Happy New Year to all!

I hope everyone had a good holiday. I've been back to work for a while now.

I ate "Osechi" which is traditional Japanese cuisine for the New Year's Day. Usually I'm in Japan this time of the year so I eat osechi made by my mother.

I did know that different family or different generations use slightly different ingredients to make osechi but I didn't know what each food represents.

The only thing I knew was Konbu(Seaweed) represents "Joy" as the name konbu sounds similar to "yorokobu" which means joy in Japanese.

There are other food such as "Tazukuri" which means making rice fields, "Kazunoko" for having many kids, etc.

My mother makes what's called "Meiji style Osechi". Meiji is the era from 1862 to1912 in Japan.
In Meiji stule osech, most of ingredients are brown or black. More modern "Heisei style Osechi" (1989-current) looks a lot more birhgter with colour of red and white.
I always thought I should inherite skill and style of making osechi from my mother but at the same time I thought "But I can't get all the ingredients in Australia. I could get some of them but they don't taste as nice"

So when I ordered osechi from one of Japanese chef, I wasn't expecting much but it was much nicer than I thought! I want to know where he gathered the ingredients from.

I ordered osechi from Urasan Japanese catering. It was $200 for 2 to 3 people. ($20 discount if you order early)

There were other places that were also offering osechi for similar prices. They are:

Hana Jurin: Located in Crows Nest. http://www.jurin.com.au/hana_jurin/
Blancharu: Located in Elizabeth Bay http://www.blancharu.com.au/
Shiki: Located in The Rocks:  www.shiki.com.au
Mino: Located in Mosman: www.mino.com.au
Ura san Japanese catering: Locagted in Sushi e in CBD. 0405 147 055 http://merivale.com.au/sushie

*Blancharu is a Japanese owned French restaurant. Their osechi is mix of western and Japanese cuisine
*Hana Jurin was the only one where the price was over $200 but that was because it was for 4 people.

If you are interested in eating osechi for the new year day in 2014, try contacting one of the restaurant above in December 2013!

Season's Greetings

Every year in Australia, someone always ask me if Japanese celebrate Christmas.

My answer is "Yes" but it's more of an excuse to have a party. For some reasons, we celebrate Christmas eve, not the Christmas day. And Christmas day is NOT public holiday.


I think celebrating Christmas culture started when my parents were little. (They are in their 60s now). But it was for people who could afford to do so. Many people were still very poor after the war.

As for me(born in 80s), I always celebrated Christmas with family and I believed in Santa Clause too.

I think many people still think Japanese are Buddhist therefore we don't celebrate Christmas but in fact, majority of us don't have religion. We celebrate whatever is fun and make money if we are running shops.

Having said that, new year eve and the new year day are very important for us.  Family member gather around, eat traditional new year cuisine, go to a shrine for a new year prayer, etc.

I'm usually back in Japan this time of the year but not this time. As much as I like Australia, I still prefer to be in Japan for new year's eve and the new year.

But I love Christmas spirit here!!  I bought more Christmas decorations this time and also bought many Christmas cookies from a lady I met at Kirribilli market. (Please refer to the photo)

Her business name is All That's Nice. You can find her from her facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/allthatsnicecookies?ref=ts&fref=ts

Thanks so much to all the people who supported Kyo Modern this year.  I wish everyone a bright and delightful holiday seasons!!

Soy Candle Aritist Takako

A friend of mine who will be sharing the stall at Kirribilli market on the 1st of December makes soy candles.


She makes soy candles with and without fragrance. Personally I like the one with fragrance.

Unlike ordinary candles that are made by mainly paraffin, soy candle doesn't have burnt smell. It is softer and has a low melting point.

Her candles comes in various sizes and with different decollations. I purchased stained glass ones before. And I just found out she started making Christmas candles too!

When I share a market stall with friends, I often end up buying their products for myself. I love my friends artworks.

You can find more information of what she does via her facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/reikot#!/CandlemakerTakakoYamamoto

Hope to see you all on Saturday!

New products

Christmas products are available at Beehive gallery、Romantic Notions and Tachi Hair Works

At Beehive galley, there are kokeshi cosmetic pouches, handmade hair accessories including new hair bands made of shibori, Santa on reindeer and cakes which are screen cleaners. There is also Christmas decorations for wall.  Of course, all these products are made of kimono fabric by craftsman in Kyoto, Japan! 

At Romantic Notions, there are kimono teddy bears and cake screen cleaners. I will be adding coin purses and small teddy bears soon. 






 

At Tachi Hair Works, there are new hair accessories and Christmas ornaments.
 





Christmas is only a month away now. I hope Kyo Modern's products will make good Christmas gifts for friends and families. 

Beehive Gallery (Gifts Shop)
Shop1 441-443 King Street
Newtown 2042 NSW 

Romantic Notions (Gifts Shop)
101 Longueville Rd, Lane Cove NSW 2066, Australia

Tachi Hair Works (Hair & Beauty Salon)
Shop 1, 272 Victoria Ave., Chatswood NSW

Coming soon

After 3 weeks in overseas, I am finally back in Australia.

I picked up lots of new products while I was in Kyoto. Now I should add them onto my new website that is launching in this month.

I will announce the official open day of the website soon.  I will be uploading photos of Kyoto on facebook page soon too. 

Getting ready for Christmas

Being busy with setting up a new website. It should open just before I leave for Japan next week.

While I'm away, I won't be able to process the sales so any order come through during that period will be processed in mid November.

I didn't realised it's so close to end of the year. That means Christmas is just around the corner!! 2012 was somewhat very fast for me.

I'm planning to get products for Christmas from Japan.

How about Santa on a reindeer? 

It's actually a screen monitor cleaner.

I can't wait to see more products in Kyoto!!

New products at Tachi Hair Works

I didn't realise the lasts time I updated this blog is more than a month ago.

Oops!

I have received new products and I'm in a process of selling them at shops in Sydney.

So far, a hair salon Tachi Hair Works in Chatswood sells some of the new hair accessories.



I will be dropping off more products at a gift shop Beehive gallery in Newtown and a hair and beauty salon My Hair International in The Rocks sometime this week. And other shops next week.

Apologise for an unclear photo but the products in the photos are a hair tie. This hair tie is made with a ribbon which is made of rayon and acrylic beads. 

It comes in different colours. The one available at Tachi Hair Works is pink. This is almost like wearing kanzashi (traditional Japanese style hair ornament) but it's a hair tie so it's so much easier to wear. Shinning beads definitely makes your hair more stunning.  

The size of the decorations (ribbon & beads) are 11x5cm. The diameter of a elastic band is 9cm. It's handmade by a craftsman in Kyoto.  

More photos of new hair accessories are below:

Garbera hair pin. It comes in blue, pink, red & purple. Handmade with rayon & cotton.

Hair tie with round decorations.  Made of rayon and chirimen,