Obviously, it's wrapped in seaweed, which is good, I like seaweed. And it's covered in a thin layer of savoury sauce - if you like soy sauce or teriyaki sauce, you'll probably like this one...

Inside is a white glutinous substance, maybe very smoothly ground rice. A bit stretchy, but not as stretchy as cheese on pizza. And kinda tasteless, not in a bad way, but the only taste comes from the seaweed and the thin brown sauce ... which is ok, just kinda not what I was expecting (I thought the sauce would go the whole way through, or there'd be something different inside).

From Tokyu department store, the one that's integrated into Shibuya station (there are a number of Tokyu stores in Shibuya).

Apparently Tokyu Hands has been doing this in Golden Week for 25 years (although they had a 4 year break). They have people who come back each year to make new shoes for the holidays. I know why, it was really fun!

They said next time they might consider having extra-large size wooden soles ... the largest size fit me, but was to small for my husband. There were Japanese men making shoes for their female partners (I suspect their feet were too big, too). It was also nice to see an elderly man with rather swollen feet carefully making shoes to fit (I often wonder whether less-able-bodied people get left behind in the Tokyo rush). Oh, and we weren't the only Westerners making shoes, either.

It wasn't difficult, at all. First you cut the 3cm (I think) wide strips of leather, sticky tape the strip in place whilst trying the shoe on, and then duplicate it for the other side/other foot. Then you hammer the studs in place, voilà, shoes. They smell lovely, because of the wood.

The sticky tape was the only problem, I think I was too thorough and it made a mark when I tried t remove it. Oh, and the test drive. It's hard to go down stairs, but doable. I walked a block to the local shop, which was fine. But after a 10 minute walk I needed bandaids on both feet! In retrospect, I think the Tokyu Hands guy might have tried to tell me they were a bit tight, but I didn't want them to slip off, you

These were bought at Takashimaya, Shinjuku, I should've asked what they're called. They were quite heavy, but distort ever so easily, I messed up the pretty flower shape just picking one up... guess that's why the assistant warned me to carry them carefully, not bump them around.

They were sweet, not sickly sweet, but getting there... certainly not good on an empty stomach. Kinda slightly grainy, I don't mean that in a bad way, but otherwise I can't really describe the taste - just sweet, no real other flavour. There was, what I assume to be red bean paste inside, but it didn't taste any different to the outside really, and it all got smooshed together as soon as I put it in my mouth.

I guess the main thing about them is they look so pretty.

Oh, and the colours didn't have different tastes, either. Anyone else living where they go past interesting food but never try them? Want to join in?

I'm kinda serious actually, I've even looked at towel fabric to see what the colour range is ;) Seen in Seibu Loft, Shibuya.

But I'm not talking my body type, I'm talking what I'd need to wear here in Tokyo to fit in. Which I don't, I'm reminded everyday - the guys in the sewing machine shop knew immediately which machine I'd come to pay for, even though I've never seen them before ... wonder what the description of me was? ... foreign, obviously. And I agree with L you can see a foreign face in most big crowds, true, but just the one.

Anyway, in Tokyo I should restrict myself to black, beige, white and navy. Perhaps some grey or pink.

There's a lot of colours I'd wear without thinking that I don't see much here, like red, green, purple ... and a number of fashion colours I was surprised not to see more of, like yellow, cobalt and purple (again).

And I should have:
- a beige or white trench, maybe with bows on the cuffs;
- a jeans jacket, with fancy top stitching;
- suits, boring ones, no extreme burda-style cuts;
- jeans, several;
- lots of tops for layering;
- leggings, preferably with lace edging;
- funky lacy sockettes to wear in my sandals;
- fluttery tunic/short dresses in coordinating small floral prints with off-white lace (see photo from CanCam).

I'd like to make the last item for myself, in a shape appropriate to my body type. But I probably can't use my carefully collected and much-thumbed burdas for it - there are also no plunging necklines in Tokyo, indeed necklines I felt were modest work-wear in Sydney look positively scandalous here. And no knits, most, like 90% , of clothes are wovens ... and not close-fit.

So even if I'd sewed what I wanted before I got here, I'd have to re-sew it again anyhow.

I chose this picture as I've always wanted to live in another country for an extended time, to see what everyday life really looks like, not just the pretty/fake touristy stuff ...
Now's my chance. Oh, and my chance to get a look at heaps of Japanese craft books, tools, fabrics ;)

"Where you been? Haven't seen you in ages."

"Sewing-land" (sighs heavily, hand tremors)

"Bad, was it?"

(nods) "Bad like you wouldn't believe" (drinks deeply) "Ah, that's better!" "Yeah, real bad, but I survived!!! I made it through the dark forest of topstiching, the swamps of non-stick interfacing and finally I fought the dreaded zipper-toothed dragon".

Yes, I've really and truly completed my first sewn garment. Burda 7947, view C, I think I should have chosen something easier ... not a 3 out of 4 dot effort. Also, I made it needlessly difficult for myself deciding to do mock flat-fell seams. Yes, of course, I see all the imperfections ... the interfacing is too stiff (but firmly stuck!). There's some problem or other across the front at hip level, same issue I often have with RTW clothes. And it's really too big for me, who knew tape measures were so subjective?

Out of interest, I scrolled back to when I first got interested in sewing, it's about a year of reading, thinking, dreaming ...

Big Sis has been making some interesting comparisons recently - Little Sis "zoomed to Mum like a helicopter" ie. was passed to me across a dinner table.

*FO, an acronym I've never pronounced. I'm saying it here, just for fun and also because it's been so long since I finished something.

I've realised I blogged very few finished projects last year. Yup, you guessed right, I hardly finished anything. I started quite a bit, but really, do you want to read about the 3 half scarves I made with the same wool? Hmm. Actually, I'm thinking I'd have more to say if I wrote that sort of stuff...

Anyway, I have been sewing, I now have 3 unfinished practice garments. All highly unflattering, so I'm not showing.

A Shari, after which I decided the style isn't for me: the narrow V neck and wide skirt succeed in hiding my best features. A Celestina, which definitely needs a FBA, which I've been avoiding learning how to do. I'm not sure why I feel self-conscious about needing one, actually I feel a bit embarrassed I need any pattern changes.

And a BWOF 2007-01-111 skirt. It's a good style for me, or so I reckon after spending a day trying on but not buying skirts in the sales. But I'm not a size 44 (currently). There aren't any side seems, so I tried to short-cut and just add an inch centre front & back, but when I sewed it up, it was obviously dodgy. Hmm. So I'm stuck with what to do next.

If I were in a Pollyanna-mood, the title of this post would have been "Feel the fear but ... or whatever the crappy* slogan is". On the plus side, my machine can sew a double layer of upholstery fabric (pictured). Which I had kinda doubted seeing as it is a beginner-ill-informed-purchase Singer. And my topstitching is slowly improving. And I did retrieve the situation after jamming the needle in the down position so hard I had to cut the fabric free, take the metal bobbin casing out, wiggle the needle out down through the bobbin area, and remove the other metal bit that makes the needle's thread go round (red in the animation here) and put it all back together and fix all the tension issues this created. Which is actually rather a minus, not a plus? But I'm including it so another total beginner can read it in a few month's time and be inspired by how far I've progressed ;)

*Crappy: every time an ad comes on during the cricket or tennis, I tell Big Sis "don't bother watching this, it's just a crappy ad. They only have ads for things people don't normally want to buy". She's now asking me "Is this a crappy ad, Mum?" And she's right, at 2 and a half.

The three kings, or three wise men or the travelling men (from Little Owl and the Star).

"We three kings ..." is one of my favourite carols, the words are really interesting, particularly if you sing through all the verses explaining the significance of the gifts and of Christmas.

Collaged again from old cards, 2003.

A shepherd and sheep I made long ago, maybe 2003. Never made the important people in the story, but I've three kings to show you later in the week.

And unfortunately, I reverted to a rather unfair amount of Mum decorating by herself for a while, after the second minor breakage. I should have explained more about how to hold decorations carefully, I reckon. Because I can have a reasonably interesting conversation with her, I overestimate sometimes.

You will note the tree is securely tied to a large box, that there are few decorations on the lower branches, and any presents are well hidden at the back ... yes, Little Sis has started to walk.

I also found the 2nd box of decorations a bit late, you know, the box that actually was labelled RPG BooksChristmas Decorations. And I still have no idea why I thought jewel-toned purples, oranges and blues would go well with the traditional red/green/gold look? At least the year I apparently wasn't labelling boxes I had my colours coordinated.

Ah well, it all turns out in the end ... I found the home-made decorations so Big Sis and I put them up together. And she did the star ;)

Anyway, despite not having made Christmas presents since school, this year I've planned a few. Two (I hope) are easy knit toys. The other, well its a dolls' house. Of course, I could buy a dolls' house, but I want it easily portable and appropriate for a 2 year old ... so I'm going to make it sort of like a soft toy: wish me luck!

I told you blogs are a bad influence: I've not felt stressed about Christmas presents before!

This is how I study: pink cards for the textbook words, green for verbs, yellow for adjectives, white nouns and blue for phrases / anything else. Group 1 verbs are purple pen, group 2 orange pen, green for group 3. Gold pen for i-adjectives, pink for na-adjectives.

Just in case you're learning Japanese and haven't worked out your own format yet ;)

Miss Squiggle was watching me colour green cards blue (I always run out of one colour or another by final exam time) and she decided to help me with a few she'd made herself ... so sweet! As for Miss Moon, she's crawl / sit / crawling and pulling herself up to stand, practising really hard.

I'm always optimistic studying won't completely take over my life, but ...
See you in a few weeks!