All good things come to an end - Japan 26 May 2023

 My last week has gone by and soon I'm off home. I went to Kamakura on Tuesday in the pouring rain, a seaside town famous for its many scenic temples and shrines and also a giant Buddha statue.  Even in the rain there were so many wonderful things to see. It's quite a touristy place (for Japanese and foreigners) so lots of tourist shops. I went in a few and acquired some more tourist tat to take home.

A christmas tree ornament

some fun Japan-themed erasers

Some cool stickers for my laptop from a branch of B-Side Label, a brand

that creates a lot of original sticker art

Wednesday was a pottering around day, visiting a few things I missed the first week I was in Tokyo, like Gotokuji Temple, Tokyo's 'lucky cat' temple and the birthplace of the lucky cat legend. People can buy lucky cat figurines and write prayers on them and leave them on display, the massed cats of all sizes are very eyecatching.

I also tried the Japan Folk Craft Museum but wasn't impressed, it was expensive to get in, it's small, the minimalist labels are only in Japanese and the English guide sheet is useless. It sounds like it was founded on similar principles to the Arts & Crafts movement, and has displays of pottery, lacquer ware, some ikat weaving and so forth - but the kind of thing that doesn't look like much if you don't have specialist knowledge on the subject.

In the evening I was wandering around the department store near my hotel, just enjoying the displays and cultural differences, when I ended up back in the Yuzawaya department that I visited the first week. This time I found a set of tatting picot gauges which seems like a handy thing to have. When I was trying out needletatting last year, my uneven picots really ruined the look.

I also stumbled across a department with racks of colourful kimono, not sure if they were selling

them, or hiring them out

Thursday was sumo day but as I wasn't planning to enter the arena until noon, I had time in the morning to pop over to Sakura Horikiri, the craft shop I visited in 2016 and bought a couple of fabric picture kits of Japanese scenes - the kind where you push fabric into slits cut into foam to make a picture.  They have expanded their range and as well as all the cute fabric picture kits, they now do an extensive range of decoupage papers, cartonnage (decorated with paper not fabric), keyrings and small ornaments, wood marquetry and fabric marquetry.  The staff are really friendly and helpful. I ended up buying several little kits which I have made room for in my suitcase by discarding some more clothes.

shop displays at the entrance

My purchases: a couple of Japanese themed scenes, some sumo wrestler ornaments,

and a branch of colourful parakeets/budgies (I don't know what the difference is)

Nearby was a three-floor branch of The Parts Club, a comprehensive jewellery making supply store for the hobbyist - I get the impression it is a popular hobby here.  I don't make jewellery but I was able to get a Santa and some snowflakes for my Christmas porch  dollshouse scene, and some delicate filigrees and a fan which might work for my Japanese dollshouse.

The sumo tournament was very exciting, and I was there early enough to have a good exploration around the arena, visit the surprisingly underwhelming souvenir stalls, watch some of the big name wrestlers arriving from their taxis, and then watched all the senior division matches.  Apart from wasting some money on some sumo-tat capsule machines, the only thing I bought were these silly sumo tea bags, that will look as though the wrestler is reclining in your tea cup.  What can I say, it made me smile.

So my bags are all packed up, and fingers crossed that I don't attract any attention entering the country with all my swag.  I'll do a swag post once I get home, it will be enlightening for me as well since I don't remember half the stuff I acquired seven weeks ago when I first got here. It's going to be strange to be home, in my own bed, not living out of a suitcase, and being able to buy gluten-free food easily.  I can promise that I don't want to eat any more rice or fish for at least several weeks!