My name is Kenda. I am living in Nagaoka, Japan currently and teaching English to children ages 2-18. I am married and my husband is living back home in the state of Oregon in the USA. It is difficult and I get lonely but I wouldn't give up this experience for anything in the world.

Attention: Currently I am collecting children's picture books. I'd love ones in your native language!! Especially fairy tales or folk tales local to your country! Thank you!

Attention Please!

NOTE: I live in JAPAN. Sometimes the mail can be very slow, especially to the USA or even to China (dunno why it's weird). If you have not received something from me by at least two-three weeks after the send date PLEASE message me. I press the sent button right after I send something, literally I press it on my phone while I'm in the post office. I rate the day I receive something, so if I haven't rated you please message me, it is most likely I have not gotten your swap. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

*Please Rate! It helps me know if you have received my swap or not.

TEA's I Enjoy-

• Irish Breakfast Tea
• Green Tea (traditional Japanese and Chinese loose leaf mostly)
• Chai
• Turkish Tea
• Afghani Rose Tea (I had this once at a restaurant and have pined for it since!!)
• Chinese Teas
• Lavender
• Rose ( I have a new adoration of Løv brand !)
• Basically All Tea, aromatic is lovely too.
• I don't care for most fruity teas.

*I don't mind getting loose teas or non-individually wrapped teas as long as they are not old or expired! Please label them for me so I know what I'm drinking!

*I would LOVE to get local teas that are not mass-produced and are drunk in your country/area!

*PLEASE DON'T SEND ME EXPIRED TEA. Really, I'll just throw it away.

I love something called Temari, which are a folk craft here in Japan. They are felt/fabric balls hand embroidered very intricately with silk. I really love folk crafts and anything that is historically famous in your country or is a craft made over generations in your country I am interested in.

I want to get a few pen pals and do some package swaps. I love to travel and I hope I can make some lasting friendships or just have some interesting conversations with people from other countries.

I majored in Japanese culture and history in University. I have been studying Japanese since I was in kindergarten and love the language and the culture. This said I am more interested in historical Japan than I am modern Japan. I am not that into Anime or Manga and don't really have a sense of mainstream Japan except for cinema and Literature.

Cute Japan is something I live in everyday so it's something I'm slightly overwhelmed by. I don't need to get many kawaii things. But, I do like Sentimental Circus, Tare Panda, Mamegoma, Mameshiba, and the cute food/vegetables/objects with faces that are everywhere in Japan. (If you want any kawaii things or very Japan cutesy things I am open to swapping, though).

I enjoy traveling Japan and really love their giant Buddha statues called Daibutsu. I also love their giant Kannon statues as well, which are female. Japan's old shrines, temples, and castles are beautiful and I never get tired of going to them.

I read all the time. Right now it is mostly on my iPad or iPhone because it is difficult to get English print books in my city without spending an arm and a leg. But, I adore owning and collecting the printed book. It is my FAVORITE thing, to have the actual book in my possession. I love smelling the pages and feeling the papers texture, it's the best thing in the world. I live in a perpetual dream world where I create my own stories and fantasy worlds. I love writing, short stories, poems, and even an attempt at a novel!

I collect pins, stickers, notebooks/pads, and books.

LIKES

• I enjoy learning about the history, philosophy and religion of different cultures and have an avid interest in understanding other cultures different from my own. I especially enjoy, Folklore, myths, fairy tales, and stories from other countries.
• Different countries crafts and religions.
• Chakra's.
• Hindu Pantheon.
• Meditation.
• I love cute cake pans, cupcake ephemera, and cute baking gadgets and doodads!
• Cookbooks, recipes, recipe cards!
• Dance.
• Singing.
• Reading.
• Drawing.
• Swimming.
• Travel.
• Shopping.
• Eating!
• Watching movies.
• Learning new things.
• Making new friends, (my husband says I do this to easily, especially with people on the internet I’ve never met in real life. I say, I’d rather have to many friends than no friends!).
• I prefer bright, bold, colors. The only pastels I really like include mint and light yellow.
• My favorite animals are the wolf and otter's.
• Anything with a Dragon on it is instantly LOVE and I really enjoy mythological creatures.
• My favorite flower is the rose and I love anything with rose print as well.
• I like Alice in Wonderland, in all her incarnations.
• I love tumbled rocks and gem's, anything shiny is a sure win in my book.
• Bracelets or necklaces made from real stone beads I LOVE.
• Also prayer beads are something I enjoy as well.
• Old timey carnivals and circus'.
• Vintage pin ups, nudes, erotica.
• 20's portraits of women.
• Funeral portraits taken during the Victorian era.
• Zebra print.
• Nail polish.
• Candles (gardenia, lilac, kiwi, especially).
• Paper products: notebooks, sketch pads, journals, and notepads in fun shapes and colors!
• I love Fresh Sugar Lip products.
• Neutrogena.
• Urban Decay.
• Wet n' Wild.
• The Body Shop.
• Lush.
• Biosica.
• I have a thing for chapstick, especially the lip-glosses from Bath and Body Works.
• I also really love bright red lipsticks! Matte or shiny!!

DISLIKES

Please, don't send me random pieces of ribbon, or things for smash books. While I do enjoy the odd card or picture cut from a book or magazine I don't really need stuff for those kinds of projects.

• Coffee (I can't drink it, it gives me migraines)
• Black Licorice.
• Expired Tea.
• Fruity Teas.
• Garbage, please do not send me things you wouldn’t want to receive.

Illustrators/Artists

I love the illustrator for the old version of Alice in Wonderland, John Tenniel. I love the artist who does the covers for Patricia Briggs books as well, Dan Dos Santos.

• I also like Don Ivan Punchatz.
• Brian Froud.
• Larry Macdougal.
• Joy Ang, Kay Nielsen.
• Frank Cheyne Pape.
• Frank Frazetta.
• Julian de Narvaez.
• Frank Bellamy.
• Edmund Dulac.
• Arthur Rackham.
• Nathalie Polfliet.
• Joyce Mercer.
• Tove Jansson.
• Jules Feiffer.
• Raymond Briggs.
• Justin Gerard.
• Adam Rex.
• Kate Baylay.
• Ed Binkley.
• Richard Dadd.
• John Anster Fitzgerald.
• Glen Gustafson.
• James Gurney.

• Annie French.

• I have many artists and illustrators I like, those are the few I can think of off the top of my head.

• I also love Art Nouveau but most art tickles my fancy, except for the really abstract stuff.

Colors

My favorite colors are Yellow and Turquoise!

• greens.
• golds.
• bronzes.
• coral.
• bold colors.
• I don't really care for washed out pinks or really faded colors like denim blues or dusty greens.
• I have hazel eyes and dark brown/red hair so greens, golds, silvers, reds, and browns are the colors that go best with my coloring.

If you have any questions or just want to say, “Hi” I'd love to hear from you!

• The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• The Neverending Story Michael Ende
• Alanna by Tamora Pierce
• Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce
• The Blue Sword by Robin Mckinley
• The Hero and the Crown by Robin Mckinley
• The Rowan by Anne McCaffrey
• The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey
• The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• BFG by Roald Dahl
• James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
• Winne the Pooh by A.A. Milne
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
• Rootabaga Stories by Carl Samdburg
• Anne of Green Gables Series by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott ** (I love classic children's stories as well as most classic novels!)
• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
• The Search for WonderLa by Tony DiTerlizzi
• Abarat by Clive Barker
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman

(The list goes on and on and on ... I LOVE to read).

I love movies, espeically Fantasy and Science Fiction ones so I can't name them all here.

My all time favorite movie is The Neverending Story. I also love the Labyrinth.

I like the Tin Man movie Syfy made for TV and I also like the Tenth Kingdom which was a made for TV movie.

P.S. I Love You, Fantasia, Blade Runner, Brave, Big Fish, Hell Boy, Life of Pi, Expendebles, Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, Little Nemo's Adventures in Slumberland, Spirited Away, Hottarake no Shima (Island of Forgotten Things), Postman, Waterworld, Fifth Element, Lost Boys, Lilo and Stich, etc... that's just to name a few!

I love water color and pastels!!

I have just gotten into Crochet and making Amigurumi, but I'm not that good yet.

I really love to draw and color and paint so those are the things I do most often. But I also like to collage, scrap, sculpt, and do Origami.

I really love learning how to make my own mini books and that is the next thing I want to learn.

(Art) I love to draw, create, crochet, and paint. -oil pastels -watercolors -amigurumi -Prismacolor pencils -washi paper -textured paper -glitter -scented pens/markers -envelopes -seed implanted papers/ flower embedded papers -washi tape / duct tape

*I would LOVE children’s picture books, which are well illustrated. Preferably fairy tales or folk tales native to your country and in your native language! I am collecting them for when my husband and I start having children.

*I am finding myself needing to read again. If you are finished with a fantasy/scifi/classic/or fiction novel/book and don't mind spending a little on postage I would love to have some books to read. Used is just fine!!

*Badge Pins. I collect pins. (I adore pins that have the city/country name on them and are the stick pin kind that have the round pinch holder on the back).

*Tea

*Tumbled rocks. Stones, Gems, Agates, Geodes, etc.

*Prayer Beads (Any faith)

*Bracelets, bangles. Silver, copper, beaded, or stone. I prefer no gold, but if it is aged looking gold I don't mind it.

*Zebra Anything!

*Nail Polish

*Candles (Kiwi, rose, lilac, gardenia, lavender, vanilla, pine, fir, cedar, pumpkin spice, clove.)

*Fresh products, like their Sugar Lip Products

*Red Lipstick (not used please!)

*Sea Otter or Wolf Anything!

*Runes or Tarot Deck's

*Bath and Body Lip Glosses in those tubes. I love those in all flavors!!

*I would love to receive t-shirts or hoodies from your country/city/culture with the name of your place on them. Size Adult M in Europe/US and Adult L or LL in Asia.