Addicted to Dots: Yayoi Kusama

We went to The National Museum of Art, Osaka two weekends ago to see an exhibit of Yayoi Kusama's art titled "Eternity of Eternal Eternity." Kusama is one of Japan's most famous modern artists, especially known for her use of polka dots. The exhibit was well worth the trip, and we really enjoyed the color/dot overload.

Anniversary Dinner

March 6 was our second anniversary. We spent the afternoon in Nishinomiya, where we did a little shopping for presents for friends, and we bought some new plates and bowls for ourselves. We decided a while ago that it would be fun to slowly purchase Japanese ceramics while we are here, so we have a nice little collection to bring home with us.

For dinner, we went to a new restaurant, Les Legumes, the  website of which I discovered on accident several months ago. The restaurant was too new to have a rating on the popular Japanese restaurant site we have been using, but their website had great pictures and the food sounded good. Les Legumes is French for 'the vegetables,' and the cuisine was Japanese-inspired French (or French-inspired Japanese?) with a heavy focus on organic vegetables. All their veggies come from one farm in Tamba, where the wild boar festival was.

Dinner consisted of a course of vegetarian hors d'oeuvres (including Japanese pickles), boiled vegetables, potato soup, a lamb chop and veggies for the main course, and ginger cake and crème brûlée with coffee for dessert. Everything was at least very good, but the hors d'oeuvres, main course, and coffee were fantastic! After dinner, we walked to Beer Cafe Barley, which is one of the only places in the prefecture serving craft beer. Expensive it is (especially in Japan), but worth it on a special occasion.

Making the most of small spaces

Unlike in the States, toilets in Japan are often in their own room, separate from the shower, bathtub, etc. These small toilet rooms usually include their own sinks, crammed into a tight space. Sometimes the sink is even built into the toilet, so that you can wash your hands while the tank refills.

In the case of our toilet room, there was a tiny sink with a broken spigot when we moved in. A maintenance man promptly replaced the spigot but chose to use an industrial model designed to connect to an outdoor hose. For a long time the sink went unused until we finally thought of a better use: a Totoro garden to match our bathroom decor! Making the most of a small home in Japan means making the most of every small space.