New Year Musings, Glass, and Chocolate

Happy 2019 everyone! Though to be fair, it is already the end of January, and even by Japanese standards it's too late to say "Happy New Year."

I just realized I haven't written since November, back when Troy and I climbed Mount Takao to take a look at the fall foliage. Needless to say, there's no more autumn colors here in Tokyo (though still shocking amounts of green on trees everywhere; it NEVER feels like winter here to me despite the somewhat chilly temperatures).

The end of 2018 was a bit of a hectic rush, what with the natural chaos of the Christmas holidays colliding with a lot of advanced work to prepare for my two-week vacation. I used up the rest of my vacation days to spend some well-deserved and much-needed RR back in Chicago, where I did nothing except sleep, eat, watch TV, and catch up with friends and family. Returning to the "real world" after that was a bit of a shock to the system!

But I'm all settled into my usual routine here in Tokyo. Work at The Japan Times has resumed apace, and I officially passed my one-year mark on the 22nd of January. I've learned a lot in the past year--often on the fly--but overall it's been a wonderful experience and I can't wait to show everyone what the JT has to offer in 2019. The only downside is that our paper's anti-Oxford comma style has almost trained me out of using it in my personal writing, which is a crying shame.

Besides editing, I've gotten to publish a number of articles; from 36 hours in Saitama, the Japanese zine scene, how to write a business email in Japanese, and, of course, all about coffee. (Heads up: keep your eyes out for another big article from me in a few weeks!) In my free time I'm still singing alto with The Tokyo Embassy Choir and still go to way too many museums and galleries.

One interesting thing I've discovered about my personal taste through living in Japan and being exposed to so much of the contemporary Japanese art scene is a decided shift in preference toward modern, almost avant garde, art and photography. Increasingly I find pieces that either make me think about the intent behind them, some wider political or social issue, or about specific artistic choices are more memorable than works that are simply aesthetically pleasing or beautiful (not that those are bad things, and I love pretty works of art, too). New artists I like include Lee Kit, Rei Naito, and Jesus Rafael Soto.

But this past weekend was more dedicated to the aesthetic. Naho Iino, a glass artist, had an exhibit--"Toki no Hana (Flower of Time)" at the Pola Museum Annex in Ginza, featuring her glass vases, lamps, and chandeliers.

"Toki no Hana," the main piece for this exhibit.  

I think the shadows look like Queen Anne's lace. 

My other main activity last week was chocolate based. Troy and I attended a craft chocolate market in Kisosumi-Shirakawa (a neighborhood in the western half of Tokyo).

You bought entrance tickets for a specific time; ours were from 11-11:50 a.m.
At your allotted time, you could browse the 20-odd craft chocolate tables at the market, chat with merchants, eat samples, and even buy some, if you were so inclined.

Despite the limited number of tickets per slot, it was super crowded--you could barely move from table to table!

I ended up purchasing one bar, from chocolate grown in Vietnam. Not the country I usually think of when I think of chocolate production, but it had such an unusual, natural warm spice flavor to it that I felt compelled to shell out ~$13 for it. Needless to say, this bar will be rationed out for a long time to come. 

That's about all for now. I have, besides an article, an exciting trip planned for the three-day weekend holiday in February, so I'll have lots to write about and post then!