A day in Tokyo with my mother

Hello dear readers! How are you?

I still haven't got round to posting all the pictures from my mother's visit back in October, so I'm sharing a few with you today.

On this day we went to a couple of museums- the Edo Tokyo Museum and the Sumo Museum, which are very close to each other in Ryogoku.

You can guess where we took this picture!

I'm the referee!

Although I've been to the Edo Tokyo Museum several times before, this was the first time I've had a guided tour. I really recommend it; the tour is free, available in several languages, and you can choose how long you want the tour for and which part of the museum in particular you'd like explained. 

We told the guide we only had 20 minutes, in case it was boring! It wasn't at all though, so we asked her if we could extend it, haha.

The museum is divided into different time zones, and I found these adorable Junichi Nakahara postcards in the Showa section.

I also saw this cool kimono/jumpsuit thing! There was some footage of a girl wearing one, she looked so stylish.

I picked up a couple of postcards and a "Modern Girl" pack of oil removing papers. It is a testament to my extreme oiliness that none are left now :( 

After that we went to take a look at the newly restored Tokyo station. It was originally built in 1914, and I think that the architect who designed it was a student of an English architect who went to Japan to teach.

It's very interesting to see a Western-style building like this here in Tokyo! My home town in England is close to Brighton, famous for the crazy Indian/Chinese palace built by George IV while he was a decadent prince. This building is less crazy and more tasteful, but strange nonethless.

Anyway I like it! The imperial palace is nearby, and we wanted to visit that next, but all we found was a big "CLOSED" sign and a lot of angry tourists!

I hope we'll get a chance to go to the palace next visit, and we'll be sure to arrive earlier then.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Next time, I'll tell you about the Tokyo lolitas' adventures in ice skating and the El Dorado carousel!

Thanks for reading,

Sapphira

Hakone

Hello dear readers! How are you?

Today I'll share my pictures from the trip my mother and I took to Hakone. We had a great time!

First, we took the Romance Car from Shinjuku. It's a fancy train that takes you to Hakone in style! I don't know that it's terribly romantic, but more a bit romantic than the local train I suppose.

Hakone is famous for it's mountain scenery and hot springs. October /November is the best time to go to admire the autumnal colours, so we took the views from train, cable car, furnicular railway and even pirate ship!

 Our good ship:

Can you see the red torii gate at the water's edge?

For all it's tourists, Hakone is a sleepy sort of place.

We had lunch in such a cool café! Well, my mother didn't like it unfortunately.

There were dolls in glass cases, and all sorts of interesting knick-knacks. 

If there are any lolitas in Hakone (I can't imagine it, somehow) I think this would be a good place to have tea!

In hopes of seeing Mount Fuji, we went to the former Imperial Gardens which is supposed to be an excellent viewing spot. It was too cloudy to see Mount Fuji sadly, but the view and gardens were lovely nonetheless.

We also took a walk through the ancient cedar avenue. It's so beautiful and restful!

We also went to the onsen at night, which was lovely, but of course I don't have any pictures of that!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! What do you think of Hakone?

See you next time,

Sapphira

平塚の七夕まつり~Tanabata festival in Hiratsuka~

Hello readers! How are you today?

Last Saturday it was the 7th of July. This day is the Japanese star festival called Tanabata!

There's a romantic legend about Tanabata, which involves Orihime and Hikoboshi, a couple who lived on opposite sides of the Amanogawa river. Long long ago, Orihime spent her days weaving beautiful fabric for her father to wear. She liked to please her father, but she was rather sad because she never had time to meet anyone to fall in love with. Her father felt sorry for her, so he introduced her to Hikoboshi, who herded cows on the other side of the river. The two fell in love right away and were duly married, but since they both neglected their work after getting married, Orihime's father was angry and forbade them to see each other anymore. However, Orihime begged her father to let the couple be reunited, so he agreed that on the seventh day of the seventh month they would be allowed to meet again.

This was the first time I experienced a Japanese festival, and I really enjoyed it! It was very busy in the streets of Hiratsuka, with a real party atmosphere. There were decorations put up by various shops, like the one above (it's by Mos Burger!), lots of food stalls and many people wearing yukata (summer kimono), including me!

It's by no means perfect, but I put it on pretty much entirely by myself including tying the obi, so I'm quite proud. I had a really good teacher though, my friend from Kanagawa who I was visiting on this day. She advised me not to wear geta if you're not used to it, it might hurt terribly and ruin your day, and besides that many Japanese girls do not. I matched my bag and hair accessory to my sandals to make it more balanced. Next time for my hair, I'll try an updo with braids.

I look extremely derp in this picture, but I wanted to show you some of the festival food. We had this (slightly pickled cucumber on a stick), Hiratsuka curry-pan (deep fried bread with curry inside- very yummy!), takoyaki, yakisoba.... lots of nice things! There was also some entertainment on the main stage, dancing and so on. We caught a bit of hula dancing!

It was so much fun, and I really enjoyed wearing yukata! There are various summer festivals throughout the season, so I hope to go to another in a month or so. 

I hope you enjoyed the pictures! If you come to Japan, please try to catch a festival! I'm sure you will enjoy it, and it's something you can only experience here. I think you should try wearing yukata too!

See you next time,

Sapphira

xxxx

Lolita Exhibition in London: Kitty and the Bulldog

Hello dear readers! How are you? Hope you are enjoying the weekend.

Have you heard of the current lolita exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London?

Both my friend and I couldn't attend the big meet up to see it last weekend, so instead we went to see it yesterday. It was great fun to catch up with her, and you know, the exhibition was really quite good! 

It was quite small, but free of charge, and I think the curator made a very good choice of outfits to represent different styles. The focus of the exhibition was illustrating the influence British fashion has had on Lolita fashion (hence the name). Here are the pictures I took:

~Innocent World~

~Baby, the Stars Shine Bright (r) and Alice and the Pirates (l)~

~Moi-même-Moitié~

~alice auua~

~Putumayo~

~Sixh. and MINT Neko~

(looks so much like AKIRA!)

~Takuya Angel~

~Mamechiyo Modern~

As you can see, it was not only lolita that was represented, but rather the whole contents of Shinjuku Marui One! My absolute favourite was the final kimono, so cute and lovely, and the fabrics were beautiful. 

Close up of the obi. I love the ribbon peeking over the top!

I'm happy that our beloved fashion is displayed here in London, and being treated seriously instead of dismissed as 'crazy Japanese stuff'. Maybe some new lolitas will be born after seeing this exhibition! 

Here's the link to the V&A's page about the exhibition:

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/k/kitty-and-the-bulldog/

Have you seen this exhibition? What did you think of it? Or if you haven't, what is your impression of it from this post? I'll be very interested in your opinions!

See you next time,

Sapphira

xxxx

Culture Clashes in Yokohama

Hello dear readers!

Today's post is another installment of my travel adventures, this time to Yokohama.

The day started well with a most excellent sleep on the train from Tokyo! I'd been sleeping quite badly around that time, which is most usual for me as I'm generally liable to fall asleep as soon as I stop moving.

The first place we went was Chinatown. Yokohama's Chinatown is the biggest in Japan, and in fact Yokohama (being a port) has a long history of cultural exchange with foreign nations.

I was very excited to see this Rocky Horror poster outside one of the restaurants! I'd love to see it in Japanese.

We had lunch at a famous Chinese restaurant. I liked the grand, heavy Chinese furniture a lot. Unfortunately I was less impressed by the food. I hoped it was a one off experience but I met up with a friend from Singapore later on, and she mentioned that Chinese food in Japan was pretty awful. I would always believe a Singaporean about food, so I'd advise just soaking up the bustling atmosphere in Chinatown. Unfortunately for me that involved being hooted at by a teenage chesnut seller! In general you don't experience those sort of things (which are a regular occurence in England) when wearing Lolita in Japan. Still, these things are to expected and I enjoyed my little visit to Chinatown nonetheless.

The next place we went was very lovely- the Yamate district. This is a hilly area where many foreigners lived from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s, in grand Western-style buildings. These buildings have been restored and are open to public viewing free of charge.   

The first one we visited was the Diplomat House. It was built by an American architect in the American Victorian style. I think this was my favourite one of all!

Although it is ostensibly Western-style, I detected a bit of Japanese taste too. In fact the diplomat who lived there with his family was Japanese.

This display of children's things was so cute! The pine decorations are for new year.

A view of the ornamental garden and the rest of Yokohama. Being so high up, the views and the air are lovely. I would have liked to be the ojousama of this house!

Next we took a short walk to Berrick Hall in Motomachi park. The houses are grouped in various parks close to each other, and since the area is very pleasant there are plenty of nice things to see on your way. 

Berrick Hall is the biggest of these residences. It's a Spanish-style mansion that was built for a British trader. By the way, please excuse my funny green slippers in these photos! No outside shoes are allowed in these houses.

Berrick Hall was also used as a boarding house for one of the nearby private schools. Sadly the school was closed in the 1990s. There is some school memorabila displayed about the place, but the restoration has been so complete that I couldn't imagine what it must have been like as a boarding house. I think that's a bit of a shame! 

I want a dress in this lovely deep teal-green colour!

The nursery room. I think Mr Berrick had a son? It was a very sweet, airy little room.

This is one of the buildings we saw on our walk. It's so cute isn't it? It reminds rather of Austrian houses. We also passed the Sacred Heart Cathedral and Christian cemeteries. 

Finally we went to the biggest park, Harbour View Park, where we had tea in the Rose Garden Cafe in the basement of the British House.   

This cafe specialises in rose desserts and drinks. The drinking water we were served tasted of roses! I had the rose roll cake, and my companion had the rose chiffon cake. Both were very nice, with a natural rose taste, not too sickly sweet.  The waitresses had old fashioned aprons trimmed with lace, and attached to the cafe was a very adorable gift shop selling rose goods. 

We also met this pretty cat enjoying the afternoon sun. She miaowed at me but was far too comfortable to get up. 

I had a wonderful time in Yokohama, I really like that city! I'd like to spend more time there in the future. Next time I'd like to visit the Doll Museum, which unfortunately was closed that day. I've heard there's a cat museum and a curry museum too! 

The best thing I saw was the mix of cultures. What I admire most about Japan is it's abilty to absorb influences from all over the world and from that produce something uniquely Japanese. Lolita fashion is a perfect example of this, I feel.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

Sapphira

xxxxx 

Singapore Highlights (part one)

Here's the first write-up about my trip!

I did quite a few things, such as meeting some very lovely Lolitas, going to a nature reserve, and spending a few days in Cambodia. I'll write about those in forthcoming posts, but to start things off, here are a few highlights:

Hari Raya lights in Geylang! I like the luminescent ketupat (that's rice cooked in a woven palm leaf package) in the top left of the picture. And I'm very fond of eating the non-luminous variety!

Gizmo, my cousin's gentle giant of a cat. We made good friends over the holiday! He's a big softie, and wails like anything if there's no one to cuddle him.

Quaint old shop-houses in the Arab Street area, plus a skyscraper and palm trees. Singapore is so pretty, with such varied scenery! This was taken near the famous Sultan Mosque.

I wore a kebaya (type of traditional Malay outfit) to go Hari Raya visiting. It's just a cheapie one, and a bit big for me (it's supposed to be worn fitted) but it was certainly fun to wear! I saw some very beautiful (and expensive)  kebaya and baju kurung when I was shopping for my outfit, maybe I'll treat myself next time. On this occasion I had to wear the sarong hipster-style as otherwise it would have been about 10cm too short!

When my aunties saw me in my outfit, they were very suprised. "Sapphira!" they said, "You look so....... Japanese." Oops! Maybe I'll look Malay if I wear kimono? 

Hope you enjoyed this post, it's been nice to relieve some memories of my holiday! Looking foward to seeing you next time.