Konichiwa!

That's Good Afternoon in Japanase, coming to you from Japan.

We got here safely, at about 4:00 in the afternoon. By the time we got through customs and to our room, it was 6:30, and we were beat. There was surprisingly little knitting on the long plane ride, and I nearly had a melt down at Jo-Ann's right before we left. I need ONE little tiny ball of Lion Brand Microspun, or else the Technicolor Dream Sweater will only go up to his armpits, and the Jo-Ann's we stopped at on the way to the airport had every yarn in the Lion Brand fleet BUT Microspun. I officially hate that specific Jo-Ann's. I'm only buying the one ball because I'm too lazy to redesign and frog the front, and I'm dreading it, because I know I have a snowball's chance in hell on the dye-lot. But, I digress!

It's awesome here! Everywhere I go, I'm taking pictures of any little thing you can
imagine. It's like the stereo-typical Japanese tourist, only in reverse. Everything here is adorable, from the babies to the cars to the Cinnamaroll. The clothes here are also very cool. Unfortunately, I will never be able to wear any of them. The average woman is about 5'2", and wears size 4. They are all very tiny. I'm thinking of buying some stuff and just framing it.

Japanese women are very into "Kawaii." Kawaii (Kah-WAH-eeee) means cute, 4-year-old girl type of cute. Grown women will dress up like little girls, pigtails, pink socks and all, because it's kawaii. So, you can imagine that Hello Kitty and all her friends are fantastically popular. You can even buy some cars in a Hello Kitty version.

The cars here are awesome. Just today on the expressway, I saw a Honda "That's", a Suzuki "Naked" and a charter bus with "Powertard Brakes." All the new cars look like teeny milk trucks, boxy is very stylish. For some perspective on what I mean by small Japanese cars, yesterday I looked out across the bank parking lot, right over top of the minivan I was standing next too. In flat shoes. Granted, I'm 5'7", but STILL.

There's tons of knitting stuff around. Now, I have to confess that I haven't found a yarn store, and the yarn at the 100 yen (1 dollar) store was just what you'd expect at the dollar store. But, I got 2 stitch holders for 100 yen there! Nice metal ones, one 4" and one 6". I've also found about a million bags that would make great knitting bags, and the same with notions cases. They've got tons of little pencil cases, bento box type things, and little tchotchke cases that run the gamut from hobo-chic to hello kitty cute. Let me know if you're in the market for a cool Japanese knitting bag or notions case, or for that matter, anything Japanese, and I'll hook you up.

I've been knitting in public everywhere that I can, and there's definitely a huge interest in the craft. I'm thinking my idea for a little yarn boutique at the exchange could be very lucrative. The only thing that's a little turn-offy: the funky fun-fur/novelty yarn scarves that knitters know cost $15 or less to make, and sell at chi-chi boutiques for upwards of $60-75. Well, here you can find them for about $10 at the mall. This could hurt my easy-income-with-easy-scarves shtick.

Gotta go, pictures to come. Wait until you see the Japanese Biore ads!