I finally get to visit Mya's ancestral lands... And I am missing her so much! Right now while we are on vacation in Tokyo, I will have to make do with Mya's portrait on my bedside table.
Thanks to the Seattle Shiba Inu Meetup folks, I found this fantastic shiba inu specialty shop called Wankodo in Shinjuku. Great timing that during this time I am in Tokyo, they opened up booth in Marui One, instead of their usual home location which is a bit off Kyoto.
Wankodo is the heavenly destination of choice for all shiba inu lovers. Wow! One look and I wanted to faint. As i entered the main entrance of the mall, every item seemed to jump out straight towards me. Shiba inu bags, cloth towels, pens, pins, postcards, notebooks, notepads, stationery, shirts, mugs, and a lot more other shiba inu-themed items. I wanted to bring everything back home to the Philippines. But among all of those items, what really really caught my eye, so much that I had a hard time letting go of them were the cloth stuffed toys that were so artfully made. Hand-sewn and hand-painted, I believe. Very realistic, and patterned after the details and appearance of actual shibas. I was so excited that I placed a red shiba and a black and tan shiba in my basket and as I was about to pay for them, we were told that they were just samples and they are sold on a per order basis only. Plus... ordering would take three months. Unfortunately, I am only in japan for 10 days. I wish they could accommodate a special order and send to Manila. The language barrier made it difficult to ask for special arrangements. Nonetheless, those artistic toys have been imprinted in my head and are unforgettable.
I also got to meet a real Japanese black and tan shiba. She is as old as Mya- 2 years, but obviously much smaller. She was about two thirds of Mya's size. According to the owner she weighs around 8 kg. Mya is at 11 kg now. Giant shiba!
Then at the corner of the shop, was none other than Wankodo's artist who was skillfully and effortlessly painting portraits of shiba inus. It only takes him less than 10 mimes per portrait, using watercolor- a very difficult medium, in my opinion. We commissioned him to make a portrait of Mya based on her photo in my camera- the photo I took of her the day we left for Tokyo. I will post it up here when I get back to Manila.
There is just one problem about this trip...I can't get my mind off bringing home a black and tan shiba! Mya needs a playmate!
Visit Wankodo's website so you'll see why I went crazy. :)
http://www.wankodo.com
I think my visit to Wankodo was the highlight of this trip for me. This and the to-die-for, melt-in-your-mouth sushi!
No comments:
Post a Comment