Japanese New Things

We all love new things! I am no exception. Okay, I probably do a lot of shopping, I admit it. Anyway, our house does feel like home partly do to some new items we purchased to make it cozy or that I just had to have. Take my new rug for instance. It was lonely hanging at the Viva Home store. When I saw it, I just knew it wanted to come home with me. Rugs here can be expensive, but if you look carefully you can find them at a comparable price to the states. This rug is 8 x 6 and it was about $150.00. I really like it and it goes so well with the house and our furniture. I also purchased our curtains at Viva Home and they were cheaper off base then buying the limited selection ones on base. We have two windows in our staircase. They are shorter than the other windows. So, I cut the top off the curtains (they were the pocket pleat type) and used that Stitch Witch stuff to make an iron-on hem and hung them up with pressure rods. There weren't any curtain rods there. They look really good!

My most expensive and favorite purchase is my curio cabinet. It is absolutely beautiful and just what I wanted. I especially love the turtle hand pulls. It was not too bad at $325.00. All of the glass is beveled. I also bought a beautiful small jewelry box that has coral inlaid on the top and sides. It also has a turtle latch! When we went to the New Sanno brunch, they had a wonderful Japanese souvenir shop that had the best prices I have seen.

I was able to pick up the YEAR OF THE COW knick knack. It is a ceramic cow on a little base with a folded gold background. It was less than $5.00 and it is so cute! We intend to get one for every year we are here. Later, I will find a case to keep them in together. My husband has gifted me with two Japanese plates. One has Japan on it with the different city names. It shows ATSUGI. The other is a prettier, nicer one that is a beautiful blue opalescent rim and an engraving of Mt Fuji (pronounced by Japanese as HOOJI, they can't make the "f" sound) and some cherry blossoms.

My Enlisted Wives Association gave us an engraved handmade wooden doll at the Christmas party and it, too, is very special to me. It has been tough to not go crazy and spend too much money here. There are so many things that we would like to have as souvenirs. We want to take our time and make sure we are spending the money efficiently on items that we will really treasure. We do want a couple more pieces of furniture to bring home.