Hanami

In the dead of winter, Mike kindly reminded me that the cherry blossom hanami season in Japan would be a perfect place to celebrate my birthday. But I selfishly thought Mike was making the suggestion because he was aching to go back to one of our favorite places in the world. I quickly kiboshed the idea, stating I'd rather be on a beach somewhere. That is until my instagram feed filled up with images of hanafubuki or falling cherry blossom petals.

Sakura season to many Japanese represents a concept called "wabi-sabi" or a sense of imperfection, impermanence and incompleteness. A reminder that beauty is fleeting and in constant transformation.  Very fitting for a spring birthday, don't you think? Spring also represents new beginnings so I think I will start planning my next birthday now because when the cherry and fruit trees in Portland start to burst I truly feel a sense of renewal. 

Photos from Hello Sandwich here and here.

Guesthouse U-en

As a lovely gift for rating all our wedding vendors we receieved a free linen photo ablum which we promptly decided to use for our travel photos. One problem was we needed to get our photos fully sorted before deciding on the final 100+ to be printed. The majority of our photos have been scrubbed and cleaned up but the ones from Japan were the last ones we needed to go through.

As we began sorting through the 400+ photos of just Osaka alone we came across photos of the Guesthouse U-en and realized that it was one of the most unique places we have stayed during our 4 months of traveling.

In fact all our accomodations in Japan were very unique and completely different, but the Guesthouse U-en was beyond our expectations and we're so glad we took a bunch of photos.

We arrive at the train station and with the help of a kind man, headed down an unassuming street, which initially looked more like an alleyway.

As we walked closer to the building our excitment grew when we realized which building was our guesthouse for the next 5 days.

The open garage door, concrete floors and initially nothing resembling a hotel lobby or guesthouse registration area made us think we were possibly in the wrong place. Was this the guesthouse or an autobody shop?

We made our way towards the back of the house pass a group of people lounging in the "cafe" to where the cashier/kitchen/reception area was.

From the internet description we knew the guesthouse had a cafe and print shop, but wasn't aware that these were separate businesses in the same building.

Upon check in we were given the passcode to the door for afterhours entry, a short tour of where the shared bathroom is (out front by the short little truck. A whole separate blog post could be used to describe this tiny and strange bathroom - wooden plank and plastic stool in a room tucked underneath the staircase. We had no idea how to take a shower this bathroom, but we managed). We were given a key that unlocked the padlock to our tatami room and told rooms are upstairs and ours was at the end of the hallway.

Once we stepped into our traditional tatami room we were beyond happy with our decision to stay at the Guesthouse U-en.

Our time in Japan was way too short and we're so glad we found the Guesthouse U-en, a serious gem of a find!

All our Osaka photos can be seen on our flickr site.

Happy Autumn

Happy Autumn. In our part of the world that means one thing - boots! I am holding out, but each week it gets harder not to pull out a pair of socks and my beloved boots. To help with the transition I am getting inspiration from the fabulous fashion blog - Japanese Street Fashion. I love how committed the Japanese are to their current fashion themes and wow, are they stylish.

Here is my account of Japan, the most stylish place on the planet. Let's start with boots.

What about some shoes?

One interesting common fashion theme among the women was pairing dangerously short skirts or shorts with boots. And I'm talking women of all ages. But now I get it. People in Japan spend a lot of time in the city. Apartments are small and minimal so people spend a lot of their time out, so comfort and style is key. Clothes need to be easy to move in and a bag, always have a bag. Japanese women love their heels and I could not understand how they spent all day in them. In the subways and on the streets, its all you hear - heels clapping against tile and concrete floors. Clap, clap, clap, clap...faster when the train is approaching.

Even the men had mad street style.

The men even carried stylish bags!

Oddly enough, I was at a cloudy reggae show recently and standing in front of me were a handful of Japanese tourist. And yes, they were the only men in the place with visible "purses".

So here's to a happy autumn and some stylish new boots!