_Have I yet gushed about how happy I am to be back on the continent of MUJI?

This is the christmas display at the MUJI store that I like to frequent during lunch hours.  I was glued to this table for a good ten minutes looking at every single item.  I want them all, from the whimsical christmas tree down to every last silly sumo skittle. 

(I confess that I am a MUJI-addict.  Perhaps one day I really will go work for Kenya Hara.)

I took this photograph more than three years ago in Nara, Japan, three years before this beautiful country got turned upside-down by the series of disasters over the past few days. 

I've been in Taipei for almost a month now, and am finally settling into the crazy pace at my new job as a landscape/urban designer.  I've barely had any time to sleep and cook, not to mention creative endeavors of any sort. 

However, out of a desire to do something to help Japan, I've decided to reopen my etsy shop, and to donate 100% of all my proceeds to the Canadian Red Cross Japan Earthquake/Tsunami Relief.

I remain speechless about what's happened.  But I know that Japan will get through this...it wouldn't be Japan otherwise.

(clicking on the image below will take you to my etsy shop.)

...that i never got around to posting.  I'm contemplating creating my own illustration site, but will be content for now just changing my blog banner.  Dreams, dreams...

Sunrise over half dome in Yosemite.  The colours kept on changing so quickly that I was painting layers over layers.  I didn't like this sketch right after I finished it, but now that I look at it again, it really does capture time in a way I hadn't planned.

Just another impromptu "meeting" with dear Berkeleyan friends.  Oh, yogurtland, how i miss you!!

En route from San Francisco to Tokyo, back in March of last year.  Has it already been almost a year?

People-watching at Ryoanji Temple, Kyoto

Plane food on JAL on the flight back to San Francisco.  Looking forward to finding out what they serve from Tokyo to Taipei!