Japan 2015 Lolita Day

Hello everyone, how are you doing?

As only some of you know, I have been quite sick. I have been in and out of doctor's offices and taking a ton of tests to try and feel well again. 

I was in Japan for three weeks recently, we arrived last weekend to Portugal. I was unwell for the most part of the trip and even went to see a doctor there as well. Still I managed to have a handful of nice days out of this trip and one of them was the day in which I got to see my friend liemzie again.

My husband took some outfit photos before we got to the meeting point and I really like them, they remind me of Momoko living in the japanese countryside haha. I am almost 100% sure there's not even a single lolita in that small town. 

The pieces I am wearing were all gotten during the trip because I did not take anything lolita with me. Fortunately this dress does not need a petticoat! I did feel the lack of accessories but it wasn't too terrible wearing this outfit, it was sort of light and fresh.

We had to change trains in Tennoji station and there's a Axes femme store there where i got something i will need for a future outfit. The shop girl was super nice, we always made jokes when we went there.

We also had a lovely lunch there, it was like going to an upscale posh restaurant, the food was incredible and it was like 10 euros a person. It was cheap. I love eating in Japan, high quality for affordable prices. I have never had a terrible meal in Japan.

After that we went to Osaka station to meet my friend. I was a bit early but so was she! Great timing.
Since I have no clue on what to do when i'm in Japan, she, again, decided on what we could do.
We visited a limited store with really nice handmade things. It was a lot of fun and i wanted it all.

It was in this lovely mall with a ton of exhibits and activities. There was a train exibition too and I got a little something there too.

Me and the lovely Liemzie with... flamingos. :P

Picking out our favorites, look how focused we are! 

I liked this store a lot, i considered buying the straw hat with the black ribbon and bows....

When we got to this stall we got stopped by a bunch of older ladies who started complimenting our looks and asking us questions. It was really funny at first. They wanted to take photos with us and the artesan showed me a book she published...

... but then it came to a point where they wouldn't let us go and we got a bit bored. I even got something from the lady's stall in the end haha. look how unconfortable we both look!

After checking the pop up store out we left the mall and went to our next stop.

The Osaka (limited time only) Gudetama Coffee. How cute (and silly) is that?

Better photos on one of liemzie's fabulous blog posts.

The entrance for this café. 

my husband got the matcha pudding, it looked so sad!

Liemzie still had not had lunch so she had something more nourishing.

Our table! I misbehaved and had matcha latte.

 Fun facts about this place. There were only about 8 things one could pick so the choices were limited. Although Gudetama is an egg there are no egg related recipies which seems strange. The waiter did not place my cup on the individual paper in front of me. I thought it was odd but them Liemzie told me its because some people want to take them as souveniers. It sounded lovely but also silly because that means they serve no purpose.
Other than food there's merchandise on display and even statues of Gudetama around the place. The coffee will move to Tokyo next so that means all of this will be gone soon.

Hep Five has the most amazing Purikura area I had ever seen. There's a couple machines near the normal game and UFO machines but then there's a top floor that is actually exclusive to girls and or couples! So a boy cannot walk around there alone, ever!
They have costumes for rent and girls apparently come over with bags with clothes and then change clothes for purikura and then back to their normal clothes. There is an area with mirrors and beauty appliances (like hair curlers and dryers etc, not kidding!) for people to freely use to make sure they look their best.
Then there's a ridiculous amount of purikura machines of all styles! Unbelievable.

One of the purikura machine corridors.

We look so happy and silly, this is one of my favorite photos!

This machine was hilarious... it was about... being manly? I did not even understand but we ended up making a video punching a non-existant boxing bag. How silly is that?

And these were some of the costumes one could rent. They claim that one could dress in maid and lolita... so those maid outfits are both? So japanese people are confused on what lolita is too. XD

We then visited a bunch of nice stores! Most of them I never went to before!
Axes Femme, again! Liz Lisa, BABY, the stars shine bright, Ank Rouge... and some more. I saw a lot of things I wanted... shopping in Japan is so easy....

We also visited a Rilakkuma pop up store thing. You can read about it on liemzie's blog. 

She got the cutest Rilakkuma ever!

 And we took another silly photo, this time we couldn't do it together.

After this we finally said goodbye to Liemzie because it was getting quite late. It was so nice to see her again. It will be the last time we will be able to meet in Osaka too because she is moving back home. I am going to miss having a friend in Osaka but i'm sure we will see each other again in Europe.

When she left we went to a couple character stores where I spent more money. I mean common, look at how much fun these stores look! Look at the colors!

We finally sat down and had dinner. My husband wanted chinese and I ended up having a really yummy meal. I felt better these days, i thought i was better so I took some risks.

After that we went home, I was super tired but very happy. It was a great day, probably the best day of all the trip.

Thank you my friend!

Jo

Japan trip - Great people + too much shopping

Sunday the 17th of August

In Japan the "let's hang out" day is Sunday. In my own country we usually use Saturdays for that and Sundays to chill out at home or to spend with our family or have family reunions and special lunches etc.

Oh gosh I am salivating... I miss those sausages... how silly, to declare that one misses sausages but I do.

I had sheduled to finally meet someone I have known for quite a bit and grew fond of, Emma. We had tried to schedule to meet the previous year but I couldn't make it then and I was determined to rectify that this year. 

We decided to meet in my favorite shopping area in Japan, yes, again Shinsaibashi because i cannot get enough of it. 

Emma had asked if I was going to wear my new Emily Temple Cute dress and I said yes because I did not have another more of less complete outfit so she told me she actually owned the skirt in pink and that she'd wear it too. I thought that was awesome and it made me a bit more excited too.

My casual outfit for the day, in Sango station.

The meeting would be in front of Innocent World or accross Atelier Pierrot. Because we were a bit early I went in A/P and just did my crazy purchase of the day. I always want everything in that store and again the staff was super friendly.

Atelier Pierrot store window

After a bit I could finally spot her and we said hello. I was super excited and I was very happy because I liked her almost instantly which is always a plus, she really is super sweet!

I was told by the staff at Atelier Boz that there was some sort of colab event going on in a nearby café and Emma apparently goes there from time to time so we decided we should go check it out. The name of the café is Anamune. It was again in the upper floor of a building which was really in bad conditions, very crude but artistic. 

The entrance was decorated with anatomy related stencils I believe and set up the mood for what would be inside.

Me and the lovely Emma in matching ETC

Random medical related stuff,The place really was random.

There was a photo exhibition going on of a lolita in macabre background and clothing and the pieces were for sale as well, just like an art gallery. Here and there one would find medical or just strange pieces decorating the café, it was very interesting to look at since every bit would have something worth checking. Even the bathroom had interesting things inside it.

Overall view of the room

I chose a glass of wine and two mini sandwiches, they were one of the lunch menu picks. 

They also had this bjd doll on display. Apparently they keep moving it from place to place and at some point when Emma went there, they'd even let customers pick her up and "play with her". I do not know what sculpt she is and did not ask.

Another area of the café, really odd and random right? I loved it too. 

This is the entrance of the building, it looked quite nice until we got in the elevator i suppose. Very typical of this area.

After that we left and decided to take some purikura. I was really excited! I have always wanted to take purikura in Japan especially with another lolita! It was not much like what I was expecting though, the machines were very... glam and made me look like an alien haha and then its pretty stressful too I think. I did have fun though and I'm going to cherish my first purikura for sure!

Purikura boot

This is the end result. I realized we both picked this as the center shot. I love the randomly placed tooth best but the horns are nice too. :P

I asked Emma if we could step by Angelic Pretty too. Loyal Rosette had come out the previous day and since there was a huge hype around it I really wanted to check it out. 

We went in and again I had to look at Cameo Window which I love but in the only color they did not have in the store. I like the other colors too though but not as much.

The new series was at the store window in salopette and op. When I went in and checked it in person I fell in love too, especially with the most disliked colorway, brown. I loved the brown and the gold together, it was so... stylish. Fortunately for me they did not have the jsk (my fav piece) in any other color anymore so I knew I really loved the brown and didn't have to decide between them.

The problem came when it was time for accessories. I feel in love with the detachable bow in the hat but the hat itself on my head felt like a pasty chef's hat, i felt so silly with it on! I really wanted to get it but I couldn't bring myself to spend all that money on something that made me feel so silly so after thinking for a VERY long time, I decided to buy the bow instead. I also did not like the matching socks so those were the pieces I got. 

Emma tried the skirt on in green i think and decided not to get it even though she liked it a lot.

In front of Angelic Pretty Osaka, aka the very pink store.

Shinsaibashi was as lively as ever and it was ridiculously hot that day too.

Shisaibashi.

Emma suggested we could check out the new Alice in Wonderland store which apparently is very famous. I said that would be nice even though i had no idea there was one. 

When we arrived it was really cool looking from outside but the fact that they had a line to get in kinda puzzled me. 

The guard holding the entrance for the Alice in Wonderland store

Most of the items are either food goods to buy as presents or small decoration items and jewelry.

Inside the decoration was pretty amazing and in the candy area there was even a table set for the mad tea party but upside down. I thought that was cool. If you would like to see it better inside please click the Alice link above.

We also checked the second hand stores in the area and I was very pleased because I found them to be up to par with Closet Child so I am happy for the girls in Osaka. <3

I found a shirt I really wanted for a great price thanks to Emma and also managed to complete my newly bought Ap set that day as well. I shopped like mad but I had a blast.

Unfortunately it was time to say goodbye to her but I'm sure I will see her again. I wished I could live nearby so we could do that more often, it was a lovely afternoon.

See you soon dear Emma!

After this we went to Daimaru in Shinsaibashi. Daimaru is a department store. The reason why we went was because she suggested that we go to a thing called Zombie Defense University which is basically an horror zombie house. It seemed like a great idea so there we went.

When we got there however I really couldn't bring myself to go. Girls were coming out crying, 16 year old guys were telling friends and familly there's no way they'd go in there etc etc so I chickened out completely and did not do it. I got my husband a ticket and he went and he said it was not scary and came out laughing. -_-; meh. haha

It was now time to go home but not without eating something so we wandered for a bit deciding what to have. We went for Omurice which is basically just a omelette with rice inside. It was really tasty actually, it was a good pick for sure.

After that we got in the station which is close and rode a couple of trains until we got home. The last train, the local train to Oji was deserted at some point so I ended up having some shots in it, which i really like. I love that my husband still wants to take photos of me after such a long and tiring day, he is so sweet!

And that was it for my lovely lolita day, there had to be one, right? 

Thank you Emma for everything!

That day's shopping haul included:

- newest Kera 

- a paris kids mini hat (for my dolls)

- a bit of sewing/crafts materials for a project

- tweezers to put eye lashes on my bjd

- Millefleurs Georgette Shirring shirt (black)

- Angelic Pretty Loyal Rosette jsk (brown)

- Angelic Pretty Loyal Rosette headbow (brown)

- Btssb brown wrist cuffs

- Angelic Pretty Melty Chocolate socks (brown x gold)

- Atelier Pierrot Clown Palace Jsk

I really hope you enjoyed reading!
Love,
Jo