I Looove Gretchen!!! :D

My dearest most amazing Yoga teacher, Gretchen Borgum!!

I took her class, Stretch & Abs, at David Barton Gym in Chelsea a while back. That was the first time I saw her. She is such a beautiful positive energetic being!! She just lights up the classroom, opens my heart wide, I absorb everything she said + does, I come out the room super energized + refreshed ever! I feel brighter physically and mentally. After that class, I took many of her fabulous yoga classes until she left New York. I really miss her so much but I am feeling super lucky and happy to be connected with her in my life!!! Can't wait to laugh and share wonderful time together next time I see her again! I will keep you guys posted if/when she comes back to New York City!!

Big Love + Respect to Gretchen Borgum ;D

Spontaneous Haircut :D

One evening I wanted to have a haircut suddenly! But you know in New York (or even in Tokyo), you have to make an appointment in advance then you wait for several days or a week or even a month before you actually do something about your hair. So for spontaneous people, that doesn't work :P
I looked up and called several hair salons but all booked!! Boooo! Of course. SO! I decided to walk around and find some possible openings! I was thinking if I don't find any openings, I will cut my hair by myself tonight :P I walked around SoHo and then started to walk toward East. Then a miracle happened! I saw the sign said, "Hair Date"! Wooooo!! THAT has to be a hair salon!!

I was super excited, run into the hair salon and asked the ladies if they have any openings tonight! And guess what! YES!! Open! Woohoooo!! Since this is a brand-new hair salon, not so many people know about it yet :D I was SO thrilled I can actually have a haircut tonight! YAAAAAY! My wish came true :D
Fun punk rock music playing, you will get shampoo and conditioning, a great massage on your shoulder, hot green tea is served besides lots of kinds of magazines. What else do you need?!
My lady Veronica is Fabulous!! That's the best part! She is such a great person to talk to, besides that, she has 15 years of experience so she is super confident and precise. She will cut your hair so fast, after a blink, you will see yourself with an amazing looking haircut!!!

Thank YOU sooo much, Veronica, for a great time and the fantastic haircut which makes everyone say "I want to have the same haircut!", even Starbucks casher ladies (before I order any drinks!), French Connection sales ladies (before they say "hello" :P), Gourmet Garage register lady (before I pay for food!)! It's almost funny!! Thanks to you, I am getting so many compliments!! And of course I told them where I got the haircut :) More customers for you, Veronicaaaa ;D And many of my friends and strangers now go to Hair Date! :P Viva Veronica!!! I am such a great promoter indeed! Can I have such a promoter for myself as well?! :P Hahah! Contact me pleeeease if you would like to become one!Check out "Hair Date"'s Google review page! You can read my dear friend Roshan's review too, which he wrote after his wife Melissa went there :D
(All these hair model pictures were taken on a different day, taken by Veronica, my wonderful partner Brandon Welti and me. I went back to the hair salon and Venonica did the hair blow beautifully and took millions of pictures to choose the best ones for her website! The pictures will be uploaded to the website soon. Thank you for the idea, my super friend Patrick!! :D)

Fun Zipper Shoes for YOU~!!

I made these Zipper shoes for fun!! Red Zipper shoes and Black Zipper shoes :D If someone likes them, that will be a bonus since I had lots of fun making them! ;P You can purchase them at Mihoko's Zazzle online shopping page! ;D
Making these Zipper shoes made me think of my wonderful mother, Yuko Hakata. I wish I learned more sewing from her when I was in Japan but I wasn't into it :P My mother used to own her clothes shop with her beautiful designs in Tokyo. I was always wearing the clothes she made :D
This gorgeous red dress was made by beautiful Yuko and she is wearing it! :D And the little boyish girl in green is tiny me, who always wants to give something to someone, even to a stranger :P

Colomba Pasquale at Grandaisy Bakery!!

I created this "Flying Easter Dove" illustration for Grandaisy Bakery last year, maybe some of you remember! The other day I bumped into the lovely owner Monica on the street in SoHo. She asked me if she can use the illustration for this year as well, so I said "Of Course!!" with a big smile :D
If you are in New York, you should definitely try Grandaisy Bakery's bread and pastries! They are SO YUMMM!! And of course don't forget to taste this Italian "Easter Dove" bread!!
... Crispy outside with sugar and almond, then you go into the many layers of softness and will be surprised at the refreshing open-minded orange peel+citron sparkles and Italian chocolate melty in your mouth... what a perfect harmony! Cheers to Monica :D You do magic! (I wrote this description after I tasted the Italian "Easter Dove" bread and I still think this is what you really taste and feel after you put the bread in your mouth!)
Happy FUN-tastic Easter, everyone~!!! ;D

Dubai skyline illustration for Wassla Weekly!!

Wassla Weekly will give you all the useful + meaningful information you need in Dubai! This wiIl make my trip more exciting and inspiring when I visit Dubai someday! :D
I met the founder of Wassla Weekly, Nasrin Shah, a while back. She liked my New York skyline illustration and asked me to create a Dubai skyline banner for her website. She had been working so hard to make this happen! She is such a smart + powerful woman! I am SO HAPPY to have met you, Nasrin! She recently gave birth to a beautiful daughter Lil, bundle of joy!! :D

I also made these 5 illustrations for each category: Aesthetics, Intellect, Virtue, Environment, Appetite.

Thank YOU So Much, Nasrin, for making this exciting project possible!! And it was fabulous working with you, Ari Kushimoto! You have such an amazing taste! Thank YOU for creating such a beautiful + elegant web design!! Can't wait working on more projects with you, Ari!! ;D

Soba packaging + Furoshiki designs for Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial

These are the soba packaging designs I was working on before I went to Mike Perry's opening!

::: Soba packaging design :::

I submitted these soba packaging designs for Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial competition. Crossing all my fingers, hair and everything else!! :P
They want something they have never seen in gift shops in Japan, not like typical soba packaging, so I thought these would be cooool and original! :D

I arranged the soba noodles like flowers, which was inspired by the neat presentation of "hegi soba" in Niigata area. All the Japanese writings on these packages are the name of the soba, company name and contents.

And here we go! Here is what I created after the encounter with Mike Perry!

::: Furoshiki design :::

These square shaped designs are for "Furoshiki" which is a Japanese traditional square fabric, it is such a convenient fabric, used for wrapping gifts or anything you would like, it could be a scarf as well! Or could be a logo for T-shirts like these ;D

The name of this place in Japan is called "ECHIGO TSUMARI" in Niigata prefecture (Niigata has the most delicious rice!) and there is Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial coming up. This will be their 3rd time and it is making the place + people happier and more alive because there are so many old people there but not enough hands; however, because of this Art Triennial, more people are coming from all over Japan and all over the world, which is changing ECHIGO TSUMARI's history :D It is so great to see that is really happening!

So! I thought it would be fun to see this kind of colorful funky yet regional design: lots of green nature, which are in "ECHIGO" letter, cherry blossom in "TSUMARI" letter, and they have 4500 yrs old Jomon period clay pottery which has circular patterns so I made these circular patterns, which are in "TRIENNIAL" letter.

Also, I put the sunrise watercolor painting in the letter "ART" with the wish for the city's continuous bright success through the wonderful Art. This furoshiki design is just like ECHIGO TSUMARI itself, the combination of tradition and modern elements.

The Typo Genius Mike Perry!!

I went to Mike Perry's website for inspiration today because I was working on designs for a packaging design competition in Japan and guess what I found! The opening!! Tonight!!! I HAVE to go :D It meant to be!!
I dressed up all in pink like his colorful artworks and took subway downtown to the cool store+gallery Giant Robot New York!There were already happy people having fun inside and Jimmy, the cheerful store manager, was taking many pictures. This was the first time for me to see Mike Perry's original artworks. I was excited to feel his energy from each piece. You can see all his pen strokes and imagine what he was thinking when he was drawing this or that one... Mike was such a gentle sweet person. I told him that I was working on soba packaging designs before I came here and now I am more interested in typography. He said, "You can do it!" The words from the Typo Master gave me such a strength and power!! :D

Thank YOU sooo much, Jimmy, for taking this picture! Plus you posted it on your GRNY website, top of the page!! Wow!! :D I look super happy :P
Now I have Mike Perry's book "Hand Job" with his signature!! Woohooo!! "What a clever name!!" Mike says, "It had to sell" :D Big success, Mike! I bought one ;P
I LOVE the printing ink smell and this book smells delicious~! When I was little, I used to smell my mother's book collection, Chagall, Van Gogh, Picasso, etc, I didn't know their names but I liked their paintings and the smell :P