11/19/15

Furisode lesson, beautiful results!

We had a special furisode lesson today. Furisode is formal kimono for unmarried (young) woman. Usually other(s) help dressing since it has long sleeves and a obi sash for a furisode is heavy.
 But they dressed up on their own!

Knots are arrangement of bunko tie.

Make wings in front,

Squeeze your stomach and then turn it on your back!

I am so so so happy to see these young ladies in gorgeous furisode!


11/6/15

Fun to select a set of kimono for a French samurai and a furisode lover

I appreciate this blog introduce me many kimono fans. Recently, I had fun kimono shopping with them.


Marine, who is eager to wear furisode on her own, enjoyed furisode watching (not shopping) at a kimono wholesale. There are various beautiful furisodes!



Brice, a samurai movie fan who just arrived in Japan, selected a set of kimono with me at Chicago in Harajuku. He got a how to tie sash lesson by me in a fitting room, and went out from the shop in kimono.  
This is in total 13,000 yen coordination with juban under kimono, kimono robe, obi sash, haori short coat and two cords. He was lucky to find a kimono for his height.

And then, we practice how to eat Japanese lunch in kimono. Since to handle kimono sleeves properly is a bit difficult for a first timer.


11/5/15

Sushi, kimono and culture: Dining with locals on a visit to Japan

What a honor, AP editor who came to my sushi class, wrote about me. Even The Washington Post and New York Times introduced the article.

What I was wearing was a wool kimono from my husband's grandma. It is a bit small for me, but I love to wear since smaller kimono is much better for such cooking jobs than a longer kimono!

I also wore kimono apron to hold kimono sleeves and a triangular gauze towel on my head. This is traditional housewife style when doing house chores.




Please read her article from here.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/acd1c39430a848a08bcda1b899c59ee6/sushi-and-culture-dining-locals-visit-japan

She wrote a lot about I didn't realized. I respect this is real professional job.

4/21/15

The quickest kimono learner from Switzerland

Sahana who traveled around Japan came to learn how to wear kimono on her last day in Japan.
Please see how quickly she learned and wore kimono so nicely.

Because she was born in India and knows well about sari/saree which length is 5 meter and width is 1.2 meter, it may be easy for her to wear kimono which made of just 30 centimeter width (12 meter length).

We talked a lot about the similarity and the difference between sari and kimono. It was a great fun! Please see how she introduced our kimono moment on her facebook.

Thank you Sahana for finding me! Next time, let's shop around Harajuku/Asakusa. I know various kimono shops from 1,000 yen to hundreds thousand yen!

4/1/15

Sushi Lesson in Kimono

Not only how to wear kimono, I also teaching how to cook in kimono.


I and my kimono cooking mate Akiko wear kimono aprons over kimono. White head wrapping and white kimono apron are typical/classic Japanese cooking style.


American world travelers Chris and Jeff came to my house to cook and eat together.


We sliced fish for sushi and made a miso soup.


How they found us are on their media Qurious Minds. Jeff also enjoyed Japanese local craft beers he got at my nearby local liquor shop.

 Cheers! and let's eatwith!



1/8/15

Let's find why kimono is easy to wear!

How nice I got Miriam from Hong Kong to our kimono class. Not only practicing how to wear kimono, we enjoyed chatting about each other's traditional garments.


Kimono is also called gofuku which means Go (呉, one of the countries in ancient China) Fuku (服 clothes). Since the weaving techniques for kimono cloth came from there. What is more, kimono has similar shape with Chinese traditional garment Hanfu (漢服).

Miriam pointed some difference between Chinese qipao dress and Japanese kimono. Qipao is easy to wear, and reveals woman's figure completely.




For us, kimono is easier to wear since it hides our figure. You shouldn't go on a diet or wear a shape-up bra. Only you must consider is forming your back neck collar in the sexiest way. Kimono is easy, right?