One… well, two of the many Japanese snacks I brought home from my trip are these Caramel Corn from Tohato. I want to eat them, but the packaging is so cute that I haven’t been able to open them… so I took pictures :) Aren’t they so adorable?! Caramel Corn has been around for as long as I can remember, but their whole new packaging is making the product even more irresistible!

This guy got a little squashed in the airplane…

and yes, the picture inside of the cute characters’ mouth is the actual product. I haven’t had that for ages!

When you go to their website, you can see more cute packages!! I want to collect them all… :)

Posted under Japanese, design

My posts from my Japan trip hops around a little… but when I stayed in Tokyo, we took a walk in Ueno Park and found lots of interesting things… and here is one of them — a full size statue of a blue whale diving! The statue is 30 meters long (approx. 33 yards long). It was stunning and awesome, I loved it.

Right next to this great whale statue is  the Tokyo National Museum of Nature and Science. It was closed for the holidays (note: lots of things close during the last week of December and the first week of January in Japan — we couldn’t go to many places because of the new year holidays in Japan, actually…), but would have been great to go in and see… next time!

Posted under Japanese, art

I felt so lucky to be able to stop by Kyoto again last month (it is one of my favorite cities in the world) but not only that, I happened to pass by these awesome Ikebana competition that was held inside of and in front of Kyoto station (this stations is gorrrrrgeous!) — I was blown away!

These are BIG, too, and it was beautiful with spot lights in the dark.

It really is an art, right?! Each piece is just so amazing and really original. There were more, I wish I could have taken pictures of all… but I hope you see the greatness and that you enjoy these :)

Tuesday morning inspiration! Have a great day — I will be printing all afternoon!

Posted under Inspiration, Japanese, art

Found type in Fukuoka, Japan. It was a cute coffee kiosk stand and this stenciled store signage/logo caught my eye.

Love the “O” being coffee “to go” cup… it is simple and instant communication.

Posted under Japanese, typography

I loved everything about these Japanese sweets, plates, forks, placemats… I had to take pictures for my inspiration and hopefully your inspiration, too :) Love the patterns, colors… like I said, everything.

Aren’t they lovely?

(Tastes lovely, too. Thank you, Mom!)

Posted under Inspiration, Japanese

At Umie, Kitahama Alley, Takamatsu. (LOVE this café.)

In between Monday madness… ;)

Posted under Japanese

Good morning! Hope you had a nice weekend… I am still struggling from my horrible jet lag… :( Hopefully, by the end of the week, it’ll be all better and I live like a normal person… (not going to bed at 5-6pm and waking up super early.)

Anyway. I found this gigantic inflatable human body floating around at Haneda airport. It sure caught my eye — it was huge!

I want to know the concept behind this guy… if you happened to know the artist or the idea behind this, please let me know!

Have a great day, everyone!

Posted under Japanese, art

Apparently, I have taken more than 500 pictures while I was in Japan, you will be seeing lots of them for the next few weeks… :)

I saw this window display at Hanae Mori building in Omotesando, Tokyo and I had to stop and admire the beauty of Japanese samurai armor… how awesome!! I was drawn to them so much, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a samurai armor in a fashion window display before and it absolutely had a strong yet awesome presence… I enjoyed it very much. Here are some snapshots I took… I hope you enjoy, too!

The detail is great!

Omotesando Street:

Posted under Japanese, design

I have been having such a great time in Japan, but it is time to say good-bye and get back to my creative life in New York… I am leaving tomorrow morning, traveling all day, all night, and another day long (sigh, soo long) — just wanted to post some more pictures from Japanese new year before it is too late to even talk about it… (time really flies!)

Hatsuhinode (first sunrise of the year):

Omikuji (random fortunes):

My omikuji being attached to a wall of metal wires in the shrine (read more about it here)

Osechi (traditional Japanese New Year foods):

Love this special chopstick cover — do you see the embossed art? The silver and gold Mizuhiki knot is great, too.

I want to thank all my family and friends who made this trip even more special. I got lots of great energy from them and I couldn’t thank them enough!!! I can’t wait to use this energy to create something new this year!!!

See you all later this week from New York — will be back fully, posting 1-2 posts everyday again :)

Posted under Japanese

I posted the Kadomatsu picture yesterday, but there are many more traditional new year decorations here in Japan and today, I wanted to share some pictures of Kagami Mochi. The kagami mochi usually is placed in various locations throughout the house. My parents had 3, various sizes.

January 11th (yesterday) was Kagami biraki (another traditional ceremony after new years day) so we ate these mochi in Zenzai (Red Bean Soup) — one of my favorites!

Mochi does get hard and cracks… (but it gets soft again when cooked in certain way) and sometimes get moldy, but we all eat them anyway. (take the moldiness off, of course)

This one has Hoshigaki (dried persimmons) — hadn’t had it for a long time, it is quite good.

Urajiro leaves:

Japanese new year is so very traditional and it’s been the same way for thousands of years, it is so interesting and deeply thought out. (everything has meaning) I’ve been enjoying everything once again!

Posted under Japanese