ah~, it’s so nice to be on the street with my drawings.  i started busking at the fringe festival here in saskatoon last night.  this is my first fringe since elijah came along.  and this is my first time ever being away from elijah for more than an hour.

i’ve been showing my drawings at galleries nowadays, which is very nice.  but i really like being on the street, where most of the people who come by are there just to look around, not because they’re particularly interested in art or in my drawings.  i like the randomness of having people stumble upon my work and seeing their reactions, good and bad.

the busking areas at the fringe have been very busy already this year.  i’ve been setting up on broadway, near 10th.  i have a little table with books of prints and postcards that people can browse through at their own speed.  there are a couple little stands that i put single prints in, so people can see them from a distance walking by.

some of the prints and postcards are of my newer drawings that i’ve never made into prints before.  the only one of the newer drawings that i’ve shown in saskatoon before is ‘new wings’.  the other new drawings are on first view, but i’ve already put the images up on my blog.

for the fringe festival i do a different printing technique than the archival prints i sell in my online shop.  they’re not as expensive to make, so i can sell the 8.5 x 11 prints for $10.  postcards are sold for $2 each, or 6 for $10 (i’m from kansai, i have to offer a good deal).  people keep telling me the prices are way too cheap.  i want them to be cheap enough that even little kids don’t have to worry about the cost if they find an image of mine they want to take home.

this year i’ve already had a lot of people coming up to me who know me from somewhere — my blog readers, people who remember me from previous shows in saskatoon, and even some asian girls who saw my drawings in the hong kong fashion magazine, milk.

a couple people asked for my autograph.  i double-checked to make sure they weren’t out of their minds.

i got a few negative reactions — people saying ‘urrghh’, or ‘creepy’ — but not as many as i was expecting.  one older woman did sniff at me with a disapproving face, which i was glad to see.  i don’t know why, but those negative comments don’t hurt me anymore.  i kind of enjoy them.  a couple of harsh comments go a long way to motivate me to draw more.

i ran into some of the local artists as well — artist kris moffatt, poet taylor leedahl who is representing local book company jackpine press, artist carole epp, and young artist michael.  i’m hoping to meet the artist kristin bjornerud who will be back in saskatoon for the summer from hamilton.

if you’re in saskatoon, come and see me on the street at the fringe festival!  you can say whatever you want, and you don’t have to pretend to be nice.  i’ll be happy to see you anyway.

the fifth of may is a japanese holiday called ‘kodomo no hi‘ (children’s day). the holiday used to be called ‘boy’s day’, but the government decided to rename it children’s day to celebrate the happiness of all children. we still celebrate boys on this day since there is a girl’s day on the third of march.

for boy’s day, we raise a carp flag (koi nobori) and display dolls in samurai armor. one of the dolls represent ‘kintaro‘. kintaro was raised in the mountains by his mother. kintaro rides a bear instead of a horse. the animals of the forest became his friends due to his gentle nature. eventually kintaro joins up with a Samurai clan and helps to defeat a gang of demons. kintaro is a symbol of a healthy and strong boy.

i don’t have carp flags or the dolls yet, so i made an origami kabuto and jinbei kimono for elijah. i happened to have a kintaro bib. i tried to put a paper origami kabuto on his head, but he ate it. here he is on his rocking moose.

i hope he had fun on his first boy’s day. or maybe he’s sick of being a model…

i’ve been invited to show my drawings at the cracow screen festival in poland. the festival is taking place in the centre of cracow. there will be 2 music stages and video and art slideshows on a large screen and on 12 projections on the sides of buildings. it’s a 3 day music festival, may 2-4 2008.

the festival website is here.

16 performers, 3 days, 2 stages, visual art screened on buildings, houses and screens - all this can be expected during first cracow screen festival which will be held in cracow from 2nd to 4th of may, 2008. the event will start the festival season in poland, as well as the tourist season in cracow. in the long run the csf is designed to become one of the largest live music events in the country and the biggest annual video art presentation in poland.

over the three may days (the traditional polish ‘long weekend’) the historic cracow squares (jan nowak-jezioranski square and szezepaniski square) will witness live performances of well established bands and shows of visual art, created by artists specializing in video art and artistic film.

visual art will be ubiquitous: films will be shown in most public spaces, esp. on ATM screens, video screens, tv sets in shopping malls, etc.

the festival will host two distinctive visual artists: floria sigismondi - italian born photographer and director, known for working with bjork, white stripes, marlyn manson, david bowie, the cure, muse, interpol. and maria mochnacz, known for her unique portraits and videoclips of pj harvey.

the three days will turn cracow into one gigantic music screen.

two main stages will host seven bands daily. the audience can move about freely from one square to another, thus creating a festival programme of their own.

the first cracow screen festival will host many international artists, who haven’t made it to poland before, such as cirKus feat. neneh cherry (sweden), slut (germany), the raveonettes (denmark), bryan ferry (uk) and some, like mattafix (uk), who turn each visit to poland into immediate success.

some, like underworld, with their amazing light show, will satisfy both visual art and music fans. the festival auduence will have a chance to confront thir shows with concerts of the most interesting polish acts, such as wilki, smolik, cool kids of death, pustki and others!

i wish i could be there in person. i’m a big fan of underworld, especially. maybe i can see photos from the festival and some video clips on youtube.

here is my favorite youtube video using underworld’s music and film from koyaanisqatsi:

dear elijah,

your mama is still horrified by the idea of putting her hand into a beheaded and skinned dead bird. so there will be no turkey dinner for you this year.

as a compromise, your mama asked santa to give her a super power to make ‘maximum team power duck headgear’ free hand. she had been thinking about how to make this headgear since you were still in her body. in her mind, ‘beheaded’ and ‘bird’ parts are all covered. so it’s basically the same thing.

i hope this headgear will keep your head warm all winter and you find it somewhat festive. it’s a festivus for the rest of us.

best wishes,

yuka-mama

their name means “sex for fun”. the song is from the album citrus (2006).

hazy & gorgeous…

it was cold yesterday for the first day of spring. it looks like it’s going to get warmer today (high of plus 4). so let’s start all over again, shall we?

i hope you all have a happy second day of spring!

asobi seksu

in japan, women give chocolate to men on valentine’s day. and men return gifts a month later on white day (march 14th). on white day, men can give anything in white: underwear, handkerchiefs, jewelry, etc.

in canada, men give roses to women on valentine’s day. i have the luxury of receiving a gift, but there is no official day to return the favor. so i decided to return the tradition and give something white on white day. last year, i made white mochi filled with raspberries and white chocolate. this year, i made mille-feuille.

for valentine’s, paul and i went to moose jaw, about two hours drive south from saskatoon. moose jaw has a spa with a natural hot spring outdoor bath. i didn’t realize there was a hot spring in saskatchewan — i thought they were only in british columbia and alberta. so it was a nice surprise when paul found out about the spa in moose jaw.

the room we stayed in had a jet bath right next to the bed — no door involved. it reminded me of love hotels in japan, but it was surprisingly less tacky. maybe because there was no neon, or mirrors over the bed.

there’s an indoor pool on the top floor of the hotel that extends outside, where there’s a balcony surrounding the hot pool with the open sky above. in japan, this kind of thing is called “rotenburo” (literally, “bath under the skies”). people like to go to rotenburo especially in winter, when you can take a bath surrounded by snow.

this is canada, so the “rotenburo” was a pool, not a bath. everyone wears swimsuits, unlike in japan.

after dinner, we went to the outdoor pool. it was nearly midnight - around closing time, so there was only one other couple there. they were making out in the middle of the indoor pool, so we headed outside. the bath was surrounded by thousands of tiny christmas lights wrapped around the winter trees and we could see stars overhead. clouds of steam softened the effect. it was very beautiful. when the steam wrapped around the bare trees and fell down to us, it was as if we had thousands of leaves wrapped around us.

here’s the recipe i used for mille-feuille, from the joy of cooking. i cheated and bought frozen puff pastry, instead of making my own.

recipe

you need puff pastry. i bought it, cut it with a cookie cutter, and baked it according to the instructions. you can make your original pastry, if you know how. good luck…

the trick with the pastry is to press it down while baking so it doesn’t rise too much. i didn’t have anything to press it down with, so my mille-feuille is way too puffy.

pastry cream

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 TBSP all-purpose flour
• 2 TBSP cornstarch
• 4 large egg yolk

beat in a medium bowl on high speed until thick and pale yellow (about two minutes).

meanwhile, in a medium saucepan:

• 1 1/3 cups milk

bring to a simmer.

gradually pour about one-third of the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking to combine. scrape the egg mixture back into the pan and cook over low to medium heat, whisking constantly and scraping the bottom and corners of the pan to prevent scorching, until the custard is thickened and beginning to bubble. then continue to cook, whisking, for 45 to 60 seconds. using a clean spatula, scrape the custard into a clean bowl.

stir in:

• 3/4 tsp vanilla

cover the surface of the custard with a piece of wax or parchment paper to prevent a skin from forming. let cool, then refrigerate before using. this keeps, refrigerated, for up to two days.

raspberry sauce

combine and bring to a boil over low heat:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water

add:

• 1 cup fresh or unthawed frozen raspberries

stir until the sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes.

add:

• 1/2 tsp grated orange zest, vanilla

blend it with a hand blender and strain and discard seeds and pulp. pour the sauce back into a saucepan and reduce sauce by half.

layer the puff pastry circles with custard and raspberry sauce. serve with a glass of milk and a kiss.

i might be wrong, but i heard it’s going to be PLUS 3 again this afternoon in saskatoon. “PLUS 3″, everyone. i don’t remember the last time i saw a plus sign for saskatoon weather…

clearly, summer is here.

a couple days ago, it was -13 degrees. that’s a jump of 16 degrees. now i’m too hot.

to celebrate the beginning of summer in canada, there’s nothing better than fireworks. this video is from the omagari all-japan fireworks competition, held every year on the last saturday in august in omagari, akita prefecture. the fireworks are synchronized with music, and the timing is amazing. in one part, i can see swans appearing under the dim light of oboro-zuki (hazy moon). it’s just gorgeous, and the ending is spectacular!

also posted to videosift.

scene from “the royal tenenbaums”, directed by wes anderson.

it’s a great “time stands still when i look at you” moment.

i watch this movie over and over again.

“city lights” written by, directed by and starring charlie chaplin.

i used to watch chaplin’s films on late night tv in japan. this is my favorite chaplin film, especially this scene.

he falls in love with a poor blind flower girl who mistakes him for a millionaire. he pretends to be a millionaire and raises money to pay for an operation to restore her sight. this is the final scene where the flower girl can finally see again. she recognizes him by the touch of his hand.

once you find your true love, you’re going to want to do a lot of kissing.

bill plympton’s animation shows many useful techniques for how to kiss.

have a happy valentine’s day♥

february 3rd was setsubun. on this day in japan, people throw soybeans to get rid of oni (demon) and eat uncut maki-zushi. people also dress up as oni by wearing an oni mask. last year, i made my oni debut in a homemade mask. the oni mask i made was quite crappy, but at least i did look like an oni.

this year, i was planning to make a decent oni mask that might scare the hell out of paul. but we went out for lunch with his aunt and did some shopping, and by the time we got home, it was already 8pm. i was almost too tired to make sushi, but i managed to make one roll of maki-zushi. because if you don’t keep your culture, no one will…

luckily i had some leftover dried ingredients from making osechi ryori at new year’s. i used dried shiitake, kanpyo, steamed spinach, and egg omelet for the filling. i’m supposed to eat the whole maki-zushi without cutting, but it’s incredibly hard to eat. so i cut it anyway.

then i had to find some soybeans. but all i’ve been able to find in canada are these oily soybeans that look like they’re roasted then sprayed with oil. they’re tasty, but they give me pimples everytime. so i’ve stopped buying them. the soybeans you see in the photo are uncooked soybeans.

meanwhile, japanese roasted soybeans are not oily or salty at all. they are just roasted and full of natural flavour. yesterday, i received another package from my parents, full of japanese food and maternity clothes. they didn’t forget to include some setsubun soybeans and two paper oni masks as well. unfortunately, the package arrived too late for setsubun this year. but paul and i ate the traditional number of beans (one for every year of our ages) anyway.

this year, we missed our chance to wear oni masks. so next year, we both will put on masks to be oni parents for poko-chan.