Masayo's Stories

It has been 20 years since my daughter was born.She was our first child and I think she has been very spoiled by us and by her family.   I thought I was quite strict as a mum as I am Japanese and we often follow structure in our culture. But somewhere somehow I must have given to my daughter all we had.She is now more independent when she makes her own decisions. She seems to have clear ideas about things and we can often debate. Maybe because many of her friends have moved out of their homes already, we started to talk about independent living....

Last week, I attended my son’s high school graduation.  My work at dogstar studio in South Brisbane has been so busy in the last few months. With all the activity going on I hadn’t really thought about my son’s high school graduation until that day. On the morning of the graduation day I was still working and saw my son’s school uniform was still crushed and unpressed. I said to him “Your shirt needs to be ironed”. He says “This is fine mum” as he rolled his eyes.These days, my children think that they are mature enough and they don’t really need...

Do you sometimes travel on your own?Some of us prefer travelling with friends or family. Some prefer to travel on their own.This summer in Japan, we all went back to my hometown for a month and left our daughter with my sister in our country town called Fukui. It was her first time living without us. It’s a really different dynamic when travelling on our own.The day we left Fukui, I got emotional. It was a strange feeling leaving my daughter behind in my hometown. Normally it’s my mum and Grandma waving at me through the car window saying goodbye....

I used to get mad with my son when he would play computer games for so many hours and didn’t go to bed. It was probably 5 years ago? He used to socialise with his friends playing games all the time. He had his favourite games like soccer or fortnite. The problem was that he couldn’t stop playing the games once started. I was so angry with him and I used to remove the whole keyboard and mouse off the computer and take to my work, so he couldn’t play the game until I came home. Over time, the computer has accumulated dust and...

Many of you have seen this OKA DOT COLLECTION in our social media. It is now available throughout our retail stores and online.   BLACK or MUSTARD?  How many of you like mustard tones as an outfit item?  Ethan, and my team members and I have been selecting this particular colour for the collection. I didn't realise so many of my customers would wear this bold colour. I would call this colour Yamabuki Iro (Japanese rose bush) or Himawari Iro (sunflower)   Yellow/mustard colour in Japan represents courage but I know that in some western cultures it can represent the...

My family and I are currently in Japan visiting my Japan for a few weeks. It’s unusual for us to visit during the warm season, and I completely underestimated the high humidity. In the rainy season just before summer time, the wind absorbs plenty of humid browning from China. The cold air blows through the Japanese seaside and hits the Japanese archipelago and creates a lot of rain.  My hometown Fukui, located near the mountains has not experienced much rain this year.As usual, my hometown has not changed much since last time I visited. My family and I visited my Grandmother’s grave to say hello. I feel completely at...

I don’t really have any memories of family holidays when I was a child. All of my family were working all the time so my sister and I used to play around the rice fields and bamboo forest near my home. Now I have my own family, I am more conscious about spending time together as a family. This year, we decided to spend time together in Bali.  Although with my teen kids, they often go to their own room after a few days of spending together as a family.Some elements of Bali reminds me of old Japan about 30-40 years...

In Japan, the colour red has several special meanings.It represents strength and happiness, passion and love - but also, self sacrifice and blood..   There are so many types of red we use in Japan. Each red indicates a different history and meanings. To me the colour vermilion is the true Japanese red.The red, which has a slight orange tone to it was traditionally created from the Safflower.     We use this particular red in many temples, shrine gates and as talismans to protect from harm.Red is a mysterious colour to me.Especially kimono in red.

About 1800 years ago in Japan, there was a female queen named HIMIKO.Her story is shrouded in mystery and controversy throughout the entire Asian region. Bound to 3 different families, her last name was Yamatototohimomosohime-no-Mikoto, and she was the first female queen who ruled Japan (having 1000 female servants and 1 male.) HIMIKO was believed to be a shamaness queen who interacted with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness.   People used to strongly connect with their ancestors and wished for a better harvest for the year. They offered part of their harvest to the country at that time...

Last weekend we went to North Stradbroke Island / Minjerribah for our family holiday. These days whenever we can, I try to plan a family holiday.My son has now finished playing soccer and he is no longer playing every weekend. My daughter is in her gap year and hopefully going back to uni next year. So often there are weekends when we can spend time together with my children as a family.Although as much as I want to spend time with them, they don't really want to spend time with me. They rather spend their time with their friends. Recently I started to have more and...

I have been collecting kimonos and Japanese antiques for many years.  When I feel those old pieces of Japan, it takes me to the old days before I was born, yet I feel like I was there in the past at some time. Less and less people wear kimonos in Japan these days. It is not easy to wear a kimono nor easy to move in.  Each panel is carefully hand stitched to create kimonos.  It shows the slow living of the old days. Everyday bathing was for rich people. Most people used to bathe once a week. Before dry cleaning was introduced,...

In the last few months, my dogstar team has been working very hard to get our Spring/Summer collection ready for New York. This is the final week for the completion and it has been a big challenge for all of us to meet the deadline. Not only that, we have been also working on a uniform for the Queensland Youth Orchestra for their upcoming European tour while collaborating with Queensland's first nation artist Delvene Cockatoo Collins. Sometimes all deadlines come at once and we just have to deal with it.This season we have done our collection differently to any of...