Japanese beauties

Here in Japan we have just finished rice planting. The field is very beautiful with orderliness of the new plant. Now we do all this using a machine but when I was small I could still see farmers planting it with hands. (At that time the machine wasn't good enough to do planting in the corners.) Of course before the machine we did it all by hands and the finish looked as good as this.

I was just in time for Azalea blossoms. I love its smell and shape and also it reminds me of my childhood. I loved its honey so much and would suck it on the way to my primary school. It tasted really good with morning dew. Some people pick the flowers and make juice. It's got subtle sweetness and flavour. I wonder if anybody does that in UK...?

This is my collection of Yanagi cutlery. There are so many things I have been keeping in my room here as I couldn't bring to London because of the luggage weight limit. This is one of these things. I collected them over 2-3 years when I didn't have much money. So they are very special for me personally and also as a product they are very beautiful. The collection is not completed... yet. Maybe I might add another pair while I'm here...?

I think you could say Sori Yanagi is the first product designer in Japan. His father Soetsu Yanagi was good friends with Bernard Leach and started Folk craft movement: Mingei undou that the skills, the joy and the spirituality come together in making in quantity. Sori the son as a designer focused on the function and the beauty of the object. The way two approached to the object might be a little different but both wanted to make/introduce beautiful objects. (And actually in Sori's essay he picks up a lot of folk crafts.)

I used to wonder if our aesthetics come from the spirituality or the tendency we've got through our life by seeing things. Some people find the beauty in something the others don't. And I'm sure the person has a special connection with the object. I wonder what that is...

日本の美、再確認の記録です。（新しいカメラを手に入れるまではいつものスナップショットをお楽しみくだされ。）この季節に帰ることはほとんどなかったので、いろいろなものが新鮮に見えます。

田んぼの景色。少なくなったとはいえ、まだ私の田舎には健在します。きれいに植えられた稲を見ると新鮮な気持ちになります。私も素敵な実がなるようにがんばるよ。

つつじ。つつじはイギリスにもありますが、蜜を吸っている子をみたことはありません。つつじの蜜の味を知っている子はいるのかしら、、、?

柳宗理のカトラリー。東京で暮らしている時に集めていましたが、重さのためロンドンには持っていけず、10年間ずっと使われずにいました。今回は重さ制限が2倍になっているので、ぜひ持って行きたいと思っています。でもこのコレクション、半分ほど集まっているだけで、他にはカニフォークやグレープフルーツスプーンなどもあります。

ちなみに、イギリスではグレープフルーツを半分に切ってスプーンで食べるという人を見たことがありません。だいたい剥いてしまいます。このスプーンを見てもどう使うのか、なぜぎざぎざがあるのか検討がつかないと思います。ついでに、イチゴスプーンもスイカスプーンもありません。誰が考えたんでしょうね。今から調べてみます。