Tonight Hanjo!

I am going to see a play tonight, well something very special a chamber opera.
Have a look:


http://www.2011.ruhrtriennale.de/en/programm/2011/hanjo/

I think it will be great, will tell you more tomorrow.

An evening at the EKÔ-House

Beautiful Japanese garden waiting for the autumn colours

Friday night there was another vernissage at the EKÔ-House in Düsseldorf, this time Japanese scroll paintings. Special scroll paintings, kakemono, also called kakejiku, with stamps collected at pilgrimage. The focus was the 88 Temple Pilgrimage at Shikoku Island and the 33 Temple Pilgrimage close to Kyoto. We had a possibility to listen to a presentation about it. Really something completely different. Well, for me since I have some kakejiku (normal one, not from a pilgrimage) it was interesting to see the beautiful scroll paintings. And the presentation was well done and not boring at all.

Before the opening the was a small meditation at the temple at the EKÔ-House and since my friends were late... I was alone there and I had the opportunity to meet two English men, who only came to pray at the temple. They were fluent in Japanese and sung the sutras. Impressive. My friends came afterwards to the presentation at the begin of the exhibition.We were impressed and amused listening to the stories about the equipment and the rites at the pilgrimage. Funny since more and more Japanese like to do a pilgrimage the are also some for children. Well, somehow there is a whole industry behind it.

The weather was great at the evening, being hungry we went to an Indian restaurant to have dinner afterwards.

yummy, Indian food....

something different to the Japanese temple....inside the Indian restaurant

Did I show you??

The alien plant ... she grows and grows... and reminds me of Audrey... do you know Audrey of The Little Shop of Horrors??? Well maybe not that hungry....

She just has grown 20 cm during the last two weeks. She blooms. 

Japanese influence

150 years German Japanese friendship and a beautiful Ukiyo-e exhibition we could not miss.  I am looking forward to more nice events to come. Next time Akiro Kurosawa at the cinema museum

I hope we can go to a vernissage at the Eko House on Friday night.

Suddenly...

... I have realized I am getting old...
do I want all the changes? Or am I running away from the change in my life?

Crazy stupid love

... Ryan Gosling was much better in Lars and the Real Girl here he is only good looking and yeah he is good looking... well, movie was better than expected and funny. This week seems to be my cinema week. :)
Summer is back tomorrow!! And probably gone on Sunday.... expecting 30°C ..

My Blueberry nights....

... Tuesday night... went to cinema with the girls.... well, movie was okay, but still at home I could not sleep. My thoughts were so war away, somewhere above the sky. Watched My Blueberry Nights by Wong Kar Wai before going to bed. Wong Kar Wai's first movie in English. Wow, there was so much talk... very nice movie, Nora Jones was sweet and Rachel Weisz's performace really great, the best I have seen by her so far. The movie reminded my so much of In The Mood for Love. The colours and camera work were great. The movie touched my soul so deep. There it was again - all the thoughts and desire and the question which will always be there: Why am I here and not there? The days keep coming back in my thoughts and as long as I am trying ... time passes by and still life is not mine.... happiness, happiness... I have loved the movie In The Mood for Love so much, but I am not sure I could watch it now again... the story is so true...

.... well and life over here? Guess what: again some friends from Japan coming over at the weekend! Fun, fun, fun.... not sure where we will be going, but for sure there will be beer :)

art...

We went to K21 and saw "Big Picture" a really great exhibition, but not that great as Nam June Paik,
http://www.kunstsammlung.de/en/home.html

I liked most this two pieces of art .. the combination of painting and moving pictures by Zilla Leutenegger was something I haven't seen before and I was fascinated by it somehow. And yeah I know the second one is again Asian, but what can I say, we just got a different view on it... knowing the history, but after all it was a Spanish artist ;)

Recently in my life..

Friends from Amsterdam came over.... weather was great, wow.. could not believe it, 29°C and bright sunshine... we spent the whole weekend outside in outdoor museum and inside museum....

Langen foundation

Feels like in a James Bond movie

More about Langen Foundation  here

or waiting for the visitors from outer space

visitors....

or lovers...

:)

at the end there was a poetry slam...

Yeah pizza of course...

great evening with champagne

and charity concert for Japan with Tempei  http://www.myspace.com/tempei

Recommendation of the week...

FUGA!!!!! best okonomiyaki in town. Got there yesterday,  had another cool girls night and ended up at Ellington's  for a great drink!
What more can you ask for....

Have a look: http://www.imbiss-fuga.110mb.com/

Sorry, no pictures at the moment...

Rain on my skin

The sunny day is over and it is raining again....

what if the rain
referred to something else?
and bowling
and shoes
were done with the mouth?

by Gary Barwin, I think

Have to return to my office.

Night out with the girls

Yeah, yeah met my friends tonight, had a great time with the girls. Lots of things to discuss coz we could not met for so long... everyone is fine and everyone wants to meet again next week!!!! Great! I am so happy about it!!!
We had some nice tapas at a Spanish bodega in Duisburg! Since the weather turned well tonight, we could sit outside at the waterfront at the inner harbor.

But.., since the taste was not soo Spanish as we had expected, it will be next time Japanese food for sure!!!

On my way back home I saw Duisburg's landmark again. I remember seeing it from a distance in a sleepless night. It is still the same, so green.

Picture taken frommy car.....no, not while driving...

A knight to remember

well, after all I think it is a knight, but everytime I pass by I wonder if someone will ever take care of him...

Brussels... again...

Belgium is special! Well, after all for me! I really like to travel there. I like the food. I love the possibilities to see all the fantastic museums and I love the Art Nouveau houses. We had a nice time over there. This time celebrating my mother's birthday at a nice Belgian restaurant and of course some sightseeing! We bought some chocolates, too, of course! Funny my mother said first she will not buy any. Hahahahaha.... What can I say - she could not resist!

Newly renovated Atomium. Still like something out of space. Imagine how the people felt looking at it in 1958!

Simply fantastic!

Brussels

View from our hotel room

I like her soooo much....

Sorry, in front of Manneken Pis there were too many people

Amazing!!!

Back to Tokyo...

Holidays are over for our friend from Tokyo. Today she flew back to Japan. Well, five days in Europe is a really long holiday....She enjoyed it very much as she told us. We sent her to Amsterdam on Monday for a short stay. She came back yesterday evening and was really happy about the trip. Being an organizing talent we matched her with another Japanese friend, who lives in Amsterdam and stays home with her baby at the moment. So she wasn't alone yesterday. Mission completed :)  Now we are preparing for Brussels!!

This was in Aachen, next time you'll see Manneken Pis here... :)

Sightseeing – Japanese style....

Our friend from Tokyo came on Friday. We were thinking what to do with her, because she has been to Germany several times before and we were having a really hard time to think of something she has not seen or visited ,yet. 

But then she saved us! She told us she is on research here.... Little spy, hä???? ;) As a freelancer she designs stamps for a company, who wants to enter the German market, so she just wanted to visit German stationary shops and find out what kind of stamps are sold over here. Well I can tell you, there only few and I am not sure there is a market in Germany because we did not really find many nice stamps except stamps for companies, but those do not count. So Saturday was shopping and researching! In the evening we met friends in a typical German pub and had some nice drinks. 

Our friend says this is a kind of wellness holiday for her and she has not been sleeping so long and so good for ages.... The only thing at the moment is the weather, gosh we have summer and there is 14°C outside!!!! Summer? Not at all at the moment. 

Sunday we did some sightseeing after all, we were in Aachen freezing and getting wet because of the bad weather. Anyway,  very beautiful city! This time our task was not only visit the famous Imperial Cathedral, where the coronation for 30 German kings and 12 queen took place, but also to buy some angels. Yes, our Japanese friend loves angels. Oh yeah, there was also that gorgeous cafe on our way and lots of printen shops....

Churches and angels....

Printen

Cakes!!!

Fukoshima still moves everyone's live in Japan. Governmental behavior after the accident changed many minds mainly of the young Japanese. It is interesting how their opinion changed and what kind of needs they express now and how they try to find a way out of the tragedy and how to deal with their politicians. Interesting for us to get them to know a new.

Life at home

So busy with so many things happening over here. My parents came over for some days to look for an apartment. They were seeing seven apartments in three days, which were mostly a failure. They stayed in our place while we were working. I think it was nice for them to get around the town for themselves. Two days ago a friend from Japan called first at our phone at home. My mother answered the call and did not understand anything, because she does not speak Japanese... well, why should she. She was really having fun with the girl calling several times. And we were wondering who called us. The girl called at two at night again and finally after being awake we have found out is was the daughter of R.'s guest parents in Japan. She will came to Germany tomorrow and wants to visit us... she just got tired of work having a kind of burn out and decided to go on holiday. So she booked a flight to Germany and will stay here for a week. Funny, isn't it? So my parents went back home the day before yesterday, some friends from London came over yesterday for dinner and today the Japanese girl is coming. Am I getting bored? Not at all.By the way, next week  we are going to Brussels! But first we will do some sightseeing with our Japanese guest on the weekend....

En pleine campagne ...

Well, flying to Paris does not always imply you ARE in Paris... this time at my friend's country house...

Chicory fields, the real Picardy!

 Simply great to see old friends and spent a smooth weekend with best friends, excellent French food and champagne.

What else did we do???? Well....

Sightseeing in Amiens

Shopping!!!! (isn't it great? this are CDs and cables)

French cakes, we loved this small patisserie!

Something to bring home....

Friday: Paris again!!!!

I love the colours of big cities at night. It was middle of the night in Paris, 30° C hot. I was coming back from Biarritz. It started to rain. People drinking wine in the streets, getting wet. Who cares. A summer storm lightning up the air. Magnificent feeling.  And all I wanted was to cry, cry so loud. Ru. What is important in our lives? And then I knew it was the right decision. The right decision for him and after all for me. And I know we are happy and as he always said: Happiness is the most important thing in our lives. And I am happy. France was so unbelievable beautiful. And I am going there again on 8th and this is sooo soon.... this time flying to CDG.!!!!