A top-notch bookstore in New York's West Village, and another in Soho.

A very good restaurant in New York's East Village that features an honest-to-god tatami-floored Japanese tearoom. Three days a week, for $15, you can go participate in a tea ceremony performed by the lovely and talented Norico Sakagami. (Call for reservations. Cash only.) What's more, their website features a great photograph of matcha (the tea used in Japanese tea ceremony) being whisked in a teabowl, if you were wondering what that looks like.

The first Wednesday of each month, you can also see tea ceremony performed at the Urasenke Chanoyu Center in New York, at 153 East 69th Street between Lexington and 3rd Avenues, where I studied for five years. $15 gets you into New York's best kept secret: a nest of tatami-floored tea rooms clustered around a Japanese garden, ensconced in the old carriage house that served as Mark Rothko's studio on the '60s. Call for reservations: 212/988-6161. If you want to study tea ceremony, getting into a class can be daunting: I was on the waiting list for eight months.

The Urasenke link above will send you to their headquarters in Japan, but the San Francisco site has better pictures.

If you're interested in taking tea ceremony classes, searching for "Urasenke" on your browser will probably turn up a class near you.

Interested in doing tea ceremony at home? New from the passionate merchants and educators at In Pursuit of Tea: the official TEAHOUSE FIRE tea set!

In addition to In Pursuit of Tea, I also recommend Ito En for matcha: easy to order in the US without compromising a hair on freshness. But if you're ever in Kyoto, do stop by Ippodo's tea shop-- you're in for a treat.

For tea utensils, in addition to In Pursuit of Tea, I recommend Asakichi in San Francisco, though you'll have to order by phone instead of online.

top novels, 2006:

BROOKLAND, by Emily Barton
FUN HOME, by Alison Bechdel
THIRD GIRL FROM THE LEFT, by Martha Southgate
ROSE OF NO MAN'S LAND, by Michelle Tea

TWINS, by Marcy Dermansky
THE NIGHT WATCH, by Sarah Waters
GIRLY, by Elizabeth Merrick
A SEPARATE REALITY, by Robert Marshall


The artist who arranged for me to come read at two excellent venues in Buffalo: I gave her a box of Japanese sweets called higashi to thank her; click here to see what she did with it.

A very cute photo featuring the Dutch edition of TEAHOUSE.

The one and only Robert Westfield, whose novel will make you laugh out loud, and whose mini-tours of NYC are a must-see. (Check out my cameo in the Washington Square tour!)

Two heroes: the photographer who took my picture for my home page, and the artist responsible for the illustrations on this website (THANK YOU, Kunie san!). One is of me on my bike in Kyoto and the other, called Ellis Spring Style, was used on the cover of the Lifelong Skin (ha!) issue of Japan's Style magazine.

and, for friends and family only... my wish list.