Day 5 - Shinsaibashi love

Hi again everyone!

Some of you already know this but most don't so i'll repeat it. After visiting some places in Japan and taking in consideration what I'm into, I must say that my favorite place isn't even near Tokyo's center, but in Osaka, Shinsaibashi. I really feel at home there, i love the way it looks, the way the new and the old is mixed together, the way you can find any sort of people there and everything you need and love is in this "small" area. You can spend hours there and not be bored at all. Ever since that first cigarette I smoked while sitting in the center of the famous "triangle" that I knew that I'd forever have that spot in my heart and it really has been so.

Because we were starting to wake up really late every day T bought these pills, they are caffeine pills and they are supposed to help you stay awake. I felt no difference in my body whatsoever and I took two in a go. Placebo effect maybe? I don't know to be honest, I know that i tried them when i actually did feel sleepy and I still wanted to go back home to our futon so I'd say its a fail. Still its another "where else but Japan" momment for you guys.

When i got to our morning spot (the living room) I was surprised by mom with some cute cases. I asked what those were and she said she has asked T to buy me cigarettes because she smokes too and she know I was all out. So guess what T did. He got to the store and decided to pick tobacco not based on the brand or taste but based on package. He said he had picked these ones because they looked "cute". So imagine how they are, you can totally imagine the whole scene: white with pink accent paper, menthol flavored, girl appropriate fashionable cigarettes that tate terribly. In fact they taste so bad that i'm not even smoking another one anytime soon. Argh, sucks! They are just so so bad that I've found myself wanting to go in the living room at night just to steal one of mom's mild sevens! T of course has used this to his advantage saying that he "will not buy me a new pack until i have finished smoking all of these!". No way I'm smoking two packs of that stuff. -_-;

Anyway breakfast was fabulous again, I was super excited to hear the word kare pan because anyone who has tasted one knows they rock. It's just what the name says, a round bread with curry on the inside. It's super taste and not spicy at all so its moderatly appropriate for a morning snack.
I also switched my usual matcha cappucino for a cup of coffee. Japanese people make instant coffee that tastes heavenly. They also always have these small milk packages that you usually have in hotels and planes to add to your coffee. I mean they have tons of these in their freezers even. Anyway great way to start the day. We spent some quality time in familly again and then I had to get dressed. I wasn't going to wear what I wore but I really was excited to finally own a Innocent World classic cardigan (which was waiting in japan for me) and my first Emily Temple Cute dress and also figured that going for casual stuff while here sounds more appropriate than dressing up like i have a party every day.

We headed over to the bus stop and waited like 10min for the bus to arrive. It wasn't cold at all especially when wearing such a heavy coat. It was very windy though and i didn't bring any hair pins so even with my hair braided like that I had to constantly re-do it again and again.
I am that much taller than he is, which people tend to find weird, especially in asia where there's such a big height complex going on.
Anyway buses here work a bit like this: you wait for it like you would in any country then you get in using the back door. When entering you will find a small machine that hands out tickets and each person takes their ticket. The ticket basically indicates in what time or stop you got on. You sit and then there's an electronic chart in front of the bus that tells you the amount you're going to pay. Our normal fee, from our place to Oji train station is around 200yen each. You press the stop button when you want out and then head to the front of the bus, drop the coins in the coin machine as well as the ticket and you head off. You an also have a re-chargeable card if you find it to be more convenient but strangely enough the fee is the same.

So in the train station since its big and the like we figured it would be a good idea to have lunch before heading off to Osaka. We picked a deep fry restaurant and chose something from the menu. T picked a regular tonkatsu but I saw something really silly and picked it: "ladies menu". I wondered, what the heck is a ladies menu?
And basically there was no difference between mine and his other than some quantity differences, some difference in the fried pieces as mine included mayo inside and some sea weed and a small bowl of some sweet dough covered in light sugar that wasn't bad but doesn't really appeal to me because, as you should know, I'm not big in candy, chocolates, and that sort of thing. But it did taste more like candy than like something you'd mix with deep fried shrimp and pork. It was somewhat of an odd combination in my modest opinion.
We got out and some kids stared at me like crazy, i dunno if for the clothes, for me being foreign, for the fact that we were holding hands and i'm much taller, for the combination of all three elements but it was the first time I felt stared like that in Japan which was an odd feeling. Because it was going to be a somewhat long ride both of us went to the bathroom. Its very strange, the first time I came to Japan I always found bathrooms with those japanese toilets seat with the commands? This time, till that day I didn't find a single one! Not that I was looking for them or anything but I always find it really amusing so I was quite disappointed. There are so differences in bathrooms but basically its the seats, the dryer works (its those vertical ones that are starting to appear in Portugal too), some bathrooms still have the "hole in the floor" option for the more traditional, the hand soap is foam and not gel and some bathrooms are round instead of squared. And of course there's always extensive information on how to use everything as if everyone hese is completely retarded and can't figure out in 5 seconds how to use a handle. It is quite amusing.
So after that we were ready to head off to Osaka. Before going to Shinsaibashi which was my final destination for the day, we went back to Cyperous. My friend Lucy had spent the day before telling me I should get a short wig and it gor imprinted in my brain and I found myself having to go for some reason. haha. I didn't want to get a short one before because they cost the same as the long ones and it seemed like quite a big waste of money in that sense.
While trying to get there we got a bit lost, even with the map and everything and we took the oportunity to do some necessary things like get our concert tickets from a konbini, I also got some fake eyelashes, glue and conceiler.
While walking in that residential area I saw their parking systems again and thought that you guys might like learning a bit about them. As you know Japan has a space problem, too much people, too little land so they come up with genious contraptions to save space. One of the most appealing for me is their parking systems. They are mostly all very easy to use and automatic. In this picture you can see their parking system applied to bikes where they are all put on top of each other.
Of course the same was done for parking cars and you can easily find one of these in every corner. They work with an elevator system that brings your car to you if you press the right buttons and commands. Isn't it genious? I love it.

Anyway we finally found the store after walking for a while. It's located in one of those typical shopping streets that I've seen on tv, are having big problems right now because Japan is finally getting into the whole shopping mall and fast shopping chains like H&M and the like. It's a shame because they are lovely so visit and shop in those as well when you visit, ok?

It's a small cute corner store and you can now see why they need to use the second floor as a showcase thing. I would probably do it in the bottom one instead but they have their own reasons not to, I'm sure. You can see one of those Gyaru wigs in the manequin next to me as well as some altered weird ott styled wigs in the shop window. I went in and the staff smiled as saying "weren't you here just the other day?" haha
This is the wig I got, normal brown color short wig. Looks totally cute on and I can lend it to Vania as well.

After this it was finally time to visit Shisaibashi again! I wanted to shop at Atelier Pierrot first but didn't remember exactly where it was so I just started looking for it. Found all the shops but that one actually.


Went to Atelier Boz first. I lust over their coats and vests, the simple lines are very attractive to me and I just love the whole store atmosphere. I didn't buy anything because I had other plans but I always want to get something from every store, even if just an accessory.

Next stop was Angelic Pretty. I always love this store, not only do I feel like i'm in another world but also the staff has always been super nice to me whatever store I visit. They have these catalogues in the entrance where you can check all the new and next releases and it was there that I first saw their new collection, French Cafe: I thought it was abasolutely magical and figured Lucy would love it because i sensed a big etc vibe from that border print but later found out at home that people in general disliked it and lucy didn't even like the border print. I was truly surprised to be honest.
I went looking for the green holy night jsk or the fantastic dolly jsk in red but they're all sold out so there were none. Thank god I guess. T was pretty happy about that, he doesn't really like me in Angelic Pretty although he did quite like the Holy print and said I could open an exception for that one. He is quite wise, he said "look, I know you get away with anything you wear better than most people but that doesn't mean these clothes suit you, you're just lucky. Moitié suits you, classic suits you, drop the sweet, will you?" haha I guess Malice will want to kick him in the arse after this quote, huh? (she keeps on trying to get me back into sweet). But I guess this picture shows just that, does this woman look like she shops in that store? I guess not. (still did feel the urge to get a lucky pack though.)


Next was BABY, the stars shine bright. Now my last visit to this particular Btssb store last year wasn't really a pleasant one and I ended up buying a dress that I had to sell because i didn't like how it fit me. So this time I didn't really want to get a dress, just a head dress. Ended up buying the head dress in the second most favorite color, blue.
T spotted a dress he liked and i smiled in agreement because it was the Vampire Forest op in red. I told him it was more fabulous live than in the pictures and he told me I should try it on which I did. The staff told me all the necessary normal info: wear a white face cover to keep the dress from getting makeup stains, take off your shoes before entering the trying room, wear the store's try stuff on shirt that's in the room on a hanger.
I looked at myself in the mirror and it was bliss, this dress was made for me, perfect fit, perfect color, perfect theme, perfect everything but the price haha. I commited a small insanity and decided to offer me this dress as a xmas present to myself. They had the matching socks but I didn't quite like them with the dress but i fell in love with some tights that were crazy expensive and got those too. I didn't bring my point card to Japan, i totally forgot them at home but my btssb card is now nearly full. Insane, right?

Anyway after that I finally found Atelier Pierrot which of course was in front of Innocent World. Went there looking for 3 things: socks for iron gate (which i didn't find), a black lolita classic coat that i liked enough to spend on (which i didn't find either) and a triple fortune bonnet in black or a chantilly black and white bonnet (which I didn't find either!) so I was quite sad. I ended up crying because i fell in love with a op that i still think about and might just have to go get later and i got a small expensive corsage to use with my new vampire dress. The dress i liked isn't on their website otherwise i'd show it to you guys.

Last but not least the second hand shops. There is a second hand store that is especially for selling second hand music and merchandise but keeps getting more and more clothes so i went there and i got a cardigan, a dress and some accessories, totally over-spent again but i got some wishlist stuff like the Alice Auaa thorn stockings so who cares!

It was over, shopping had been fun and wallet wrecking but we were dead tired and it was enough for the day. We were also starving and searched for a place to eat. Found this small chinese style restaurant and went for it.

Here was the menu.

I went for something light and not very saucy so i didn't ruin my dress while eating (happens a lot unfortunately) and it was really good! Because T's food was taking a bit to get to the table he sort of ate a small chunk of what was in my plate too hehe.

It's the second time T does this. Looking at the menu he decided to pick the dish under the "Japan's most spicy dish ever" ad. I mean sure, i understand that boys wanna act tough but common! Obviously it was a bowl of spicy noodles. If you look closely you see those red chunks? They are all, i mean ALL peppers. He drank 2 liters of water and suffered but ate the whole thing, my hero. o.o

Hope you enjoyed yet another super long and troublesome to write post. Damn I'm beat.

Love,
Jo