Shadows from Tokyo.

Hey Harriet has sparked off a photo frenzy among the bloggers - "Shadow Shot Sundays" - all pics with shadows in them! Many have contributed fabulous shots over at her blog.

I don't know if mine can match those so here are my shadow-shots. It's not a Sunday but I'm a frazzled mama who do not know what day it is sometimes !

Summer Fun, Reports & a Wild Boar.

The few last days of school before summer break. A hectic week with school plays, class picnics, farewell lunches & this : At the kids' school, I volunteer by drawing. Here's my latest illustration (with colour pencils & water colour) for our Grade School magazine. My most "exciting" task today - photocopying 12,000 pages for the newsletter (200 issues of 60 pages) from 8am till 3pm !!

As a "corporate" identity, Fuji-san is present each time. So are the different washi border, the masthead & that bird which is a "Spatz" (sparrow) hence "Spatzenpost". This season's issue is dedicated to the Summer Olympics. You can see past covers here.

This cover is dedicated to my son, who missed jumping into the outdoor pool at the Swiss Club Singapore & my daughter who dreams of doing handstands. In real life, she can't do any handstand but she sure love her braids! In real life too, there are no goldfishes in ponds but who cares...these look like they belong! Dancing in the background are friends, Timo, Elina & Raimon.

Niklas wrote out an interview with a faculty member, in German & in English while his co-reporters asked the questions & took photos.

Annika found an article in our English newspapers & translated it into German. It was about a wild boar that ran amok in a kindergarten. The funny part is that she had added "And 23 people died in the end”. We were shocked & asked where she got that info since no one had died. She said she put that in to make the story more exciting & interesting! She did it because that is the general instruction she gets from us or hear Niklas say, whenever she is writing essays! Yes...we did remove her "exciting" statement.

All that a kitchen needs . . Kappabashi Kitchen Town

Over the weekend, we were at Kappabashi - an area (8 blocks!) just for kitchenware.

Everything that your kitchen or restaurant could dream of - knives, cookie cutters, cherry seeds-removers, deep fryers, grillers, muffin papers, bento boxes, pots & pans, take-out food containers, lanterns, crockery, trays, chopping mats, silicon baking trays, whisks & those incredible realistic plastic food models that you see outside Japanese restaurants. Sadly most stores were closed on this gloomy grey Sunday, so I will go back on a weekday & take more interior shots of the wares.

Note the Godzilla mural & the giant rhino-beetle - how's that for a view when you wake up in the morning!

Here you can see 2 types of delivery vehicles!

And just a couple of designs - veg bundles, chickens, teapots - from the hundreds of chopsticks-rests that you can buy !

a shoebox, a restaurant, an apartment...

I did not have a single toy as a child. When I mentioned this to my son who was 4 at that time, he said "oh Mama, how sad...we can share our toys & you can play with them anytime". One of those times that a Mama will always remember.

We do many craft projects & here is one that we are fascinated with at the moment - our shoebox dollhouse. Although it has now evolved into a "Japanese cafe downstairs" & "owner's apartment upstairs". If these shots are not so clear, it's because it was in the evening & were taken without flash.

Green futons are cardboard covered with washi paper.
The stylish ikebana is a bamboo toothpick holder, now holding green plastic strips.
Round tables are covers from jars standing on toothpicks, the stools are plastic bootle caps.
Wall pictures are little cut-outs which Annika pasted & then drew frames around.

Wall mirror is aluminium foil on a card with pretty beads.

"Glass" display cabinet is a plastic packaging box.

Stack up makeup sponges for a perfect display counter.

People come & go.

When you are on the move as much as we have, there are some things which you wish you can get used to...but you don't. June is also the last month for both class teachers, in my children's classes. These are the goodbye collages that Niklas & Annika did, for their respective teachers. Annika loves her teacher, Frau Jakob so much that she emails her during school holidays.

Tschuess Frau Klotz - Niklas' teacher, a wife & a mama-to-be.
Tschuess Frau Jakob - a memorable & kind teacher to Annika.

This summer also marks the departure of a very good friend, Margret Tanaka, who is also the mother of Caren, a lovely girl in Niklas' Grade 4 class.

Their family is re-locating to Germany. Margret is German & has lived in Japan for the past 17 years! She is the one I call for translation help when I'm standing at a store & cannot communicate with the Japanese sales staff. We will miss them.

An unusual church on an eroding island.

Over the weekend, we attended a christening at the German Lutheran Church here. It brought back memories of when our kids were christened as babies on Sylt. a German island off the coast of Denmark. My mother-in-law has always wished that her children would get married in St Severin, a unique church there in Keitum, Sylt. However, since none did, the next best thing was to have our kids christened there.
A historical & unusual church, St Severin dates back to the 1200s. The Gothic styled tower was erected by 1450 from bricks & stones. It served as a navigational aid until 1603 & as a prison until 1803. Almost every year, we go back to the church & take a photo in the same spot.

Sylt was once part of the mainland (Germany), and is still shrinking owing to erosion by the North Sea, which is common for most islands and shorelines in the region. It is the "Hamptons of Germany" as many celebrities too, frequent the island, one of Germany's playgrounds for the rich & famous. Our favorite are the endless, dessert-like sand dunes beaches.

The bridge on the left, eventually fell apart & was replaced by this sturdier one (right). Of course, we miss the old rickety one!

And if you should plan on heading out to Sylt, you can leave swimsuits at home.....nude swimming is common practice on the island !