Things I learned while looking up other things, 2023.06.11
Dear friends,
I am (gingerly, tentatively, apprehensively, hopefully) traveling soon, to Seoul and Tokyo, and getting ready for the trip is consuming a lot of my look-stuff-up bandwidth.
When I travel (and when I'm home, for that matter), I like walking around all day gawking (aka flaneusing), anything fiber-arts related, cool museums (esp. modern art museums or design museums), and street graffiti. (I don't like drinking alcohol, elaborate "dining experiences", or attending sporting events wherever I am.)
I've asked a few of my favorite online communities for recommendations of what to do in Seoul (don't worry, the National Hangeul Museum is on my list!) and Tokyo (yes I will absolutely be revisiting Nippori Textile Town plus I have started down the shoemaking path so I'm also hoping to visit Mamoru) but if you have must-sees or must-dos, please let me know!
The "don't drink alcohol" part used to be difficult but it seems that now there's more understanding of people who don't drink, for whatever reason (although I was advised to tell people that I can't drink, rather than won't drink). I do like the idea of Daboreum, when drinking cold alcohol is supposed to let you hear good news all year long (but that was back in February, so I missed it). Other holidays I'm going to miss: Constitution Day and Marine Day (although I really like the truth-in-legislation naming of the Happy Monday System, which moves public holidays to Mondays in Japan).
Before I go, here's another entry in the "what's that, oh it has a name?" department: the canterbury, a piece of furniture intended to hold plates, sheet music, or books (but not all at the same time). Definitely click through the link to see the pictures, they're neat!
Stay well!
Your friend,
Erin