What remains

Yesterday I watched 'a year later' reports on the Japanese television. Most of them featured people who lost their families and homes. Many still living in temporary houses and without a job. I'm impressed with the way the Japanese people accept what happened. And was especially touched by a photographer who lost his wife and daughter in the tragedy. He told the interviewer he was happy he found a picture his wife took. He lost his family, house and business but was still grateful for what remained...a single picture. 

One year ago

One year ago many people lost their loved ones
One year ago many children lost their parents
One year ago many families lost their homes 
One year ago many people lost their jobs

Today many people are still missing 
Today many people are still struggling
Today many people live in temporary homes
Today many people suffer from the fear of radiation

On becoming a Japanese housewife

So I'm slowly turning into a real Japanese housewife. Although from management consultant to housewife within 5 months is actually not that slow at all.


And the change could not be any bigger.


Last year I spent driving my sports car to client offices, reading management books, spending long days in the office having multiple meetings a day, hiring and firing people and making business plans. This year I'm driving my bicycle to japanese cooking class, practice the art of Ikebana, read origami books and drool over Japanese stationary.


Mmmm...still wondering which lifestyle I prefer best...

Kawaii stationary props

I'm busy this week taking pictures of all the products for the shop. The picture above shows some of the props I bought this week for the product pics. So sweet!

Instagram rules!

Wow...people are creating some beautiful stuff on Instagram! I like the work done by Karen Michel, especially love the colors. 

Many of the best shots seem to be taken at beaches, these are also a recurring theme in Matsumotokazuo's shots. 

Eime_e really knows how to work the vintage feel into her pictures.

Sgoralnick makes great shots with a good sense of composition and color.  I hope one day my phone pics will look just as good as hers.

Product sneak peaks

Another rainy day today which I spent taking product pictures for the soon to be opened online shop. Here are some sneak peaks.

Things to love: Fuji instax mini

A couple of weeks ago we visited Akihabara, also known as Tokyo's electric town. There are many big electronic stores and lots of manga and anime shops (I'll try to remember to post some pics later this week). In one of the shops I was checking out the Diana lomo camera's that everyone is so crazy about when I spotted a strange looking camera. It was the Fuji instax mini 7,  a camera that takes instant pictures just like the famous Polaroid camera's.  The fun thing is that these pictures are credit card sized. I couldn't resist and took a camera home with me. Above are some of the pics I took so far. The pictures have a real retro effect which I like a lot! 

Winter garden

This weekend I visited the Sankeien garden in Yokohama to watch the plume blossoms. Sankeien is a beautiful and tranquil Japanese garden with a lake, traditional Japanese houses and a tree-story pagoda. The plume blossoms made me feel like spring's around the corner...can't wait!

At the entrance of the Sankeien there were some food stalls where I bought a corn. In the garden I warmed my body with a bowl of udon noodles.  In the winter I'm craving food all the time...especially sweets. Last Thursday I met my dear friend Pichu and we enjoyed crepes with chocolate and pear for breakfast. If it were up to me I would have crepes for breakfast every day!