Jinx Hits the Jackpot in Nippori Textile Town

Margaret, who also goes by the name Jinx Explorer since rain follows her around like Pigpen's dust cloud, is one of the few people I know here other than Jen F who not only owns a sewing machine but knows how to thread the bobbin. So how could she have lived in Japan for almost three years without visiting the fabric district in Tokyo?

Jinx is moving to Pensacola next month, the sand is cascading through her hourglass like that scene in The Wizard of Oz (except, of course, Margaret's not the Wicked Witch so scratch that mental image), and her dance card is quite full. Easter Monday was our only possibility so I just re-scheduled my hair appointment, grabbed my William Morris umbrella (good thing, too) which reminds me of the Junkins and the fun day we spent together at the Detroit Institute of Art and the Motown Museum (another good thing), and then Jinx and I caught the 8:47 train for Nippori.

(Yokosuka Residents: This is why I've been wearing a ballcap since Friday and won't be leaving the house again except in the case of a dire emergency until I rendezvous with Kumi on Wednesday. Sometimes love means deferring a hair appointment for nine (9) days.)



"I'm looking for Totoro fabric for Diane and Kathleen Jr, and some sort of cord to hold pennants I want to string across my back yard for parties," I said in my best imitation of my mother's "make a list and stick to it" voice.

Four hours later my eyes were semi-permanently crossed from peering at seven thousand bolts of fabric featuring Japanese cartoon characters. In vain. Margaret, meanwhile, was lugging bolts over to the cutting table like a regular shuttlecock. I was feeling rather disconsolate by the time we ducked into the outlet store next door to the main Tomato shop. "Gosh, is this stuff really only 100 yen per meter?"

Margaret's going to make curtains and cover her chair cushions when she gets to Pensacola (after she finds a house, of course). I'm going to make tablecloths for the eight round party tables (how hard can it be to make a tablecloth?) and re-cover the dining room chairs (in my next life).

We swung by the fabric art craft store in Asakusabashi on our way back to the base. Margaret bought a bunch of kits and frames. She favors cats, Japanese scenes, and the color purple. She says I can be her personal shopper in Japan next year. That's a good thing since I suspect Diane and Kathleen Jr plan to fire me.