Betsy's Crafty Adventure to Japan - Part II

Day trip to Yokohama was eye-opening. Besides beads, there were other interesting experiences, including this encounter with a group of old friends who gather ever Sunday to do some life drawing. They do pencil sketching, pen drawing & sometimes water colour too.
Even on my way back to my hotel the night before, something really kawaiii caught my attention. Wasn't sure if it was made of real flowers or fabricated flowers initially. Had to touch it to know for certain that they are made from fabricated flowers :P Kawaii ne!

19th April 2008 - Earth Day Tokyo
Totally looking forward to this day... I have been so hoping to meet Kitta-san in person! Remember this "Jian3 Dan1 Jiu4 Shi4 Mei3 - Kuai4 Le4 Chu1 Zou3" on Channel U? www.poeticlifejourney.blogspot.com Kitta-san & family were featured when Peifen introduced Brown's Fields in Tokyo. I managed to get intouch with her via email, through a Japanese friend. Kitta-san told me about Earth Day Tokyo.
I was told by the vendors over there that Earth Day Tokyo happens 3times a year - April, September & December. Well, April being the international Earth Day, it is the biggest fair of the year, with over 200+ stalls!!! I was sooo.... overwhelmed!
Was planning to take an overview 1st, then narrow down to a few stalls to return to. However, the fair was so huge & all the stalls look so tempting, I simply couldn't help but started chatting vendors up with my broken Japanese almost immediately! :P
Hiromi-san, Director of Yuga told me that these baby clothes are dyed using natural dye process. The most interesting of all, is the deep purplish blue created from kyanite (natural semi-precious stone)! They call it the "Healing Dye". How cool!
This is Secco Shop, a Swedish Company. Check out these recycled accessories. Familiarly amusing :) The zipper flower brooch is real pretty too!
Mami-san, founder of Italist, has an interesting life story that inspires her. This now very trendy & novel convertable groccery bag idea has in fact been around for the longest time! Mami-san's Grandma made one for herself (the black one) & has been using it for 40 over years! Now Mami-san adds new colours & taste to give it a facelift :) "Italist", according to Mami-san, means "one who lives naturally" in Jamaican English. Something new...
Maeda-san is the President of Made-in-Earth, which is the pioneer company in manufacturing Japanese Organic Cotton. He was conducting a workshop on traditional way of spinning cotton yarn from cotton plant. It is a very simple concept, but to master it, it definitely requires lotsa practice, just like crochet! :P
Came across this sweet lady, Yoshimi, who imports Thai knit/crochet wares into Japan. She introduces me to her friend, Shoichi-san, who imports natural hemp from Nepal. Very beautiful hemps! I bought 3 different colours from him :)
Finally found Kitta-san & her family! We were both so thrilled to see each other! I spoke to people from Brown's Field too! So happy to see "familiar" faces in a foreign land... :)
Look at Kitta-san's hands. These blue stains are from the blue dye that she has just done for her exhibition this week. Imagine how her hands "change colours" seasonally with each different natural colour she dyes onto the fabrics. :) I LOVE this purple dress! Kitta-san's husband, Sawa, is a musician. He's made his own album of 6songs. I bought a copy fr
him, & I got his autograph! :P My favourite song is "Arigato".
Even though it was the 1st time we met in person, both of us felt kinda sad when we had to say goodbye. We promised each other to stay intouch. Afterall, I think we can somewhat relate with each other on how we are following our dreams & beliefs. Life can be simple & beautiful. :)

There were of course other very interesting stalls at Earth Day Tokyo. Let's just say I spent almost 6hours there, yet I did not really see everything! :P
On my way back, just outside Harajuku Station, I came across this very interesting Street Artist. He does cartoon portrait & you pay what you want between 1000-2000yen. Isn't he adorable? So cool, smoking a cigarette, yet everything he draws are so cutely round, & he's even wearing polka dots! He made me smile. :)
[Part III - to be continued...]

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