着物 (kim-Oh! No!)

After we attended the tea gathering our friends Etsuko-san and Nakano-san took us around the Asakusa market area. We had been there before, but it was nice since we were armed this time with Japanese guides. The market is a jaunty array of every type of vendor imaginable; food, clothing, pet clothing, swords, and yes, much of it is simply junk, but it is is fun to get lost in the fray. We went to what is considered the best tenpura (yes, the spelling is correct) restaurants in the area, and it was fantastic. The Japanese do things simply. They have a few recipes that are wholly Japanese and within those few recipes they have prepared them over and over in every different way possible using the same few ingredients in different ratios until it is, in their eyes, perfected. Tenpura is one of those recipes and this place delivered big time. We have always thought that staying in the restaurant business must be difficult, and here even more so when the majority of the competition is offering the same fare, one must get 100% right every time.

After lunch we walked around the streets some more and one of our friends casually mentioned that Jennifer should try on a kimono. Within the market area there are many vintage and recycled kimono shops, so we skimmed a few shops until Nakano-san emerged from behind a shelf with a beautiful garment. Before we could blink Jennifer was shoeless in front of mirror with Japanese women fluttering about her adorning her with this, that, and the other exclaiming how "suteiki" and "kawaii" she looked. Nakano-san and Etsuko-san were going around the store in a whirlwind returning to Jennifer in front of the mirror holding up other items such as, an obi, decorative ties, kerchiefs etc... next to the kimono and either exclaiming how beautiful it looked are crinkling their noses and going back into the whirlwind for another round. When all was said and done, Jennifer looked beautiful in the kimono. Most of the time westerners just look silly when they put on clothes like this. The idea sounds cool, but usually ends up looking oafish; some guy's big hairy legs protruding out of the bottom of an undersized robe that really just looks like an over elaborate bathrobe. This was far from the case with Jennifer.

Our friends promised to have their dancing teacher (Rui-sensei, who invited us to the tea ceremony) give Jennifer a lesson on wearing the kimono and with Nakano-san continually forcing the clerk at the shop to lower the price the whole ensemble was a steal that which we could not pass.

Rui-sensei met us a week later and spend about two hours showing us the correct way to wear each component. We both had to learn and I was taking notes the whole time. From start to finish, if one knows what one is doing, the process should take about forty minutes. It is complicated, and I am certain it will take the two of us well over two hours to complete the process on our own.