We had a fun but quick trip to the Bay Area. Peter got his boat fix and got to test drive a Dodge Sprinter, and I got to see some old friends (including cancer-fighting Megan, who is looking very good these days) and eat some Japanese food. We made it to Kinokuniya Books in San Jose, but I felt a little frantic and rushed in there. I ended up with three books, none of them knitting books!
The one on the left has a bunch of purses and pouches and other goodies. It is the same book that Amy of Angry Chicken recently purchased. She has some great photos of the book on her blog here.
The book on the right is all about gift wrapping. If you don’t know, the Japanese are a little, shall we say, obsessed with wrapping. Oftentimes the wrapping on a package is more elaborate and sophisticated than the contents. Even if you buy some little 40 cent trinket, you will get a nice little package for it. Here is one page from the book. It displays the various ways of wrapping a box!
The book in the center is all about chirimen, a type of Japanese silk fabric that I have long adored. I would love to be able to make some of these things, but I don’t think I have the patience. They are all done by hand. Check out this cute purse!
I also have the book in the middle 🙂 I fell in love with that purse too, and the little stuffed bunny. Cute stuff!
great books! such unique and fantastic ideas.
The books look real nice and because I just had to take a closer look at the first one, I checked the local bookstore today (I live in Tokyo btw). They didn’t have it, but I’m afraid that when I do find it, I won’t resist.
man i’ve been waiting all morning for your server to come back up. i bet regina has been frustrated as well!!!
ah – kinokuniya. the last time i got to go was what….six months ago? how can there not be one in chicago???? (yes i know b/c there is no asian population here to speak of. example – our 3 block chinatown.)
oh-hooray-good score! so glad you found the bag book! (and thanks for the link:)I know buzzville and craftlog have it too-there’s some discussion of making the bird bag and comparing notes. . I LOVE the gift wrapping book.
Did you get to go to the gourmet special at the grocery store? They were making little pastry puffs with egg in them. Looked yummy but I was the first person NOT to make the cutoff on Saturday. WAH!
Looking for someone to cry over missing puffs with.
ooh! that wrapping book looks fun. I love wrapping presents so much…
and that purse is TOO adorable.
I was in Japan in January and I love their packaging for all their products. I bought 4 little trinkets and each one got wrapped and bagged and then they were all put into one big bag. Yeah, it can be excessive, but I love it.
Our last stop was Kyoto and we got to eat Kobe beef on the last night. The beef was gift wrapped in beautiful paper, like a present. If my tour guide didn’t tell it was beef inside, I would never have known. I was sad to see him rip off the paper. I got over that pretty quickly when I tasted the Kobe beef. Melt-in-your-mouth! Oh my! Amazing taste.
BOY! GIRL! Am I jealous!!? We plan to make a trip into manhattan this weekend, I want to plan a trip to the Japanese bookstore because of you!
That wrapping book scares me.
What a cute pockie book! I love it!