Japan 2013 (Day 2 - 13th July)

So i forgot to post yesterday and i forgot the little things, that's why i should post every single day! I think we woke up at 7.30 and my mother in law made us breakfast: croissant, butter, salad, an egg and my favorite sausages!

Since most things we are into here is food we had a small chat on which dressing would be best for breakfast salads. My favorite is the one on the left, the sesame dressing but i like all of them.

I end up eating a lot here because they buy things that are interesting and have me try them. I drank the tangerine 100% juice and my husband the grape one (looked just like wine in the glass). And that is right, Mari drank the 100% apple one and she loved it, cried when it was over.

The cans are a lot smaller than the ones back in my country.

After any meal should come coffee especially for breakfast so I had my usual american cup with a tad of milk and sugar. Mom had us drink it in these stunning cups!

Outside was sunny and the view is much better than the previous house. My inlaws have finally managed to buy a place of their own and so I am staying in an area I do not know at all. 

Calm, green, peaceful (there are trains nearby which is the only "noise" one can hear).

The building looks great in and out and of course the house isn't very big. But it is really cozy and clean. 

The entrance: usually it is build like this, with a small step separating the area where you must take yous shoes off and the area that is "regular floor". Shoes are often faced towards the door but there are too many here right now.

 There's this  strange room, its the room alongside the living room and its the only room with tatami floor too. It's main feature is having the familly prayers shrine. There are some white doors which are a closet. Since the main idea behind a japanese house is comodity there are hangers everywhere and things are placed where they make the most sense. In Portugal I keep things i use a lot hidden somewhere and lose that comodity for aesthetic purposes or because i was raised to believe that having nothing "out of the place" is the beauty ideal which is fake of course.

 Toilets are funny in Japan. Of course the toilet itself is funny because everyone knows washlets are funny. If you did not know, in Japan, people mostly own a toilet cover seat that has a machine which will do several things. For instance: keep the seat warm during winter, throw water to clean you like a bidé would, play music to make sure people are not embarassed by the sounds one makes while going to the toilet, release perfume to make it smell better, etc. They also have that sort of basin on top. When you flush, the clean water that will fill the deposite comes out from a tap so you can use it to wash your hands... this way you'll be double using water and saving. It's a great idea actually.
Toilets are tiny, they are only supposed to hold nothing other than the actual toilet. There's no window in this one contrary to the old house one so i find it a bit... overwhelming but of course its all done so well it does not affect smells or confort in most ways.
The bath and basin are in another room accross the hall where the laundry is located.

 Living room, right where i was standing is the tatami floor room. They are separated by sliding doors so they can be 1 room or 2 separate rooms i guess. It's a bit untidy because everything had to be moved for Mari but its decorated in brown, white and forest green. It looks amazing and they now have a tall table and chairs. In the old house we'd all sit on the floor.

 And on the other side there's a kitchen with a window as well. I love that, always liked that in houses!

 I like this thing so i'm sharing a photo,its a machine that dries the dishes. I never saw anything like that before.

 Everyone was resting so me and my husband decided to make instant curry for us and eat something

Eventually everyone woke up and we got in the car. We had arranged to go shopping for clothes for Mari and my husband because both of them were in need of that. I brought enough clothes, they are old, baggy and lazy sort of clothes and will be thrown out when leaving the country unless i have so much space its best just to take them.

As I told you, my inlaws have a new car as well, the other one was beyond saving and one of the things it came with was a TV. I don't think its the safest thing ever but it does entretain my father in law when he has to wait in the car.

We went to a local cheap kid's store in the area and it was incredible.They had so much stuff! I ended up getting a crazy hat for mari. Thing was when we got in the car it was too small for her. 

 So we had to go back and switch for another. Unfortunately the crazy hat was a one size piece but i found two hats for the price of that one which also protect her from the sun but they were light and easy to coordinate. But bah no frog...
But Mari seemed happier and so was everyone else so i was happy with that too.

We then made a stop at uniqlo where i tried on 2 pair of pants and a dress and hated everything but also where we got new clothes for my husband.

This is what Mari got:

2 hats (pink, ivory)

1 black x white dress, 1 shorts + shirt combo in blue

1 pair of pants and shirt in ivory

1 hello kitty kimono pattern summer shorts

1 piu piu complete suit

1 dress +shorts blue x white suit 

1 pale pink set

1 pack of pink shirts.

As for me the only thing i got was this shirt and i didn't even try it on.

My mother in law offered me some coffee and my father in law some sweet snacks that are amazing but strangely made of tofu

 Mari changed clothes after eating because she always gets dirty and played for a while too.

It was time for a nap. I love it here, we only seem to sleep and eat haha. I have to get house of the house more, i haven't even checked out the surroundings yet...  

We woke up at dinner time. Dinner was barbecue. It was the first time i have seen a inside home barbeque that burns from the top and not underneath. It seems a lot esier to clean...
Just by checking the raw ingredients I knew it would be ridiculously tasty!

 Didn't I tell you? It looks awesome!
eggplant, pepper, sausages, meat, mushrooms and squid. We also had kimchi, rice and beer.

 Anyway I'm posting one of my new dresses as well. At least if i do it little by little you can't complain about the lack of thing that interest some of you haha.

Alice and the Pirates Grimoire of the Moonlight Forest JSK II (burgundy)

Info on the dress

I wanted the other jsk in another color but it was not availabl at the time so went with this one instead. I find that the shape is flattering but also a bit short and plain. The print is nice and the fabric is luxurious. I'm not madly in love with it because of the shortness but i like it, it has amazing finishes especially and burgundy is one of my fav colors in lolita.

And that's it for day 2. I should be posting day 3. I will force myself to do so tomorrow morning. And nope I do not know when i'll start going shopping and doing things related to my hobbies yet, for now i'm being quiet and behaving. I should go now though and get something from the sales though. I'm having fun, just quiet familly sort of fun which is good sometimes too. 

If you have a request of a photo or something in particular about Japan, let me know!

I hope you enjoyed the post.

LOVE,

Jo