weekend in Tokyo

Sandwiches!

Helloooooo!

OMG! See that beer above? It's a sign that this humid Tokyo Summer is on the way out. FINALLY! MAN I hate Tokyo in Summer. I wish I could escape to another country every year in July until the end of August.

I drank this 'tall boy' beer on Saturday arvo (I'm getting back into Aussie slang, yo!) to celebrate selling out of my Hello Sandwich Tokyo Guide zines! Thank you so much to everyone who bought a copy. You guys are the best! Mistakes and all, I hope this little one-man-show handmade zine leads you to some places that make your next trip to Tokyo even better. Thank you also to the lovelies who have emailed about a re-print, but as with all of my zines, I print a limited amount and once they sell out, that's it. Things are always changing in this incredible city so it's hard to keep a hard copy updated and current. Maybe I'll make another one next year. But, in the time being, I will be selling a few last allocated copies at the Tokyo Art Book Fair on Monday 21st October. Please come along and pick one up if you'd like one.

There are also a few stockists in Australia who still might have a copy such as

Metropolis Books and Perimeter Books in Melbourne. Kinokuniya in Sydney will also be stocking it soon, too.

A shop logo I designed is featured this new BNN book!

Um...ha ha...have you ever seen me in real life with my hair out? There are only about a handful of people on this planet who have seen me without a top knot in the last 6 years! Ha ha. I'm going to wear that bun, too much blush and strong MAC lipstick every day right till the very end. I always wear either MAC's Lady Danger, Ruby Woo or, on occasion, Morange or a limited edition crazy pink or coral.

Do you remember this cutie Nina from NZ who I met at one of my workshops in Tokyo? Love this lady to bits! She sent me this cute pic of her reading my new book 'Hello Tokyo' which is in stores in Australia and NZ now, and in the coming months will be available in bookstores worldwide.

Nina also sent me this snap of my book in Unity Books in Auckland. ありがとうNina!!!

And here is a big stack of my books in Sydney's Dymocks. I wish I could be there to see my books in store in person, but these photos from friends are making it a lot easier. If anyone spots the book in a shop and can be bothered taking a photo to send me I would love you forever and ever! And, ahem, extra points for "styling" 'Hello Tokyo' on top of all of the other books and taking a photo! ha ha. My email is hellosandwichblog (at) gmail (dot) com. Or if you use the hashtag #HelloTokyoBook I'd love to see it!

I'm embarrassingly late to the party but I went vinyl shopping in Shibuya with my friend Matt for the first time yesterday. I'm totally addicted. He taught me the cool ways to flick through records and we had so much fun in there. Not enough time though before we had to head off to our friends birthday party on this (below) Shinjuku rooftop beer garden. After months of feeling so ridiculously sweaty in this humidity the end of Summer is so energising. We bought 'roadies' (Go, more Aussie slang), and drank them on the Yamanote-sen to Shinjuku style. I'm not often on the Yamanote-sen, or any other JR lines for that matter, so hanging out with our beers, listening to the Yamanote-sen jingles, I couldn't stop smiling. Those jingles are so nostalgic and remind me of when I used to come to Tokyo with Mr Y before we moved back here. 

Rooftop all-you-can-drink parties. I die!

This poor fella might have have really taken advantage of the popular all-you-can-drink 飲み放題 system in Japan.

Matt offered to send him to the station, or put him in a taxi but he politely refused. There was talk of getting the police to help him to safety and off the road, but our Japanese friend Shige said "It's Tokyo, it's normal, just leave him".

Mikoshi weekend at my local park.

Each year the mikoshi stops outside my apartment and they break for a drink from the truck that waits literally directly below my apt. Dreamy Tokyo life.

You can see the video here.

Love you Japan!

Oh! And have you guys signed up for Periscope yet? I'm 'Hello Sandwich' over there, obvs. And in the next little while I'm going to start streaming daily Tokyo Life over there! F U N !

xoxo

Hug Mug magazine picnic shoot!

This picnic shoot for Hug Mug magazine was one of the best photo shoots I've ever worked on!

Thank you so much Maki-san and the Hug Mug team!

xoxo

Hello Tokyo excerpt in Inside Out Magazine!

You guys!

I really want to use #blessed but I'll save you from that. But seriously, sometimes I have no idea how I have such supportive people in my life. Yesterday, the day my new book 'Hello Tokyo' launched, I received an email from the Managing Editor of Inside Out magazine with the subject line 'Happy 'Hello Tokyo' Release Day!!'. I can't even manage to remember my own deadlines, so it baffles me that such an overachiever like Lee Tran Lam who does more in one day than even a super human can, is able to remember my book release date.

On top of that, and surely it's not in her job description to be making PDF files to send to people who are in the pages of their beautiful magazine, but attached to her email was a PDF of the cover and the 'Hello Tokyo' story. Like - seriously! How does she do it all?

By the way, Lee Tran Lam not only is Managing Director of Inside Out magazine, but does this radio show, makes these amazing zines, writes this popular food blog, produces this podcast, and is probably developing a cure for diseases in her free time.

OMG - Live update! Just as I was looking for the above links I clicked over to LTL's page and found that she had mentioned 'Hello Tokyo' on her page and instantly started crying! This lady is sooooo sweet! I (thought I) had resumed control over my emotions and phoned her to thank her, but of course as soon as I heard her happy voice I started crying again! ha ha! Professionalism points to Sandwich - ZERO!

Anyway, please go and pick up a copy of this amazing mag. And also Yen and Frankie who have also been so kind as to write about 'Hello Tokyo' in their new issues. Thank you so much Lee Tran, Sophie and Annie! xoxo

I feel so lucky to have moved away from Australia, but still have the support of such brilliant people.

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo