On our final day in Japan we had planned to go shopping in Harajuku one last time. It’s seriously so great to travel with someone who loves shopping in Harajuku just as much as you do! You may think I drag my mom along, heck even I sometimes think I drag my mom along. But she assured me time and time again she honestly loves it immensely. ♥
However, before going to Harajuku I wanted to try and get the dress from the new Angelic Pretty x Disney release called ‘Fairy Season’. So we got dressed, had breakfast and went on our way!
Soon, we found ourselves in front of Takashimaya Times Square at 9:30 am. I had read the series would go on sale at 10 am so we wanted to be a bit early, however the store didn’t open until 10 am. Stupid me. XD
it wouldn’t open until 10 am, haha!
So my mom and I just joked around a bit until 10 am. At first we were the only ones, just waiting between the two doors and staring at the people inside preparing the store for opening time. However, soon we were joined by more and more people (mainly women) in business suits. I had heard the previous Angelic Pretty x Disney release had been terrible, with lines and items selling out fast and people fighting! Well, maybe no fighting… x) But still! So I was mentally preparing myself for the worst, but also wondering whether it could really be that bad. The women standing next to us didn’t look like Lolita types at all (not even incognito), but you never know of course. Then, a girl stepped out of the group and started to put on running shoes! I kid you not! As it was almost opening time my nerves went up and I took a battle stance. Finally, the guard opened the doors and welcomed us with a bow. And then, some of the most surreal couple of minutes of my life happened. The girl on the running shoes started running like her life depended on it towards the escalators. Fired up, I ran up to the elevators myself (not too fast, as my mom couldn’t keep up otherwise). We went up to the 8th floor instead of the 9th floor where the Disney store was, since the elevator didn’t go up that far. So, feeling a bit worried and fearing what I would find upstairs, I ran up the last escalator and found myself… on a completely empty floor. There were absolutely no customers yet, nowhere. So I just sort of skipped to the Disney store, but as I passed the other shops on the way there, the staff waiting at the entrances to the stores waited for me to pass them, bowed, said ‘Irashaimase!’ and then started their work. They literally waited for me to pass them to start this process, as if my sole presence turned them on like robots. It was crazy! Imagine me there all alone on a children’s floor in a giant store, walking past staff members and causing them to start their daily business. Did the employees have to wait for the first customer to greet until they could start working? If I hadn’t come up to the Disney store, how long would they have waited? These questions all crossed my mind until I reached the Disney store, where I was the first customer in an otherwise empty shop! XD
I didn’t see the girl with the running shoes, so I wonder where she went? I’ll never know… But I swear, this was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had. x)
Anyway, the dress was there and I was the first one to have a look at it (such honour, hehe)! One of the kind (and incredibly handsome and cute) male staff members took the dress off the hanger for me and after examining it (and loving it already, although I did wonder why it’s called ‘Fairy Season’ when there are no fairies on it, haha) I decided to get the dress, the matching bow and the beautiful matching necklace. I doubted a little about the capelet too, but since I had bought a bunny capelet in Osaka already I decided not to. A wise decision for once, haha!
You’d think we’d had enough Disney for at least a year, but nope. We walked around the store for a bit more and after petting all the Tsumtsums we left.
My mom and I decided to take my purchases back to the hotel before going to Harajuku, so we didn’t have to drag them along all day. Back at the hotel room, I quickly took pictures of them and then we went on our way.
The last shopping day always gives me a lot of pressure. Of course it’s fun, but the realisation that this is your final chance to see, buy and do the things you want also sometimes nearly suffocates me. Luckily, I asked my mom to help me if I felt like I was starting to panic and that helped a lot.
We took the Yamanote line and soon arrived at Harajuku. It was a grey, cloudy day, but I didn’t mind. The last shopping day doesn’t necessarily require sun or blue skies. We took some pictures of the entrance and then entered Takeshita dori.
Since there was no time for frolicking around, we immediately dived into the Wego, where I bought the amazing gold round glasses I had seen on Monday, which I love to death, aaah! They are so amazing! *o* I think it’s a shame Wego seems to be taking over Takeshita dori, however it is a really great shop too!
Then, we entered the LePonte area, where my mom got a cute Gudetama key chain from a gashapon machine (that she eventually gave to me! I love it so much aaah)! While I tried a Gashapon machine with small cotton bags in them (I got a Rilakkuma… chick?) My mom also bought another bag and I decided again to not buy a heart-shaped bag (and this time, I don’t regret it).
We left the LePonte area and decided to do some purikura! As we had a lot of things planned, we wouldn’t really be able to do it at another time, plus we still looked fresh and cute. My mom and I chose the ‘Princess’ purikura booth, which was basically everything sparkly and bright pink. The backgrounds really suited our outfits of that day super well!
at these colourful pictures makes me happy! ♥
We continued our way down Takeshita dori and entered the Paris Kid’s, where I bought another pair of pompom earrings and some other things. I prefer hair pompoms over earrings, but I figured: you can also pin earrings to your hair. ^^
We walked on and right before Bodyline we took a left turn into a side street. During our visit to Harajuku on Monday we had skipped this street, but since there are more cute shops there we wanted to check them out this time. One of those shops was Fancy Pocket.
This store is located right above the school uniforms shop Conomi and is filled to the brim with the most varying accessories. There are baskets filled with hair clips, hair ties, key chains bracelets, necklaces, rings and so many DIY items! It’s the ideal place for Decora girls! They also have a lot of cute handmade jewelry made from items you can find in the shop, including these adorable handmade mascots called Hoppe-chan (which apparently has its own shop next door). My mom and I both got a Hoppe-chan and I ended up buying a lot of things there. But everything was so cheap I didn’t spent that money there at all. *___* Also the shop girl was super cute aaah.
We left the store and entered Takeshita dori again. We visited Bodyline shortly, but there wasn’t really anything I wanted. We crossed the street and instead entered Candy a Go Go, the candy shop. The shop was very cute and colourful and since we were in the mood for candy we decided to get some. It was expensive though, damn! x) But… we wanted candy. And… they had giant marshmallows! And delicious ginger bites. So yeah, we just didn’t take too much. ^^
We ate our marshmallows and other candy while we walked on. We soon arrived at Closet Child. My mom was fine with entering it one last time (‘It’s our last shopping day so your last chance!’), so we did. ^^
Now, I honestly wasn’t planning on buying anything. We browsed the shop and despite there being quite a lot of new dresses (mainly expensive ones: Misty Sky for 60.000 yen!) I didn’t really spot anything I truly wanted. Nevertheless I did pick up a couple of dresses to try, just to see whether they would surprise me. Two of them being Jewel Ribbon by Angelic Pretty in red and lavender. Then I spotted a dress I had had a lot of doubts about: Dramatic Rose in lavender. This series by Angelic Pretty had drawn my attention before, but I had always been partial on the lavender print, especially the JSK version with several bows on the chest. However, it was nicer than I expected; a bit like a curtain. But like, the good kind of curtain. I was curious whether my mom would really love it or really hate it, so I showed it to her. To my surprise she said she really liked it and suggested I’d definitely try it on!
So into the dressing room I went. First dress: Dramatic Rose. I put on the dress, my mom helped me with the zipper and I turned around. My mom, sitting on her chair, fell silent, tears welled up in her eyes and she said: ‘I think that is the prettiest dress you’ve ever put on…’
My mom, who has seen and loved me in many Lolita dresses, started crying! Now, of course she was very tired after two weeks of intense Japan-exploring and her emotions might have been a bit out of balance. But still! I, however, wasn’t that enthusiastic at first, until I put on the bolero I had been wearing in my normal outfit (when I did that, I believe my mom started crying and complimenting even more… ;_; ♥). So I decided to buy the dress! I mean… I guess you understand it was no longer possible to leave Closet Child without a dress… Yes, I will admit my mom’s enthusiasm convinced me and maybe, in a way, I bought it more for her than for me. But I was and still am overly happy with this purchase. ^^
I went to get some more cash money at the 7/11 and when I returned, my mom was chatting with two lovely girls. I believe they were from Australia and they were very nice. ♥
I found a lovely pair of socks that matched Dramatic Rose, got the same socks in white to match other things in my closet and asked the shop girl to get the Angelic Pretty pony necklace out of the accessories cabinet. I had left the pink x blue version behind in Closet Child Ikebukuro and regretted it, so this pink x pink version came along instead. I found some cute buttons and a BtSSB key chain and then my shopping was done. Dear God, last shopping days are great but also stressful (believe it or not)! Then, it was finally time to leave Closet Child again.
We walked to the end of Takeshita dori, passing so many wonderful shops we didn’t enter. I spotted a restaurant that offered an all-you-can-eat buffet where it was more expensive for men than for women to eat. I thought that was funny somehow. XD
We left Takeshita dori and crossed the street, to take pictures of the amazing and colourful clock belonging to the Harajuku information centre. Somehow I had overlooked it when we were in Harajuku on Monday (like… how? That thing is like a rainbow in a cloudy sky), so we took some nice pictures this time.
We walked on and I silently said goodbye to Takeshita dori, which we left behind us. I know it’s the same for many J-fashion lovers, but Harajuku is such a special and magical place to me, it was hard to leave.
We passed the mirror sign showing Europe of which I had taken pictures before. We passed a shop dedicated to the LINE app. A couple with their very young girl dressed in kimono walked by (she looked so cute). We also passed the awesome-looking shop called Bubbles. I took a picture in front of it just because it looked so damn awesome, but we didn’t enter it.
We didn’t enter any more shops, because we were on our way to our next destination: the Kawaii Monster Café. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about: a couple of months ago an amazing new café opened in Harajuku. The café is supposed to look like the inside of a monster and is separated into several ‘zones’. The café is designed by Sebastian Masuda, the owner of 6% Dokidoki, and you can regularly walk into shop staff or special Monster Girls aka the café’s mascots. I had been looking forward to visiting his café a lot. It’s mainly worth a visit for the sights, but the food is also weird and colourful!
We went up an escalator of a pretty normal-looking building and followed some signs when suddenly we found ourselves in front of a colourful desk and a colourful door, welcomed by two girls wearing colourful costumes. We had found the Kawaii Monster Café! The girls welcomed us and explained the concept to us: beside the cost of food, you also had to pay a separate fee just to visit the café. When we agreed, we got to pick a zone to sit at. Our choices were: The Mushroom Disco, the Milk Stand, the Bar Experiment or the Mel-Tea Room. I had seen pictures of the café before and had already decided I wanted to sit at the Mel-Tea room: a pastel-coloured corner of the café filled with cute things and macarons along the walls and ceiling. My mom was fine with it so we chose (you literally had to push a button and then the screen you had chosen lit up)! Then, one of the girls led the way and we entered through the red door, or ‘the monster’s mouth’.
Then, we entered a place that is hard to describe because there is so much to describe! We entered through the door and immediately bumped into the amazing ‘Sweets-go-round’ carrousel I had so often seen in pictures already. It’s a giant cake filled with rideable seats like a banana, a unicorn, a pair of cherries, a hat, a sheep and a dripping yellow bunny. Confused yet? Don’t worry! Here’s a picture:
We followed the waitress to the Mel-Tea room. The café was quiet, there were not many people, but there was a lot of sound coming from the music playing in the several areas. The waitress sat us down at a small round table in the Mel-Tea room, beautifully decorated with iridescent mosaic. And wow, was it amazing…
The room was everything I had dreamed of: the yellow walls were covered in chocolate bars, cream, strawberries, macarons and forks poking through the ceiling. Pastel chandeliers softly illuminated the tables and chairs. A sweet and yet oddly eerie music was playing on repeat. It was amazing!
The waitress told us something I didn’t completely understand and might even have misunderstood: apparently we were supposed to stay in our chosen area or something? Instead of walking around through the entire café. But since everyone does that, we ignored it too. x)
The waitress showed us the menu and of course I had to take a picture of it! I mean, it was a square-shaped cake with a monster in it!
Of course, the monster was not really a monster but actually a touch screen. You could easily scroll through the menu and its several different categories, like drinks, snacks, meals, etc. Since it was not that late in the afternoon, my mom and I decided to share the ‘Colorful Poison Parfait’ (so ice cream) together, as we didn’t want to eat a full meal. It looked very promising! We ordered and then waited for our food, which arrived quite fast. And we were not disappointed by its looks!
The ice cream itself was… interesting to see the least. The different coloured creams draped along the rim of the glass all had different tastes and some were very chemical, especially the green one (which tasted like mint). But somehow… it was still tasty! The ice cream itself was very nice and the cake, fruit and cornflakes were lovely as usual. ♥
After our ice cream, it was time to explore the café~! We started with… the bathroom. x) Now that may seem a bit random, but let’s be honest: there’s no way a café spectacular like this has ordinary bathrooms. Just no way. And were we right!
Have you ever been to the toilet in a rainbow? Well, here it is possible! When walked into the toilets I was blinded by the storm of colours I found there. The walls were covered in little tiles in every colour possible. A big chandelier hung from the mirror ceiling. The four toilet stalls had different colours (orange, red, green and purple). The wash bins were made of glass and stood upon a glass container filled with coloured balls. It was amazing…
We left the bathroom and went on to explore the other areas of the café. The first one we passed was the Bar Experiment. This bar was located underneath something that looked a lot like a giant jellyfish (my suspicions were strengthened by the several jellyfish lights hanging from the ceiling that accompanied it). The big tentacles hovering over the bar changed colour all the time. It was quite spectacular!
We walked past the Bar Experiment and past the Sweets-go-round to the Milk Stand. Big baby milk bottles hung from the mirror ceiling. Milk coloured seats and chairs stood around white tables with the same iridescent mosaic. A unicorn, bunny and sheep head drink were attached to some milk bottles as if they were drinking it. Quite an interesting area, don’t you think?
Between the Milk Stand and the Sweets-go-round was another amazing area: the Mushroom Disco. This incredible part of the Kawaii Monster Café consisted of several giant, colourful mushrooms and flowers that hovered above adorable round seats. I would have loved to sit there as well. If I ever return to this café, this would be my choice to sit at. ^^
There were two more areas that seemed to be the transitions between areas. I have no idea whether you could choose to sit there as well. One was to the left of the Mushroom Disco and was a bit more open, with round seats and some giant plants growing up to the ceiling. The other area was behind the Mushroom Disco and next to the Milk Stand. Long rows of red seats and tables were placed along the wall and it was decorated with big, red lips.
Like mentioned before, often you can meet Kawaii Monster girls or 6% Dokidoki staff members and I was lucky enough to spot the amazing Kanata! He was kind enough to take a picture with me, yay! ♥
Finally, it was time to leave the Kawaii Monster Café. *sniff* I had such a good time there and writing about it makes me all happy again! Walking around there was like walking through a fantasyland. I didn’t know where to look and was just amazed by everything… I hope I can return there someday, that would be amazing! But I am already so grateful for this experience. ♥
After we had paid, the waitress gave us a small gift! It was a pair of chopsticks wrapped in a Kawaii Monster Café packaging. She had stuck both the Japanese and the Dutch flag on it (although the Dutch one upside down, hihi). I thought it was so sweet!
The waitress led us to the exit (we passed the special smokers room, which was basically completely red but with a giant ice cream-shaped astray in the middle, how cool is that?) and we made our way through the gift shop (yes, there really was one). What a magical experience…
We left the building and went on our way to 6% Dokidoki. One can never have too many colours in one day, right? ^^ Once we got there, I went to browse the shop while my mom sat down on the stairs. I was very excited, for I was about to meet someone I had wanted to meet for a long time: Manon Marguerite! I had been following this amazing girl online for a long time and she was kind enough to tell me her working times at the 6% Dokidoki shop! So now I could finally meet her. ;_;
I entered the (very loud) shop and there she was! Aaah, I was a little star struck and sooo shy! But Manon was so sweet and looked amazing and then 6% Dokidoki staff member Yuka walked into the shop too and I pretty much died…
I have actually met Yuka before, in Paris, but I was so excited I had completely forgotten about that for a moment! It was actually my mom who made me remember, oh my God. Anyway, I talked a bit with Manon (I asked whether it’s hard to work in such a music-filled shop all day and she said you get used to it, respect!) and we took a picture together with the three of us! *dead again* Thank you so much Manon and Yuka, you are both so amazing! ;_; ♥
Oh, I also bought a ring and a button, almost forgot to mention. x)
It was slowly getting dark and time to leave Harajuku. My mom and I decided to walk back to Takeshita dori one last time. Right when we walked around the corner of Meiji dori into Takeshita dori, I spotted… the casual skirt of my life: bright red with big, white polkadots. I love red with white polkadots and now I saw the perfect skirt! The shop was a tiny pop up stall of ACDC rag, a shop that was also located a little further down the street. There was no way (or time) for me to try the skirt on, but it had an elastic waist band, Then suddenly, everything went superfast and I think my mom bought me the skirt..? It went so fast, it was like lightning! *o* Anyway, yay~! Skirt! ♥
We walked down Takeshita dori and I turned around one last time. I looked down the street and said my goodbye in silence.
We took the Yamanote line back to Shinjuku, where we took our purchases to our hotel room. Then, we went on our way again to buy a last gift at Tower Records, but this time at the one in Shinjuku. My dad knew another CD he would like to have, so we decided to get it for him. Once we had found it at the shop, I also asked whether they sold the Gothic & Lolita Bible. Well actually, I had to write it down. I was so proud no one had asked me to write things down because they couldn’t understand me yet! Damn you, Tower Records employee! x) I was afraid he would bring me the newest edition, but apparently that one wasn’t out yet because he came back with the cat-themed issue (that featured an article about the Lolita events in Paris and my picture). So fine, you are forgiven, Tower Records employee. ^^
We also quickly entered the DIY- and deco shop ‘Grain Plaire’, where my mom bought a bunch of beads and I bought a small amount of ring- and earring bases for decoing. ^^
To end our last day in Tokyo in style, my mom and I had dinner at our favourite restaurant. It’s remarkable that after eating there so many times, we finally received an English menu that made us understand the restaurant’s system: apparently you could combine menus! XD We never knew that before. Anyway, my mom chose a lovely plate with a tea pot(!) and I chose an amazing combination with fried chicken (can you tell I loved fried chicken during this trip?).
The food was so good I nearly cried. ;_; ♥ No but really, it was so delicious. For dessert, my mom and I both had a big soft ice cream from McDonald’s and then we returned to the hotel. There, we packed our suitcases, which turned out to be quite an adventure as usual! We weighed our luggage several times and I was on the brink of acceptable, but we managed! Then we went to sleep. It had been a long and eventful day.
And to end this post with, here is the first video I made about our adventures in Tokyo (there are two parts)! I filmed a lot and tried to make the best videos I could about our trip. I hope you will like it! ♥
You can find day 14 from 2:32 until 6:41. Please take a look if you want! ♥
Thank you for reading! ~☆~
that looks like a lovely place to go to! :)
ReplyDeleteI am glad you think so! ^^
DeleteI loved reading all your entries about your Japan trip! Makes me even more exciting for my own trip *O*
ReplyDeleteYaaay~! ^^
DeleteI've really loved reading all about your trip. I am also very eager to see you wearing Dramatic Rose - I love that print and lavender is my favourite colourway.
ReplyDeleteAaah you are too kind! Thank you so much! <3
DeleteKawaii Monster looks amazing (and a bit terrifying XD)! I love reading your Japan Travel logs, and I can't wait to see what you'll do with the ring bases you bought.
ReplyDeleteHahaha, the café wasa bit overwhelming at first, true! XD
DeleteThank you so much! I hope to use them for something cute. :3