Mokumeganeya and Tachikawa

Friday the 13th.

The second one in a row this year... I think this is a rare occurrence.

And with this strange and eerie day, comes my date with the B in the midst of cleaning up and moving out of my apartment.

We met up in Tachikawa, which is where we had our first date, and were on the lookout for a restaurant to have dinner at when I spotted 杢目金屋 (Mokumeganeya).

This place uses the Mokume-gane style of metal smithing to create wood grain patterns out of metals.  They basically layer different metals in various combinations, heating, pounding and twisting the metal to create the pattern.

They used to make the guards on a katana using this method and now they make rings and other fine jewelry.

At first, the B was NOT interested in going in, but I wanted to see their sakura diamond in person, so he humored me by going in.


After looking at their displays, he actually gained interest and we sat down to get more info and see more samples.

The B decided that he wanted his wedding band from here!

I was super jealous because I wanted it first, but while he was selecting what metals he wanted in his ring and  the shape and pattern, I was looking at the sakura diamond.

They're made beautifully.  

A standard round brilliant cut diamond has 58 total facets while the round sakura cut diamond has a total of 87.

It actually has two layers of sakura on it!  One in the cuts of the crown and the other in the base of the pavilion.

After a while, the B said that I could get a diamond if I really wanted it, but it was kind of silly for me to have three rings.

Then the salesman said that they also made pendants!

SOLD!!!!!

We ended up getting these diamonds called kizuna diamonds.  

They're called kizuna diamonds because they were cut from the same stone.

The sakura diamond on the left is mine and will be made into a pendant.

The kizuna diamond on the right is the B's and will be set in his wedding band.

The fitting for his ring will be sometime in mid-April and I am soon excited to see it!

Three hours later, we were starving and hit up McDonalds... which was right across from our first date site!

Yep, starbucks.  We actually met up here after work one day back in February 2012 and had coffee... for four hours. lol.  

Since then, they have renovated and revamped the shop, but this location is still special to us.

Order Made Kokechi

I Gunma is home of the Usaburo Sosaku Kokeshi doll (卯三郎創作こけし) and I remember getting one from my boss and also giving one to my friend as a housewarming gift. So I thought it would be the perfect thing to have for my wedding!

Upon searching through their website (http://www.usaburo.com/en/about/index.html), I thought I could have the B and I bond over the kokeshi making class they have... 

But right now it's not available. 

So I googled a bit deeper and when I searched for "Bridal Kokeshi," I found 卯三郎の孫 produced "Kokechi" and I realized I had bought their Doraemon kokeshi for Bb when she moved to Tokyo!

So I jumped on my gmail and sent an inquiry.

After much discussion and pleading, the artist O-San agreed to accept my order on Saturday when Chika-chan when to the shop in Maebashi even though they are very busy. 

I decided I needed to get my order in this week and started thinking about it over the weekend. 

I knew I wanted to use these aloha print shirts 

because we haven't decided on our wedding outfits yet, this green shirt is one of three aloha print articles of clothes the B has, plus our wedding will be in Hawaii and our new home for the next four years will also be in Hawaii. 

Then, on Tuesday I drew my rough sketches. 

And tonight before and after my part-time job in Shinagawa, I managed to finish my colored sketches to send to O-San. 

I don't know how detailed she will be able to draw them in, but the aloha part is almost as important as my birthmark. 

I emailed the photos to her earlier tonight so hopefully I'll hear good things from her soon!!

Postcards Sent!

The B finally got around to sending out the Save the Date postcards to the U.S. addresses!!!!

I sent mine last Wednesday on my bike ride home after work and he just sent it out today!


Wonder how long it'll take for everyone to get it....

Apartment Renewal for the B

Next month the B's apartment needs to be renewed and there is SO MUCH paperwork to be done!!!

He actually got the renewal paperwork a while before I went to Paris, but he didn't know what was in the packet and I was way too distracted by the trip, school, grades and my part time job to remember to look at him when I was over.

Finally, I worked everything out with MiniMini (the realestate middle man company) and after two extentions I got it all done and turned in! So glad for all of the post boxes between my apartment and the station.

Invitation Scouting

Had some time before meeting my friends E-chan and M-chan so I stopped by Loft to check out their paper selection. 

Talk about overwhelming!!!

The cool thing is that a lot of the pieces are pre-cut and the envelopes are made to size but there's so much to choose from!

Will have to solidify my color choices and work from there. 

1001 cranes: 千羽鶴: The struggle begins

In Hawaii, it's tradition for a Japanese-American wedding to have 1,001 gold cranes (千羽鶴), often used as the welcome board for the wedding reception, for the wedding.

This whole time, I thought it was a Japanese tradition, but after being to a fair share of weddings here in Japan, I realized it's a Hawaii thing.


The bride-to-be is supposed to fold 1,000 cranes (and the groom does one for good luck) to show she is hard working and diligent (so I've heard).

And now that I'm officially engaged, I figure I better get started!

Day One of being a Teyoncé to my Beyoncé fiancé. Lol

I decided since we don't know where we are moving and I'll have to bring the display back to Japan for our party here in Tokyo, I don't want to make the "traditional" size. 

Usually they use the regular size origami and the display ends up being the size of a movie poster. 

I decided to cut the regular origami paper into 16 squares so the display is easily transportable and won't take up too much room in our home wherever it may be. 

Crane number 1/1000

The struggle has begun!!

He Proposed!!!

This is my first blog entry... and I'm starting with the proposal!

Although the B and I have been talking about getting married for almost five months now, it didn't really get real until we sat down and compromised over the rings.

After a long discussion, we agreed that the engagement ring needed to be something simple and not too gaudy even though that's what I was aiming for at first and it needed to be something that would look good with the wedding band.

So we headed out to the department stores in Tachikawa and I tried on some rings. 

The B has never cared about diamonds before so I had to show him what different weights and shapes looked like on me so we could choose something we both liked.

We ended up ordering a 2 ct. total weight bridal set on Kay Jewelers in mid-December.

Normally the wait would've been excruciating, but I went on a whim and took a trip to Paris with my friend BB.  The trip definitely was worth it and I was still able to get the updates on the ring's travel from the B as he was tracking the package online.

I got back to Tokyo from Paris a few days after the New Year and went straight to the B's.  We had plans to meet my friend on Sunday who was down in Tokyo for the day for a seminar.  So we met her and her daughter in Shibuya and had lunch at Shakey's pizza.  After lunch, the B said we should go to the metropolitan building to check out the sunset.  I have lived in Japan for almost seven years, four of which being here in Tokyo, and I had yet to visit that building. 

We headed to Shinjuku and there were quite a few people up on the observatory floor.  

It was a bit cloudy so we didn't get a clear view of Mt. Fuji, but it was still nice to see the 360 view from the center of Tokyo. 

After that, we headed home and watched the B's favorite Japanese TV shows, Tetsuwan Dash and Itte Q.  He had to work today, but I have the day off because it's "Seijin no Hi" (Coming of Age Day).  So I decided to just relax and take my time with going back to my place with all of my Paris goodies.

This morning his alarm went off at 4:45 and he ran into the living room and bathroom to turn on the heaters like he does every morning.  Japanese apartments SUCK when it comes to insulation and heating... I really don't understand why they have yet to jump on the central heating bandwagon,

He jumped back to bed and was ice cold.  I was trying my best to avoid his ice cold hands but he grabbed my hand and slipped the ring on my finger.

(O_O)

Then he asked, "Will you marry me?"

I was still half asleep but the combination of his cold hands, the cold ring and the shock of what was happening....

I said.... "Yes!" after a few seconds of letting my half-asleep brain process what was going on.

Then I teased that I didn't really have a choice in what my reply was since the ring was already on my finger to which he said that it wasn't like I was going to say no to the ring I helped him choose.

It was still a little before 5am, so I couldn't really see the ring and I didn't want to be blinded by him turning on the light, so I just felt it and held it up to the faint light coming through the Japanese paper door to the lawn.

Then, he had to get ready for work and was on his way.

Now I'm sitting here on the couch with a cup of coffee, admiring my good taste in jewelry. Lol