Showa Kinen Park

Hello dear readers! How are you?

It's a drizzly day today, I suppose rainy season is getting started. However, I'm going to show you pictures from  nice sunny day! I went for a picnic at Showa Kinen Park in Tachikawa.

I was suprised at the size of the park, it's huge! It's the one place I've been in Tokyo where you can look around and not see a single tall ugly building. It almost felt like I was back in Sussex.

The park includes a lake, bicycle track and a herb garden. I took this picture in the herb garden, it's really pretty! And I saw a fat little lizard sunbathing among the herbs :)

Blouse: Franche Lippée

JSK: Innocent World

Bag: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

I wanted to make a light-coloured, dreamy classic coordinate like Fanny Rosie! Do you know her? I expect you do, since she is very popular, but if not she's a Canadian lolita with the most perfect classical outfits.

There's a cafe at the park serving all sorts of drinks and herbal teas. I had lavender tea. It was a delicate taste, and very relaxing.

I drank it surrounded by lavender bushes! 

It was a windy day but I still really enjoyed the picnic.There were wild flowers and strawberries growing in the grass, and I had a nice view of the lake.

There's also a Japanese garden. It's beautiful! Unfortunately the trees were full of hairy caterpillars.... I am fond of caterpillars so I was quite pleased to see them at first, until one tumbled out of the tree an inch from my nose. I kept my parasol up after that.

I met a wise old cat in the Japanese garden! I saw three cats in the park, this one, a roly poly ginger one, and a scrubby black one. Why are there so many stray cats in Japan? Everyone seems to love cats and feeds the stray ones, but where did they come from?

There was also a bonsai garden. Some of the trees were 300 years old.

I hope that you enjoyed the photos. If you fancy going to a park for a relaxing day, I think this one is the best in Tokyo!

See you next time,

Sapphira

Lovely Day with Shinobu

 Hello dear readers! How are you today?

Today I'll tell you about my day out with fellow lolita blogger Shinobu.

We knew each other online while I was still in England and she in Mexico, and by a very happy coincidence we moved to Japan around the same time.

Earlier this month we met in Harajuku for a very typical lolita day out, of course including purikura!

Our schedule was as follows:

1. Meet at Harajuku station, Takeshita Dori exit

2. Go to Christie and have tea

3. Closet Child

4. Laforet

5. Purikura

This is a truly typical lolita day in Harajuku! 

I got a few things that day- flowers from H&M, a hat from Daiso I'm going to decorate, super-frilly Metamorphose socks (we had to discuss about the raschel lace, but I  finally decided to get them) and a brown parasol from Alice and the Pirates (too big to go in the picture).  

I got something else too, something very precious!

It was a present from Shinobu, her original illustration of me! I was very touched and happy. She is so kind and so talented (check her blog for more of her work!) All the little details of my coordinate are just right and the watercolours are dreamy and pretty. I am hunting for a nice frame to keep it in. Thank you, Shinobu!

I enjoyed everything that day, but the especially sitting and chatting in the cafe. It was very peaceful! I'm looking forward to next time with Shinobu :)

Here is my outfit. It was raining so it was hard to find a good location!

Head bow: Ange

Onepiece: Innocent World

Bag: Metamorphose

Can you guess the theme? It's 'Schoolgirl Lolita'. 

It felt like autumn term on that rainy day!

Thank you very much for reading, and see you again soon.

Sapphira

Outfit Video

Hello dear readers! How are you today?

Maybe you have already seen it, but I have made an outfit video.

I put together six different summer coordinates, as the warm weather has arrived here in Tokyo.

It's the first time I've made a video like this, and I'm really pleased that it has got a good reception so far! Between my poor editing skills and the geriatric condition of my laptop, I'm afraid the process caused me some tears, but it was worth it in the end. 

Here is the finished product!

And here is what I wore:

Outfit 1

Blouse- Anna House  

Jumperskirt- Innocent World  

Socks- Metamorphose

Outfit 2

Jumperskirt- Innocent World

Outfit 3

Onepiece- Innocent World  

Ribbon- Jane Marple

Outfit 4

Onepiece and socks- Metamorphose

Hat- corgi-corgi

Outfit 5

Onepiece and katyusha- Juliette et Justine

Outfit 6

Blouse- Metamorphose

Skirt- Jane Marple

Wrist cuffs- Angelic Pretty

All the other bits are offbrand, second-hand, handmade and vintage.

Hope you enjoyed it! Thank you very much for reading and watching.

Sapphira

Cherry Blossoms and Creepy Dolls

 Hello dear readers! How are you?

I'm afraid this is a very belated post but there are some nice pictures you might enjoy. Back when the cherry blossoms were out, the Tokyo Lolitas went to a Mari Shimizu (doll artist) exhibiton and to Shinjuku Gyoen to admire the blooms.

My photo of a photo at the exhibition.

I like her blue ribbon and hair like a lamb.

This was my outfit! Jumperskirt is Jane Marple, coat and necklace Innocent World. Others all offbrand. Thank you Aviva for the photo!

Doll with tattoos.

This was very nice, it was a bust of a girl and inside the chest cavity there was a Madonna and little cherubs fluttering around her. Some things were a bit too gruesome for my taste but some I liked a lot.

Sakura! Now just a distant memory. It lasted such a short time!

Her expression is very sweet.

Another photo of me, hopefully not as creepy as the dolls. Sorry I was not more sakura-like, it was chilly! But the pattern on the coat is a little like falling blossoms, I think.

This is the one whose insides I admired.

Another photo of a photo, wish the postcard of this had not been sold out!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures, and maybe now you are a fan of Mari Shimizu, if you were not before.

See you next time,

Sapphira

Kawaii International 1 Year Anniversary

 Hello dear readers! Happy Easter :)

Do you know about the program Kawaii International?

It's a really nice show about Japanese fashion. If you haven't watched it, I really recommend it! It's usually on once a month, and you can see more details here: 

Program web page⇒ http://www.nhk.or.jp/kawaii-i/ 

Streaming page ⇒http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/index.html 

They just celebrated their 1st anniversary! They made a special show for it, and showed some of the viewer contributions they have had such as competition entries. They talked about my entry for U Kimura's handmade competition! I took some screen shots.

My photo is next to Cadney's! *starstruck*

I entered my handmade bonnet (tutorial here).

This is actually one of my favourite coordinates that I have ever put together, so I am really happy that they showed it. Thank you, Kawaii International! And thank you for reading, too.

Sapphira

xxxx

Black and brown coordinate

Hello dear readers! How are you?

I went to Shinjuku the other day, and decided to try out a black and brown outfit. For a long time, I didn't like this combination, but recently I started to think it looks very pleasing and elegant if done nicely. It also gives me a chance to wear my black items which I seldom use, like this chiffon blouse with tiny imitation mother-of-pearl buttons.

Headbow, JSK: Innocent World

Necklace: Chocochip Cookie

Bag: Metamorphose

Others: Offbrand

It's pretty simple, but I think I got the colour balance right. 

I went to a restaurant in Lumine Est, I'm afraid I forgot the name but it specialises in udon, soba and pasta. You can choose your main dish, plus two side dishes and a drink. I chose two desserts as my side dishes!

Warabi mochi (the one on the right) is my favourite! My friend went for rice and pumpkin. They were good too!

The main dish was cold noodles with yuzu soya sauce and mentaiko. It was really refreshing! This was actually the day of the dust cloud so it was good to eat something clean and healthy tasting after all that yuckiness.

I also got some fake glasses at 3coins, I've been thinking about getting some for a while since they look so good on Japanese girls here. The popular huge ones don't do much for me though, they are basically the same size as my face and look a bit mad. These middling seized ones are quite big enough I think.

I poked the lenses out when I got home. After all, if they are fake, you may as well make no pretence at all! I don't know if I will wear them often but it was fun to try them out for 315yen.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! See you again soon,

Sapphira

xxxx

Q-pot Cafe with Ada, Alice and Aviva

Hello dear readers, how are you?

Today I'm relaxing and doing housework, but yesterday I had a very fun day with some friends. We went to the Q-pot Cafe in Omotesando. 

Outside the cafe.

The Q-pot Cafe opened last year and it was my first time to visit it. It's a very popular place, but as we went on a Monday it was actually quite peaceful and we didn't have to wait to get a table.

Q-pot glass!

The staff are kind and let you freely take pictures inside. There was lots of cute merchandise and the decor was really nice too.

They only serve sweets, but they all looked so nice it was hard to choose! I ended up going for the one that wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing but seemed the most reliably tasty- strawberry jelly.

It's served on a plate depicting a fancy lady's torso so it seems like your dessert is the pendant of her necklace. I also had the Afternoon Breeze tea which was a kind of Earl Gray. It was really nice too!

Inside the cafe. Q-pots hanging from the ceiling!

The loos were tooth-themed for some reason; the design was cute but it made me feel guilty for eating sweets! Anyway the lighting was nice so I vainly snapped some pictures of myself....

I made the headdress myself. I wanted to wear a chocolate-y outfit to suit the occasion.

I got an outfit shot inside the cafe! I wish my house looked like this. Thanks to Aviva for taking the photo.

Headdress: Handmade

Lace collar blouse: Vintage

Jumperskirt: Innocent World

Others: Offbrand

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the pictures. See you next time!

Sapphira

横浜人形の家 Yokohama Doll Museum

Hello dear readers! How are you?

Today I'm going to share some photos from my visit to the Yokohama Doll Museum. I found out about it by chance wandering around Yokohama one year ago, but on that occasion it was closed! I'm glad I managed to make it back there in a day it was actually open.

First of all, here's my outfit:

Headbow: Ange

Cutsew: axes femme

Jumperskirt: Innocent World

Bag: Metamorphose

Others: Offbrand

My petticoat looks so flat again! It seemed fine in the morning....

I feel like this outfit is a bit different from my usual style, perhaps the colour combination and the cardigan? But I'm pleased with how it turned out! 

Being a port, Yokohama has an interesting history of cultural exchange with foreign countries. The first exhibit we came across was a doll illustrating a sad little story from Yokohama's history- the little girl with red shoes. 

She was a girl from Shizuoka whose mother gave her to be adopted by American missionaries, thinking this was the best thing for her. They took her to Yokohama in order to travel overseas, but before they left they discovered she had tuberculosis, and she died without leaving Japan. Her mother didn't know this but went on thinking about and sadly missing her daughter.

You can read more about it here:

http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/japan/attractions/AkaiKutsu.htm

A song that was composed about her going away in her pretty red shoes is a very well known nursery rhyme in Japan (it's the first song in this video). 

Well, on to happier things! The next room was dolls from around the world. It seems like every civilisation that there has ever been has made dolls, and there were cases and cases of dolls from Japan alone, all of them varied and reflecting the different regions where they were made.

Apparently this one is the Japanese version of me!

We certainly have similar legs.

I really loved the Thai dolls! Thai costumes are so beautiful and I love the elegant way they turn out their hands and feet. I want to visit Thailand some day!

On the next floor there were Japanese dolls on one side and European dolls on the other. This pretty doll was very interesting, because though she is Japanese she was made using French doll-making techniques. I really like her cute expression and her elegant height and slim figure. She's wearing an outfit for a particular dance which I've forgotten at the moment!

There was also a Japanese doll's house with such cute accessories! I have a doll's house at home that I'm still working on (I will take pictures sometime) and now I really want this Japanese one. Just look at all the perfect little plates and cups and squids!

On the European side, there were some examples of automata. I'm really interested in them but they are quite rare so there's not often a chance to see them. They had a couple here and they also had videos of them in motion. This writing pierrot was my favourite!

He was very lifelike and very dainty at the same time. There was also a dancing Rococco couple but they just turned round and round and made you giddy.

This last case showed the difference betwen the way that Japanese dolls and European bisque dolls are made. Both girls are very cute! I was suprised to learn that the Japanese dolls usually have human hair. There are some creepy stories about the hair continuing to grow....

As we left the museum, there were a few more things on display,  dolls that have been made very recently. I liked this one because he reminds me of Közi!

 Well, that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed the pictures! I think this museum is well worth a visit. Hina Matsuri is coming up next month, so it seems like the perfect time to go!

See you next time,

Sapphira