Shop: Kokon Tozai

My beloved collects toys. Small Japanese dolls in plastic bottles, china rabbits, little kissing dutch kids, anything really that is bright and ever so slightly unusual. Out shopping with my sister then on Golborne Road couldn't say no to the brightly coloured Pluto which was made in 1962. After an earthquake in Macedonia around that time, the Americans apparently sent lots of toys and he had been wrapped in tissue ever since.

From the same collection, I bought my nephew Pinocchio, with strict instructions to his mother that he be placed on a high shelf with no Sharpies to hand.

What a great shop though - housed in an old oxblood red tiled butchers, a marble counter runs from one end to another, filled with treasures. China, jewellery and antique lamps. There are also hand crocheted shawls and spectacular sparkly clothing which is the mainstay of what they do.

This part of Portobello is still my favourite and whilst the shops are changing slowly, places like Kokon Tozai are welcome. There's still not a chain in sight.

Kokon Tozai

86 Goldborne Road

London W10 5PS

Tel + 44 208 960 3736

http://www.kokontozai.co.uk

Manga art museum

All the street furniture in our closest little town, Sakura-Shinmachi, seem to be is covered in cute little cartoon characters.  They also feature in shops, as stickers and life-size cardboard cut outs - the fish shop has a little cat licking his chops, for example.  The most repeated cartoon is a little girl with dark curls who appears almost on every available surface.  At first, I thought this was a whimsical feature of the neighbourhood - like the playing of 'here comes the bride' repeatedly on the street tannoy system.  Today however I discovered that these characters are the work of Hasegawa Machiko and the area houses a museum of her work.

Machiko was the first female Manga artist and creator of the comic strip Sazae-san - about a young mother and her family, which was hugely popular throughout Japan between 1947 and the mid 70's, and later turned into a cartoon animation.  These characters are those depicted everywhere in our town.  The series was comparable in popularity to the 'Peanuts' strip in the US and the museum, though small, is frequented by a large number of fans.