Wow fantastic baby

This kinda blurry picture is of my tickets for the last two times I saw Big Bang live.

I've blogged about both occasions before but I'm mentioning it again because soon another ticket to see them will grace my notice board since they are coming to London in December! Yaaaay!*\(^o^)/*

I'm sure they'll be awesome again!

Ghibli Musuem

Okay so a really really really long time ago I went to the Ghibli Museum here in Japan and I was looking through the photos on my phone recently which reminded me of how much fun I had there. Since I know a lot of people like Ghibli I thought I'd show you guys my pics.

I love all the little detailing around the museum. Even the glass and the iron railings have Ghibli references. Though it isn't large it's nice to take the time to just take in all these small details so you can truly appreciate how much work went into this place.

There are also sections on the animation studio's history, some models and displays on how animation is produced and some cute sketches and recreations of Miyazaki's studio too.

And of course there are the major attractions that every one likes to see. Such as the huge robot from Labuta which is on top of the building, or the Cat Bus room (which on the day I went was reserved for children >.<).



You can also see a short film in the cinema there. It's basically more about the cat bus from Totoro and is super adorable. It has no subtitles though sooo I guess if you can't understand Japanese you'd just have to take in the cinematography if nothing else.

The gift shop is full of really cool stuff related to the films but it is a tad on the expensive side. I wanted a lot of stuff but I went home with nothing since I went during one of my poor phases (these are often >.<). Also outside they have places to eat and a cart that sells drinks like ramune. It was so much fun.

We didn't have that much time there...around an hour and a half but you don't really need more than that. It's not a huge museum and even if you watch the movie you can get to see everything in that amount of time. If you get the chance I really recommend you go. Also the museum is in the middle of a huge park so you can make a day out of it and have a wonder around there like I did.

Cultural Exploits : Kanteiryuu (Kabuki Moji)

 Okay I know I haven't blogged for awhile but now I am finished with uni I thought I'd use this time to get up to date blogging about all the things I've been doing in Japan. I realised I don't actually talk about what I do at uni very often and this term I've been able to do a lot of fun stuff so I thought it might be nice to start blogging about it.

 The first topic up in my new series is : Kanteiryuu which is also known as Kabuki Moji or writing. We had a teacher come into our class and show us how to do the kind of writing you often see on posters advertising Kabuki (traditional style of Japanese play).

 Here Taknaka-sensei (the woman that came in to teach us) and my regular teacher are showing us some of the kind of writing we were going to be attempting in that class. I must admit I was a bit wary since I am rubbish at 書道 (Japanese calligraphy) and I thought I'd fail equally at this.

 These were the tools we used. It kinda felt like art class when I was younger what with laying out all the newspaper and everything. Tanaka-sensei said you can pretty much use any brush to do it. I was dubious but she said she sometimes uses children's paint brushes and her work is amazing.

 Here are some of my practise characters. I was drawing 雪、月 and 花. One of the main things I took from this is style is more important than the accuracy of the writing. 花 looks really stylised and nothing like it is usually written for example. As you can see I wasn't very good >.< It was really fun having a go though. Once I stopped thinking of it as writing and more like drawing I improved some.

 And to finish up here is an expert. All the characters are supposed to look fat and square-like, shown perfectly here by Tanaka-sensei. I think the coolest thing about this writing style is that it was developed by one guy and has been passed down his line. All that time they have been responsible for doing all the writing for Kabuki advertisements in Tokyo. Tanaka-sensei learnt from the member of the family currently in charge of all that.

I know this probably isn't that interesting to everyone but I thought I'd do some of this kinds of posts once in a while. Feel free to skip if you aren't interested. ^.^

Liebster Award Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ イエイ！！

I got given a Liebster Award by gyarurin recently! This is the first blog award I've ever gotten so I'm quite pleased（★＞U＜★） I hadn't heard of the award before but here're the basics of it:

• The Liebster Blog Award is given to upcoming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

• The Meaning; Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

The Rules:

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.

2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you've tagged to answer

3. Choose eleven people and link them in your post.

4. Go to their page and tell them.

5. Remember no tag backs!

So hear are 11 things about me:

1. I fear spiders like they're the devil
2. I speak really quickly and quietly...I don't know how to fix that
3. I'm so bad at planning for the future
4. I can't drive...should probably get learning that >.<
5. I'm the worst at tidying up after myself
6. I'm trying to diet like a pro atm for summer
7. d.i.a owns my wallet which is why I'm always so poor
8. My favourite v-kei band at the moment is Royz
9. I haven't had sushi at all while I've been in Japan
10. I play Pokemon black while watching the related animated series (is so cool)
11. I want to be rich but I don't particularly want to work. But I also hate being idle...

And my answers to Gyarurin's questions:

1. Cats or dogs? (Or other animals, if you prefer! ^^)
   Cats. They're so beautiful and have that perfect "I don't give a fuck" attitude.
2. What is your favourite trend for this season?
   It's a hair trend not a fashion one: Pastel coloured hair. Every time I see someone with it I fall in love with it all over again.
3. What old trend would you love to see revived?
   Fox Tails. I still see them sold around but people don't really wear them any more.
4. Describe your ideal night out.
   Live -> Izakaya -> Karaoke/Club
5. What type of foreign cuisine do you like best?
   Japanese obviously. But I'm also quite partial to Italian food.
6. Do you like Disney? If so, which movie (or movies) is your favourite?
   Yeah I do like Disney. My favourite movie would be Mulan but I also love Lilo and Stitch.
7. What first sparked your interest in fashion/beauty/style?
   ...I went shopping with my mum? For as long as I remember I've been super interested in fashion and style. I was saying I wanted to be a fashion designer in reception >.<
8. Who is your 'cartoon hero'? :)
   Finn!!!!!!
9. Do you know what your first word was? If you do, please tell the story behind your first word!
   No idea. My mum forgot....
10. Which five words would you most like to be described as?
    Funny, Loyal, Intelligent, Interesting, Beautiful
11. What was the last thing/subject you studied or researched?
    Kabuki writing : 勘亭流

I will get back to this post with the people I tag. I don't think I follow many people with less than 200 followers (least popular of all my blogger friends) but I'll find some people.

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma my hello!!!!

The other day at the convenience store I spotted some iced coffee on sale that I thought you guys might appreciate :

It's Shirokuma Cafe coffee!!! I didn't get it at the time (because I'm addicted to Iced Cocoa atm) but I'm tempted to next time.

And for those of you that have never seen this show and have no idea what I'm on about I've linked the first episode below:

I'm not dead...just busy

I made a vlog the other day for shits and giggles. I wish I had the time to blog more often since I have so many plans for posts, but I just don't have the time. I barely ever update my crooz or ameblo any more either and so I'm just failing all around in that regard. I will try to be better

I wanted to blog from my phone more often but as you can see from the last post the formatting on my phone clearly doesn't agree with blogger.

In other news I won a blog award ^^ I'll try and get the post up for that sometime soon.

It's blog so long since I blogged last.

 

The power at my place was out today so me and Alice went to this super cute toy shop and bought a game to play.

 

We have to pick up pandas with chopsticks....super difficult

 

We also played on the swings in the park and ate icecream

Day 2 ♪(ﾟ▽^*)ﾉ⌒☆

I am awful at these kinds of lists, just to let you know what you're getting yourself in for.

1. I don't feel like I look good without hair pieces in

2. I am currently single

3. I'm 21 and plan to age no further.

4. I love Japanese but I'm not very good at speaking
5. Fitting into d.i.a shorts is becoming a bit of an obsession for me
6. I am currently growing out my hair but don't know what to do with it
7. I have a love hate relationship with most gal brands. For example I couldn't be paid to wear half the stuff   in d.i.a but I would kill for the other half.
8. I love nail art but have to keep mine short and plain for work 。゜゜（´Ｏ｀）°゜。わ～ん
9. Sometimes I get really homesick in Japan
10. I love Big Bang and like Kpop but I don't follow it much any more
11.I never know what to say when people ask if I'm half, because technically I am; just not half Japanese
12. I'm so bad with money it's terrifying
13. I have the worse dark circles in the world. There's no saving me
14. I'm really lazy when it comes to anything domestic like cleaning or cooking
15. I can never decide which styles I like best so my wardrobe is always messed up. Half skanky d.i.a and ma*rs and half cutesy bright stuff from MarpleQ or JSG.

So there you go that is Day 2 (2 days late (笑´ｗ｀) ) I will try my best to get through all of these. The picture was taken in Shinjuku Station with the Ouran High School Host Club poster. 'Cos I'm a geek like that. xx

Gyaru Meme

Okay so to kick start me back into blogging, I've decided to start doing the gyaru meme Lizzie and Alice made. Here's the list of all the topics for each day:

Day 01 – When did you start dressing gyaru?

Day 02 - A picture of yourself with fifteen facts  

Day 03 – What’s your best and worst experience with non-gyarus?

Day 04 - A picture of a memorable night

Day 05 – What do you love and dislike about gyaru?

Day 06 - A picture of something you want to do before you die

Day 07 – Your favourite accessories that you own. (a.p)

Day 08 - A picture of something you wish you were better at

Day 09 – Your wish list. (a.p)

Day 10 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

Day 11 – If you could have any dress for free what would it be? (a.p)

Day 12 - A picture of someone who has made a huge impact on your life.

Day 13 – Name the best websites for gyarus.

Day 14 - A picture that makes you laugh.

Day 15 – What’s your gyaru inspiration? (a.p)

Day 16 - A picture of your typical night.

Day 17 – Show a photo for every year (or month if you’re new) that you’ve being into gyaru.

Day 18 - A picture of your favorite memory.

Day 19 – Share your best tips.

Day 20 - A picture of your most treasured item.

Day 21 – How did you come across gyaru?

Day 22 – Take a picture of your wardrobe.

Day 23 – Is there local gyarus in your area? If so where and how many.

Day 24 – Are you a lifestyle gyaru? (If not will would you?)

Day 25 – Worst hair/wig experience.

Day 26 – What do you wear when you are not in gyaru?

Day 27 – Did you ever consider leaving gyaru?

Day 28 – What do you think will and would like to happen to gyaru in the future?

Day 29 – The gyaru items you have brought over the past 29 days. (a.p)

Day 30 – Take a beautiful picture of you in gyaru

Day 1 : When did you start dressing Gyaru

This is kinda a difficult question to answer. Through the end half of high school my main interest was Lolita (which I was awful at) but even then I was choosing to read gal magazines. When I was around16/17 I decided to start trying gyaru and I joined my first circle. I wasn't very good at all so even though that was the start of my gyaru journey I don't know if I could say I was gyaru then.

When I went to London for university I started hanging out with Hibisgyaru which I guess is when my style eventually started to improve. I still wasn't very good >.< I don't even really have any pictures from that time. Looking through my pictures though I find it hard to find any from before I came to Japan where I would say I look gal. Which is kinda embarrassing. 

In other news I've been thinking of starting to vlog as well as just blog. I tried to make when describing my look before I went to the Royz live (which I'll update you on later) but yeah...there's no sound >.<

I was trying to say that I'm wearing those hair clips everyone has from Spinns. Make-up wise I have my Urban Decay blush on in "afterglow", I'm wearing my Geo Bambi lenses with Diamond Lashes on the bottom and some I frankensteined myself from cheap Donki lashes up top. They have pink accents on. My whole theme for the live was purple (for Kuina) so I have purple eye-shadow and I'm wearing my d.i.a shirt. The under shirt is from Babyshoop and the shorts are from New Look. Oh and my room is a tip....don't worry I tidied it after.

I really wanna try vlogging again. I have a new mic now so hopefully next time there will be sound. 

Korilakkuma cute

I got these sweets from Lawson today. They came with this super cute clear file. There're 6 to collect and I might get them all since they're so cute and useful for my uni work.

I ate at the new Chinese restaurant near my house on the way home today. It was so tasty and cheap.

Springroove 2012 (a.k.a the best day evar!!)

If you have me on twitter you will have heard me raving about how I was going to see Big Bang and 2NE1 again at Springroove 2012 in Chiba. Springroove is a yearly 'festival' in Japan for lovers of RnB and Hip Hop. They cancelled the Tokyo event last year on account of the earthquake but it was back this year with a great line-up.

The ticket was pretty expensive so I arrived fairly early to make the most of it. After Pixie Lott of course though...cause you know I hate her.  I was on my own for most of the time which was super awkward but...meh. I spent over an hour queuing for stuff : coat check, the bar, the bathroom, but you could hear the music throughout the venue so I didn't mind not being in the crowd to see the DJ sets. I missed Azealia Banks, and Kreayshawn's performances as well as Pixie's (but I don't care because....they're pretty ratchet)

The crowd there was so mixed up. There was a lot of B-kei obviously but also a lot of fabulously dressed girls and there were ora-ora-kei and so many idol fangirls. There was a really wide age range and a lot of foreigners too (I assume coming to see the headliner David Guetta). I didn't make too much effort; d.i.a t-shirt and hoody and some jeggins and ballet flats. I wish I'd dressed differently even though my outfit suited the weather and was suitable to dance in because I felt pretty basic and I didn't have enough pockets for my stuff >.<

Miliyah Kato's set was really nice but the crowd weren't as amped up as they had been for the previous DJ set by Afrojack. She's so pretty and I do really like her songs though so I was grooving along to that. I stayed by the other stage though because I knew m-flo was next and I wouldn't be able to fight my way forward if I waited till she ended.

m-flo was SO.GOOD. There were these two Japanese girls in front of me just going mental which was hilarious too. I really like their new album so it was cool to hear it live. He brought his 'mystery' singer on stage for Run, Call me and the kid from the advert joined him for Sure Shot Ricky. The Americans next to me were really confused at how all the crowd knew who this kid was. They played She's So (Outta Control) too but 2NE1 didn't come out even though they were there. I was so dissapoint at the time. I left to the opposite stage during the last song to meet up with my flat mate before 2NE1 started their set and go t so many glares.

We were REALLY close to the front for 2NE1 but over to the right of the stage so we only really saw from that side. I much preferred their set list to what they performed at YG Family Concert because it was much more upbeat (and the play Clap Your Hands and I'm the Best; my two jams). Bommie is one of the cutest people ever, everything she says is just so adorable. And and and I was so excited because they played She's So (Outta Control) and Verbal came on stage to perform with them and aahhhh it was everything I'd wanted 20 minutes before that.

Next was LMFAO on the other stage. I didn't move an inch. If I'm drunk in a club I will dance to their songs but...they were so annoying. I say they....I mean they because only one of them turned up. Quest Crew were there though which kinda made it worthwhile. However everyone knew the next act was BIGBANG on same stage I was at so all the fangirls around me were so restless. LMFAO had two long pauses and since you couldn't see what was happening on that stage from our angle everyone assumed BB would be on soon and the shoving started. It didn't end >.<

When BIGBANG finally came on the crowd were mental. There is a reason fangirls are seated for these events, otherwise they will do anything to get closer. I felt like I was in the ocean, I kept just getting swept back and forth as people were trying to get to my position or closer. However I did have an amazing view and just ah gah aaaaaah. They're all so hot it's not FAIR! TOP's voice at the beginning of Tonight gave me chills and Taeyang and Daesung just kept parading around like the slutty little kings they are. Big Bang are so good live. Somehow I just didn't remember how good from last time, maybe because I was further away then, maybe because my memory couldn't capture the awesomeness adequately. Either way it was amazing and I didn't even cry this time (willingly at least, my right contact lens was messed up and that eye was tearing up a bit). For their last song 2NE1 came out and they were just playing around on stage together which was super cute; Daesung and Bom doing bits of the Clap Your Hands dance, TOP bending down to Dara's eye level to dance with her...too cute.

After BIGBANG me and my flatmate went to the back. We were planning to watch David Guetta from there where we had more room to breathe and dance but the venue had got much busier since m-flo has started and we figured we should just go and get our stuff and leave before the big rush. Also watching DJ sets is boring if you can't dance.

tl:dr : I had a great day once again. I love my life ^^

Lazy lazy blogger

I exist. I know it might not have seemed like it since I haven't blogged in awhile but I do still exist. And it's not for lack of inspiration, it's just that even though I'm on spring break I've had a lot to do and even more distractions. I got a job this month so I've been spending a lot of my time. It's in Shibuya 109-2 (ish) so I get to spend a lot of time watching well dressed boys and girls wander around (while also freezing my arse off). I'm working in a cake shop which nice but maybe a bit too much temptation for me while I'm on my diet hehe. It's nice to finally have a job where I speak in Japanese the whole time though because it gives me an opportunity to practise. To any Japanese students out there reading this blog, if you can, get a job in a Japanese speaking environment. It puts you in a position where you HAVE to use your skills, and improve them as well because communication is key. I work until quite late so I basically come home and collapse and then wake up late and have to  busy myself with boring 'life' things like tidying my room and food shopping. >.<

In the free time I do have I've been wasting my life on Ameba Pigg Life. It's basically Farmville but cuter and in Japanese with more interaction features. I've been using it as an outlet since on Pigg Life I can garden and bake and I have money, all things with are just not the case in the real world >.< If you're interested you should play, but bear in mind this warning 'It will ruin your life' (for at least the first 2 days)

I haven't been a total homebody either though. I've hung out with Jaenyi a couple of times which was really fun, and such a nice relief from always working. And also a good excuse to get dressed up which I can't do at work (exte, nails and heavy make-up are banned ;_;). Everyone in 109 assumes we're sisters for some reason. They get so confused when they realise we're from different countries.

I do have a few blog posts that I've got planned. Just like in Autumn, 109 once again has a lot of new store openings that I'll report on here (I'm not looking forward to any of them but Neon Soda though, who I predict are going to be popular considering how much they've got themselves into the gal mags). There are also re-openings that I'll comment on here too. Already the 8th floor is totally different; SBY expanded and is much better laid out. I also recently got new lenses that I'll review here. One pair was my Bambi replacements but you can read my previous review on them here. The other two are the EOS New Adult lenses in Pink and Brown. I want to give them a good road test before I review them though so keep waiting on that one.

Yo DECO

I am off from uni for aaaaages atm since it's Spring Break. It's still quite cold here in Tokyo though. I want spring to come soon. Since I have all this free time I must admit I'm at a bit of a loss for what to do with my time. I have got myself a part time job now (so terrifying, my Japanese is not up to this yet I don't think) which will soon hopefully take up loads of my time once I'm done with my training. I spent a lot of time kicking about my room eating pocky and reading manga and feeling like the world's lamest cliché.  As such I bit the bullet and started deco-ing my phone like I've been planning since I bought it!

The beginning. I kept not buying sufficient stones so this happened in 3 stages, this being the first one. It was so much fun once I started I don't know why I don't deco more stuff. I forget I enjoy it I guess.

This is the end of stage one. To be honest part of me kept not getting enough supplies so I'd have an excuse to keep going to 109 and use up my time >.<

And the finished article!!! I left just enough room for the clock to show through on the front but it was a tight squeeze and did mess up the design a little at the bottom. I should have planned the bottom heart's placement as meticulously as I did the top one's. 

But in the dark you can't tell hehehe. I didn't leave gaps for the other LED's but in the dark you can really see them well. I set them to only flash pink because otherwise it looks odd against the design.

With the rest of my free time I've just been...well cam-whoring basically. Look at my face! I need something to do so badly clearly. But I figured since I haven't shown my face outside of a purikura booth on my blog for a while that I would add this one in.

In other news, today is Valentine's Day and I don't give a shit. I feel like the only person in Tokyo that thinks that which is annoying. I miss England where basically only people actually in a relationship care about this day. I'm like a Valentine's Day scrooge....is that even a thing? Last year I invited my friends round to get drunk but that's not an option this year. Wah! I've never spent it with a significant other...forever alone!

Koboshi LONDON

I must have mentioned my friend Chriss on this blog a million times or something. We go to the same university together in London and she has amazing style. Refer to the pics of her in this blog for further proof of that. She's a very cool girl who is super crazy, loves V-kei, knows how to pull together awesome outfits and is never afraid to be daring with her hair. More than that though she also knows where...all the cool stuff is ever somehow.

This is us when we were twinning the first day she arrived in Japan. She's now back in the UK (and I MISS HER) working on an cool new project I hope some of you guys might be interested in, or want to take part in. Who better to explain this than herself?

You can find the pics and videos she's already put up on the official KOBOSHI London facebook page HERE. In the first video there is a guest appearance from my flatmates from last year! (I miss them tooo...)

And like Chriss said herself, she's everywhere so if you think she's a cool girl you can catch her on tumblr, twitter and on her personal blog too.

Also if you happen to be going to Japan Underground tonight she and her DSLR will be there. Get involved.

Style Inspirations : Re:NO

 This is my second post about my style inspirations, the first being on the fearless RihoKate. Now I wanna talk about Re:NO, another girl who is innovative and fearless with her style choices. For those that haven't heard of her before, Re:NO is a model for Kera. You can find her blog here. 

And I know what you're probably thinking, your style inspiration is a Kera model? That's not gyaru. And you'd be right Re:NO is v-kei and I wouldn't class my self in the slightest, despite me liking the music and going to lives. I do see some people throwing Re:NO and Kyary's names around with the style gyaru but, they just aren't. It's all in the execution, and of course how they class themselves. I do still however get very inspired by Re:NO's style and make-up. She's very bold with her choices in both areas. Also I love how she always changes up her hair. It reminds me of Kaoru. She once said she wanted to be able to tug on one ear to make her hair longer or shorter and tug on the other to make it curly or straight. If only!

Even though I love Ma*rs and d.i.a it's partly Re:NO's inspiration that pushes me towards brands like tutuHA and JSG that tip toe on the boundary between Shibuya and Harajuku. Her use of colour in both her outfits and hair always make her co-ords interesting. I also like how she doesn't just live in the realm of fashion, Re:NO's main passion is her music. What a cool girl hey?

Look at her chilling with Morimayo. I saw her the other day in Fernopaa, big ass hair is BIG!

YG Family Concert in Japan

Okay anyone who follows me on twitter, tumblr or facebook will know that on the 21st I went to see the YG Family Concert in Saitama Super Arena. I have been super excited about this ever since I first heard about the concert which was months and months ago. I may not be as crazy as I used to be about k-pop but I am still all about YG, especially Big Bang and 2NE1....and did I mention Big Bang? I'm crazy about Taeyang especially.

Why aren't you?

So I thought for awhile about what I was going to wear for the concert but still ended up being unprepared. I only put my hoody in the laundry that morning so I was trying to speed things up drying it with a hair dryer >.<

My OMG hat was in reference to 2NE1's "I'm the best", the hoody is part of Big Bang's uniqlo collection, the shirt and the jacket are d.i.a and to complete the outfit a Big Bang bag I got free in Shin Okubo when I bought my penlight.

I was nervous I wouldn't get there in time to get goods but it actually turned out to be the shortest queue ever. Big Bang brought out a new penlight which is totally different from the old version so I wanted to get that (I was worried it would be like a Johnny's concert where old goods are a no go) and of course I wanted a 2NE1 penlight.

Wah they're so pretty!!! Me and my friend waited inside some random building with loads of other fans while waiting for the doors because of course it would be that day of all days when it would rain for the first time in nearly a month.

On the way in we were stopped by two guys who were doing street snaps for their magazine. Apparently it's a relatively new k-pop one (I already forgot the name so I doubt I'll ever find it, there are a lot of k-pop mags here) and they took our pics and asked who we were coming to see.

I snuck a quick pic of the stage before the concert started. I had to be sneaky because photography is banned and they were watching like hawks. Ah but my memories shall live on forever. We were pretty close so I didn't need to look at the screens most of the time.

2NE1 opened the concert and they were just...amazing. They put on a great show and a lot of the crowd seemed to be there for them. I judged this by the colour of the crowd. Everyone had different coloured penlights but there was a lot of pink among them for 2NE1. After 2NE1 Big Bang came out....and I started crying. I mean it's one thing watching their MV's or watching fan cams but to physically see them moving about on stage and being their stupid awesome selves was just...too much for me at first. After the first song I composed myself and was grooving along. Japanese fans are all about TOP, I'm not sure why because he can barely speak to them in Japanese....maybe that's what they like. In fact, barring Gummy who is fluent everyone else had very cute MC's with adorable mistakes. Especially Bom, I wanted to take her home and be fail with her! There was this couple a few rows behind us and the guy kept shouting out for "YoungBae" (Taeyang) which was kinda funny. Yay for male fans!

The running order gets a bit fuzzy in my head after this. Because it was a YG Family concert they all did fun collabs together (like Big Bang performing "I'm the best" complete with dance routine and Jinu Sean, GD and Seven singing "Fly Gentlemen"). All the acts sang a few tracks before they left (except Jinu Sean and Tablo) and Big Bang ended the show....with LIES!!!!!! they also sang Haru Haru before that. I cried AGAIN. Oh and Taeyang GAVE HIS TOUR HOODY to some girl. The jealousy was extreme let me tell you.

An finally an awkward pic of the large banner of them all together. Sorry for the rubbish quality pictures in the post, they were all taken on my phone. To conclude, this was my best day in Japan to date and I want to spend every day like it.

109 Sales and Gets

On the 2nd of January 109 began their massive 7 day sale. I'm sure by now everyone knows the drill with New Year sales in Japan; most stores put out 福袋 or lucky bags in English. These bags could contain past season goods or clothes created just for the fukubukuro. This year most of the bags were open, as in their contents had already been relived in store blog posts, magazines or by shop staff. I kind of hate this because in my opinion it really takes out the 'luck' aspect of it, but I guess with people having less money to play with it's a safer bet to let them know how awesome the bargain is that they're getting. One brand that doesn't reveal their contents however is D.I.A and it's their bag I wanted to get.  The D.I.A fukubukuro is notoriously hard to get your hands on. Last year they sold out in 3 hours so I knew I would have to get to 109 early. Early as in before 5am that day to queue in the underground station with all the other crazy people (who also all wanted the D.I.A bag as I worked out from....well eavesdropping).

People with their bags outside getting ready to trade stuff

We were finally let into 109 at 7am. The D.I.A bags being as coveted as they are had a whole special procedure to get them. I had to go to the 8th floor (people were running up the escalators) only to go down the stairs until I met the end of the queue. This was at the 6th floor when I got there...going down! I had to go down 6 flights to go back up 8 again to get my bag...and I arrived early! This year the bag sold out before 8 I heard...that's 1 hour. Mental. I can see why though, for one bag it is packed with goodies:

So much D.I.A goodness :Q____

There were 16 items in total, including jeans, several hoodies, tops and one pieces. All the stuff isn't pictured in here, some because I traded with Chriss (the jeans and a one piece) for her Real Mars fukubukuro jacket and some just because I couldn't fit it into the picture. So yeah, getting the bag was madness but it was definitely worth it and I got to strut around 109 feeling like I won at life. 

Other sales gets were this JSG one piece (it's so soft and moku-moku I just love curling up in it...in fact I'm wearing it as I write this) and this Glad News under top. It was super cheap and it's so useful to wear under things. It goes super well with the JSG one piece so I'm wearing that atm too. Chriss got a top from D.I.A in the sale which meant I had to stand outside with all our bags for awhile. I wanted to go in too but there was just no way with it being so busy. We had to take it in turns, waiting outside with all the bags like all the other  overworked looking boyfriends and dads. D.I.A was crazy.

My shop staff isn't actually in this pic but somewhere inside the crush of the store

I went the next day too when I was less shattered and the crowds had died down a bit and my D.I.A shop staff had totally lost her voice. She still went up on the step ladder to attempt to shout to customers though. Wah she's so adorable I love her. Also I realised how mistaken I was thinking people would be buying less considering the economy. People were buying shit loads, it made no sense to me how they could afford it. Clearly they were blowing all their お年玉 or New Year money on 109. There were so many boyfriends laden with bags while their girlfriends shopped. My friend went that evening and saw guys waiting around with D.I.A bags which is how you know they've been there since the early hours >.< One woman brought her whole family (including her two young boys) to make them carry the bags. I know this because she was bragging about it to reporters when we were queuing underground in the early hours. Now I like to shop and all, but some people have some messed up priorities.

I also bought some stuff with wasn't on sale. I got the Real Mars one-piece which I adore. Totally ageho! The D.I.A jumper is lovely and Emmie ended up getting the same one so now we can twin. The belt I wanted for a while and basically all the staff wear their's constantly. I got it in the end and I think Marie might have bought the same one too.

All in all, New Year is such an awesome time to shop in Japan and I don't think I will forget the madness that is 109 on the first day of sales for the rest of my life. It was some next level shopping!

On another note I'm super lonely now because Chriss and everyone have GONE BACK TO LONDON. I started tearing up in grammar class when I suddenly remembered Chriss wouldn't be back at home when I returned. We spent so much time together having so much fun. waaaaaaaaaaaah

Oh and I've started a new tumblr which I've been trying to update regularly. Check it out if you wanna see daily snapshots of my usually mundane life as a student in Tokyo here.