Singapore is like a mini Tokyo. We had Japanese schools, Japanese supermarkets, and Japanese department stores everywhere you looked (sort of like how there seems to be a Starbucks on every corner these days).  The Japanese food courts you’d find in the basements of these department stores were worth waiting in line for after a long day of shopping.  Now, we’re not talking about your ordinary greasy pizza, taco, or sub shops at these food courts; we’re talking about steaming bowls of udon, sushi and sashimi made to order, the most delicious red-bean filled pancakes, and onigiri rice balls filled with seasoned seaweed. The yummy list goes on.

Then of course there was Sanrio – the parent company for the mouth-less Japanese icon, “Hello Kitty”! I was crazy about Hello Kitty and all of her little companions over at the Sanrio shop. I had “Little Twin Stars” chopsticks (it didn’t matter if I barely knew how to use chopsticks, I just had to have them). I also had to have anything Hello Kitty: Hello Kitty coin purses, Hello Kitty erasers, Hello Kitty sticker books, and Hello Kitty pencil cases. Walking into those Sanrio stationery stores was like heaven for a child.

So when I had a chance to relive some those memories, by visiting Japan recently, I just couldn’t pass it up. Nothing was going to stop me even though it meant enduring a 14-hour flight with our 4 year old! NOTHING! I’m dedicating the next few posts to Japan, my fourth love – after my family, Singapore and chocolate.

I love the concept of taking amazing artistic shots while on holiday, but they never turn out the way I see them in my head. It’s probably because I’ve never taken a single photography class, so I blame it on that, or the camera (but yeah, we all know, it’s probably just me!).  Well, I have no excuse now – I just bought myself an Olympus Pen EPL-1, and LOVE IT!

Anyhow, given the lack of training in photography, I have to say, one of my photos, which I’ve used for the front door to my shop over at Harabu House, turned out amazingly well, and so unintentionally as well!  My husband and I were visiting the Ajanta and Ellora caves outside of Aurangabad, India.  This beautiful picture was meant to be of the many Buddha statues carved into the rock, but instead, we captured a great moment of a Tibetan monk scurrying past the image we were trying to capture. We didn’t see him coming, and clicked at the very second he ran past the image. The result – one stunning photo, and the image for my store – beautiful things, globally inspired.