There and back again: A Japanese Journey

As I sit in the Greenwich studio, on the date of the 19th of June 2025, I’m a little bit uncertain of what’s actually just happened. No, it’s nothing terrible, in fact it’s a lovely thing to think about- that on this date, three months ago, myself and Yukari would have just arrived at ALCOVE in the small town of Onomichi. Days of dizzying travel from London to Tokyo to Hiroshima to Kyoto and back to Hiroshima would have just occurred. We would probably have been mostly unpacked, and more than likely still suffering from jetlag with absolutely nothing in the fridge to pacify us during those sleepless hours!

Conversely, we've been back in London for the same amount of time, and for me, it feels as if I never actually left! I’m sat here downstairs at my desk, folders strewn everywhere and nursing a cup of coffee, as if some of the most wonderful months of my life never happened. Is it something to do with being somewhere else for so long, only to suddenly return to everyday life, that makes you unable to remember anything you did over that space of time?

So, let’s go back to the start.

March was, in a nutshell, busy. Leaving aside the hours lost to transit and waiting on shipments from London, our days were filled not only with chores and cleaning, but making sure we ‘did the rounds’ of checking in on neighbours and local businesses. Our arms laden with omiyage (gifts) from London, we diligently knocked on doors and popped heads around doors to make sure we reunited with all of our dear friends in Onomichi.

Believe it or not, our closest local supermarket was actually a ferry ride across the sea to the closest neighbouring island, Mukaishima. With a 100 yen coin in hand and eco bags in tow as we crossed the waves, we can safely say it beat the usual slog to Big Tescos!

As many of you know, cherry blossom season in Japan is certainly a bucket list activity in life. And with lines of these lovely trees framing a sparkling blue sea, we couldn’t have been luckier to have spent the start of it there.

Many of our friends came to visit us during the first month, perhaps most notably one with four paws- little Mugi chan and her mum came to stay with us for a week, and we took that time to visit Ikuchijima Setouchi Island, a town themed with lemons!

Suitably sat in a lemon coloured ferry, we crossed the sparkling sea and landed in the shopping street. This adorable yellow Japan Post post box can only be found on Ikuchijima island. What a quirky way to celebrate the citrus fruit that grows freely all over this region of Japan, and is the source of many delicious treats- be it lemon ice cream, lemon soda or even lemon chicken wings!

We were also able to visit the blooming gardens of a famous temple, and get some lovely photos of little Mugi chan. What an amazing way to start off cherry blossom season!

Isn’t her floral onesie perfect for the theme? What a fashionable young lady! Coming home from a short trip to the shops and being greeted by a wagging tail and a big doggy smile was really so wonderful for us.

Our friends all coming to the home really was lovely. Team ALCOVE popped by for a reunion dinner, and it was lovely to have a full home with peoploe coming in and out. We also welcomed our Migh-T friends from London, now situated in Osaka- a lovely reunion after many years. And, for me, a homestay visit from my American bestie was a real joy. This is exactly what we wanted ALCOVE to be- a warm, welcoming home where people could relax and spend time exploring the many facets of this fascinating little city.

This picturesque city also became the backdrop to some of our promotional work. Yukari’s newest clothing collection for Naked Colors was due to be launched in April, and they sent us some samples for taking photos of. Where better to take pictures than the charming streets of Onomichi City!

We’ll be expanding a bit more on the Naked Colors collection and the adventures that followed in the next part to this blog. For now, enjoy these picturesque photos of yours truly in a few pieces designed by Yukari.

Thanks to its placement in Japan, Onomichi and neighboring hub Fukyama are places where many historical buildings still stand, largely unaffacted by natural disasters. This imposing building is Fukuyama Castle, where we spent a lovely evening at the end of March.

A ‘reunion’ for ALCOVE, consisting of many friends from all over Japan, came to its fruition in our hanami (cherry blossom viewing) party situated in the bath house of the castle grounds. With food provided by a local bento box company, we sat and admired the newly sprouting flowers in a balmy evening spent drinking and relaxing in good company. It was certainly an experience to remember- how many of us can say we had a dinner party in a castle! It was a really wonderful way to cap off our first month in Japan.

And now, the work begins.

April was perhaps our busiest month. Within a week, we found ourselves in Yokohama in anticipation of our TV rehearsal for Shop Channel JP, with our Naked Colors collaboration being launched towards the end of the month.

At the same time, we thought we may as well add to the stress by planning a pop up at our friend Kei’s salon in Hamacho, Tokyo. A long time collaborator with us here at YSD London, it was a real delight to work with Kei again. You may recognise some of our designs on the wall- Yukari and Kei worked together to create the interior to the salon, with nearly all of the items in the frames coming from London all the way to Tokyo!

We love the mix of old and contemporary in the shop space. Our paint collaboration range was used on any walls that aren’t adorned in lovely antiques and memorabilia from his time spent in London.

Continuing this theme, we brought a small selection of our favourite collectibles and curiosities with us from London to sell alongside our products.

Alongside our colourful teatowels, trays and cushions, they certainly provided a very elegant and eclectic feel. We were also very pleased to be able to offer a small selection of our ceramics collection to some very patient customers in Japan. We’ll bring more next year, for those who may have missed out!

Thank you so much to everyone who came along to the shop or purchased items via our Instagram live, and of course to Kei for allowing us to use his shop!

Now for a little lesson in Japanese! Have you ever heard of the term ‘solo katsudo’? It’s a concept that you may be used to practicing even without knowing it!

ソロ (solo) 活動 (KATSU DO: activities), sometimes shortened to ソロ活 (solo katsu) is the idea or practice of fully enjoying and making an event out of spending time alone, doing whatever you want to do. Be it eating dinner, going to a museum, or even something as simple as window shopping, the point is that you find enjoyment in solitude. I can definitely attest to realising I’ve been a solo katsu expert for most of my life- I (quite honestly) prefer going out for the day or evening by myself, doing what I want, where I want, when I want. From now on, if anyone calls me sad for doing so, I’ll inform them I’m practicing a Japanese cultural art, and that I’m bettering myself.

Well, Yukari decided to embark on a bit of a solo katsu adventure in beautiful Kyoto, and she sent me some photos of her three day journey. I think you’ll agree with me in thinking she must have had an absolutely incredible time.

Whilst I entertained my best friend for her last few days in Japan by being dragged across Shibuya Scramble and drowning under her shopping bags in Harajuku’s Laforet department store, Yukari quietly ate sushi by the riverside in Gion and visited temples and traditional shops in quiet sidestreets. Instead of downing mega highballs at an izekaya in Ikebukuro, she politely sipped wine and listened to jazz in a Karasuma bistro run by a classically trained chef. I think you’ll agree we both had quite a different week.

From three days of relaxation to an absolute explosion of activity, we hit the ground running as we readied ourselves for a 1 hour long broadcast on Japanese TV. Despite Yukari not allowing me to show any of the footage, I must say that she was a real natural in front of the cameras! Nerves put aside, it was a very special broadcast that our friends were all tuned in for- and everyone agreed that she certainly did well!

On air, I watched from behind the scenes as Yukari and the cast member in charge spoke about the inspiration behind the collection and Yukari’s process for how she worked. The amount of the clothing being sold ticked up steadily as she spoke, and it was very exhilarating as we saw a number of sizes and colourways selling out! It was also fabulous to hear that so many of our friends had bought the clothing. It really felt like everything had been worth it when we saw them wearing the clothes with a smile!

Here’s one sneaky screenshot I took of the broadcast as we watched it back later on. Should it be aired again, I will be sure to record it! A big thank you to the whole team at Shop Channel who helped us out and guided us through the day.

And now, for something a little more relaxing. To unwind after a hectic few days, we went to visit Yukari’s friend in Mishima, a beautiful city in the Shizuoka prefecture. It’s a quick ride on the bullet train from Tokyo, and definitely worth the stop!

We spent a wonderful two days in her company, accompanied by two very sweet Shiba dogs, and she kindly drove us around the beautiful countryside and showed us how beautiful Mishima is, in all its springtime greenery.

She even took us to a restaurant with my name (‘Kimika’, as seen on the left, ‘きみか’), where we ate a very delicious meal together. The next morning, she drove us to a point in the hillside with an absolutely gorgeous unobstructed view of Mt Fuji.

This was the first ever time I've seen Mt Fuji (aside from it whizzing past on the bullet train) and what a beautiful sight it was! We were incredibly lucky as that day was so overcast that we thought we may not see it, but as we pulled up in the parking lot for lunch, he appeared as if out of nowhere behind us! As we sat craning our necks to get a sight during the meal, our friend must have sensed we wanted a proper look, so she took us to a special little outcrop where we saw this wonderful sight.

The funny thing was, whilst we were whizzing around taking photos, our friend hung back in the car; Yukari asked if she wanted to take any photos, and she replied quite simply, ‘I can see it anytime‘! What a dream to be able to say that!

And so, as April drew to a close and we found ourselves with one month left in Japan, it was time to kick things into high gear. A lot of April was also spent drowning in cardboard, and for good reason, as you’ll find out…

May flowers...into cardboard?!

If you know anything about us, it’s that we looove cardboard. We’ve spent years hoarding and using little bits of the magic stuff to create all sorts of things- from birthday cakes to televisions and back again! Upcycling is such great fun and allows us a little bit of creative freedom too. As seen in our previous post, when we retrofitted the studio into a shop, we dedicated a wall space covered with the frames we made, which has since been reduced to just one, as they proved very popular!

Handily, here’s one we made earlier, featuring our Lord of the Manor wallpaper. It’s a great way to incorporate colour and pattern into your space without being overwhelming!

So in mid March, when our wonderful Japanese agents WALPA proposed that we do a series of workshops together in May to celebrate their anniversary, the frames were the first thing that we thought of- we would be able to promote our wallpaper and paints as a fitting backdrop to the frames, and it also brought with it the concept of gallery walls- as seen before in the barber shop!

So, what is a gallery wall? It’s not dissimilar to what you’re probably thinking- after all, most of us have been to a museum or an art exhibition once in our lives! The concept behind it is that, essentially, you dedicate one wall or space in your home to curating and displaying your own cherished artworks, objects and whatever else you think would suit the space.

Oftentimes, galleries are painted in very rich colours so as to compliment the gold frames hung up in expansive walls with plenty of space to display numerous pieces- quite often not a luxury all of us have! This is where our frames came in- the ones you see in galleries are often carved from wood and cost thousands of pounds to commission. We don’t have that kind of skill (and certainly not that kind of money) but what we did have was cardboard- and lots of it!

The workshops were held in Osaka and Tokyo, and we had a wonderful time giving a talk presentation about the concept of gallery walls and the joys of cardboard. The team at WALPA Osaka diligently made up nearly all of the decorations you can see above, so that the participants could decorate their frames however they liked, and we also provided some vintage stickers for people to choose and display as they liked.

The most fun thing for us was to see just how differently everyone decorated their frames- each one was totally unique! Here we are at the WALPA Tokyo workshop, where attendees are busy decorating their own frames. The fab thing about the workshops is how expressive everyone was with their design choices! Some people even brought pictures with them to theme their frame around. It was great to get to chat with people as they worked away and hear about their inspiration behind what they decided to do.

Attendees got to take their frames and stickers home with them, as well as small lanterns (lovingly created from cardboard by the team at WALPA) featuring our Hattan fabric papers. We really hope everyone had fun and thank you for coming along! We will think of more fun and exciting ways to incorporate design into everyday life for next year.

As we came into the tail end of our time in Japan, we were rewarded with seeing dear friends and, in a very special moment, were shown around our friend’s home where she had used our Derby ‘Dapple Grey’ wallpaper on a feature wall. This friend had spent some time living in London for work, and she kindly chose our wallpaper as it reminded her of her time spent in the city.

She also attended our workshop in Tokyo, and created a frame and lantern to bring home with her. She specifically chose the monochromatic Safety in Numbers ‘Night Out‘ to go along with her wallpaper, and it was wonderful to see it displayed lovingly in her home. We especially loved the little touch of the Derby wallpaper framed on the facing wall!

We had an absolutely amazing time away in Japan, and are now back in the studio-shop with some great plans forming for the year ahead. We’ve got a limited amount of special things we’ve brought back with us on our travels, so be sure to pop downstairs and see us soon before they all run out!

We look forward to seeing you all soon!