I was looking for a recipe the other day and came across this Japanese cooking show on YouTube called Cooking with Dog (note: I was looking for a Japanese recipe, not a dog recipe). I am not sure if this is something the whole world has seen except me, but all I know is that a) this is a cooking show hosted by a poodle named Francis b) he’s Japanese but speaks English and c) the recipes on this show seem like they’d be quite good.

I am totally mesmerized by this show!

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For the first time in a while we dug out the old gocco print machine and made some cards, as a favour for a friend’s wedding this weekend. We used to design and silkscreen cards more often but kind of let it fall by the wayside, as we are getting old and lazy. It was pretty easy and quick because we managed to find a place online that sells recycled paper and envelopes, which cut down on having to measure and cut all the paper ourselves.

Joe came up with the design, which was inspired by some washi paper we had seen, and the idea that the wedding’s colours were brown-orange-gold for fall.

Gocco printing is a fairly simple, fun way to print – we’ve found it to be a lot easier than full-on silk-screening…

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We Japanese is a book commissioned by the Fujiya Hotel to describe all the customs and traditions of Japan in one handy guide for tourists. We stayed at this hotel on our trip and I had seen the current version of the book on display in the lobby but been unable to buy it because the gift store wasn’t open and we had to leave.

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I went a little crazy at the sight of these pop-up Christmas cards at the Tokyo Hands in Shinjuku

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One of the stores I was really driven to hunt down in Japan was Mina Perhonen. There’s something so enchanting about the combination of Japanese and Finnish aesthetics…

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If you go from Tokyo to Hakone you get to ride trains, a funicular, and a pirate ship…or more correctly a Fairytale Land Pirate Boat.

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Searching for the tiny bar called La Jetée in Shinjuku’s Golden Gai was one of the more memorable parts of our trip.

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One odd tip I got from my friend Jon who lived in Japan for a year is that the Japanese make really excellent Italian food.

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When planning a trip to Japan, this is the question every traveler inevitably asks themselves. Hotel or ryokan?

The answer?

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Tokyo has everything. AÿAnd I bought a lot of it and made Joe drag it back to our hotel.That’s probably all that needs to be said about on the subject of shopping and Tokyo. I’m going to ignore my own words though.

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