Hesitant Descender

Junpei caterpillar was born in an old and handsome oak tree named Jacob.

He has lived in Jacob all his life.

Junpei has travelled quite a bit. Once he went from his home on the north side of the oak tree, to the branches of the south side of the tree, where the moss is drier, and the oak leaves are green and juicy.

Last week he climbed up to the very tip of the highest leaf, on Jacob's highest branch and he napped under spring sun.

On Tuesday, Junpei woke up to find that all of his friends were gone. Every caterpillar he knew had disappeared and he was left all alone on Jacob.

He asked Jacob what had happened, but Jacob would only answer "it happens every year".

Junpei cried caterpillar tears. He cried and cried and cried and he didn't finish crying until he was all done.

And when his last tear had fallen sploosh on the ground below, Junpei slowly caterpillared down Jacob's bark.

Down and down all the way to Jacob's bumpy trunk stump, far far far lower than Junpei had ever been.

And he sniffed the air,
and lifted his head
and looked out at the green grasses below.



Junpei is made of collaged print making paper and acrylic ink. He will be auctioned off at the Royal-T art show benefit for Earthquake rebuilding in May. I will write more details about it soon.

Everyday, Natto day, Natto day everyday.

Have you met Natto? He is a very friendly soy bean. He is left out to rot until he becomes sticky and fermented.

Lately I have been eating this Natto Gohan bowl for breakfast everyday, and sometimes for dinner. I stir up the natto with raw green onion, and then put a fried egg on top and mix it up, and then put some shredded nori on top.

It's so yummy. It's a great way to enjoy rotten food.

Some of my favorite foods are moldy and rotten, like cheese.
In Japanese a Brie or Camembert cheese is called "Shiro Kabi" which means white mold....but in English they don't talk about the mold much when people discuss cheese.
I think Americans don't like to eat rotten things.

You can see a video of me eating Natto here.



Another favorite thing of mine is Ika no shiokara.
It's fermented squid and squid's guts. It is very salty and good to eat with beer and sake.

I can't understand why it's not popular in America. When I first went to an American bar, I ordered a beer and asked for rotten squid guts.

The bartender told me I had to bring my own.

Monster Destruction

This is Monster Destruction Koala. He is another Koala that I drew by accident.
Monster Destruction Koala has adjustable head.



This Koala is Toby Sr. He has always been a hungry bear.

He got hungry one day and ate an entire eucalyptus tree. It fattened him up and he got hungrier, so he ate a small grove of eucalyptus trees. This made him even hungrier.

Next he ate a whole forest of eucalyptus trees. He got bigger and bigger, and bigger, and bigger until he was bigger than any eucalyptus forest in Queensland or New South Wales.

He wandered the world looking for a giant eucalyptus tree big enough to fill his tum. Finally, he found a whole forest of giant trees, shooting high up in the air.

They were unlike any eucalyptus he had ever seen. Toby crawled up the trunk of one and took his first bite. It was sharp and crunchy and metaly and didn't taste like other eucalyptus he had eaten.

He decided that the glassy leaves on the trunk might be too young, so he decided to climb higher, and higher, but all the leaves tasted the same.

I hope Toby finds what a yummy tree soon.

Koala appears

I don't know much about this Koala. He's very quiet. I accidentally drew him last night. I didn't mean to. I was trying to bake a cake but around the time when I would've been taking the cake out of the oven, I realized I had painted a koala instead.

I'm not sure if this painting of a Koala is done. I feel like he is trying to tell me something, but I'm not sure what. If I find out what he's saying , I might write it in above his head.

Last night, I thought I heard him say "Hell is other bears." But I wasn't sure if I heard him right.

It's so hard to listen sometimes.

Monkey awaits your arrival

You probably don't know Nicholas Spider Monkey, but he knows you. He can see what you are doing, and feel what you are thinking, and think what you are feeling.

There are 6,895,062,216 people in the world, and each day Nicholas Monkey hears and sees 6,895,062,216 different stories.
It's a lot for a single monkey to handle.

I've been very silently told that everybody will meet Nicholas Monkey someday, but I don't know if it is true. I guess I will find out one day.

He must be a very special monkey.

Maybe I will carry a small amount of monkey food with me everywhere I go.