Weekend in Review–Exploring Japanese Fantasy Literature at UQ

Shouldn't a weekend review come sooner than Thursday? Somehow I managed to put off this post until now, but perhaps in the future I should make more of an effort to post about my weekend at the beginning of the week! Oh well. I hope you all are looking forward to this weekend and the beginning of April!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I attended an event at the University of Queensland held on Friday night called Fantasy and Imagination: Exploring Japanese Creative Writings. The guest speakers included Dr. Carol Hayes of ANU, Edward Lipsett, a translator who co-founded Kurodahan Press, and Roger Pulvers, a man of many talents who recently published The Dream of Lafcadio Hearn with Kurodahan Press.

The man focus of the panel was to discuss whether there is something inherently different about Japanese fantasy when compared to Western fantasy, and to pinpoint what these differences might be, if there indeed are any. I found it to be quite interesting and was especially impressed by Roger's insight on the subject. He argued that Japanese aesthetics are intended to be felt through the pores, and that while a Western perception of beauty is something that is unattainable by average individuals (he used ornate castle architecture as an example of this), Japanese beauty is felt every day and is inherently the same, from revered Shinto shrines to the humble everyday dwellings. Pretty neat, huh?

Dr. Hayes and Edward both mentioned the lack of action in Japanese fantasy as compared with Western fantasy literature. As a whole, Japanese fantasy is emotionally driven, rather than plot/action driven, which I think, along with the fundamental differences in the Japanese perception of beauty, is the root of what makes Japanese fantasy different from, say, Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings.

After the discussion, we all filed into another room for the reception, where there were complementary drinks and food (I had a glass of white wine and some kind of chicken skewer, both of which were very nice). I was able to meet many interesting people, including all of the speakers except for Edward, unfortunately. I may have even landed another translation gig, but I'm not going to talk about that, lest I jinx it!

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend Cardmaking for a Cause, an event my husband's co-worker (whose house we stayed at when we had to evacuate during the floods, incidentally) invited me to. It was a women-only event where all the cards made during the day would be donated to local hospitals to sell to patients and visitors, all proceeds raised going to the hospitals themselves to use for improved equipment, etc.

Luckily, all of the cards I made came in prearranged "kits," which meant all I had to do was stick all of the parts together. This actually saved a lot of time, rather than having to conceptualize and cut everything there on the spot. It was quite a nice, intimate event (though I may have been the youngest woman there...), and during the course of 4 hours my table made over 100 cards! And of course we got to help ourselves to biscuits, coffee/tea, and sandwiches, which always is a bonus.

Sorry for the lack of photos today... I meant to take a couple at the cardmaking event but I only ended up getting a couple that are pretty poor quality. As I type, I am busy cooking my Dad's awesome chicken barley soup, so maybe I'll share photos of that next time!

Vintage Find: Children's Treasury of Lit + Chinese Peanut Cookies!

Happy Friday! Or... Thursday evening, to most of my readers on the other side of the world... Don't worry, it's almost Friday!

I can't believe my last update was about something I found at a vintage shop and I'm already back, less than a week later, with some more goodies. I guess someone's on a vintage kick these days (who, me?)... Actually, what inspired my last trip to the Paddington secondhand shops was an intriguing DIY tutorial in my new favorite Aussie magazine Frankie for a "paper wall quilt." Long story short, the project consists of cutting pieces of paper and cardboard into hexagons, gluing them together, and pasting them on your wall to form a quilt-like pattern... Very easy, and a very pretty, unique result! You can use any kind of paper you want, such as origami paper, wrapping paper, or even printed fabric... I thought it'd be great to find a vintage children's book and do a combination of words/pictures, because I love old illustrations. Since my husband is big on music, we're going to go on another shopping excursion to find some vintage sheet music to use, as well. I will definitely post my results when the project is finished! But for now...

First, I apologize for the poor photos... I really need to get better at taking pictures, or start employing some photo-editing magic to make the pictures I take a little more pleasing to the eye... The lighting is just so poor in our apartment. But! Surely you can still enjoy what an adorable book this is! And the price? An even more delicious $2.00! What a steal

I spent a long while browsing through the picture book section of one of the better vintage stores for just the right book. Pretty illustrations were a must! At a grand total of 550 pages, there are certainly plenty of nice illustrations, and each story is done by a different artist, so there is an eclectic mix of styles that is really great. The picture above is one of my favorites, I just love the illustration on the left! The style almost reminds me of The Rose of Versailles. Why yes, they are looking at a rabbit in a basket!

One of the stories is even illustrated by a Japanese woman!

From these two images, you can really see the range of styles depicted in this book! How interesting! I'm totally loving it, if you can't tell already. It's also really nice to see a wide variety of stories from different cultures, rather than just European folktales. There's even the Japanese tale, "The Boy Who Drew Cats," by the ever-famous Lafcadio Hearn.

Shaun and I couldn't help but get a few giggles out of the story titled "Poo-Poo Finds a Dragon," excerpted from Poo-Poo and the Dragon by C. S. Forester, if only because of the over-use of the protagonist's cute but slightly-unfortunte name. Case in point:

I might've remembered his name, but he was so unimportant they cut him out of the excerpt!

 So, in the end, I may not want to cut up this book after all. There are too many fun stories and illustrations! Though it really would make for a great paper wall quilt. Oh, what a conundrum! Shaun suggested we read one story out loud before bed, and as we go through we can decide those we want to save in their entirety and those we don't mind putting scissors to. It's an idea, but luck will probably have it that all the stories we can bear chopping up won't have particularly good illustrations, or something similarly unfortunate. We'll see what I come up with next week!

In other news, I baked Chinese New Year peanut cookies yesterday for the first time! I used this great tutorial by Chocolatesuze, a Sydney food blogger. Unfortunately I was a little late for Chinese New Year, but maybe next year!

I gave some to Shaun to try when he got back from work yesterday, and while I was busy making fajitas for dinner in the kitchen, I could swear I heard giggling, yes, giggling, coming from the living room. He liked them that much! And that's saying a lot, considering he has much experience with authentic Chinese food, and I am but a lowly American trying a recipe for the first time (I'd say kudos to the original recipe, not my execution). He liked them so much, he said, that he wanted to bring them into work and share with his colleagues to show them what a great cook his wife is (and that I should make some for his family back in Sydney sometime, too). Awwww! But wait, maybe they're actually really bad and he's trying to pawn them off on his coworkers? Haha, it's unlikely, he seemed pretty excited about them and I'll admit they were pretty darn good, too, as my first peanut cookie, anyway.

So there you have it! Today I'm looking forward to attending a panel discussion at the University of Queensland (you know, that university I plan on attending for my graduate studies sometime before I die) titled "Fantasy and Imagination: Exploring Japanese Creative Writing." Sounds exciting! My advisor, Professor Tomoko Aoyama, will also be in attendance, so it will be nice to catch up with her again. I'm slightly nervous that the event is RSVP-only, which may mean it is very small/serious? I don't know, but I hope I don't make too much of a fool of myself. That or the RSVP is to ensure they have enough food/drink for the attendees, and in that case I better get a nice cup of coffee, haha. Look forward to a synopsis on Monday!

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Vintage Find: 60's Japanese Scarf

Hello hello! Since I'm a big fan of second-hand and vintage bargain shopping, I'd like to feature some of the things I find from time to time. Shaun and I recently discovered that one of the neighboring suburbs, Paddington, is quite the treasure-trove when it comes to vintage shops (we counted at least 4 just in the center of town!), so I hope that our future excursions there will yield some more great items.

This past weekend we spent quite a bit of time browsing around Retro Metro's discount outlet (the original shop was getting so full, they decided to open a second shop for all of their "bargain" deals). There's nothing quite like rummaging through stacks of old tablecloths! Unfortunately, Retro Metro is a little "boutique-y," so their prices don't tend to fall on the "dirt cheap" side of things. Even so, I think it's worth spending some time looking through things, because you can find a good bargain just about anywhere–and we did!

This is a vintage 1960's promotional scarf from Fukuda Printing Co. in Kanazawa, Japan! For those of you who know me, Kanazawa is particularly relevant, as I spent 5 of my teenage summers working for a English-language exchange program with students from a technical college in Kanazawa. 

This baby was $10! As you can see from the close-up, it features a calendar for January and February (though only part of Feb is pictured here). This was most likely given out as promotional material for the company at the beginning of the new year, which is a pretty common practice in Japan. The new year's themed illustration and calendar would encourage people to hang it up in their homes for the first couple of months of the year, and there may even have been a complete set featuring all 12 months total.

Shaun and I were both pretty excited to find this! Since we love all things Japanese and were looking for some unique ways to decorate our abode, this certainly fit the bill! I'll have to iron it (and possibly hem it, seeing as it's unraveling a little), and then we'll probably frame it. Any other ideas for how to display it?