Sakurayama Kaleidoscope Workshop

Last night Bojan, Sakane San and I went to my local cafe Sakurayama to make kaleidoscopes. Tomoko san has been teaching people to make kaleidoscopes for years, and she has a keen passion for collecting all types of which a selection is available for customers to play with.

We made simple ones consisting of a cardboard tube encompassing a mirrored triangular prism. At one end is the viewing hole and the other is a small plastic receptacle of a chosen arrangement of beads, sparkles and berries. The exterior is decorated with a napkin design of choice, carefully glued over the top of a heavily textured satin card. The end results were great and reiterated the  thrill and effectiveness of simple visual trickery.

Tomoko and Keiko where wonderful hosts: kind, caring, attentive and seemingly chuffed or the night’s proceedings. Once the hot beverages and cake came out we were well past our scheduled 9 pm end time, but the laughter and conversation was healthy and once Cezar and Ilya popped in, the room was buzzing. We all left not too long after as it was getting quite late and Bojan needed to catch a bus to Kyoto. Our odd group consisting of  Japanese, Serbian, Swedish, Russian and Australian nationalities, casually walked down to Otsuka station to bid Bojan and Sakane farewell.

I hope Tomoko San and Keiko San enjoyed themselves as much as we did because they, and along with Kazuya san, deserve all the happiness and fulfillment that comes their way. A memorable evening.

double espresso onegaishimasu カフェ巣鴨桜宮

I am blessed as a coffee gargling Melbournian to have Cafe Sugamo Sakuramiya literally 2 minutes walk from my dorm. Run by the lovely Kazuya-San and Tomoko-San, the cafe is an intimate single room that embodies a long shared table made from single piece of lumber. The harmonous color scheme of sakura pinks, sand, DeStijl green and natural timbers is warm and homely. As you open the door you are met with the startling Victoria Arduino Two-Group Semi-automatic Venus Bar coffee machine finished is high polished copper, with accompanying coffee grinder. Oh boy is there no expense spared here. I almost fell over when I first entered. Kazuya-San is the commander of his pride and joy and see the care he takes for each cup and for the machine is evidence of  man in love. Ever since going to Italy, I hardly get milk coffee's anymore so double espresso is my usual order. I am no coffee connoisseur however the Mexican-Ethiopian bean blend is just superb as an espresso. The acidity is low and there is a slight fruity aftertaste. Tomoko-San makes friendly conversation with everybody and also takes great pride in serving her homemade waffles (cheese, ice-cream or maple syrup) or cheesecake. All of which are delicious. They gave me a present the other day I assume because of my frequent business and bringing a friend in a couple of times. Today I returned the favor by giving them one of my mothers beautiful oil paintings, The Billy on the Boil, which was accepted with great delight. Kazuya-San was by his lonesome today and he proceeded to tell me he and Tomoko-San had too much sake last night and he was hung over. Hilarious guy. I look forward to the next brew.

To get there take the Toden Arakawa line (single carriage tram line) from JR Otsuka Station (Yamanote Line). Get off at Koshinsuka station (5 minutes) and walk East for about 2 minutes and its on the right.

Autumn Sunday

After discussions of a Sunday autumn excursion over beers in Omotesando, I trudged home with my close friend C from the Toshima-ku dorm. I had a quick read over some web info on various Tokyo excursions and found the Nishisizawa Ravine hike as the most exciting despite the scarce info provided online. So I hit the futon (really hard) at 2.30am knowing I would need to get moving fairly early for the three hour journey out to Nishisizawa. The following morning all is well and I am up and about, finding myself on the 8.30am Limited Express to Enzan station. I reach Enzan feeling fresh and excited due to the glorious weather; therefore am eager to get the bus out to the starting point of the 4 hour hike. It's 10am and the next bus is at...1pm (two buses are at 8.10 and 9.05am). A few choice four letter words in my native English are blurted out and much to my surprise a local taxi driver close by understands me clearly and joyfully chuckles at my obvious dilemma. So my options are to go home (admitting defeat) or take a $70 taxi to the starting point (keep the autumn excursion dream alive).

Bugger it! let's roll Mr Chuckles.

The taxi ride is glorious. After a month of hectic Tokyo life cruising at top speed next through the mountainside was liberating to say the least. Mr Chuckles is super and stops the meter at least 10mintues before we actually stop, and takes me right to starting point. The hike takes 3.5 hours
(will take longer depending on fitness and amount of photography stops). It was a perfect hike for the afternoon; superb scenery and with easy going path but with interesting sections of clambering up rocks and crossing bridges. I would highly recommend this hike to anyone from Tokyo wanting to escape for a day.

 An unexpected highlight was Erinji Shrine (Shingen's family temple). I managed to catch the 3pm bus back to Enzan but saw the temple out the window and instinctively smacked the 'I want to get off' button. As the photos hopefully portray, it is a handsome Shinto shrine encompassed by a superb landscape garden designated by Kokushi Muso.

I concluded the already blissful day stumbling across Keuin Cafe. Run by a friendly and kooky local, Keuin Cafe is decorated with a array of hand-made objects, nic nacs, clothing, instruments, pottery, tapestry, artwork and jewellery. The cafe is located on the second level of this obviously architect designed concrete triangular planned shop / house. The owners living space is clear to view as you enter from the main street and is decorated in a similar hoarding/botanist style as the cafe area above. The coffee and complementary cookie were timely and delicious. She also fed me with books and magazines on Gokayama and iitobori wood carving after I expressed my interest in the traditional Japanese House and her personal collection. I consciously stayed much longer than I should have however I managed to make up time by hitching a ride back to the train station with a local tradesman in the now moonlit Enzan.