Japan-France in Umeda / Living on Mars

Remember my post about the Japan-France aesthetic? Well, we found another place where they really go for that look. Oh boy, did they go for that look here. I decided to pose out the front of a fancy restaurant called "Le Petit Jordin" because of its quintessential Japan-France décor. wearing blouse - c/o Efoxcity shorts - present from my Mum suspenders - Vintage from Kilostore (Osaka) socks - Vintage shoes - Rubi shoes necklace - Claire's (Osaka) headband - Thank You Mart Who wants to go to Mars with me? We leave in 10 years, so you'd better get started on training. Oh, one more thing, we can't come back to Earth, so we have to live on Mars forever. Is that cool? So has anybody else heard of the Mars One project? Its aim is a little bit ambitious: to set up the first permanent human colony on Mars. In 2023, it wants to send four astronauts on a one-way trip to live in these portaloo-like-structures: image from here Starting this year, Mars One plans to find the most suitable astronauts possible. Anyone can apply if they meet basic requirements. A rigorous selection process and reality TV show (yeah. seriously.) will select the final teams of astronauts. They will be trained for 8 years before heading off to Mars in April, 2023. Supplies will be sent out to Mars first, and robots will build the settlement, before any humans arrive on the surface of the planet. Another amazing thing about this project, I think, is that everyone isn't even calling it a totally far-fetched, crazy idea. Privatised space-exploration seems to be the go for the next few decades at least, and people have a lot of hope for it after the success of SpaceX (who is owned by the guy who created Paypal). And it really does seem like they have the technology to pull it off. I've got my fingers crossed that this will actually happen, because it's really, really very exciting! And I don't know about you guys, but I feel like I'm living in sci-fi future world looking at the SpaceX and Mars One websites O_o So would you guys go on a one-way trip to Mars?

Floral Overalls, Free People and Fairy Floss

You know what's seriously super lovely? These floral, stripy overalls sent to me by Free People. They're a little pricey, but well worth it if you are happy to pay the price. I kept wanting to buy cute vintage overalls that I saw basically in every shop in Japan but stopped myself every time (well, except for once), because I knew that I had these amazing things waiting for me when I got home. I've got a big huge clothing crush on overalls, jean shorts and rompers right now, as well as anything with suspenders. And I don't know if you've noticed, but I also happen to be a sucker for anything with a face on it. So my little fox bag is making an appearance once again in this outfit. wearing overalls - c/o Free People necklace - Claire's (Namba) blouse - c/o Oasap bag - Ebay socks - Tutuanna shoes - A shop in Tokyo Because of my fairy floss hair, I thought I'd write a little bit about the science of fairy floss (which I also learnt, although this is the original name for it, it is only called this in Australia. Everywhere else you might know it as cotton candy or candy floss). In 1897, fairy floss was invented by a team consisting of a candy maker and dentist (and I'm totally starting a conspiracy theory that the dentist was only part of this so that he'd get more patients, after everyone ate masses of cotton candy and made their teeth bad, heheh). Basically, all it involves is sugar (sucrose), and a device which can both melt sugar and then spin it around. First, the sugar is made into a liquid by exposing it to high temperatures. Then, using centrifugal force, it is spun around really fast and the sugar molecules are flung through tiny holes. When the sugar goes through the holes, it cools down so rapidly that it can't crystallise back to the normal sucrose form, undergoing a process called Vitrification instead and forming a glass-like substance, appearing as long, thin threads. The threads of sugar are spooled onto a stick, and you've got fairy floss! I hope you're all mighty fine!

I wanna model for Zipper / The Science of Hairdye

So I got my little brother to take these shots (his first time ever using an SLR - didn't he do a good job?! He's a natural!) the afternoon that I got home from my overnight, overseas flight, and I am pretty surprised that I don't look entirely exhausted - Japanese concealer/foundation does WONDERS. I spent the afternoon in bed reading the many Zipper magazines I bought, blubbering over the fact that I wasn't still in Japan, so for my own sanity I had to dress up in a Zipper-inspired outfit and pretend I was back there. I actually think I was scratching my nose in this shot but it also looks like I'm crying so let's pretend this is me being distraught about no longer being in Japan, haha. A fantasy plan that I've concocted over the last few days is that I'm going to go back and live there for a year, in a few years time, and model for Zipper magazine as my job. It's totally  do-able!(...) wearing sweater - c/o Romwe skirt - ICE mint green tights - Tutuanna climbing man tights - Ebay socks - Tutuanna shoes - Bodyline necklace - Claire's Remember when I had real pastel pink hair? I realised that I never learnt exactly how bleaching and dying changes your hair colour. Today I came across a cool experiment for kids that teaches you how hair dye and bleaching works, and I decided to do a little research ;) Firstly, important in hair dying are two types of (dead) cells in the hair: cortical cells and cuticle cells. When you bleach your hair, you're permanently changing the melanin in the cortical cells. Melanin is a protein in the cortical cells that exists in two types - Eumelanin in darker hair and Pheomelanin in lighter hair. Melanins vary in the ability to reflect or absorb light, which affects the colour you see when you look at someone's hair. Bleach (H202) oxidises melanin - which doesn't remove it from the hair, but makes it colourless. That annoying, lingering yellow-tinge when you bleach your hair is due to the keratin (structural proteins) in the cortical cells, which are yellow in colour. Semi-permanent hair colour tends to just coat the outer layers of the hair with acidic dyes, rather than going inside the hair to the cortical cells. However when you dye your hair permanently, the hair dye first "opens up" the cuticle cells (often by using ammonia, a basic solution). In permanent dyes, bleach is often used to remove colour from natural melanin, before dyes (there are various numbers of these, made in various ways, depending on the colour that you want) are deposited. The dyes bond with the cortical cells. Conditioners are acidic, and you use it after bleaching or dying to replace the lipids that you destroyed opening up the cuticle cells. This also "seals in" the deposited dyes. And that's a quick crash-course in how hair colour works. Now I want to experiment on my own hair again, which I know is probably most likely a very bad idea... but... for science! Right? Much love!

Yokohama / Plaid Love / Molecular Circus

*Sigh* I'm now officially back in Australia. Leaving, I felt like I was five years old as I couldn't keep from dissolving into tears every time I looked around at my surroundings and thought about how much I would miss it. More than any place I've ever been, I feel like I really belong in Osaka and Tokyo. For one, I never feel like a weirdo walking down the street in whatever outfit I've chosen to wear that day, plus everyone is just so so nice. My Japanese improved a great amount just being there for a month, and I now feel like moving there one day, for a year or so, is a plausible option for my future. Anyway, enough of that - this is an incredible vintage dress that I bought from Shimokitazawa (the best suburb in Tokyo - please visit if you're ever there) for $10, and these pictures were taken in Yokohama, which is just outside of Tokyo - and a billion thanks to Ron from Dresses on a Clothesline for being our virtual guide to Yokohama city! wearing dress - Vintage tights - c/o My Tights clips - DIY (handmade from epoxy resin) shoes - Rubi shoes I am going to be doing loads of posts over the next few days! (I still have a number of outfits from Japan that I have yet to blog about!) Thanks for being patient with my less-than-frequent posts whilst I was travelling. I'm still pretty tired from the aeroplane so I'm just going to leave you with an awesome link as my science post today. After being featured on the Scientific American's Incubator blog (which was really, really exciting), I discovered a blog called The Molecular Circus, a science blog whose posts include The Chemistry of Cake, How Alcohol Gets You Drunk and a regular feature called "Entropy Kitchen" which gives you a recipe and explains what's happening to your food on a molecular level while you make something delicious! I hope that you're all super dooper well and happy!

Denim Overalls & Universal Studios

For our two-year anniversary date, Luciano and I went to Universal Studios in Osaka. The whole place is full of different themed, amazingly detailed towns and cities including New York, San Francisco and Hollywood, with replica sets from movies lining the streets of each one. I basically feel like I've gone to America now. It was snowing basically all day (and windy), and the really scary roller coaster was closed for maintenance :( but I got to ride in a Delorean so that made up for everything! wearing overalls - Vintage from WEGO sweater - c/o Sheinside headband & necklace - 315 yen store in Harajuku/Namba boots - Asos I can't believe that I have to leave this amazing country in just three days time. Hope you're all very very well,

Lolita in Fukushima / Neuroscience

Determined to buy a lolita-style coat some time on my trip, I finally picked this one up from a Bodyline shop in Osaka for only $50! The shape of the coat is absolutely gorgeous, with its tie-up cape and how the bottom part of the skirt flounces out. This new wig is also from the same Bodyline store! I'm more than happy to be spending all my money in that shop, because no only do they provide wannabe Japanese lolitas with cheap lolita-style clothing, they also have some transgender employees, which is awesome because I think it can often be hard for transgendered people to find jobs, just because of who they are. I paired my beautiful new cape with these platform shoes from Tokyo, and as it was Valentines day, these "Je t'aime" tights sent to me by My Tights! wearing coat - Bodyline shoes - from Tokyo tights - c/o My Tights necklace - 315 yen store in Osaka headband - 315 yen store in Tokyo As my Japanese-related science factoid for today, I'm going to talk about Japanese neuroscientist/biophysicist Ichiji Tasaki - a scientist who I look up to - who made a massive breakthrough in the world of neuroscience: this guy discovered the purpose of myelin sheath. In our brains, we have special cells called neurons. The electrical signals passed between neurons is essentially the basis of all sensations, thoughts, movements and memories we experience. For example, a signal passed from the nerve cells of the hand to the brain along neurons is what tells the brain that your hand is touching a hot stove, and also helps move your hand away. Ichiji Tasaki discovered the myelin sheath, which is what wraps around each neuron's axon, acting like an insulator on an electric wire. Without it, the electrical signals that go around our brain would be much, much slower, and our brains wouldn't have the capabilities that they have. We'd also have very slow reaction times. The myelin is what is attacked and destroyed by the immune system in the autoimmune disease MS (multiple sclerosis). Ichiji Tasaki's discovery helped the world understand what was going on in MS, and also greatly advanced the field of neuroscience. More from me soon, p.s. Thanks so much for leaving such super dooper lovely comments on my Valentines day post, featuring the first-time appearance of my boyfriend Luciano! You made him super happy, and much more confident about his appearance!! Hopefully he will now be appearing on the blog more regularly, as he often wears really cool outfits I want to snap photos of! p.p.s. Fukushima probably sounds familiar because of the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake & tsunami. I'm not in that particular Fukushima in this photo, I'm in a ward called Fukushima in Osaka.