Artists, Yuzo Saeki and Tsune Nakamura / 画家の佐伯祐三と中村彝

After reading about some famous painters, such as Yuzo Saeki and Tsune Nakamura used to live in my area and their studios still exist here at the ward office, I always wanted to visit their studios and it finally happened!

区役所のパンフレットに落合に住んでいた画家のアトリエ／美術館についてのパンフレットを何度か読み、ずっと行ってみたいなぁと思っていた中落合にある佐伯祐三と下落合にある中村彝のアトリエについに娘と一緒に訪問。

Both of them had a cute small art studio.
やっぱり海外のアーティストのアトリエと比べるとサイズが小さい。だけども、こじんまりとして可愛らしいアトリエだった。

Below is Yuzo Saeki's art studio in Nakaochiai, Tokyo.

下が佐伯祐三のアトリエ。


Yuzo Saeki was born in Osaka, Japan in 1898 and his father was a Buddhist monk. In 1921 he married a painter, Yoneko Ikeda. He was a student at Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris in 1924; he loved living in Paris and the city inspired him to paint. His nick name was "Van Gogh of Japan" because his style was similar to Van Gogh's work. He passed away when he was 30-yr-old in Paris.

画家、佐伯祐三は1898年に大阪生まれでお父さんはお寺の住職さん。1921年に画家の池田米子と結婚。パリを愛し、パリで芸術の学生として1924年から過ごす。画家のゴッホのファンで佐伯の作品はゴッホのタッチを思わせたため、彼のニックネームは日本のゴッホ。短命な佐伯は30歳にしてこの世を去る。


He was a good looking man!
写真でみるとかっこいい人だったんだなぁ〜と思ってしまった。

Yuzo only used this studio for four years.
佐伯はこのアトリエを実際の所は4年位しか使っていない。


Below is Tune Nakamura's art studio.
下が中村彝のアトリエ。


Tsune Nakamura was born as the fifth child of samurai family in Mito, Ibaraki prefecture in 1887. He went to a junior army school in Nagoya to become a solider, however he contracted tuberculosis which ended his military career. Tsune always enjoyed drawing and painting as a child that led him to become an artist. He was a member of a painting groups, such as Hakuba Kai and Taiheiyo Gakai. Tune`s work was influenced by Rembrandt, Renoir and Cezanne.

中村は5人兄弟の末っ子として茨城県の水戸に生まれる。陸軍軍人の兄の影響を受けて軍人になるために名古屋陸軍地方幼年学校を卒業。しかし肺結核をわずらい軍人になるのを諦める。その後に幼い頃から得意だった絵画をするようになり画家を志し、白馬会洋画研究所で絵を学ぶ。

He built a good relationship with Soma family who was known as the art patron and the owner of Shinjuku Nakamuraya. There was a studio in the back of their house; they let him live there. Their oldest daughter, Shunko posed him as a nude model for his work. He fell in love with her, but her family did not want her to marry him because of his illness. Heartbroken Tune left for Izu Oshima in 1914, then he built an art studio in Shimo Ochiai, Tokyo after getting help from a patron financially. He passed away from his illness at the age of thirty seven.

新宿中村屋の相馬夫妻と仲良くなり新宿中村屋の裏のアトリエで暮らし、作品作りに没頭する。相馬家の長女の俊子は中村のためにヌードモデルを引き受ける。彼は俊子に恋をするがその恋は実らない。俊子の家族は娘の裸が人々の目にさらされる事を嫌う。また病気の中村が娘と仲良くなる事も良い事とは思わなかった。傷ついた中村は伊豆大島に1914年に旅立つ事になる。しかしパトロンから経済的な援助を受けて後に下落合にアトリエを構える。肺結核の為に37歳でこの世を去る。

I think Mia enjoyed visiting art studios with me.

娘もアトリエを私と一緒に満喫。

Shinjuku Suwa shrine summer festival / 諏訪神社のお祭り

Mia was excited to visit matsuri (the summer festival) at Suwa shrine this morning.

お祭り好きのミアちゃんは諏訪神社のお祭りを朝からとても楽しみにしていた。

Because she was excited, she kept saying "Washhoi! Wasshoi!" in Japanese.

朝からずっとワッショイ、ワッショイと掛け声をかけていた。

Wasshoi is a shout when people gather together to carry a mikoshi that is a portable shrine during the festival.

I had to walk about twenty minutes to get to the festival from home, and by the time we got there, she was already asleep even though she put on her Hello Kitty pink yukata (summer style kimono). Also she had Donald Duck's blue fan in her hand.

ピンクのキティちゃんの浴衣を着て、ドナルドダックのうちわを持って、あんなに楽しみにしていたけれども２０分もベビーカーに揺られていたら、お祭りに着く前に熟睡。

Swimming at the Jidokan / 児童館でのプール

Mia and I have been enjoying using the Jidokan near our apartment ever since we moved to Tokyo especially since we live in a small apartment. Although I love how I can get pretty much everything in Tokyo except delicious BBQ and Mexican food in Austin, Texas, I miss having more space that Mia can run around.

広大なテキサスから東京に戻ってきてからは狭いマンション生活が少し嫌で時々児童館を活用するようになった。（もともと私は家にじっとしているタイプではない）

Japanese Jidokan is a children's facility/building that has pools during summer time, a little outside park, toys, pens and papers to draw and more...; it offers babies/children's classes for free or very low prices.

アメリカには児童館はないので色々とある日本の児童館には関心する。最近の児童館はプールまであるなんてすごい！

Today was the last swimming day at the Jidokan, so Mia enjoyed being in water with other children. It still gets hot and humid in here, but I can feel the fall is here already by looking at cherry leaves on the ground that changed their colour from green to yellow.

今日は児童館のプールの最終日だったので娘とプール。まだまだ毎日暑い。でも外の桜の葉が緑から黄色に変わり地面に落ちているのを見ると秋の気配を感じる。

I think we had enough of hot days and I am looking forward to my favourite time of the year in Tokyo!

大好きな日本の秋が訪れるのがとても楽しみ！

Green smoothie／グリーンスムージー

My 2-yr-old has iron deficiency because she does not eat a lot of meat or vegetables that contain iron which led me to buy a blender because I thought she might like green smoothie.

食べ物の好き嫌いが多い2歳の娘が採血検査の結果、鉄分が足りておらず貧血だと医師から伝えられ、ママ友に相談してグリーンスムージーを作ってみる事にした。

She loves to pretend drinking a cup of green smoothie with me whenever I make some, but she refuses to drink it. Then I ended up making some peach and banana smoothie for her to see if she would try some peach and banana smoothie. I know Mia is a very cautious girl, so I showed her the process of making it, but that did not work either.

グリーンスムージーを作ってみたものの、用心深い娘は飲むふりはするけれど一口もスムージーは飲んでくれなかった。色が緑だから飲んでくれないのかな？と思い、桃とバナナだけでスムージーを作ってみたものの、それでさえも飲んでくれなかった。

Anyway, I have been enjoying making some green smoothie at home everyday after purchasing a blender from Yamamoto Electric Corporation. There are some aloe vera plants growing in my little back yard and I am happy to be able to take the advantage of putting aloe in my smoothie.

娘が一口もスムージーを飲んでくれなかったのは残念だったけど、私は毎日のようにグリーンスムージーを自分用に作って暑い夏を楽しんでいる。庭にアロエが生えていてそのアロエがスムージーに使えるのが嬉しい。

Here is the list of what I put in my green smoothie.

ちなみに今日のスムージーはこんな感じ。

Parsley／パセリ

Pineapple／パイナップル

Banana／バナナ

Grapes／ブドウ

Ginger／ショウガ

Aloe vera／アロエ

Soy milk／豆乳

Honey／蜂蜜

Ice cubes／氷



Can you see Mia's hand trying to help me to make some smoothie?
娘の手がニョキニョキと伸びてスムージー作りの手伝いをしています。


I love summer!
やっぱり夏は最高！

Swimming / スイミング

IMG_5188, a photo by fumika yamamoto on Flickr.

It has been hot and humid in Tokyo!
I took Mia for swimming.

毎日毎日暑すぎるので娘を近くの児童館のプールに連れて行った。

She looked little concerned at the beginning when I put her in a small pool, but she figured out what to do after she watched other children playing in a pool.

初めての児童館のプールでちょっと緊張気味の娘。でも他の子が楽しそうに水遊びをしているのを見て水遊びを始めた。

Mia likes water!

娘は水遊びが好きみたい。

The farmer's market at omotesando / 表参道のファーマーズマーケット

at farmer's market in omotesando, a photo by fumika yamamoto on Flickr.

Mia and I went to the farmer's market in Omotesando for the first time.

初めて表参道のファーマーズマーケットに娘と行ってきた。

Gosh, it was busy!

さすが、日曜日！
めちゃめちゃ混んでいた。

We saw many dogs hanging out.
I thought Mia might be interested in playing with dogs, but she got scared.

なぜだか、犬がたくさんいたので、娘が喜ぶかなと犬の近くによってみたら怖がっていた。

Her hair is getting long and she has her 6th tooth coming out.

だんだんと娘の髪の毛はストレートヘアの私では手がつけられない感じになってきた。

ちなみに今は６本目の歯が生え途中。

I think I want to go back to the farmer's market in the morning rather than in the afternoon since it was hot outside.

今度、ファーマーズマーケットに行く時はもうちょっと涼しい朝に行きたいなぁ。

Mia in a Japanese jinbei / 赤ちゃん甚平

Mia in a goldfish jinbei, a photo by fumika yamamoto on Flickr.

My sister got 2 cute Japanese jinbei for Mia. One got some goldfish and the other one got some rabbits. I never knew there are jinbei for a baby until this year.

妹が赤ちゃん用の甚平を娘の為に探してきてくれた。一つはウサギでもう一つは金魚の甚平。今年になるまで赤ちゃん用の甚平があるなんて知らなかったなぁ。

I realized separate outfit may not be good for Mia since she learned to grab stuff with her hands lately. She keeps showing her belly by grabbing her top, ugh!

最近の娘は手で色々な物をつかむようになったので上下が離れた洋服だとトップスを引っ張っておなか丸見え。

I wondered if Mia feels cooler in her jinbei than her normal outfit.

赤ちゃんも甚平を着ると涼しいとか思っているのかな？と感じてしまった。

Being outside with Mia / 実愛ちゃんとの外出

Untitled, a photo by fumika yamamoto on Flickr.

Mia will be 4 weeks old tomorrow.

明日で実愛ちゃんが生まれて4週間目。

My body is not in so much pain anymore. Going out with Mia is still scary for me, but I decided to try getting used to be outside and in a public space with Mia by myself.

私の体は以前のように産後でめちゃめちゃ痛くはなくなったので怖いけど実愛とお出かけする事にした。

We went outside around 9 am, however it was already hot and humid in Austin. I felt really bad for Mia because she was sweating a lot just like me when I picked her up.

朝の9時頃に出発したけれどオースチンはすでに暑い。実愛をだっこしたらかなり汗をかいていたので反省。

I went, "why are you sweating a lot even though you are not walking outside?!"

なんで歩いていないのにこんなに汗をかいているの!?とびっくりした。

I was able to get on a bus with her for the first time today too.

ちなみにバスにも一緒に初めて乗りました。