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Albums: 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 For the finale of the winter semester Chiaki came to visit me in New York. We had several adventures: Dia Beacon, mom visiting for Christmas, the ITP show, Big Screens, Wright's Falling Waters and so on. An absolutely lovely time! Wow. Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Waters was amazing. Despite snow, accidents and what became a ten hour drive Chiaki, Yutaka, Yoko and myself made the trip to Mill Run, Pennsylvania. We were not disappointed. I highly recommend the two hour tour! We had another delightful Thanksgiving at Jerry's. Turkey and ham, pies and cakes - you name it - we ate it. I was delighted to discover family photos around the house. Bit by bit dream jammies near completion... The shaft attachment was produced by a 3D printer and fits great, the garment attachment board is made out of metal. Next version will be a PCB. After Obama's victory was certain New York went crazy... Che-Wei, Alex Abreu and I made a trip to MIT to see what everyone was up to. Seth Hunter was an excellent host. 'Twas a wonderful, but tiring trip. Nice concepts... but let's keep everything working! We have finished our move from Ebisu to Shin-Okubo. Thanks to Chiaki's preparations everything went smoothly. A day and a half of packing and we were ready for the movers - and they did an excellent, if not exhausting job. I was also delighted to be around for Chiaki's birthday on Sunday! Danny kindly invited the us out to his studio in New Jersey. He has a lovely space! We went at a perfect time - there was still an unfinished piece so he could discuss the work before sending it off. Yup, its big. 18 of us are developing project to display on the 120 by 12 foot wall. I am working with Yutaka Kitamura, Laura Moore and a few others, and I'll post our progress here. What a delightful time we had in Brooklyn! I felt sorry for having so little time, but we still managed to enjoy a few good homemade dinners. That weekend we headed down to Baltimore for a family wedding. We enjoyed seeing the Reeder family - and the Reeder grave site. Taylor and Butterfly Dress v2!! Laura Moore and I collaborated on the second version of Butterfly Dress. She redid the dress with same silk organza, and did an excellent inner slip so the outer layer can be changed. Laura and I are working on several projects including developing her Fashion and Technology course and my Big Screens project. These are a few shots along the way. One of the etextile sewing kits available online. Includes a little thread, buttons with conductive fabric for a switch amongst a few other items. I think the LED sequins are well done. I presented Butterfly Dress at DIMEA08 in Athens, Greece. The conference was focused on digital mediea in one form or another: virtual reality, new technologies for teaching, gaming and so on. The dress was sort of a sore thumb, but very well received. So well, in fact, that when the "Free Press" newspaper came to cover the event I ended up being featured. Athens has a vibrant but small nightlife, found amongst an odd mismatch of architecture. You see, buildings constructed in Athens require no approval of their facade, unlike on the islands. The wonderful Kyveli took Magnus and I on an adventure to Spetses. I must also thank the lovely Christina and Steve for our evenings out. South London is quite the happening place. Boutique hotels springing from the ground like flowers, new restaurants, refurbished age old apartments... Despite the global economic turmoil London came across as vibrant. I think you can feel the pulse of a city by the number of cranes you see on its horizon. Thank you Andy and Carolyn for showing me a wonderful time. The other day, well months ago now, I purchase a sweater from a favorite designer store. I was amazed with their multi-layered packaging. I mean, a suit for the bag?! I couldn't resist a little documentation for future reference... Squid! Ika, ika ika! Tanaka-san has been working at Tsukiji recently, so this Bikelab BBQ was highlighted by over 60 squid. Thankfully, Tanaka prepared them in a variety of tasty ways. The whole gang came out for the BBQ at Umi no kaze park in Yokosuka... We had dinner with Sayaka and Kaori's beautiful daughter Yuzuko. She is one-and-a-half, and after an hour or two together she slowly became familiar with Chiaki and I. In celebration of our marriage, Kaori and Sayaka presented us with absolutely gorgeous glasses by artist Nakayama Kouji. Tsukikageya always organizes the best firework viewing events. This time it was Jingumae, and we watched them while eating a full-course Japanese meal. The fireworks and company was lovely - it was particularly special seeing our collaborative project, denshoku no obi, in action. 'Twas a lovely gathering, before Hanako left for the Olympics, after our marriage, and while I was still in Japan. We had a tasty home prepared dinner, and much conversation ensued! The Tokyo Imperial Hotel is a wonderful place to have a wedding, particularly when it is your former workplace. Satoshi and Sakiko's was impeccable, and it was delightful to see friends from years ago. Congratulations and good luck in Nebraska! An article featuring Tsukikageya was in the Senken newspaper (a Japanese fashion newspaper) at the end of July. Our collaborative project, Denshoku Obi, was the highlight of the article! My days at Knot! were numerous this summer. Fujiwara shot our wedding, the butterfly dress, denshoku obi... and so on. I helped them out with translation, preparing a packaging for their software which will go on sale... it was fabulous working with Fujiwara and Shima! Ah, yes, the old NAP team. Kin-san, being the delightful friend he is, organized an evening out with everyone, and even Handa and Sekiguchi came from years ago. We meet up every year or so, and it was nice to gather once again. Our last day in Kyushu! 'Twas a sad day, heading back to reality after a lovely trip, but part of me was ready to be home. Between Chiaki and I, I'm sure the plane stunk of hot spring sulfur! We enjoyed coffee at Yufuin's first coffee shop before heading to Beppu. I must say Beppu is an odd town. At the hot springs I ran into more visitors from abroad than Japanese. Some Korean folks I met said they caught a boat from Pusan to Northern Kyushu, then the train down to Beppu. From one hot spring town to another, we moved from Kurokawa to Yufuin. On the way we stopped by a few treats, including Kabeyu. I must say Kamenoibesso is one of the better Japanese inns I've been to... Our morning at Kuju started with a beautiful, leisurely hour ride on very well behaved horses. After breakfast our normal routine of visiting local baths began. We had the chance to visit Fujimori's ramune (carbonated) hot spring, then to the real locals version. By the evening we arrived at Kurokawa hot spring, north of Aso. We enjoyed a relaxed morning around Takachiho, visiting locations from ancient folklore before heading north to Aso. After stopping through two hot springs we headed East to Kuju. We drove for hours in the mountains on narrow streets, barely passing a soul. Probably one of the most beautiful drives I've ever been on. On the way we passed the "Water of Longevity" and had to stop to fill our bottles. Around six pm we rolled into Takachiho where Amaterasu supposedly hid herself in a cave at the beginning of Japanese folklore. We departed our lovely room at Ishiharasou and drove into Kagoshima to see Kagoshima-Jingu. Each year they have a festival which involves decorating and parading a horse around with the omikoshi. The shrine wasn't nearly impressive as Kirishima-Jingu, but it was still beautiful. Next we set out to climb Takachiho-gake, the original location of Kirishima-Jingu. Normally the view is astounding, but this day it was cloudy. We had a mystical experience as the clouds blew aside to reveal a tori... After a dip in the ocean, river then hot spring we drove to Yakushima airport and bid farewell to the lovely island. In forty-five minutes we were back in Kagoshima, on our way to Kirishima, an area in the mountains thirty minutes north of the airport. There we enjoyed our first full on traditional inn and bath. Our forth day at Yakushima we took slowly, waking up late before heading to Soyotei. Soyotei is a Japanese inn on the West side of Yakushima, inconveniently distanced from sites such as Jomon-sugi, but delightfully remote. After a day climbing up to see Jomon-sugi we were surprisingly fresh the next morning. We did sleep in late, then departed to Shiratani-Unsui-Kyou, where Miyazaki Hayao received his inspiration for Mononokei Hime. The forest was gorgeous, as was the view from Taiko-Iwa. What a better way to finish the day than visit the beach? We were given good advice from the inn to start with the difficult climbs first, easier later. So the second day in Yakushima we found ourselves waking up at 4 am to head to the mountains. It was a five hour climb up, four down to see Jomon Sugi, a 7200 year old cedar. The scenery was gorgeous... Our honeymoon lasted for a wonderful 12 days (including departure and return). For each day we were away I will release an album highlighting our adventures. July 21st we departed Haneda airport and arrived in Yakushima, an island south of Kyushu. Our first order of business was driving around the island (2 hours) and stopping along the way. A lovely beach, waterfall and hidden shrine were a few of the highlights... Terada is an architect by profession, but chef by heart. The Iwasaki's and Fujiwara joined us for a moment of gastronomic bliss. Terada made a visit to Tsukiji to purchase a gorgeous snapper for soup, other dishes included Japanese beef with Gorgonzola cheese and squid risotto. Congratulations to Nabekatsu and his lovely wife! Two weeks after our wedding Noboru-kai gathered to see this commercial maker and dentist assistant married. I think our next trip into the mountains will consist more of BBQ'ing than climbing... Denshoku Obi is the brainchild of Natsuki Shigeta. Natsuki designs her own yukata and sells them under her label, Tsukikageya. One of the highlights of this season is Denshoku Obi, an obi with 35 red LED's seamlessly integrated with the fabric. The obi is perfect for a night out watching fireworks, and a AAA battery powers it for 14 hours. The Butterfly Dress was mentioned in Peugeot's magazine, Rapport. It is a lovely magazine. Here are a few shots of the magazine and the article it was included in. Wow, Chiaki has wonderful friends. A few of them were unable to attend our wedding... so why not have another party?! We headed to Flux in Ebisu, which is a wonderful restaurant by the way, and had an excellent dinner. The evening was completed by a specially ordered cake which was fabulous! After a year away from Kashiwagi, several of the plants we brought with us in the move are doing wonderfully. Chiaki has a green finger after all! After the wedding mom and dad headed to Zamami, Okinawa for some island action. They returned a week later, tanned, and ready to spend a few days together before heading back to Missouri. We enjoyed our time, particularly a luncheon out with Mr. Mishima at Mimiyu. Wow... the party flew by in seconds, but what a time. Thanks to our magic photographer Yasutoshi Fujiwara for the photos, Rina Tanaka for our styling, the lovely flowers were brought by odette, the decadent tarts by Style's, DJ Miyoshi had everyone dancing, Hiko-chan was at the mic, and our gift for everyone was by Ayako Suwa from foodcreation. Thank you thank you thank you all. Tableaux was an excellent venue for the party, and their service was immaculate. A special thanks to their staff and Mr. Nakagawa for being an excellent host. What a beautiful day. The sun was just starting to shine through the trees and the birds were chirping as we pulled into Meiji Shrine. Ours was to be the first ceremony of the day. There is nothing quite like walking across the Meiji Shrine grounds on the way to the temple... The reception at Meiji Memorial Hall was also wonderful. It certainly became a day I will never forget. Two of the lovely benefits of a wedding. Thank you to all who came and gave so generously. We tried to take photos of everything, but obviously couldn't. Here are a few! Monday, June the 2nd, visitors from the US and England arrived to join us for our wedding. Mom and dad of course, Jerry and Curt from Tennessee, and finally Andy and Carolyn from England. We had a splendid week together dining, reminiscing, making new memories - all the good parts of a wedding. The day after the ceremony we all headed to Tenzan in Hakone for a day in the baths to relax. Our makeup artist and hair stylist, Rina Tanaka, is a goddess. Not only were our meetings, such as this one, great fun - she did an amazing job at the wedding. Rina even made me a head dress as a present!!! Kubo-chan delivers our Wedding Rings Chiaki and I searched around Tokyo for wedding rings we liked... and couldn't find any. So we asked the creator of Chiaki's engagement ring, friend and jewelry designer Asako Kubota if she would make our rings. Kubo-chan graciously accepted. It took several months, Kubo-chan taking all our requests in stride. We were certainly pleased to see the fruits of her labor! This is a photo shoot I did with my lovely model on the Lower East Side. The butterflies were flapping, she was smiling and the weather was perfect - for film. Despite having been a ski trip there is a resounding lack of ski photos. Dad and I attacked the moguls so aggressively there was no time for snaps on the hill! My days consisted of skiing in the morning, lunch, working in the afternoon, dinner, and more work. It was a wonderfully productive family vacation in Telluride! Seamless is an event for wearables held at the Boston Museum of Science. This is the third year for the event, and it certainly seams to have bloomed! I didn't get photos of everything, but I tried! For the next several months Rory, Kyveli and I will be interning at Despina's Studio 5050. We will be helping Despina develop her various projects while collaborating with another ITP grad, Zach Eveland. Should be great fun and hard work! I will be updating this album as the months progres... Not only an accomplished architect and product designer, Mr. Terada is an excellent chef. With a theme of food which matches sake well, Terada prepared a veritable feast. The 6 of us I enjoyed the event immensely! After visiting Missouri for Christmas, I flew West to enjoy the New Year in Tokyo. I wouldn't say my time was relaxed, as I had to prepare for my wedding in June, but I had an excellent time with family and friends.
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