Makiko Itoh : Not a nameless cat.

I have finally updated Just Hungry and Just Bento to new mobile-first designs, so they don't look awful on smartphones and the like. Actually Just Hungry was already more or less fixed, but Just Bento was not. Now it is.

I have also started a new site about Japan, called Just My Japan.

All three sites are now running over SSL.

This site is lagging behind, but it's not a high priority anyway since it is so rarely updated. ^_^

Here are some notes on the advanced tatting class offered on Craftsy. The class is taught by Marilee Rockley, aka Yarnplayer, and is called Next Steps in Shuttle Tatting.

I may post a bit about tatting here from time to time.

I've decided to start a Tumblr blog about Funassyi, the yellow and blue pear fairy and the unofficial yuru-chara or gotouchi-chara (local/regional mascot) from Funabashi, Chiba, Japan.

Why? Because I'm a big fan.

Link: We Love Funassyi

I'm in the process of updating all of my sites, including this one. (Although I'm not sure I'm going to update the design here. I do like my falling purple leaves.) One of those changes is migrating away from Google Feedburner to another service that handles RSS subscriptions, since it looks like Google is going to abandon Feedburner any day now.

I downloaded my Twitter archive today for my main account @makiwi. In March 2011, I tweeted 7,041 times. Most of that were my desperate efforts to try to keep people updated with news regarding the earthquake coming from Japan. What a crazy, crazy month that was.

But what a year 2011 was.

Every year, Apple Japan creates a great New Year image for their 'hatsu-uri' (first sales of the year) email newsletter. This year is no exception.

Happy New Year to everyone. Hoping that 2012 will be a lot better than 2013!

(I erroneously said previously that it was the year of the dragon, but it's really the year of the snake or serpent. I regret the error. ^_^;)