Sista In Tokyo

I'm Engaged to be Married!!! (part 2)

My apologies for the month+ delay in follow-up my dear readers-- but I have such a wonderful excuse!!  As you are already aware, I am engaged to be married, to the most wonderful man and a sista has been pretty busy!

Sooooooo.....

So much has happened since my last post and unfortunately this will be a quickie, but here's a recap.... 

1.  Met the parents-- Yep, traveled to Oregon to meet my sweetie's sweet family.  I felt so welcome and a part of the family.  It was pretty cool! (that place is rainy!!)

2. Met my parents-- That's right, he met my parents and brother and they LOVED him!  I had not doubt in my mind, but it was great confirmation :).  And yes, he asked my parents for permission.

3.  I said 'YES'!-- Many tears and 5 minutes later-- (you would think the tears and smiles are a good indication of YES, but they have to hear it!)

4.  I am Engaged to be married to my darlin'! (Yeah, a picture if forthcoming-- I kind of like the suspense)

5. Moved into a new place (only 5 minutes away from Tokyo Midtown!)

6.  Gave my parents my old laptop (to make room for a new one, but haven't gotten around to purchasing a new one...)

7.  I am planning a wedding-- and for about a week, I was sick of hearing the 'w' word.  But, I've finally confirmed a location-- We're getting married in Hawaii. :)  Here's a nice laugh for you. 

8.  I was contacted by CNN, who was curious about what it's like to be a "Sista in Tokyo" :)-- More on that later!

9.  I went clubbing for the first time in almost a year-- felt like an old lady because I became sleepy at 1AM and left.

10. I have been reading a ton of new books-- put a shelf on the right just in case you're curious of the titles.  Highly Recommend "Every Woman's Battle".  (I don't have a TV anymore)

11.  Taking Spiritual Inventory-- Took Journey to Freedom @ Tokyo Baptist and for the past six weeks have been on a spiritual journey to make myself more aware of anger, lust, pride and some other matters of the heart.

I'm Engaged to be Married!

SiT Recommends: SEAMO, My Favorite Japanese R&B Artist

Yesterday, I treated my boyfriend to a special dinner here:  57 the food was great, the servers were attentive, and overall, it was lovely evening. I am definitely planning to return (often).

Anyway, I rarely share with you the Japanese artists that I like, so here's my favorite R&B Japanese artist SEAMO.  Have a look @ his videos.

Have a lovely weekend!

A Wonderful Weekend of Snowboarding

Last weekend, my boyfriend and I took a trip up to Hakuba to enjoy the snow, get away from the city, and to celebrate our one-year relationship anniversary (which feels like I've known him forever).  He planned the entire thing and we had a blast.  I am looking forward to heading out again.... like next weekend :)

This was the first trip that I didn't 'pack' for.  Well, with the exception of my digital camera, extra underwear, and a turtleneck.  I didn't need a bag, not even my trusty book bag that I often use for day tirps.  I had on about three layers of clothes (overkill, I know but I just don't like to be cold).  The two of us simply packed our bare necessities into his snowboarding gear bag at 4:45AM Saturday morning, and off we went to Tokyo station to catch the shinkansen bound for Nagano.  It felt great to set out on our own little adventure to a new place, and unknown hobby/sport.

The shinkansen ride from Tokyo to Nagano was about 1.5 hours during which I was asleep most of the way.  From Nagano, we caught a bus to Happo.  The place is beautiful!  So much fluffy snow, it was like my own private wonderland!  And so quiet, I think these days that I am always surrounded by sound, too much.  It was great. 

As for snowboarding, I loved it!! I am terribly sore!  I fell so much... then fell even more.  But I loved it! My boyfriend has been snowboarding since he was 15, so I am certain he found it quite amusing to see me falling all over the place.   But that's okay.  I could tell that he was proud of me and very happy that I liked snowboarding.  Since I didn't have my own snowboarding gear, I rented everything and by the end of the trip I was planning to purchase my own stuff :).  I even took a snowboarding class, in Japanese, to master a few techniques my sweety taught me on day 1.   Here are a few pictures from the trip...  And I am absolutely certain that there will be even more to come.   A sista loved snowboarding!  (Can't you tell by the smile!)

   

Sistas in Tokyo: Envogue @ Billboard Live Tokyo Mid-Town

Guess what!  En Vogue is coming to Tokyo :)-- I might just have to check 'em out!  I haven't heard much from them in quite some time.  The last song from En Vogue on heavy rotation for me was "Don't Let Go" from the Set if Off sound-track.   Afterwards I became a fan of Dawn Robinson in Lucy Pearl.

Anyway, I was curious to know if the upcoming performance was of the original members.  I came across one of their most recent photos.  Here's more information:  EnVogue @ Billboard Live.  When I first viewed this picture, I thought perhaps someone had undergone some serious plastic surgery.  But, that's not the case :).   I was expecting to see Dawn Robinson, notice she is missing-- and in her place is Rhonda Bennet. 

Fashion in Japan: Introducing Baby Shoop

Last fall, I had a friend visit me here in Tokyo for during the Obon holiday.   During her visit, I asked her what stood out the most since it was her first visit to Tokyo.  She mentioned a few things such as the 'escalator rule' (stand on the side, walk on the right) and the amount of women all dressed up and wearing high heels-- "it's crazy," she said shaking her head.  She also mentioned the advertising in Japan and asked, "Why don't they have any black women in their ads?  I only see white or Japanese girls."  It was a rhetorical question, so I didn't answer.

Later, I thought about her question and I posed the following one, "Does a Japanese woman go to Senegal and ask, 'Why aren't there any Japanese women in the advertisements here?'".  The answer, nah. 

SiT Recommends: Tokyo Street Style

When I first came to Tokyo, the fashion absolutely baffled me. Seriously, I just could not understand the color coordinating, style-coordinating, layering, or anything else that seemed to be outlandish.  Heheheh, I remember those days... the days of having "American Eyes" in Japan.

But things have changed.  My eyes have been converted-- so much so that the last time I visited home and sat in the ATL airport, I experienced fashion culture shock all over again. (ie. think over-sized sweat suits, overweight spandex wearers, 5-button dress suits...)  Indeed, it took some time for my eyes to adjust but I no longer do a double-take when someone walks past me with hot pink tights, zebra striped stilettos, an over-sized gray sweater, with a gold belt @ the waste and wearing a black beret.  I still think it doesn't match :).

Anyway, here's a page to check out:  TOKYO STREET STYLE

I was just introduced to this page via the Fabulous Miss Zoe Pearl-- check her out.  As for me, do I venture into Japanese street style? Well, if I had to describe my personal style, it would be a mix of the fashions found in Omotesando and Ginza, with some sista thrown up in it.

SiT

(Wondering where there fire to post more than once a month is coming from?-- It's a result of the fabulous e-mails I have been receiving from SiT readers!  I get energized when I know people are reading! Thanks for the love!)

Developing Friendship In Tokyo

Tokyo is a unique place and I absolutely adore it.  It's busy, full of life, and filled with interesting people and places.  I've been living here for almost 3 years now and I must admit, the biggest challenge of living is not the language, culture, or navigating the city-- it's developing meaningful friendships.  Thing is, developing a friendship with someone is difficult, even when you're not in a foreign country-- so trust me, it doesn't get easier once you go abroad. 

Last year, I was contacted by a SiT reader who found my blog by chance.  She was preparing to relocate from the US to Tokyo, already had a job lined up and just wanted to reach out to me to say hi and possibly have lunch once she was settled.  Well, she contacted me and the two of us discovered that we literally worked about 5 minutes away from each other-- and that was the beginning of a great friendship! 

She just recently returned to the US and I really miss her.  Her father passed away earlier this month and this is when it really sucks to be here in Tokyo, instead of being with your friends and family.  Anyway, I am praying for her and her family and I simply wanted to remind you guys to cherish and nurture the friendships that you have.  When you go abroad, it's really easy to become busy and caught up, but take time to send postcards or a 'just thinking of you gift' to your friends and family'.  I will be completely honest with you and let you know that I am the absolute worst when it comes to reaching out and nurturing, but I committed myself to doing much better.

This is for all of the great 'friends', 'girlfriends', homegirls, 'my girl', 'my dawg', 'my partner', my Absolute BEST Friends out there.  Whether she's just around the corner, across town, around the way, or around the world-- reach out to your girl every now and then.  Trust me, living in Tokyo by yourself can be a serious challenge for making friends. [Love you very much Yodi, Todra, Dionne, and Kari]

Movie Review: SILK-- Sucks!

Last Night, my boyfriend and I saw the movie "Silk".  After seeing the ads around Tokyo and watching the trailer, we thought that would be a better choice than "28 Months Later" because I haven't seen "28 Day Later" yet.  So, we purchased tickets online here and went to the 9:55PM show.

Armed with a TGIF attitude, colorful bag of fresh jelly bellies, a medium butter popcorn (yummy!!!), and a large ginger ale, the two of us prepared ourselves for what we hoped to be a great movie about old Japan and a cultural love triangle.  Then the movie started...

I don't like to be negative about other people's creations because someone spent a lot of time, money, and effort into making the movie, so I will just say that more time, thinking, money and effort could have been invested to make the film better.

I am particularly curious to know how the women of racialiscious will comment on the played out images of the 'mysterious and enchanted Asian woman with secret sexual powers' stereotype that was simply ripe in this movie.  I left the movie feeling like SILK was a complete let down.  It had potential to be a good movie, but too many pieces didn't fit together...  It was like some person had this idea to make a movie about a French guy who worked as a trader, visited Japan, and became fascinated with a Japanese woman, who was really Chinese (spoiler, my apologies)...  The fascination made him want to continue to return...  And the Asian women bathe him and she touches his arms and dips water on his lips and leaves....  Then he visits a brothal, where the head whore is a Japanese woman who charges her patrons thousands of dollars, and she reads the Japanese love letter to him.  And later, his wife visits the expensive Japanese whore and asks her to write a love letter to her husband in Japanese, in order for him to think it's from the Chinese woman back in Japan...  Then his wife dies. Huh?

If there were a $.99 movie theater here in Tokyo, it would be worthy of that one.

Anyway, the redeeming qualities of the movie-- the scenery was beautiful at times.  But, if scenery is what you're seeking, then I highly recommend "EARTH".  I don't normally blog about the movies I've seen, and trust me, I go to the movies almost every week here.  But "SILK" sucked.

Have a good weekend.  And, just in case you don't have a clue as to which movie I am referring to the trailer is below.

Sista in Tokyo-- New Page Look

The time has come to change the Sista in Tokyo look.  After a few hours of playing around with a cool afro chic graphic I found online, I settled on a new banner and I changed a few key page element as well.

I think the bold colors express my daring and motivated attitude for 2008.   It's hard to explain, but a blog banner is like an old pair of favorite shoes....  Sometimes it time to go shopping for a new favorite pair.

I'm loving it, hope you guys like it!  Gotta keep it fresh.

SiT