Ume Kayo

This..
... is the weather of Tokyo today. Not very nice. We're in the rainy season...

I didn't really feel like taking a long walk in the rain. Instead I took the subway to Harajuku and went to a gallery called Little More Chika (Japanese hompage) where there is an exhibition with a Japanese photographer called Ume Kayo. I saw her in a TV-show called Top Runner the other week and got interested in her work. She's very skilled at getting close to people and by that she's able to capture everyday moments, things that I would like to be better at. And also, she was really funny in the TV-show.

The exhibition at Little More Chika is called Jiichan-sama (Mr Grandpa) and features photos that she's been taking of her grandfather for ~7 years. I think I can summarize it as being a warm and friendly event. I also bought...

.. Ume-me (The eyes of Ume), which was her first photo book released in 2006. It has sold more than 100 000 copies and made her something of a celebrity in Japan. I have just flipped through it once today, but I must say that I find it really nice.

And lastly...

.. a shop that I found close to my train station. I guess, to some, it doesn't make much sense, but the name of the place is "The Little House" in Swedish! It turns out that the owner (a middle-aged woman) was working for a Swedish company (Tetra Pak) and visited friends in Sweden (Eslöv) for many years. She quit her job and now owns this little store in Yoyogi-Uehara. There are actually not many things from Sweden sold in her store. It's more the atmosphere of the place that's... Scandinavian, I guess.

That's it.

Take care!