岡山市- OKAYAMA CITY

Finally getting around to these pics I took back in Nov in Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture!

I really liked Okayama because it felt as much like a big city as it did a little country town. It has a certain charm you can’t really find in Tokyo - and yet it still has a lot of famous spots and trendy cafes.

Welcome to Okayama city…

How cute is this train? This was the line that took us from UNO station (where we took the ferry to Teshima from) back to OKAYAMA station…about 40 minutes. Trains like this always remind me of the Japanese countryside because you’ll never see something like this in Tokyo.

On this particular night, were starving by the time we got back to Okayama and looked up the best udon in town. We found this cute little place just a 10 minute walk from the station called OTOKO UDON “Men’s udon” (turns out it’s a popular chain in the area) HAHA…and were very happy with the meal. My noodles came with a giant fried gobo (burdock root) on top that looked so gross but tasted AMAZING.

We walked back to our hotel that was right next to Okayama Station and crashed so hard. We slept like babies and woke up the next day with a few more hours to explore the city before taking the Shinkansen back to Tokyo.

There is NO BETTER WAY to start your day than at at Japanese bakery. FACT. We did our research and googled the best bakeries around Okayama station and found this one… FUSAYA BAKERY. Which turned out to be a real hole in the wall because our very experienced Taxi driver didn’t even know what it was!! HAHA. But I read an article saying this place has been around for 40+ years so I knew it had to be legit. Turns out I was right and we had some of the best pastries and breads EVER.

I mean….just look at this heaven.

These were my fav “mochi mochi donuts (kinako)” ….OMGGGGG. Basically a chewy, fluffy, little bit crunchy on the outside mochi donut with the lightest bit of kinako (soybean) powder on top. Perfection.

After getting our breakfast bakery stop, we decided to walk to Okayama Castle and the famous KORAKUEN gardens.

Almost every big city in Japan has a castle…and they all are unique in their own ways. Okayama castle was really pretty to me for where it sits surrounded by the water like this, elevated high above the ground as if it were floating in the sky.

The castle is right next to KORAKUEN 後楽園, which is one of Japan’s top three best landscape gardens. You pay a few yen to enter the gardens and can walk around and enjoy the scenery and tranquility.

As we were walking through, I began to understand why it was ranked as one of Japan’s best gardens. I mean, the landscaping was meticulous and I almost forgot I was looking at real living plants - they were so perfectly groomed!

Every detail of the garden was perfectly places and that, to me, is the quintessential Japanese experience.

After our walk through Korakuen, it was time for some COFFEE!!! Thankfully, Steph and Miri are coffee people AKA the best people to travel with :)

The little backstreets of Okayama were magical.

Shout out to my travel buddies Steph and Miri. I am truly blessed to have these two in my life. Traveling with them was such a gift!

The coolest coffee shop in Okayama - KITSUNE. Now, this is a chain (in Paris and Tokyo) but i’d have to say the Okayama location is in the coolest building. Coffee shop goals.

let’s give a hand to Japanese parking structures…** clap clap **

AAAANd…..just like that, out trip to Okayama/Teshima came to an end and we said farewell to MOMOTAROU (famous story from this city) and headed back to Tokyo.

What I love so much about Japan is how endless it feels. Like, I thought I knew Japan pretty well…having lived in Tokyo, seen Osaka and Kyoto many times…but then I went to Okayama and realized how much I have YET TO SEE and that just made me love Japan so much more.

Okayama, thank you for your many denim stores, your adorable Momotarou gifts, your beautiful garden, your delicious hole in the wall bakeries, and your trendy coffee.

I’ll be back :)

SUCH A MOOD.

Three things i’ve been feeling in the mood for lately.

1 - BLACK AND WHITE

As I was looking through all of my Japan photos from this past trip, I felt like they all deserved to be in Black and White. Why? To me, black and white photos encompass a sense of timelessness. A moment totally frozen. On top of that, when something is in B&W, you are forced to see it as subject matter. And not simply color or vibrancy. You are forced to examine the photo for what is in it, thus giving off an entirely different mood than color photography. All these shots were taken on my iphone…nothing fancy…but all photos deserving a stamp of timelessness :)

2- VEGGIES VEGGIES VEGGIES

THIS IS SUCH A MOOOOOOOOD. So, for the past year or so (roughly) i’ve been eating a mostly vegetarian diet. There is a long story behind this that I won’t go into on this post, but basically I feel healthier and lighter and more full of energy since this lifestyle change and I don’t see myself going back anytime soon. Isn’t all this veggie food so pretty??

3 - K DRAMAS **HEART EYESSSSS**

**INSERT ALL THE TEARS AND FEELS….

SOOOO… my recent guilty pleasure has been Kdramas. Yes, yes you heard me - KOREAN DRAMAS. The stories are all relatively the same, the characters are all beautiful with porcelain skin and a wardrobe every girl envies, but there is also some great acting (ok I am no critic but if someone can make me cry then I call that good acting) and also let me mention THE MUSIC. OH MY GOD the music in these shows is so beautiful!!! I don’t even speak Korean and yet, when I listen to the music form these shows (three of my fav songs are above) I can feel the emotion behind the words! So, whenever I have downtime I turn on my favorite k-drama and get immersed in the story of some 30-something who gets married to a man because a housing contract but is on the road to actually falling in love with him and i’m just like - OK SO UNREALISTIC BUT YET I CAN’T LOOK AWAY!!!!! send me to South Korea today, please.

Recent fav shows: MY FIRST FIRST LOVE, BECAUSE THIS IS MY FIRST LIFE, ROMANCE IS A BONUS BOOK.

豊島 TESHIMA - Japan's magical little art island

One of the places I most wanted to visit in Japan was TESHIMA. A small island floating in between Kagawa prefecture and Okayama prefecture…a little part of the Setouchi region of islands. It all started a few years ago, when I saw a photo of Teshima Art Museum, a big white cement mound with rolling green hills behind it.

I knew I had to visit.

Upon further research, I learned Teshima was quite the trek from Tokyo. It’s a 3 hour Shinkansen to Okayama Station from Tokyo. Either that or loooooong night bus to Takamatsu. Then there’s a 40 minute bus rise to the ferry dock. Then a 40 minute boat ride to the island. Ahh..so that’s why no one as been.

And yet, despite the difficulty of getting to Teshima, I was determined to visit and make an adventure out of it. My two dear friends, Miri and Steph, were down for the adventure as well, so we made it happen! Lucky for us, we caught the LAST WEEKEND of the SETOUCHI TRIENNALE which is this insane art festival that only happens once every three years on the islands in this region. THREE YEARS!!! I COULD NOT BELIEVE OUR LUCK. (This was back in Nov, 2019)

It took a lot of planning, booking, checking time tables of various modes of transportation (bus, train, ferry) but man, was it worth it.

We were staying at a hotel right near Okayama station because of it’s proximity and accessibility to Teshima.

Fun fact: Okayama city and all of Okayama Prefecture is famous for denim. They decorate with denim and sell denim around every corner… the city bus being no exception. Denim seats and denim curtains - not your average mode of transportation. Anyway, we caught the bus around 7:30am. We knew it would take a while to get to the island so we wanted to allot ourselves enough time.

The bus took us from Okayama station to Uno station. We could have taken the train here but because this is a bit in the countryside, the trains don’t run as frequent and therefore the bus was, in this case, more convenient. The cool thing is that Uno station was a part of the art festival and was painted in this very unique striped design that was reminiscent of a jail? But a cool jail?

SETOUCHI TRIENNAL - the incredible and insane and brilliant art festival that takes place over a spread of islands in this region. Check out their WEBSITE…it’s fascinating!!

Funny story…we were casually walking from UNO station to the boat dock when an older man who was volunteering with the art festival asked us, “where are you going?” and we said, “Teshima” and then he proceeded to tell us enthusiastically (yell. yeah, he was yelling), “HURRY!!! THE BOAT IS LEAVING!!! HURRY!!!” which then prompted us to break out into a full on sprint at 8:30 am in the morning. FUN.

We sprinted and made it to the boat dock that is a few blocks from the station. The reason why we were panicking is that if we did not catch the first boat (around 8:40am) then we would have to wait until 10:30am or so to catch the next one!!! So we felt like our whole day depended on getting on the right boat . LUCKILY…we arrived at the dock in time to buy tickets and get on. PHEW. But what an invigorating start to the morning and a little moment to remind us that traveling is NOT always glamorous and often requires stressful panicked running through a city you’ve never been in. HAHA.

One of the most magical things about getting outside the big city is seeing local people in their environment, doing what they do every day. There is something simplistic and beautiful and refreshing about this. You see how life happens all over the place, in tiny corners of the world and it brings balance back to life because your perspective widens. I saw this old man sitting on the boat dock fishing. I imagined he does this routinely, every weekend. Same time. Same spot. Just like this.

After getting our tickets and getting on the boat, we road for about 50 minutes to the island. The boat/ferry? held about 60-70 people i’d say and it was quite cozy. The views out the window were spectacular. I was already lovin it.

Crazy that we had to travel so much just to arrive at our destination but FINALLY…

WE ARRIVED AT TESHIMA. Teshima is a tiny island with two main ports. We did our research and decided that all the main exhibits we wanted to see were on KARATO port, so we stayed on the boat until it took us to that port.

The first thing we stumbled upon was this tiny and cozy general store. This felt straight out of some Manga…or movie…or history!! It felt so untouched and untainted by modern society. A true relic.

Also, once on the island we planned to rent bikes to get around. BUT…every single bike store was sold out HAHA. So that plan failed. We accepted the fact that we had to walk and realized it wasn’t so bad actually. So we set out on foot to see the various exhibits.

The island had a lot of stray-looking cats who were all tiny and had stubby little tails.

“NO ONE WINS - MULTIBASKET” by LLOBET & PONS … as a basketball player, I really really wanted to see this. I had seen photos of it floating around the web and learned it was on Teshima so bookmarked it as a MUST SEE. This installation was first put up for the 2013 Triennal, and has remained a permanent installation since. It was so cool to see in person and also really fun to shoot around on! I am all about those interactive art installations that turn a very average and simple thing into something extraordinary.

Teshima is home to about 1000 residents. All their homes looked so cozy and lived in, like there was so much history and so many stories to tell. I loved that. A lot of them had kaki (persimmons) hanging out to dry. This house had a particularly perfect string of them hanging. ahh…Japan.

We kept following the map around and eventually made it up this big hill to where the museum is. How stunning is this island?????

The most perfect chill spot.

Now, the island does have some places to buy food, such as this random Pizza van! There are also a number of tiny restaurants but if you dont have a reservation or don’t catch them at the right time, you are out of luck. One thing we learned is we should definitely have packed our own food!

and ALAS…THE MAIN REASON I DREAMED OF COMING TO THIS MAGICAL LITTLE ISLAND…

TESHIMA ART MUSEUM

ROOKIE MOVE — we did NOT reserve tickets in advance, so when we arrived at the museum they told us we had to come back 1.5 hours later to enter. Thankfully, this didn’t mess up our plans too much. But if I could do it again, I would reserve! Lucky for us, there were some cool views to take in while we waited.

My epic travel buddies…Steph and Miri!! Love these two chickas. and BTW, this is the entrance to the museum. Once your allotted time comes, you can walk in here and buy a ticket then enter the museum.

The museum sits atop a big hill with expansive views looking out over the ocean. absolutely magical!!!

And finally…after a little wait…it was our time to go in. The museum looks basically like a grass yard with two GIANT round white mounts sticking out of the ground. It is odd and very unassuming. They kind of look like shelters or some kind of animal den. The small mound is the gift shop and the bigger mound is the main exhibit. Once you get your ticket (about 15USD) you walk along this narrow concrete pathway up a hill and around the back to the main exhibit.

Here is the main exhibit at TESHIMA ART MUSEUM. The funny thing is…we really had no idea what was happening at this point. All we did was follow a concrete pathway that led us here… where these two ladies were perfectly lining up shoes. We waited in line and one lady came to us and told us to put all our phones and cameras away. She was clear to say that we could not take a single photo inside. She also said that the exhibit has small balls and water droplets that we can look at and ponder. I still had no idea what to expect at this point. After waiting about 5 minutes…it was our turn to take our shoes off and go in.

THIS IS NOT MY PHOTO**

Now, since we could not take a single photo…. I pulled one from the website. We walked in to the little entrance way…and immediately I was blown away. I cannot even explain the feeling but basically…it was just this giant concrete room, like a big sphere, where everyone was sitting silently (literally 100 people) around two pools of water completely mesmerized and in awe….and I was completely blown away.

The exhibit is called MATRIX and it was designed by Rei Naito in partnership with architect Ryue Nishizawa.

In "Matrix" at Teshima Art Museum, water trickles out from the ground, here and there, throughout the day. As light, wind and the voices of birds ー on occasions also rain, snow, and bugs ー enter through the two openings and come in resonance with each other, an infinity of expressions are revealed as time passes. Immersing calmly in this space, feeling united with nature, we may sense the joy of life on earth.

INSANELY COOL. It felt like a truly awakening experience. After all, real art makes you feel something right? And this room, this exhibit, this giant concrete sphere with water droplets and silence all around made me feel. And Steph, Miri and I walked out of there completely shook!! HAHA. Absolutely worth the trek to Teshima. HANDS DOWN. NO QUESTIONS ASKED. WORTH IT.

So after our mind-blowing experience, we came back to reality aka the gift shop…which is also an epic looking structure!! HAHA.

AMAZING LEMON ROLL CAKE YES THANK YOUUUU!!!

Talk about a perfectly curated and designed store.

“ A space, just like that, comes into being as something that goes back to nature as it is.” - Rei Naito

Here is a model of what the MATRIX looks like. That tine hole on the bottom left is where we enter from, and the two big holes at the top are where the sun and light and wind come in. MAGICLLLLLLLLLL AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I saw this trendy cool couple sitting on the grass looking out over the ocean and I thought…Ok this is a scene straight out of an indie film. Am I right or am I right???!

I also saw these two ladies sitting on the tiny museum stools over looking the hills chatting and I thought…THIS IS ALSO A SCENE STRAIGHT OUT OF AN INDIE FILM. HOW EPIC.

After having our minds blown by the art museum, we continued to cruise the island and check out a few more events as part of the TRIENNALE. I couldn’t take photos in most of the exhibits, which I didn’t mind because- hey, it’s all about enjoying the moment after all right? But after walking around all day we stumbled upon this iconic place where a lot of people take photos because of the cool symmetry.

We then stumbled upon the only place open for food at the time (3pm?) which was this tiny and cute okonomiyaki shop run by a husband and wife. How precious?? Their home reminded me a lot of my grandparent’s old house.

I don’t eat tako (octopus) but Steph and Miri said this hit the spot!

Ok, by this time our day on Teshima was winding down. And we headed back to the port to check the boat times. This was a stressful moment because we saw a sign that said “ONLY 21 PEOPLE CAN RIDE THE UNO LINE FROM 4:10” which was the exact boat we wanted to get on. If we didn’t catch the 4:10 boat we would have to wait until 6:00pm or so…AHH!!! ISLAND LIFE!!!! So we decided to wait by the ticket booth (it was only like 3:15 at this time) to ensure we got on. This just goes to show how far out this island is…truly untouched by tourism and crowds.

We spent our last few moments on the island taking in the scenery and snapping fun photos all over. I am so thankful to have friends like Steph and Miri who are equally adventurous yet chill, spontaneous yet organized, and American yet Japanese HAHAHAHA. The absolute best people to travel with!!!

Everyone else had the same idea as us, that was…wait around the port to ensure a seat on the boat.

Lucky for us, we got on at 4:10 and took the boat 50 minutes back to the mainland.

And that, folks, wraps up the most epic day on TESHIMA.

This was one of the best days I have ever had in Japan. It was fun, eye opening, beautiful, and epic!!!! I learned that there are many places outside of Tokyo worth exploring. Experiencing Teshima lit a fire in me to challenge myself and others to go further into the countryside, into the islands, and into the mountains of Japan. There is so much to see. So much to learn. So much to explore.

THANK YOU TESHIMA, I’LL BE BACK <3<3<3

最近 - RECENTLY

In 2019, I didn’t take a lot of photos on my SLR camera.

I fell into the monotonous train of thought that my daily routines wasn’t anything extraordinary. No mount Fuji views, no Tokyo streets, no skyscrapers, no instagram worthy food…just, daily life. Therefore, my camera stayed put in my room collecting dust and I lacked the motivation to brush it off. But, over the holidays, I realized that there is really nothing more extraordinary than freezing a moment in time with my family by the click of a camera shutter. Life moves fast. The years go by in a blink of an eye. And the kids will be grown up before we know it.

And I realized that, these days…the ones where I am living at home with my family doing the most ordinary things… are in fact, the most extraordinary.

Matching PJs on Christmas morning.

My bro and his “coffee” (mostly milk w a lil coffee)

Cam, loves all things nerf guns.

Jordan’s first Christmas. 10.5 mo.

Peter’s first Christmas. 4.5 mo.

Happiest Kindergarteners.

Tay, loves all things dolls and stuffed animals.

Cozy cousin filled Christmas day.

Soaking that mochi rice!

Mochiko, the necessary ingredient.

Mom, the queen mochi maker and head chef.

The magical (ancient) machine! priceless.

I love hanging with all my cousins! We are all grown up now which makes it even more fun when we are all together joking and bantering back and forth. This year was especially fun because my cousins from CO were in town!

MOCHI MOCHI MOCHIIIIIIIIII!! This is gold. And a tradition I am so thankful my mom and aunties have kept up all these years. Steps: wash the rice, soak the rice, cook it in the machine and….viola.

Only my mom can handle the hot mochi right out of the machine. She pulls off equal sized pieces and passes them down the table for us to form into balls.

NOM NOM NOMMM.

Lenny and Ofie…love these girls.

Hey there Petey boy.

All hands on deck.

We pound out a lot of mochi for new years. We fill some with azuki, chocolate (Nutella), or peanut butter. But mostly we keep them plain to use in Ozoni the next day.

Little J man on the piano.

Mom, Lenny and Cam. These two kiddos were having a blast playing in the mochiko.

All set up for New Year’s day.

OZONIIIIII. The coziest, best way to begin the year.

Make your own sushi bar.

A table full of the best food made with love.

Mom’s immaculate prep list of all the food.

GOOD LUCK FOOD!

I love my siblings <3

On New Year’s Day we invite all our family over. A really special guest that always comes is our neighbor Barbara. She has been our neighbor ever since my parents moved into this house 30 years ago and she is a truly wonderful and kind woman of God! Although Japanese New Years is quite a foreign tradition for her, she gladly comes over every year and tells us, “I thank God every day that he blessed me with neighbors like you” *tears!!!!! Having her over our house makes me realize what the holidays are truly all about - quality time with those you love.

The first sunset of 2020.

This year, I hope to shoot more with my camera. More of the every day stuff. I also hope to play around with the film cameras I inherited from my grandpa. I want to capture the big moments and the tiny moments and all the beautiful moments in between. Let’s go 2020.

<3

KOMAE CHRISTMAS 2019

I interrupt my <very> delayed Japan posts with some photos of Komae Christmas 2019 <aka my dad’s side of the fam>. I feel extremely blessed to always celebrate the holidays with my parents, my uncle, my aunt, my siblings and their spouses, my cousins and their spouses and all 13 kids we have on this side of the family now!… 13!!!!

Never a dull moment with the Komae fam <3

Caden’s first Christmas…clearly he was overwhelmed! haha

Cam is almost 6 years old and very much a ham for the camera and everyone he meets. He is cute and he knows it!!!

My uncle and my dad…brothers… the two solid rocks who hold our family together.

Nothing better than a shared meal with family.

Jordy + Hunty and Eden + Nana.

Sibling chatter.

There’s a smiley face from Caden!!

We added three new baby boys to the family this year…Caden, Jordan and Peter!!

My cousins!!! Love them dearly. They make me proud to be a Komae.

squeezing everyone in to one shot!

Thankful for my sis and bro-in-law for hosting. God has really blessed them with this house that had held so many parties already!

Hunter Minh…love this kid.

And Tayah Ruth…the life of the party, funniest girl around, with the cutest expressions and the most amazing personality. LOVE HER!

Merry Christmas from the Komae fam!! XOXO