Welcome to Ichihara Hiroko's free exhibit in Roppongi - Tokyo Midtown!

The concept is simple : funny, serious, light, deep, sometimes strange messages painted on the wall, black on white, big and short enough to make an impact... and to have a lot of fun with your friend Miss A. who had the nice idea to bring me there!

Istuninaku Shiawase - Especially Happy.

Kimi Ga Suki Degozaru - I Love You (in archaic, polite samourai language)

Itsudemo, Dokodemo, Dare To Demo - Anytime, Anywhere, with Anyone.

Watashi Ni Wa Hana Ga Aru - I'm Sexy (and I know it)

Bijutsu O Nichijou Suru - I Am an Artist Everyday!

In many aspects, the Japanese poetry is based on the art of striking your mind with a short, powerful, breath-taking sensorial shock. Most of the haiku are like this : a dazzking glimpe of something - a vision, a smell, a sound - that blows your mind. The "distance" with the text is created by the architecture of the kanji : the parallelisms, the graphism, the consistency in the combination of the characters leads you to a second level of reading, more intellectual, less emotional. It is very different from the French poetry (and probably European poetry in general, but I am not a specialist), where poetry is mainly based on metaphores, that is to say the undirect reference to things and concepts - words that stands for something else. And the gap between what is written and what is meant stimulates your imagination : poetry is born. In the French poetry, you are immediatly on distance with things, whereas in the Japanese poetry, you're so close to them that you take it like a fist in your face. Both experiences are so gret that it is really a pity that most of the French people will never get the chance to approach Japanese poetry; and very few Japanese will understand the French one.

I feel so lucky to navigate on both seas. (French way)

The detonation of the haiku and the echo of the alexandrin are ringing in my ear. (Japanese way)

イチハラヒロコ展「期待して当たり前なんだし。」

2013年1月15日（火）～3月24日（日）
11:00～21:00

In Japan, you don't need to be in couple to celebrate the St Valentine Day. Actually, celebrating Love just the two of you, with your partner, would be way too... intimate. So for the Japanese, Love consists in offering chocolates to everybody... or more exactly, women offer chocolate to men. All men around. The man of your life, your boss, your co-workers, your landlord, your neighbour, your gynecologist: every guy you can possibly know and meet that day. One month later, on March 14th, the so-called "White Day", men are supposed to offer chocolates back - if possible, more expensive ones. Oh, by the way, Love is also something that deals with money in Japan, because the chocolates are valued and appreciated according to their originality and their price. You can offer cheap industrial giri-choko (the chocolates of duty) to the guys you don't care about, but your darling deserves a honmei-choko, a real good chocolate, most of the time home-made, where you have put your whole heart in it. Anyway, "bref", I have made chocolates this year. Wanna have a look ?

My yummy Truffes

My crispy peanut chocolates

My pretty packages

And I forgot the tomo-choko, the sweet friendship chocolates that girls offer to girls on Valentine Day, because we rock and we love each other. Thank you, Miss A. !

Happy Valentine, everybody!

Before I open the last chapter of my wonderful stay in Thailand with stunning pictures of Koh Samui island, let me share with you a bit of my impressions about the relations between the Thai population and the foreigners.

Thailand is the second place I visit in Asia after Hong-Kong. Japan doesn't count, because I live there: I flatter myself that I have (I hope) a more accurate knowledge of this country than any other foreign country in the world, but in a certain extend, my vision is also biaised by everything I know and acknowledge about Japapn. I am used to Japan, which is not the case for the other Asian countries. In September, I was telling you how strange it was to be in Hong-Kong City and not to see many exchanges between the local people and the Westerners - except financial and commercial ones, of course. Obviously there must be higher levels of communication - exchange students, I guess; artists, free minds, and a few original individuals who had a crush on the other side's culture and mindset - but the majority of the people I have seen and met during my stay were just not interested in meeting new people and getting familiar with their world. The Chinese were there to sell. Sell, sell, sell. The white guys were there to make as much money as possible. Finance, finance, finance. Some of them were learning the basics of communication (including linguistics), but this was not for fun : it was for business. In Thailand, of course, because the level of developement is radically lower than in HK, the atmosphere is quite different. Still, I have been stricken by the common point between the two places: in Thailand also, people don't really mix with the others. I haven't seen groups of Thai and Westerners chatting together, hanging out together, talking together. I haven't seen mixed couples, except when it comes to prostitutes. I am terribly sorry that it sounds so cliche but trust me, the picture was kind of cliche too. Imagine a successions of noisy bars with big pink neons, largely opened on the street. Imagine young and less young girls wearing mini-mini dress (black, most of the time) and super high heels, crossing legs on plastic chairs in front of the shop. Imagine big-old-fat white guys, holding a long-haired lolita on their knees. According to the guidebooks, the prostitution for foreigners represents "only" 20% of the whole prostitution in Thailand, but obviously the Thai guys are more discreet, because I have seen only white-guy/Asian-girl "couples". Fortunately, no kids around, for this vision would have been fare more difficult to bear than the one of adult prostitutes - even if some of them seemed to be pretty young. Anyway, except that, almost no mixed groups, so it was very weird again. It is certainly due to the level of developement, but still. For me who is living in Japan, it's embarrassing to contemplate this wall between the shop-attendants/hotel-staff/cleaning-lady/tuk-tuk-drivers/massage-professionals on one hand; and tourists/clubbers/players on the other hand. I admire Asian people too much to spend my time bargaining on the price of their stuff and giving them tips all day long. I've heard almost no Westerners speaking Thai, even the easy sawatdiikha (hello) and kopkhunkha (thank you). Once again, there must be more sophisticated contexts where people have a genuine interest in each other, but not on the street. As a result, you can not really feel equal with the local population. In Japan, as a foreigner, you are (forever) different from the Japanese, but thanks god we are all equals. In Tokyo, you never feel like a kind of late colonist, while you sometimes really do in Thailand. As a result, despite the sun, the beach, the delicious food and the tigers, I'm not sure that I would feel great in spending a long time in Thailand. That's another reason to fully enjoy the holidays there...

And for holidays, it rocks.

Life is hard

 Varinda Garden (our hotel on the hill)

And here I realize that I didn't tell you about the food. The Food. THE FOOD.

I am not a fan of spicy food, but the thai meals are so tasteful, so rich, so delicate that even if they make me cry and sweat I just can't get enough of it. Let me give you a sample of the endless thai menu:

Coconut milk chicken soup

Fried vegetables with cashew nuts

Thai curry

Pad thai noodles

Noodle soup

Fresh fruits & muesli breakfast, with guava shake

Mango with sticky rice

Spring rolls and fried fish

Dragon fruit shake

That's all, folks! I will be back soon to share with you some new experiences, so keep in touch, and thank you for reading!

xoxo

They say that there are 300 temples in Chiang-Mai. Obviously, we have visited only a few of them, and this is a city that you can explore endlessly.

I fall in love with this old town, with its square-shaped historic center, its old walls, its palm trees, its monks walking everywhere in their orange dresses. Chiang-Mai is infinitely cleaner than Bangkok (the weather is not so wet, also), and it was a delight to get some rest after the busy capital.

The Three Kings who contributed to the creation of the city. Hot guys !

We stayed at Awana House, a charming and cheap guest house with a very sweet decoration, and a pool! The staff was helpful and charming – finally, the land of smiles!

Ok, friends, the following adventure has been the top of our trip, the most exciting moment ever. Have you ever hugged a tiger?? I mean, a REAL, BIG, ROARING TIGER?? Well, I did. And it’s so moving, so special that after this experience, you just love nature, people, yourself, and everything. You just love the whole world.

Aaaaaaw. I know.

It’s not over yet! “Absolute trip to Thailand – Part 3: Koh Samui” will be following! Thank you for reading!

It's always a shame for me to admit that one of my favorite meal in Japan is yaki-gyoza... because gyoza are not exactly from Japan. But this Chinese dumpling got insanely popular in Japan, and you can find them in any good ramen-shop. I like it so much I could eat it everyday. So when my best Japanese friend Miss A. told me she was a gyoza goddess, we decided to have a gyoza-party at home to celebrate this little gift from heaven. May the gyoza be with you !

First step : mixing the meat and the vegetables

And now, let the gyoza take shape!

My very first gyoza

The French team, focused on the mission...

... and our poor results

Miss A.'s gyoza, so professional

But once it's baked, no one can see the difference !

My personal touch : choco cake and apple crumble

Yummyyyyyyy

Et bon appetit !

Stop kidding: that's winter after all. Oh yes, we spend a sunny December under the gingko leaves and we almost forgot that winter was coming for good... Today, there are 15 centimeters of  thick snow on the streets. Hopefully this monday was a holiday and I could cuddle at home with good food and get out only to have fun like kids with my roomate. Snow is so great when you can stay at home!

Give us a bit of snow and two grown-up adults get back to the spirit of a 5-years-old.

And to warm up : home-made pumpkin and bacon cream spaghetti ! Life is beautiful !

When I get back to Paris for Christmas, a huge tree is waiting for me in the living room.

When I get back to Paris for Christmas, my sister comes to live at my parents' place to spend more time with me.

When I get back to Paris for Christmas, I go to Mariage Freres with my friends and we pretend to be chic parisienne ladies.

When I get back to Paris for Christmas, there is a ton of delicious food.

When I get back to Paris for Christmas, the weather is beautiful.

When I get back to Paris for Christmas, I wonder if I should definitely get back one day soon.

When I get back to Paris for Christmas, I experience many kinds of mixed emotions and sensations. I tell myself that life is complex. That I'm full of contradictions. That "the truth is out there". That time and space matter a lot, and mean nothing at the same time. That I should focus on beauty and love and try to forget all the rest. Fortunately, beauty and love are there for me.

BEAUTIFUL HOME

LOVELY FAMILY & FRIENDS

BREAKFAST

TEA TIME

FINGERFOOD

DINER

TARTINES

SUNNY PARIS

2012 in ending soon... thanks God. May 2013 be sweeter for everyone.

See you in 2013 !

Less than one hour from Ikebukuro station by Tobu Tojo line, a quiet city named Kawagoe welcomes the poor Tokyo girls looking for friendship and pizza on winter Saturdays !

A myriad of bakeries, cute little shops, and a real French community living around because of the proximity of a leader French company... What else ? Good friends! Thank you N. and A. for the warmth and the home-made pizza !

Next time : Little Edo, here I come !!

GREAT SCOTT, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY !

Ok everyone : despite appearances, you must know that it is NOT my 28th brithday.

It's just my fourth 25th birthday.

Yes, I have decided to stick at the blessed age when I started my life in Japan, three years ago. At that time, I had a great birthday party with my European mates - only a few survivors are still in Tokyo, but since, I have made fantastic new friends, and I want you all to be there to celebrate my back-to-the-future special day in a nice place, with nice drinks, nice food, nice music, and the nicest people EVER. There will be laughs, there will be tears... and there will be music because I have very talented friends. So come on, let the time freeze!!

PARTY DINNER + 2h ALL-YOU-CAN-DRINK + PIANO, GUITAR AND KARAOKE !

Saturday, November 17th, from 8pm, there

See you Saturday!!

- Everybody needs a hobby.

- So what's yours ?

- Resurrection.

Wearing a costume makes you feel like a super-hero. Suddenly you're strong, powerful and determinated. Suddenly you've got a mission, a reason to be, a deep and intimate motivation for life.

This year, I felt hot-and-cold like Natalie Portman in "Black Swan", so I sewed a few feather on a black dress, add some strass, painted my eyes and here I am as a dark ballerina.

But even a Black Swan has to eat. I cooked a pumpkin-based dinner for my friends, but without betraying my role.

End of the day at Shibuya, with a bit of singing because no singing, no life. Here with the two other talented singers and the full crew.

Meeting Mrs. Indestructible in the subway

Happy Halloween !