February 4-8 東風解凍 Spring winds thaw the ice

So according to our fancy calendar, we are now at the "start of Spring", which continues on for the next 2 seasons. It sure is windy the past few days, which only makes the damp cold more biting. So I chose to differ on that opinion. Have a picture of what looks to be trees ready for relocation/planting at Kitano Tenmangu around the corner from my place. We can pretend the strong spring winds knocked them down.

I spent some time translating the titles for an online illustration collection of recent Japanese clothing available in the database of the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka and learning some interesting terms, as well as the fun/awfulness of Chinese characters, Kanji.

For example: the term for clothing in Japanese is "ishou", but there are two different Kanji characters that can be used for the second part of that word. Depending on which character you use, it can mean "general clothing", or "not general clothing". The two different Kanji are pronounced exactly the same, so you have to see the word to know which type of clothing is being referred to.

This would be so much easier if this stupid blog allowed for Japanese characters. Oh well.

Also, I've not admitted it, but I've been feeling a bit in a rut recently. I think it started when I realized Putumayo was going/is out of business. I guess that was such a mental blow, and I didn't really have anyone to talk to about my research interests.

Enter a new PhD research student doing her field studies on Kimono who arrived the second week of January. She's originally from Germany, but doing her PhD in Sheffield, UK. I've met up with her a few times now, and it's such a joy to be able to discuss with someone on an intellectual level regarding my interests. It's been such a long time since I've been able to bounce my ideas off someone who sees me as an equal, and man, does it feel good. It reminded me that research isn't just about sitting and reading books (to which a lot of people still prefer to adhere) and interacting with like-minded individuals is (in my case) a lot more beneficial, especially to get ideas flowing when you see your research topic crumble before your eyes.

I am not exaggerating on the crumbling. Since arriving in Japan, I have seen the end of the publication of a seminal magazine on Gothic Lolita fashion, the shuttering of not only Putumayo as a brand, but also the shuttering of the only Gothic clothing store in Kyoto I could locate in my wanderings. And the really frustrating part for me was that I found out about all this after the fact. I couldn't even go to these stores to take advantage of inventory sales or anything.