Vintage Shopping in Koenji

wearing sweater - a store in Harajuku skirt - Vintage (from Koenji) ring - c/o Oasap necklace - c/o Merrin & Gussy tights - Ebay socks - Thank You Mart shoes - Rubi Shoes If I were to list my favourite suburbs in Japan, Koenji would be in the top five. The main shopping street features a ridiculous amount of cool vintage stores, both boutiques and the cheaper "used clothing" variety. Plus the whole area itself is super cute. I have a fantasy plan to come back and live here for a year before I start my science phd, and Koenji is where I'd most love to live. In the photo just above I'm standing in a super cute vintage store, holding a dress which I really wanted but didn't buy as it was just a bit too expensive... looking at it now though I'm wondering WHY I didn't buy it! From this same shop though, I bought the corduroy overall-style skirt I'm wearing in the top photos for only $10. Oh Koenji, you're so cute. I think I had a Kawaii-attack at every shop front that I passed. The attention to detail in all the stores is incredible and something that you don't find at all in Australia. I'm definitely going to live here one day. Hope you're all having a lovely Monday! p.s. I loved reading all the comments you guys left me on my blog post yesterday. You guys make me laugh so much, I'm so happy to have such lovely people reading my blog and leaving such thoughtful messages! :)

Boardwalk - Tokyo Bay and Odaiba

Sorry I haven't updated you guys for a few days on my trip, but I think I have a pretty good excuse, because this happened: (I'm trying to look sad and forlorn here in order to score some sympathy points, haha). So the "official" story is that my left foot got horribly and dramatically crushed by an entire circus that rode through town. Because that's a much more interesting story. (And I'm also looking forward to some comments from people have merely skimmed through this and think that's what actually happened.) However the real (and boring) story is that I have inflamed tendons and wasn't able to walk for a few days, due to me being over-enthusiastic about exploring all of Tokyo on my first day here. Although it's been a lot more slow-going, luckily it hasn't stopped us doing too many things and we've still had some great days hanging out at bath houses and riding ferries and exploring the Trick Art Museum at Decks in Odaiba. And shopping, of course. So I've made sure not to not mope around, and look at this whole slightly-crappy situation more like this: If you get what I mean. Anyway, I have a billion photos to share over the next few days of all the awesome places we've been exploring, so look out for them soon! wearing: sweater - Vintage scarf - Shibuya 109 necklace - c/o Merrin & Gussy tights - c/o Oasap shorts - c/o Wholesale socks - Vintage beanie - my boyfriend's shoes - Rubi Shoes Here's a few pretty shots from Odaiba. It's a crazy, weird and wonderful place - the whole area is built on top of an artificial island and half the buildings are department stores or amusement parks of some sort. Highlights are a replica 1980s game arcade, a "Trick Art" Museum and an Edo theme-park onsen. That's all from me today! Hope you're all well. Much love,

Day Two / Japanese Science & Internet Umbrellas

Ohayou! This is the outfit I wore yesterday for exploring some more of beautiful Tokyo! If you're ever going to Japan, you must make sure to check out Kichijoji. I spent the afternoon wandering the gorgeous Sun Road shopping street (see photos below). wearing sweater - Harajuku (and I forgot the name of the store) necklace - c/o Merrin & Gussy coat - my mum's coat tights - Ebay socks - Vintage bag - Rubi Shoes skirt - Ice shoes - Asos I forgot to take photos of everything cool I saw yesterday, because I was too excited by it all... haha :) however here is a shot of one of my favourite chain stores in Japan - Momo by Wonder Rocket. (There's about 3 of these in Harajuku on Takeshita street alone. They have the cutest stuff.) Oh and hey! I'm not going to forget my science posts either while I'm abroad! Here's a little Tokyo-themed science story. My next few science posts are going to be Japan-themed, quite fittingly! The photo you see above (from this news story) is an "internet umbrella" called Pileus, which displays a Flickr stream and google maps underneath the canopy. It can even play Youtube videos. Created in 2007 by two Japanese graduate students at a research and design laboratory, it's a cute use of technology and science with the aim of "making rainy days more fun". While displaying social media and the like on one's umbrella will probably not catch on - and I can also imagine it would cause a lot of people to bump into each other - it is a step towards the world of augmented reality (which many science commentators have declared is going to take off in 2013). Augmented reality is the science of having the world around you "augmented" or "enhanced" with things that aren't actually there. An example of augmented reality is like being able to look at a restaurant through special glasses, or through your iphone camera, and having it tell you the number of people inside and if any of your friends from facebook are currently eating there (seriously, look up augmented reality, it's awesome). In fact, google have already begun developing augmented reality glasses. I hope that you're all very, very well! More from me soon,

Snapshots from my first day in Tokyo

Hello from Japan! So apart from being completely terrified on my first night as I went shaken awake by a tiny little earthquake at 3am, I have arrived safely and have had the most amazing first day in Tokyo! I threw myself right into the middle of Shibuya and Harajuku to get reacquainted with 'essential' Tokyo, then spent the night wandering around Omotesando and had dinner in downtown Ikebukuro. Here's some pretty pictures of my day. Watching the moon rise on one side of the plane as the sun set on the other, about to fly over Japan. And it's definitely winter here - there's melted snow piles everywhere! A side street in Harajuku and my outfit for the day! Checking out the Disney store in Shibuya where they have a perfect replica of Andy's room from Toy Story! Takeshita Street in Harajuku - the most amazing shopping street in the world. I promised myself I wouldn't make the first day into a shopping day but somehow came back to our hostel with 5 bags of goodies. Oops... The most incredible (and cheap!) lolita-style store! (I may have bought a pretty wig) Very Harajuku-style clothing Cat-themed accessories are EVERYWHERE If you ever go to Japan, go to a Thank You Mart. Everything is 390 yen, or about $4 each. And they have the largest selection of vintage clothing and cute accessories. The above photo is what I got and it all cost me $12 (and the socks were 2 pairs for 100 yen!) Went to the famous Avant Garde in Harajuku and had a nice chat with the owner! This is a printed tights store, who print their own designs on tights for around $30 a pair, and is basically the reason tattoo tights became super fashionable last year. It was awesome being in the place where the trend originated. Late-night snack in 7-11. I love Japanese 7-11. You can buy whole (and good) Japanese meals here for about $3. Wandering the extremely fancy Omotesando and window shopping Dior, Chanel, Swarovski and Anna Sui who all have MASSIVE stores here. A little something I bought myself in Harajuku... how could I resist?? Went to a Book-Off chain and bought a bunch of back-issues of magazines, which all cost me about $12. Got myself some recent Nylon magazines and a Kera from May. Full of so much inspiration! I will have an outfit post for you guys very soon. Hope you're all super well!