Sakura Lolita

Yeah, so, I thought I should dress up to match the cherry blossoms ’cause I’m a massive, attention-seeking idiot like that ;P Got the dress/cardigan from Bodyline, shock horror! Some Lolita purists don’t like that shop buuut, their clothes are pretty so, um, whatever? I’m not usually much of a pink person really, the cherry blossoms must have influenced me. It was a gorgeous day, perfect weather, perfect sky.

Vanilla Beans at Grasshopper Event

Went to the Grasshopper Manufacture event at Shinjuku Loft Plus One on Wednesday and guess who were there? Vanilla Beans! Yay! I do rather love their videos, they always look sort of bored and their dance moves are all slightly half hearted. Anyway, their performance was very cute! Their dresses: so monochrome and matching! I saw them on the way out of the venue and I wanted to take a photo but they were so cute I got really embarrassed and forgot how to say ANYTHING in Japanese (not that I can say a lot to begin with…).  Also I had a massive cold and was probably a bit drunk, oh dear. They said something and then the lady next to them said something but I got so flustered I just apologised and ran away! OK, I walked, but I was still running away. I realised as I was leaving that what was probably the case was that they were asking for donations in exchange for a polaroid photo with them! By this time I was so embarrassed I just couldn’t go back! I wanted to but couldn’t face it so I headed off into the night instead. Oh well. It was a fun night anyway, apart from the cold. I took a few videos too, might upload later! Here are some photos though, cute!

Oh Maiko

Went to Kyoto last weekend on an Autumn leaf hunting MISSION. There are photos of leaves, of course, but there are also pictures of me dressed up as a maiko. It was a fun thing to do. I really love getting my make up done. It’s not like getting a haircut, you can just lie back and look forward to whatever the make up artist is doing and if it’s all that bad you can just wash your face. Of course I wasn’t unhappy with the results! Especially the lips. Goodness me they were amazing, I wish I could apply lipstick like that… *sigh*

I love the eye make up too

Sad Maiko face

Thoughtful Maiko face

Icy light

I removed everything except the eye make up afterwards, managed to keep that on all day :)

We went to Shiki Sakuraten and they were very nice so you should go there if you fancy dressing up as a maiko, geiko or samurai!

Cosplay Times

On August 31st and July 1st I went to the World Cosplay Summit 2010 in Nagoya. I guess I’d always been a little dismissive of cosplaying but since coming to Japan I’ve decided it’s actually quite cool (well, most of the time anyway…there are some aspects of it I’m less than fond of…). I was pretty excited when I found out about this event, and so nearby too!

Day One:

Headed to Nagoya with Danny and Matthew, had lunch at Boyd’s Cafe in Osu. Their scones are nice as are their lattes. Not really any vegetarian options though so I just had scones and coffee.Mm, nutritious!

The day’s events began with a red carpet mini parade featuring this year’s contestants. I wasn’t there because a) I wasn’t invited *sob!* and b) I needed a lie-in (minor hangover *sob!*). Next up was the cosplay parade, held in Osu Kannon. Goodness me, it was quite fun! I decided to dress up cause I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t.  It can be practise for the day when I finally go full on Gothic Lolita and wander around Nagoya. So anyway,  I dressed up as Mio Akiyama from K-ON! It’s a manga/anime series about a group of high school girls who form a band. Mio is the bassist and my outfit was one of her stage outfits. It was pretty much a maid outfit but as we have established, maids=cute! I’ll come right out and say it: I bought my outfit at Cospa. Real cosplayers make their own outfits but I am really terrible at sewing and I don’t have a sewing machine either. Maybe next year…

So on the way there Danny and Matthew  were joking that I’d have to watch out for photographers. “Haha”, I thought. They were right though! Standing still for a few moments seemed to make me radiate a ‘Take my photo now!’ vibe and I soon had people coming up and asking me if they could take a picture. Wow-like paparazzi! I felt too shy to feel famous. Lots of people were using their phones but some guys (only guys!) had those cameras that take zillions of pictures at once, eep! I didn’t really have any poses ready so I just did maid type poses (Whatever that means?! In my head I was thinking “Yeah, these are maid-ish”, but what do I know?!). Some girls went into little paroxysms and kept screaming “Kawaii!! Kawaii!!” at me which was pretty funny really! The parade was cool if a little weird at times because when it slowed up the cosplayers were just kind of stuck there, staring at the crowds! Some were posing and some just seemed a little confused! At the end of the day I got changed before heading back in case we bumped into anyone!

Posing at Osu Kannon

Coffee?

Mio x 2!

Parade

Even characters need to make phone calls

Unimpressed face!!

Cleek

A walking DS game

Piplup!

Maids need to shop

Gundam

Maids also need dark chocolate orange mochas

Cosplay shopping

Pokemon gang!

All the Pochamas

Photo shoot (I love their clothes!!)

Spaceship

Night time in Sakae

Day Two
Me and Danny arrived at Oasis 21 around 15.30. By 16.00 (3 hours til showtime) my feet were killing me (heels) and we had to go to Starbucks to sit down. It was funny to see all the cosplayers sitting around drinking frappuccinos. Baskin and Robbins seemed to be the most popular place though-the line was massive and made up entirely of cosplayers! Had my photo taken some more and ran into three other Mios! One matched me and the others were wearing two of her other outfits.

Before the show started we met up with some other friends and while Danny filmed I headed off to the observation deck above the art gallery across the road to see how the view of the stage was from there. Unfortunately to get to the observation deck we had to pass a fancy restaurant. The entrance was full of people in very posh outfits, it looked like a wedding reception or something. We were respectively wearing: shorts and a T-shirt, a yukata and a maid outfit. I couldn’t look up! I could just imagine everyone thinking “Oh foreigners! They’re so ker-ayzee!” On the way back out I noticed one of the guests holding a half empty bottle of JD. That made me feel a bit better for some reason.
The observation deck was way too hot so we soon headed back. By now it was getting dark and the sky was a dusky dark pink. Oasis 21 looks fantastic at night. It’s made to look like a spaceship and it DOES. What with all the cosplayers walking around and the lit walkways and billboards it really felt like some futuristic space town. Bladerunner crossed with a fuzzy rainbow. Caught about two thirds of the show from a staircase. The place was really packed and there was almost nowhere to go. People were crammed onto the ground floor around the stage and against the railings of every floor surrounding it.

I missed the last few contestants because I just couldn’t stand on tip toes anymore! I watched through Danny’s video screen then took a break to get mango and yuzu frappuccinos. This time I wore everything but my headband home-too tired to find somewhere to change. So to summarise: cosplay is really awfully fun and I’d do it again. Some people are just so talented at making costumes, it’s crazy/brilliant!

You’re So Vain

Haha, in case you didn’t see it, here’s my Thank You Mart photo:

And for fun, here’s the Google Translate version of the blog post:

Tattered

Yone is a body battered recently.
Severe skin irritation and sores (;;)

Yone recently such
College friends met after a long time.
I met a very long time
I was relieved not changed at all ♪
Spend a fun day at the
I have a friend what I thought (^ ω ^)

I met in Nagoya
We have also incidentally the shop.
It issued a regular shop your favorite brands in Nagoya
Recent medical Bittatteimasu lol

Since the store Naichichi
Means to have the opportunity to go to Nagoya

I went to OSU Sankyumato of course! !
It was crowded despite ☆ week
I hope there is much too busy Yokkaichi
I called my best! ! ! Lol

Now
About this time Mr. fashionable ♪
Your name “Joanna Tocher” says
This is how foreign people (∀ ° °)
Truly a voice call was nervous laughter

New Year at the age of 26
ALT occupation
I asked this is that foreign language teaching assistant.
The little Japanese 離Senairashiku
Lol I worked hard in the little English yone

Comments
“I love this shop!!
It has lots of cool jewely, T-shirts and cool music!! ”
Lol I received in English and
Or
Lots of cool decorations, T-shirts, and music
♪ I love to say Sankyumato

It comes in many popular shoes and accessories next summer
Please come and do just that! !

Now is the time around here

Yokkaichi store thrift store Sankyumato

Oh Google Translate..

I’m going to watch Treme now!

Ooh! Mini fame!

So I was shopping in Thank You Mart in Yokkaichi the other day (I love this shop!) and as I was on my way out a cool shop assistant (they are all cool and they all look amazing) stopped me and asked if he could take a photo of me for their website! Since my Japanese level is still pretty much zero ( I know, I’m awful, don’t worry, I beat myself up about it every day!) all I could understand was ‘shashin’ and then ‘cute girl’ (*blush*) and ‘website’. Then the two shop assistants wrote ‘Age’, ‘Occupation’ and ‘Comment’ on a piece of paper for me..so sweet! Anyway, now my picture is on the website along with lots of stuff I can’t understand! The first half of the post isn’t about me, just the last part. For fun, I recommend translating the page into English because…it makes no sense! I’m sure it DOES make sense really but the translate function on my computer is ah…so-so at best!

Anyway, it was nice for my tiny, struggling self esteem and made me very happy, especially since I do really love Thank You Mart, they sell so many awesome things. I’ll take a photo of the T-shirt I plan to buy there on Friday.. it’s so amazing, a description wouldn’t suffice!

Here is the link to the diary page btw:

http://www.390yen.jp/shop/detail/1/158/#sdiary

(Might need to scroll down a little!)

Summer Shades

OK, so I’ve always thought sunglasses are pretty cool but I’ve never had much luck with them. I usually get too scared to wear the more outrageous ones and end up with boring ones that I can’t even be bothered wearing and so I squint my way through the summer, wishing I could find sunglasses that suited me. No more! OK, last year, right before Summer Sonic, I found a really awesome, red, horn rimmed, diamante studded pair in Thank You Mart (390 Yen, yay!) but this year I’ve found an even better pair! I got them in Uniqlo and I love them!

Oh sunglasses, you are great

Now I won’t bump into things any more

I am being pensive now…

Happy again!

I love them so much I don’t care what anyone thinks. hooray!