Inter-City Diary by Cara Jones
キャラ・ジョーンズの
"東京-L.A. インターシティ ダイアリー"

Tokyo - Los Angeles

アーティスト／DJ／ナレーターと各方面で才能を発揮するキャラ・ジョーンズ。１年の半分を東京、その残り半分をロサンゼルスで過ごすという彼女。二つの文化、二つの言葉を往き来する彼女からのウィークリーコラム。

Japanese calligraphy scroll

I originally wanted to do something a little different, so we test-painted a lavender color of all things!!! I guess somewhere in my TV-addicted head, I had the vision of a room like the living room in "Friends!". But I had completely disregarded the fact that that is a set, for one, and also a huge room, whereas my office was just a small, little space. After much debating, we settled on a wonderfpul beige color called "219".

Now, the living room is a work in progress. We ripped out the algae-green carpets and are putting in hardwood floors in that room, but they take quite a long time to lay. So I decided to defer my color decision for the walls until the floors were done and the furniture was in -- I figured the best color for the room would reveal itself to me naturally.

In that living room, I plan to hang my Japanese calligraphy scrolls. When I was an exchange student at Tsukuba University, I took several shodo courses. They were all taught by well-know calligraphers -- one in particular had a regular show on NHK and was quite well-regarded in the field. Well, at the end of the year's courses (I took both levels, but still emerged with the world's worst handwriting!), the teacher wrote us each a long scroll, which we all immediately had mounted properly, in the traditional fashion. The other day I found the box with this and other pieces of hang-able calligraphy, and I am most excited about displaying them in my new living room.

Also in that room with be a few good rugs, my burgundy velvet couch, and some rustic, dark-wood furniture. And, of course, a not-so-rustic 35" TV and my stereo system. Oh, and most importantly, I am going to send for my grandmother's piano, which is an old, beautiful console-type with a deep, resonant sound, on which I wrote some of my best songs. I had left the piano and a few other things in Philadelphia when I moved to LA in July, but I plan to have them shipped out here sometime soon to complete the main room of my house.

The bathrooms are the challenge. For some reason, the smallest rooms in the house have been the most difficult for me to visualize in my head, and Rolando and I have test-painted half a dozen colors and still don't know what to do! We've tried everything from different degrees of white and beige, to grey and even fuscia! HELPPPPPP! Decorating gods, if you can hear me, please guide me in the right direction!

But once these last few decisions are made, and my floors are fully laid, then the fun really begins! I get to arrange and rearrange furniture (didn't you all rearrange your bedrooms when you were children, and suddenly feel like you were in a new place?), buy little decorative touches, but most importantly, find and display all the beautiful things I have collected in my travels to Japan and South East Asia over the years.

For the first time since childhood, I will have all my things in one place -- my own life-size doll house, to decorate any way I want, and create my space for living and creating music.



In the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles,

Cara Jones