July 7 was a day full of meetings and exhibitions in Sumida, exhibition cleanup, and evening events, and before I could even think about writing a diary, a week had passed. It is already the middle of July.
This exhibition was a group exhibition of the Sumida Creators Club, to which I belong, and it was a panel exhibition introducing the activities of various creators participating in the club (I live in Sumida-ku, Tokyo). (I do not live in Sumida, but I am somehow attracted to the city and people of Sumida, and I want to make Sumida more lively as I go there! I joined the Sumida Creators Club (a.k.a. Kuricura) about two years ago, which has the following activity policy: “We want to make Sumida more exciting as we go around!) Without Nigozo, the exhibition leader, who handled the details decided at the regular meetings, I think it would have been difficult to realize an exhibition like this with such a large number of people working together. I would like to thank everyone on each team for their hard work in between jobs.
Mrs. Oosuki, a fellow illustrator, came to visit us at the exhibition, and we couldn’t stop chatting about our long-awaited reunion. Mrs. Oosuki even accompanied us to the outdoor event at night and enjoyed the town of Sumida. Thank you for the long time!
I didn’t take any photos of the venue, so here are some of the “petting cows” at Ushijima Shrine on the way to the outdoor event “Tanabata Yakai” (Tanabata Festival), which we headed to after the exhibition was taken down.
It is said that if you stroke the bad part of your body, it will get better, and it was glowing with smoothness. It felt like going to a nostalgic local neighborhood association event, with everyone pulling their display bags and walking loosely toward the festival. It’s a comfortable, loosely connected feeling.
At the event venue, I was looking forward to the first appearance of craft beer made by a fellow Creators Club member, designer Furihata, but it was too popular to obtain. I would like to have it another time.
It is not surprising, but it is interesting to hear about the various activities of the various creators. I was pleasantly stimulated by the various people I came into contact with.
We are participating in an exhibition of members who are members of Sumida Creators Club, which started on June 12 and will run for one more week. The exhibition is a panel display that opens up the activities of the club. Also, you can enjoy Kenyan tea and original sweets at the exhibition venue, Cafe ikkA. I will be at the gallery on the last day of the exhibition, 7/7, from about 14:00.
◼︎Date: Thursday, June 12 – Monday, July 7, 2025◼︎Venue: Venue: One House Cafe ikkA Hours: 12:00 – 18:00 Closed (Tues & Wed)3-6-5 Mukojima, Sumida-ku, Tokyo, 131-0033 TEL: 03-5637- 877310 minute walk from Oshiage Station on the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line and Toei Asakusa Line (Exit A3). 8 minute walk from Toukyou Skytree Station on the Tobu Skytree Line. 10 minute walk from Hikibune Station on the Tobu Skytree Line and Kameido Line.
*Please order drinks and food when you visit.
1F / Panel exhibition of creators, 2F / Sumida Nitchage Otakaraichi (goods for sale)
I am currently in the middle of preparations and will have a solo exhibition from 4/29 to 7/27. Nothing is finished yet, and I am spending every day with a sense of excitement lol. This time, I am planning to incorporate everything I have always wanted to do as much as possible, and I am also planning to sell parasols and recipe zines. When I was asked about the exhibition, I was going to do it on a completely different theme, but when I decided to do what I really wanted to do, this is what I came up with. I incorporated several new things, so it is fresh even when I am making it. The location is Atami! A city of hot springs! I am looking forward to the exhibition now!
I will be at the gallery on the first and second days. If you are interested in coming on those days, I would be happy to hear from you.
Illustrator Sayaka Suzuki Solo Exhibition
FOODS・FOODS （FOODS ）
Venue : ATAMI BUNBUKU 11-13 Nagisami-cho, Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture
On Sunday, I saw the view in the evening in the parking lot of a huge home improvement center that I visited for the first time. I took a picture of it and compared it with the mountain range in the binding that I painted long ago. It was the first time I had seen them, but I felt as if I had not seen them for a long time.
On Monday, I went to the Garden of Dressing. I found out right before I arrived that Yuki Ito, whom I had met at a previous group exhibition, was exhibiting and selling her work at the booth, so I rushed over to say hello to her. My son Posuke, who I took along with me, was thrilled to see her very cute works. I was told that the Garden of Design is an event that focuses more on textiles than the Paper Expo, and was newly established by a former member of the Letter Company after he became independent. The quality of the event was very high.It would be a shame not to see them all! I have been greedily looking at them.
On Tuesday, I went to an exhibition by my high school classmate and artist friend, TyphoonSoup. We hadn’t seen each other for a long time, so there is no end to conversation with old friends. The exhibition is currently being held at Gallery art point in Ginza until March 1.
I had to go out for a long time in a row, and it was cold. As expected, I caught a cold. My throat started hurting as usual, so I took some Gingyosan, curled up like a cat, and went to sleep. At midnight, the chills started and I began to have a fever, so I took Kuzuneito, and by the next morning, I had calmed down to the point where I thought, “This doesn’t seem to be getting any worse. Perhaps because I have accepted my frailty and have continued to steadily take measures, I no longer have to stay in bed for two weeks with a cold. I think it’s good that I’m avoiding flour (it makes me sick to my stomach and makes me feel fuzzy when I eat it) and eating sesame seeds. Now if I could just stop eating sweets, but it’s hard.
And today is the end of February. I feel as if I have done a lot, but nothing has been done.It seems to be a little warmer today, but it’s supposed to get colder again, so please, please, please take care of yourself!
Yesterday evening it shone so brightly that inspiring classical music seemed to be playing in my head, and I couldn’t help but run up to a park on high ground while riding my bicycle. I felt sorry for saying that February is not my favorite month, when I realized that it is only because it is the time of year when the air is so clean and bright. Yesterday I wrote a diary for the first time in a while and remembered how fun it is to write down what I am thinking, so I am writing this before I start work.
It was so cold yesterday that I didn’t have time to shop, so I decided to make do with what I had in the fridge, and the result was hashed rice with beets. In this area where agriculture is flourishing, we can buy vegetables directly from farmers, so shopping at the farmers’ market is one of my favorite pastimes. My 4-year-old son, Posuke, loved them, so I’ll leave you with a simple recipe.
Ingredients: 1 large onion / Meat (any kind) This time I used 1 chicken breast and 2 fist-sized pieces of pork. /2 small beets / 1 shimeji mushroom / 1 garlic clove / a little water / a little sauce / a little ketchup / a little balsamic vinegar / a little salt / 2 tablespoons oil / a little nutmeg / a little pepper / a little oregano / a little rice flour
Cut onions into skewers, beets into strips, meat into thin slices, edible pieces, Hon-shimeji mushrooms and garlic into fine pieces.
Add 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan, sauté the garlic until slightly fragrant, then add the onion, onion and beet and sauté until the onion is lightly transparent, then add the meat and cook gently. Add the sauce, ketchup and balsamic vinegar and mix well. Taste and adjust the thickness of the sauce and ketchup to your liking. （Simmer over low-medium heat for about 15 minutes.
When it is cooked, take a bowl of rice flour (about half a bowl or more, it is quite a lot, unlike potato starch) and dissolve it in water until it becomes thick and smooth, then turn off the heat of the pot and add the dissolved rice flour to the pot, stir the pot well and heat again. If it is not thick enough, add more sludge as before and mix well. The important thing is to add the rice flour last to get the overall consistency. Dissolve the rice flour in water well. If you sprinkle the flour directly into the pan, it will not dissolve and will harden and spoil (I have experienced this.) This was a rough recipe.
Well, I’m continuing with my tax return today. Almost done.
February is not my favorite month because it is cold. But I’m looking for fun things I can do during this cold time of year so I won’t regret it when it gets hot. (You know, like oden and chai during the cold season.)
There was a slight color to the koji in the miso I prepared two weeks ago. I have always wanted to try making miso. It’s been a few years since I’ve wanted to do it and wondered when I should make it. Last month, a friend of mine asked me, “Do you want some?” and suddenly gave me a miso preparation set. How did she know I wanted it? I wonder if God heard my murmur and told S-chan about it. I gratefully received it and hurriedly prepared the miso. And here is the view of the miso this morning. It had turned into a nice color. Please don’t let it get moldy!
I have had asthma and allergies since childhood, and I have always longed to be “healthy” (I was). Since childhood, I took a large amount of medicine, many pills every day, and my body was so cold that it was hard to move around with all the layers of clothes on. I was always worried about my health and cold. Now, my body temperature has increased and I feel and look better. I finally understand the importance of diet and habits, and at the same time I feel the importance of being myself. The other day, someone who saw my Instagram story told me about a book on Chinese medicine, and I immediately bought it and began to turn the pages. I realized that it is important to communicate and to take action. Then I decided to write it down here as a diary. I have cleared my past diaries and announcements. From today, I will start again to leave what I found interesting and important little by little.（Translated at DeepL）
