I remember in college my sister and I would go to this magazine kiosk at the student union to look for inspiration. They used to tear the covers off the international magazines when they were past their prime and we would be there to gobble them up at discount prices! I remember pouring over issues of Non-no, Cutie, and Street Life (Does anyone remember this one? They would photograph regular people’s outfits while walking down the streets in Tokyo).

Anyway, the trend of reading Japanese mags for inspiration continued when I was a textile designer for childrenswear for 15 years – only the titles changed to things like Sesame.

Now as I have changed my focus to floral design and home decor over the last few years, I still find as much inspiration as ever.

Today we took a trip to Uwajimaya, an Asian grocery in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides getting hungry at every aisle – delicious packages of Arare rice crackers, beautifully packaged sweets, pretty pink Manju, piles of tamarind pods (only the smell of the durian fruit turned me off my lunch)…there was all kinds of design inspiration. In addition, in the back corner of the store is Kinokinuya – a Japanese bookstore. I used to shop at the one in San Francisco when I lived there and was delighted to find one close to Portland when we moved! Needless to say, my sis and I camped out on the floor in the home decor and craft section for over an hour. I am somewhat embarrassed to say that the sun was almost setting when we left – how do you spend 4 hours at a grocery store?

So at the end of the day these are a few of the 9 books I ended up with… This one is really lovely – it appears to be related to Studio-Clip. When you go to the website there are some lovely products for sale. This one is volume 7. Here is the cover in case you try to find it.

And here are a few pages that I find inspiring… Love the sparse room at the left with the vintage wood table and stool with the dark wood cuckoo clock above. On the right I love that really low long hutch that holds all of their glassware and serving dishes. It is a rich dark wood with lovely moldings – I have never seen anything like it!

This next book is called “Living with Natural and Handmade Items” and appears to be a publication of Plus 1 Living. I went all googly over the shopping guide in the back! The thing that always strikes me with these books is that I have never seen anything like this produced from the US.

And finally, here is one with charming floral designs lovingly photographed…it’s called With Flowers. It appears to be about floral designer Ikuyo Takahashi – owner of Le Vesuve.

To find even more inspiration – Victoria of SFGirlbybay has a post about more Japanese lifestyle books here.

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