GUEST BLOGGER: Derek & Lauren from the Curiosity Shoppe

Japan is definitely on our list of Top 5 places in the world to visit, (especially after reading Hijiri's post from yesterday) but until we save up enough money (and vacation days) we’ll continue to content ourselves with regular trips to Japantown. For those of you not familiar with this lovely locale, it’s less a “town” and more a great shopping complex here in San Francisco where we like to while away the hours browsing books at Kinokuniya, eating delicious food at any one of the many restaurants, and making fools of ourselves in the photo booths at Pika Pika.

Kinokuniya is an amazing bookstore where you can find any and all manner of Japanese book, magazine, dvd, music and accessory. We don’t think we’ve ever left this place empty handed. We draw endless inspiration from the craft books and home décor magazines we splurge on every time we visit. Here are a few fun images from some recent purchases:

Collections of craft supplies, arranged just so and photographed beautifully

Wouldn't these stamped paper houses make the best holiday giftwrap?

Loving this trio of Eames rockers in the best colors

Our dream collection of Catherine Holm enamelware

Ramen is one of our favorite meals, and we looooove eating at Sapporo-Ya. Who can resist a steaming bowl of yummy noodles and veggies on a foggy day?

Fake bowls of ramen on display

Here’s a choice shot from our last “session” at Pika Pika, a bright, noisy, arcade-like shrine to trendy Japanese photo booths. You can choose from all sorts of backgrounds, camera angles, and nutty post-production embellishments. So Crazy! So Fun!

Someone's feet sticking out of a photo booth

Sayonara until next week!!
-Derek and Lauren