Rice and Ramen

Even though January is (already!) almost over, it still feels like the year has just started for me. Maybe it's because I just started a brand-new job? That's right: just last week I started my new job at the Japan Times where I'm now working as an Assistant Editor in the Life and Culture section. I have a lot to learn, both in terms of editing (I've done a fair amount of freelance writing, but it's my first time on the other side of the publishing equation) and adjusting to a new work environment. Right now I'm doing a lot of fact-checking, copy editing, and working with the weekly arts openings: a perfect job for someone who spends nearly as much of her free time at museums as she does coffee shops. The office is relaxed, everyone is super nice, and I really do look forward to going to work each morning. Having the weekends off isn't a bad perk, either: it means I can see more art. This past weekend I visited two museums, the National Museum of Moder...

I have a soft spot for art that lets the viewer interact with it, or museums that let visitors take photographs of the galleries. An exhibit that checks both of these boxes--and is full of mind-boggling optical illusions to boot!--is an experience I just couldn't pass up. So with my buddy Troy (he took all of the good photos in this post and if you want to see more of what he's up to check him out at  A Troy in Tokyo !)  we hit up the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi to check out an exhibit called "Seeing and Believing" by Argentinian artist Leandro Erlich. Believe it (haha) or not, I've seen some of Erlich's work in person before: he's responsible for the optical illusion "swimming pool" installation at the 21 Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa. The 40-odd installations at this exhibit certainly didn't disappoint. Notice something a little odd about the reflections? One darkened room had five boats "floating" in w...

A few days ago I found myself in the Kiyosumi neighborhood, an area on the far East side of Tokyo, with my fearless companion Troy (his blog is  HERE  if anyone is interested). To some of you long-time readers the name "Troy" might sound somewhat familiar and that is because Troy and I met in Japan six years ago when we were both exchange students with AFS! I went to find a photo of us from then, just for the comparison, but after seeing what I looked like (have I ever mentioned that I gained approximately 15 pounds when I lived in Japan the first time? No? I wonder why...) I think I'll pass on that front. Have this picture of the view over the river in Kiyosumi instead: Our Kiyosumi day basically consisted of walking around the quaint neighborhood and popping into interesting stores. The first was a local chocolate shop called Artichoke Chocolate. I had the most divine raspberry hot chocolate that, to my knowledge, contained no artichokes whatsoever. It did have...

Hey everyone. I just realized it has been about two weeks since I've last written--sorry about that. Allow me to present the usual excuse: I was busy. In the last week of August I had what was called "Follow-Up Training," which was three days of training that focused on Nitori's elaborate system of ordering custom curtains, a refresher course on the cash register (albeit one that did include some useful tricks I didn't know), and a crash course about Nitori's furniture offerings, namely what the furniture is made of (hint: the answer 90% of the time is "medium-density fiberboard"). From that training I went into five straight days of work, including the weekend which means the store is always packed to the point of insanity; I haven't had that many consecutive days of work in a long while so, to be perfectly honest, they wore me out.  I have managed to slip a FEW fun things into the mix, albeit a mix that is leans heavily on the coffee end o...

Why, long time no see everyone! It has been a while since I've written. After my mom headed back to the US (just in time to join my brother and dad on the multi-day trip back to college) I returned back to the daily work grind and spent my next few off days taking care of "adult" business like paying bills and grocery shopping and binge watching Outlander online.  I did write a cool travel article for Time Out Tokyo though which you can read, in a shameless plug,  HERE! However, at some point after returning to "normalcy" I had to have some proper fun again so today I went to Glitch Coffee & Roasters (hinthint expect to hear more about this later) and the surrounding Jinbocho area.  Glitch Coffee & Roasters was low-key super cool. For [insert surprise reason here] I was able to talk with the shop's founder and current manager, Kiyokazu Suzuki, about his coffee policy and Glitch in general. He also ran a small coffee cupping for us:  ...