(Click on Photos for Close Ups)
Harajuku Street Tokyo Harajuku Street Continues
A rainy day in Harajuku and the ubiquitous golden arches
The fabulosity that is Kiddy Land
Junk Food T's
Square pigs, square pigs, square, square pigs. Always, never, quite right.
Shiny, happy, awesome Rody
Marvelous Miffy
Hello, Kitty...note evil Pirate Kitty lurking in the back...loved that character!
All American Hello Kitty
Goth Girls in Harajuku
Harajuku Girl in black and white ensemble

Happy Shiny Tuesday:

I'm still not all there and this evil rash on my chest seems determined to stick around and continue climbing up my neck. Eek! I'm applying steroid cream and saying magical words. No time for such inconveniences! I'm off to a book shoot this coming Sunday for a week and when I return I think I might be able to exhale for half of a second. Phew.

Here are some more photos from Tokyo. I'm still processing our trip. It's hard to really get a sense of a culture when you visit a large city and especially when you're mostly stuck in a hotel and a convention hall. Think about how different your impression of America would be if you visited NYC or LA versus a small town in the South or the Midwest?! People are far more complex than any snap judgments we might make of them can ever be. There are definitely differences in style but ultimately I do believe we all have the same desires and needs. We all want to be loved and accepted and to find true happiness. We're far more alike than different. That being said, I have to admit I am damn glad to be a woman in a country where I am free to be the fullest expression of my true self and to dress, act, think and talk as I please. I'm not so good at being smaller to make other people happy.

The people from HAJ treated me so incredibly kindly. I felt like a crafty superstar. I saw the folks from the Japanese beading magazine who took my cl**** in Tucson. They had photos of me in my bright red wig in the magazine with my design and they gave me a copy! I had to laugh out loud when I saw the pics! Hee hee. Now I'll never get to go to the Swarovski ****tail party without a new candy colored wig!

The last day, as I mentioned, we took a trip to Harajuku. I wish we'd had the whole day because everyone of the shops was chock full of wickedly cool fashions and accessories. The few Harajuku girls we did see were spectacular. I could have sat down in a café and people watched for hours had we time. On the way out the streets were insanely crowded and it was raining so everyone had an umbrella. They seem to like their umbrellas in Tokyo, every shop had umbrella plastic bag dispensers at the entrance. There was a small film crew and a group of four young rock star looking guys walking down the middle of street shooting some footage and I got shoved in between them accidentally by the crowd drippy red umbrella in hand. I practically knocked one of them over...oops...sorry Tokyo Rock and Roll stars! Don't mind the goofy red headed American lady about to poke you in the eye with her umbrella.

I suppose I had this underlying desire to discover a sense of true Zen in Tokyo that I didn't find. It's rather silly to seek Zen in a place, because it's not a place. It's a state of being and it exists within us and not outside of us. Ah, Dorothy, there really is no place like home. Just ask Siddartha...

xoxo, Madge