Kakizome

For the Japanese, new year is very sacred that compares to Christmas in the West. Being in San Francisco, we did not get to go to a shrine or temple to toss a coin and make a wish for the year, which usually gives us a feel of a fresh new start for the year. Instead, my sister and I did Japanese calligraphy or kakizome to get into the mood.

I haven't held a calligraphy brush since elementary school, and it really made me nervous! You have to sort of be in the Zen mode, but the worry of messing it was really something inexplicable. It's such a simple act - just writing - so you have to put in your entire soul in it.


Embarassing embarassing. The messy ones are all mine! I never received any "gold" prize in elementary school. Honestly, the only decent one from me (I think!) was the character "慶" that we use to express congratulations for super special occasions (like new year). But it's my name that I've been signing papers for the last 20 years.


It was also fun writing our names in hiragana. It truly gives an excuse to be creative... in the manner of Michio Aida.


... and of course we can use the black ink to paint something like ukiyoe or a half-hearted attempt of it.


I wish I had a red stamp (what do you call it?) of your seal or signature to make these work look "real"...

Happy 2011!

My sister made ozoni, which is a typical new year food in Japan. It's the best thing ever to stuff yourself with lots of rice cakes and lazy around for the first few days from January 1st...

Happy new year!

Lemon riccotta pancakes

My sister and I made lemon riccotta pancakes for breakfast. The recipe is from Bobby Flay. It was super yummy with a hint of nutmeg too. We made a syrup from lilicoi jam that my sister brought back from Hawaii.


Try it with really good tea on a lazy Sunday. It will really make you happy...

Pizzeria Delfina

Anybody visiting San Francisco should go to the Mission and eat at Pizzeria Delfina or the bakery nextdoor called Tartine Bakery. It's really nice and you get to see the hipster neighbors (who probably all work at Google) and the mural filled neighborhood on the way from the metro station.

The Mural Project in the Mission

My sister and I discovered the Mural Project in the Mission on our way to her favorite pizzera.


I always thought the Mission was a scary neighborhood of San Francisco, but I stand corrected. Once you walk past the countless scary but joyful homeless/hippies who dominate the metro station, walk south on Mission Street towards 18th Street. It's on the left side where the street hits a small passage called Clarion Alley.

Mitsuo Aida

I came back to Japan for the beginning of my winter holiday, and just randomly stopped by the Tokyo Kokusai Forum in Ginza where I encountered poet and calligrapher Mitsuo Aida's work.

It is simply amazing and so human. He started learning under a Zen monk and learned and absorbed all the sayings from Buddhism. Then he translated that into his own words and into a more human form poetry. His calligraphy also evolved from a sterile perfect writing, into a human, unsecular and touching form.

It's really unfortunate that it is impossible to represent his true work in English. This article explains the painstaking work behind having translated (funny that it is done by a guy who writes English lyrics for Japanese singers, a surprise that those eternally fake English were written by a non-Japanese!).

I've picked up a few below that I especially liked. My feeble attempt to translate leaves much room for improvement (excuse excuse).

It is (up to your action) now and here

Lifelong study (brings) lifelong prime

It is always your heart that decides your own happiness

You blossom your own flower, full of life

I will do it later, yes later. So we say, and the sun sets (this is not written as an admonishment, but just the mere fact that we procrastinate, and that this is a lovable human quality)

We are afterall, human (sort of asking for forgiveness)

The permanent collection at the museum are all brilliant works, so I hope everyone gets to see.