Rising Sun

So I wasn't planning on going to Fujiyama (Mount Fuji) and we did consider going to the world's biggest fish markets and observing the seafood auction, but getting up at 4am really didn't sound like my thing. I feel a bit guilty for not making the most of my trip and exposing myself to as much Japanese culture as possible but I figured, this is a holiday and I'm here to relax.

1. I went to a vintage clothing store in Harajuku and they were stocking H&M, claiming it was 'vintage'. Can H&M be vintage? I don't know.

2. I asked Maiko why it appears that only men eat in the ramen restaurants that I look into from street level at dinner time. She said that it was because the ramen they serve there is oily and only men like to eat oily food. I thought to myself, I love oily food - u-oh!

3. I've been into Opening Ceremony twice now to look at a handbag by Alexander Wang. It's amazing and the price is too. 108,150 Yen. That's a lot of money. I've been googling online for the last 10 minutes and cannot find a picture of it. He's designed it in collaboration with Opening Ceremony.

4. No one warned me that fruit is so expensive here.  I have self diagnosed that altitude gives me constipation. So I had to invest in some fruit and it cost me about the same as a delicious bento box. Nuts.

5. We saw these in a shop in Harajuku - Glitter Limes! So cool! They had a cool blood orange brooch and a green lime bracelet. If I had a shop in Sydney, I'd stock these. (I like how their website is so DIY, if that's even possible!) They are petrified slices of fruit covered in lacquer and glitter.

6. Ai Wei Wei is showing at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. I think I'm going to make my way there in the next few days or so. I have recently started wondering why museums in New York allow photography, but everywhere else it seems, does not? well not without a special journalist pass or something like that. Annoying.

7. When looking up Ai Wei Wei, just then, I stumbled upon this - I love sticky-beaking at the studios of artists, in the same way my parents poke their heads in at house inspections even when they have no intention of buying.

Busy reading this Dash Snow article from 2007 right now... post more later.