WEARING KIMONOS in JAPAN!

We had the most surreal day, meeting up with our friends Kiyomi & Yuki for a “local adventure” in Japan! We became friends with Yuki and Kiyomi back in 2012. I worked with Yuki filming in Japan, and his wife Kiyomi came to a company dinner one night. She recognized me and told me that she knew me somehow! I was thinking, “You don’t know me, I don’t know ANYBODY in Japan.” — But then we put it together! My sister Erika lived in Hawaii, and they worked together there! I met Kiyomi briefly when I was visiting my sister in Hawaii in 2010, and I was shocked that she remembered me! SUCH A SMALL WORLD. Now Brad and I meet up with Kiyomi & Yuki whenever we are in Japan, and have become great friends.

We started the day by going to Keiko’s house, Kiyomi’s neighbor, to get dressed in Kimonos. She welcomed us into her home with open arms. Her cute 90 year old mother quickly got out toys and played with Lucy. It was so sweet watching them play, even with the language barrier. We gave Keiko full creative direction on how to dress us, and she even did my hair. 🙂 I loved how passionate she was about it, and how excited she was to share this piece of her culture with us. Kiyomi tried to jump in and curl a piece of my hair, and Keiko wasn’t having it! Haha it was awesome. After I was all dressed, I was shocked at how comfortable and warm my kimono was! They taught me how to correctly bow, and how to pose ‘girly’ with my feet (toes pointed together). Then it was Brad’s turn. I was shocked that she had a kimono tall enough for him because he is 6’5″! She told us that Brad is the tallest person she has ever dressed in a kimono or even had in her home — He had to duck under all the doorways, and had us all laughing about it! He literally looked like a giant. Greta was such a champ getting into her tiny kimono, and I about died seeing her in it! Lucy fell asleep on the couch, so we decided to take hers with us to dress her when she woke up.

We got to Kawagoe, and we were so lucky that we happened to be there on the day of the Spring Festival! There were so many people there, and I was a little nervous about being foreigners dressed in kimonos. I wasn’t sure if the locals would think that it was disrespectful! We got Lucy dressed in her kimono, and the crowd went wiiiiiild! Hahahha! People were nothing but excited about seeing us dressed up, and it made the experience that much more fun. Kawagoe is so awesome, because it is a lesser-known town in Tokyo. It seriously felt like we were the only foreigners there! Lucy and Greta were both smothered with attention. The streets and buildings are really old, so they call it the ‘Little Kyoto’. It was such an adventure popping into the little shops, and I couldn’t stop giggling over all the little trinkets — everything is just SO CUTE! We ended the day walking down candy street, and were brave enough to and try takoyaki — it was surprisingly good! Thank you so much for the unforgettable adventure, Kiyomi and Yuki!

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