gurdymonkey | Shopping karma!

Given that yesterday was spent in complete sloth, I figured it might be nice to get out of the house and tool into Berkeley.

Moe's Books on Telegraph is heaven on earth for a bibliophile: 4 floors of new and used titles, just a couple of blocks from Cal Berkeley's campus. I owe Moe's and the people who send their old books there an enormous debt. Much of my library of non-fiction, particularly the Japanese stuff, has been acquired there over the years since I moved out here.

First stop was the second floor, in the hope of finding a good used reference on shibori, a Japanese tie-dye technique for the obsessive compulsive. Nothing. I moved back from the textiles and fashion shelves into the art books. Nothing there I could not live without. So I took the stairs up to four to see what they had in the history stacks. Decided on H. Paul Varley's translation of A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinno Shotoki of Kitabake Chikafusa (1980, Columbia University Press, probably out of print). It's a 14th century history of Japan's emperors, including the divine origins of Japan. I also picked up a paperback copy of Sex and the Japanese by Boye Lafayette de Mente (2006, Tuttle Publishing) for all of $7, which may or may not have been a good investment. Then I approached the art and antiquarian room with my routine awe, reverence and fatalism that I would probably not find anything there I could actually afford. At least I could visit the expensive and rare textile books that evidently nobody else can afford either.

To my astonishment and delight, they had a copy of Alan Kennedy's Japanese Costume (1990, Paris, Editions Alan Biro, out of print) for $65. I have been lusting after this bad boy ever since Gerald of Ipsley brought a copy to the Known World Costuming and Rattan Symposium in 2005, forgot about it, then remembered it again when

bovil had a copy with him at Twelfth Night. Given that I'd looked for it online, I knew the price was good - and wouldn't involve additional shipping costs. Lots of really detailed color photos of kosode, noh costumes and kesa, a good number of them pre-dating 1600.

The smells wafting from the doors of Lhasa Karnak on a nice day are hard to resist. I acquired a packet of Shoyeido's Moss Garden incense and some Yogi ginger tea there.

Lastly, on a whim, I walked down to the Berkeley Hat Company. I thought it might be nice to find something for the summer. Remember, I look like a dork in a lot of hats, which is why I have embraced the So-Silly-It-Has-To-Be-Authentic look in historical headwear. I couldn't find anything in a straw hat that looked good on me. I sighed over some wonderful velvet hats - that looked ridiculous on my head. I ended up walking out with a

crushable black wool "Outback" by Scala. It's similar to an Aussie cowboy hat I had back east that did not survive the move in wearable condition because it was NOT designed to be crushable. It'll be nice for rainy days in the winter, particularly as this one is supposed to be water resistant.