I have been desperate to do an update on Tokyo street fashion. The look this season is all about the legs. Long gone are the bright colored outfits of the ganguro and while Lolita is still important it doesn't influence mass fashion to the extent it once did. Outfits are quite bland, but from the knee down the action happens. Either bright colored stockings: hot pink, purple, yellow (as if they took a highlighter to their legs) or black thigh high socks with white, neon yellow, or neon pick patent leather shoes. Shoes include thorough scuffing.

On the other hand, it is the guys who have it this season. Think James Dean meets Sid Vicious: spiky hair, skinny jeans, studded belt, boots. Tragically hip and way too cool for school.

I am in Japan for a visit. It is 4 years, almost to the day, since I left after living here for 3 years. I covered a number of my very important to do's:
- Sushi at Gonpachi
- Ramen
- Onsen (spa baths)

Took a visit to Koyasan (Mount Koya), famous for its temples and shrines. We stayed in a temple with monks, called Fukuchi in, tatami floors, no furniture except for a low table with a heater underneath, and one of those massage chairs. Vegetarian meals or "shojin ryori" were served in the room and included about 20 different dishes (who knew fiddlehead fern could be prepared in so many ways), many the consistency of raw egg white, others cubes of aspic shaped like lego, but most of which delicious. Breakfast was pretty much the same as dinner.

On Valentine's Day in Japan it is the women who gift the men chocolates, often as an obligation to male co-workers. This is known as "giri-choko" or "obligation chocolate."

A reciprocal marketing event in March called White Day has emerged for men to return the favor.

Get your giri on and get this lovely box of tea-infused chocolates painted with Chinese tea mountains. The flavors include: lichee, jasmine, Formosa oolong, osmanthus, and charcoal-fired oolong; and the box is out of chocolate too!

I will slowly be moving my photogalleries to flickr. The first main bunch are the photos I took on my trip to Tibet in August.

This is my favorite photo from the trip, mother & baby on Barkhor Street. I have this printed and hanging at home.

I flew over Beijing on my way to Tibet and had an afternoon to re-visit the Forbidden City. I planned to take a few more shots to the Starbucks inside, as it seemed so bizarre and out of place. As of mid-July, Starbucks has been booted out or "left" as some of the news articles say. Fortunately, I still have my commemorative Starbucks Forbidden City mug.

Tomorrow I am leaving for Tibet for 2 weeks. In planning the trip I found these beautiful pictures of Tibet on Flickr and reached out to the photographer. He was kind enough to send me a long email worth of tips and suggestions. God, I love the internet sometimes!

In the last email from my tour operator they imparted this advice, “Keep the happy mood and take it easy, the Acute Mountain illness would be happen more or less. It is very common! So you do not worry more about it!”

Thankfully my bohemian aunt suggested I get a prescription for Diamox for altitude sickness.

The East Village's Sunrise Mart (above the St. Marks Bookstore) had not been part of my walking tour of "Little Tokyo," but is great one-stop shopping for all of your Japanese grocery needs. During a recent visit, I filled my basket with items which reminded me of my stint in Japan: a package of semi-firm tofu, half of a kabocha, a pair of blue plastic chopsticks with little bears on them, shirataki noodles for sukiyaki I was going to make, some mochi, almond crunch pocky, and a package of 20 serving size packets of furikake (rice seasoning) decorated with just about the cutest thing, ever--the shinkansen, Japan Railways' Bullet Train corporate mascot.

Last night I went to Blue Ribbon Sushi, the SoHo establishment that seems like it has been around since forever. The last time I was there was circa ’97, and I am thrilled to have tried it again. We had a 500ml bottle of the special, seasonal sake drinking from wooden box cups. How elegant! The sushi was Japanese style, smaller pieces, which I prefer, as opposed to the huge slabs of fish common here.

Location:
119 Sullivan Street (between Prince & Spring)
212.343.0404
map

These aren’t your momma’s leggings from the 70’s, or your from the early 90’s. Today’s leggings are hot and couture – BCBG (at bluefly) makes a classic, pretty affordable pair, as does Alice+Olivia (at Shopbop.com).

However. HOWEVER. There are some definite dos and don’ts for these pieces of cotton and spandex. As a general rule, unless you’re Kate Moss, you definitely want your ass to be covered. Leggings look best with flowy dresses, tunic sweaters, and stuff you may feel is a little to short to be worn without anything underneath.

Now, leggings are not tights. All tights have at least a bit of sheerness Just because those “tights” have the feet cut out of them and are branded as “leggings,” does not mean they are opaque, cotton, no-need-to-cover-my-whole-ass, pants.

Obey the rules, ladies, and you will be well on your way to legging nirvana.

The "Mysterious Puppeteer" in leggings from the book Fruits.

Japanese people love mayonnaise. As salad dressing, on pizza, on pasta, on omelets. There are even mayonnaise fanatics called mayoraa, a creative Japanese fusion of the words “mayonnaise” and the suffix “er” as in a player. A mayoraa is not just someone who likes mayonnaise, but who puts its on everything, even on top of white rice. Ick!

The forerunning brand in this mayonnaise obsession is Kewpie, known best by their babydoll mascot. The website features a disturbing array of trivia and miscellanea on the condiment, to the history of the fattening stuff, to a collection of recipes including a fruit salad with mayonnaise dressing. The site highlights are Kewpie Jukebox and Kewpie TV, a must-see for all of you mayoraa out there.

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