I often stumble across tucked away places when I am out on my bike and this is one of them.
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Finalist in Digital Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2012!
Wow, I don’t know what to say! I have been shortlisted as a Finalist for the Digital Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2012 in the Education Entrepreneur category! Previous winners include maverick greetings card site FunkyPigeon.com and British retail giant Sainsbury’s.
Things a brewin’
Have you ever bought someone a present that you just knew they were going to love, and had that feeling that you might just burst if you don’t give it to them right now? Well that’s how I feel with some of the exciting things going on behind the scenes here at Do What You Love.
A little piece of history
Just a few minutes’ spin of the bicycle wheel from our little place here in Kyoto stands a World Heritage Site, “a place of exceptional and universal value; a cultural heritage site worthy of preservation for the benefit of mankind”.
This astonishing city actually has 17 sites deemed this magnificent. Today I wanted to share Nijo Castle with you.
Handmade fair at Kamigamo Shrine
Hiroshima remembered
The A-bomb Dome – this was a trade hall when the bomb was dropped almost directly above it, and it was one of the few buildings left standing after the blast
We took ourselves on a little trip West last week. Our first stop was Hiroshima, the city where, on this day back in 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped. Since that horrific day Hiroshima has become a beacon for peace, and is home to a museum that hit me harder than almost any other place I have ever visited.
Summer festival by lantern light
Summer in Japan brings lively festivals, tempting street stalls, kimono-clad strollers and lights in the trees. It brings fireworks and sparklers, stripey tents and trickles of laughter. It keeps children out late, fishing for plastic toys in puffy round paddling pools, and proudly bouncing home with bags of goldfish in their pudgy little hands.
Kyoto cafes part 3 – Togenkyo
This sweet little find in Nishijin is not far from my house and serves the best coffee for miles. The characters used in its name ‘Togenkyo’ mean ‘escape from reality’, and the friendly café owner tells me that was essentially what he was trying to do when he set up his café. One wall is stacked floor to ceiling with old LPs, which get cranked out on the crackling record player all day long, and no one is ever in a hurry.
Ryoanji
A peek into the world of kimono design…
On the second floor of the gorgeous tea house Iyemon Salon on Sanjo Dori, tucked away behind the Sohya Tas kimono fabric products store, is a gallery of kimono design. It is always deserted and you can soak up the intricacies of stunning kimono designs up close. ‘Kimono’ literally means ‘something to wear’ in Japanese, but this style of dress is far from just something to wear – it is a display of tradition, beauty and story.