Blah blah Japan blah blah blah...

Actually I hope that's not what my blog is sounding like!

Today we took my Janome sewing machine on a return trip to the service shop because the visit in February did not cure any of the problems.  On my day off I pieced two more blocks for the 30s Sampler Quilt and the machine was not behaving well at all.  I phoned up to discuss and they are going to have another go at no additional charge. But it means no Janome for another week :(  But I should get it back for sewing over Easter weekend and in the meantime I can use my Featherweight.

I've been working away on my Sanquhar glove this week and have completed up to the fingers and done two of those now.  It's still a bit big but as it is in Jamieson's pure wool, I can give it a slight felting when I wet block which should help.

I've also done a bit more stitching on my tiny needlepoint house.  It's suppose to be a scissor keep but the previous one I stitched, I turned into a fridge magnet by slipping a magnet into the 3-D structure before I stuffed it. I might do that again because I just find scissor keeps annoying.

Dollshouse haul from Japan

Of course when I was in Japan, I kept my eyes open for miniatures that might be suitable for my Japanese dollshouse but didn't have a lot of luck.  Although the Japanese love miniature things, actual dollshouses don't seem to be very common.  I checked out the craft sections in several bookstores and there was usually several books on making miniature food, but I only saw one book on dollshouse scenes.  Gift shops, combini and souvenir stores typically have cute miniature toys or key fobs but not in a suitable scale. Some shops had the Chinese kits for room boxes that you can get through Amazon in the UK.

We hit up the big win on the first day, with a visit to TYA Kitchen, a dollshouse shop in a northern suburb of Tokyo. The owner is famous for his stainless steel kitchen miniatures and regularly visits the Chicago International miniatures show to trade. I had bookmarked the address in Googlemaps in advance, so it was relatively easy to find.

I had a friendly welcome from the owner who speaks some English, and his wife who I don't think spoke any English. The shop is relatively small but absolutely crammed with the most amazing room box displays, many of them highly detailed kitchens and restaurants showing off his amazing work.  Photography is normally not allowed but he kindly allowed me to take some pictures.

The singer on the stage moves about and really sings,

while the television in the foreground is showing actual moving images.

A sushi restaurant, including a 'boat' table floating in a 

pool filled with miniature seafood.

But the most amazing thing  was when DH pointed out to me a replica of my Japanese dollshouse that I am building from the De Agostini kits!  I hadn't even noticed it because I was so busy looking at everything else, lol. I had enough Japanese to be able to say that I was building the same house, which is when he revealed that he was the original designer and that house was the prototype!!  When I looked at it properly I realised it is probably the one that was photographed for my kit instructions. What an unbelievable coincidence.  I always thought that a real Japanese person must have been involved in designing the house because of all the authentic details which go far beyond the usual superficial nod to a period.

So I took lots of pictures of the prototype and was able to buy some items to go inside.  I think all of his stock is 1/12th scale, whereas the Japanese house is 1:20, but I found several items which I think will work anyway.  I also found a mold to make really small sushi, as it turns out his daughter Asami makes amazing miniature food.  Apart from all of his work on display in the room boxes, I didn't see a lot of 'loose' stock by him but I did buy a modern saucepan to go in one of my bigger houses. He had some lovely baskets which will work well in my kitchen, and I picked up another Japanese style kettle and a little porcelain serving spoon.  I found a lasercut wood kit for a 1/12th screen which I will find a home for, perhaps in my Art Nouveau roombox.

And he had several Japanese miniatures books including this one on making miniature food which features work by his daughter.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable visit, I wish I could have communicated better. I'd love to go back to the Chicago show again to see his stock on display.

Also in the photo above is a set of wooden dishes I found in a antiques and bric-a-brac store, again 1/12th scale but I can use as bowls and cauldrons for my house.  The package of green is from a model store we found for DH, and holds three 'cloud pruned' trees intended for railways which will go into my house's garden eventually.

When we were on the island of Shikoku, we visited the Ryozenji Temple. As it is #1 on the 88-temple pilgrimage route, it has a shop selling various supplies to pilgrims like white tabards, staffs, conical hats etc.  In the annexe there was a little display of resin or plastic miniature scenes set in plastic cubes, with a sign in English saying '9 available'.  I couldn't see them on display so I sounded out the name in Japanese and went into the main shop to ask where they were.  The woman looked confused, then light dawned and she asked a colleague.  Then she asked me in Japanese to wait a minute and took off out the door and literally ran across the courtyard to another building.  After several minutes she came back and asked me to wait some more, and then finally a man appeared and walked over holding a box.  The box turned out to be dusty and decrepit and inside were several of these little miniature scenes, with all their boxes looking pretty dusty and battered as well (one of the ones I bought was actually mouldy inside!).  So I kind of think I was the first person to ask about these scenes for a long time! Anyway, they only had about six different ones and I chose the three that I liked best. I took the plastic cubes off for the photograph. There is a garden scene, a temple scene and an interior, and each one is about two inches square.

Some time later, in a gift shop in the Dogo Onsen area in Matsuyama, I succumbed to one of the Chinese kits - this one is to build a Japanese street stand selling tea.

Apart from that I picked up a few more tiny lucky cats, and some nice washi papers and postcards that I might be able to use for interior decoration.

I was delighted to see many real-life examples of period features included in my Japanese dollshouse kit.  We saw many stair-cupboards and even got to use this one to climb to the second floor in a historic house.

The carved fish hanging over a firepit was also a regular sight in the historical houses, and I actually got to see one in action when we dined in a traditional Japanese inn, or ryokan. The waitress brought a kettle of hotpot and adjusted the height it would hang over the coals of the firepit by lifting the fish, raising the iron rod up into the bamboo hanger, then lowering the fish again which acted as a brake.

DH wandering past another fish /firepit in an old samurai house.

The traditional cooker just like the one in my house

Antique cupboard with sliding panels, just like the ones in my kit.

So I took loads of reference photos in old houses and museums which hopefully will help with finishing details for my house.  I also took pictures of Japanese garden features and typical scenes to help me when I do the garden.

Oh, and capsule toy machines are a big thing in Japan, with some 'shops' in malls being nothing but dozens of these machines stacked up. Basically you put in coins from 100 yen (c. 70p) up to 500 yen (£3.50), turn the dial, and a plastic capsule pops out.  Inside will be a random toy from the selection pictured on the machine.  Most of them are anime characters or cutesy toys (I saw several featuring fabric costume hats to put on your cat), but there are also ones that vend components for complicated scenes.  They can be very cute but you are basically gambling that you won't get duplicates.  I wasted about £12 trying to get a perfect 1/12th scale sewing machine out of one vending thing but had to give up in the end after ending up with four things I didn't want, two of them duplicates.  But when I had a go at another machine vending the three components to make a miniature Dogo Onsen (the oldest and famous wooden bathhouse said to be the inspiration behind the bath house in the Studio Ghibli film 'Spirited Away'), I managed to get all three in just three goes, much to DH's amazement as he was gloomily predicting three duplicates.

This picture is missing the tiny white heron which should be on the highest tower as I had completely overlooked it in the packaging. Luckily DH asked where it was so I went back and looked and found it.

I haven't actually touched my Japanese dollshouse since coming back but I'm hoping to get back to work on the roof over the Easter weekend.