Weekends in Osaka

I'm not sure what to report about this past weekend.

It all started with a frog listening party in a colleague's very traditional Japanese home, situated at the edge of a rice paddy, in a village on the edge of Osaka. When I arrived her husband was in the process of corraling a crab sized spider in the hopes of removing it from the bedroom. The house had basically been abandoned for 6 years whent they bought it, and there it stood as it had been 6 years ago, with food in the fridge and 6 years of growth in the front and back gardens. It's still in the process of being restored but even as it is, it's quite something. Sitting on the floor in the traditional tatami rooms and sliding screens opening on to the garden and past that the rice paddy, though not furnished it felt as if we had been transported into a different world, even if we were eating take out bento boxes and drinking Australian wine.


As with most traditional homes, it's hard to improve on them even with technology. For example I'm in a modern apartment and looking so forward to the air conditioner that will be installed tomorrow. But that house with it's sliding doors was so cool (though I expect it will be very cold in the winter). Every detail so intentional. On the sliding doors there was some glass, but as everyone sits on the floor, the glass pane was about a foot off the floor so that when you sat you could see outside.


The next day off to school, for more hours than I care to report. I think all totalled I spent two full work days this weekend at, thinking about or doing work for school. It's coming up to the end of the year and there are things that need to be done before the students finish and before I leave on holidays (and I am so ready for that day).


Then today, in what looked like a harmless shopping trip downtown but was actually a mission for school, I stumbled across this very interesting fashion item in a very trendy store:


Imagine my surprise to come across it, not one shirt in a vintage store but multiple copies in a high street store, fresh off the production line. I almost bought one just for the sheer novelty of it, it would make a good story. However the $55 price tag did put me off a bit... Does anyone out there recognise it from the first time round? Has it reappeared in shops in Edmonton too?

Well, must get ready for school tomorrow. 2 more days of classes to go!