Oh Tokyo..

I love you so much.  Today I just thought about leaving you and tears started to stream down my cheeks.  Why have you done this to me?  Why did you make me fall in love with you?  I know I'm just another girl to you, but to me, I will be in love with you forever.  You are so special and beautiful and perfect and amazing and like no other.  And you know I have to leave you in two days!  It's so unfair how you treat me.  And you know I would come running back to you with open arms if I had the chance.  You don't even care, do you?  Of course you don't, you are, like, a bunch of concrete and such, so you have no capacity to feel the feelings I have for you. You are a cruel, cruel, son of a bitch of a city.  Just saying.

Ok, enough of my cheesy sentiments.  Nina took me to Asakusa today, which is home to a giant temple and a walking street lined with tiny souvenir shops.  We checked out the temple and I stocked up on souvenirs for my loved ones.  Although the place was jammed pack with tourists, I couldn't help but be struck with the charm of what was once old Tokyo.  It was pretty nice to move from all of the neon lights and giant TV screens to incense-thick air and ancient architecture.

 jacket, shoes, skirt- thrifted; blouse- wego (japan); socks- american apparel; tote bag- violet & claire (japan)

Nina then led me to a tiny cafe that was tucked away in the walking street. I was immediately enamored with this place as soon as we walked up the stairs.  The walls were filled with books and there were multiple clocks hung up (none of them which even could tell the right time but who cares). The patrons were mostly, er..senior citizens, which I found really nice.   It was pretty adorable to see a group of old women sitting in the cafe and chatting amongst tea.  I ordered the honey toast that the cafe was famous for, and HOLY HONEY TOAST, it was fucking incredible.  Please excuse my French, but seriously, that shit was amazing. 

As much as I enjoyed the quiet time, I felt myself drawn once again to the craziness of Shibuya.  After a heaping and delicious bowl of ramen, I braved rush hour, packed myself like a sardine into the subway.  Call me cliche, but all I wanted to do was listen to My Bloody Valentine on my iPod and walk across the Hachiko crossing (totes Lost in Translation, duh).  I wandered around a few times and found some record stores and also found myself browsing the famed 109 building, gawking at the shops.  Once it turned dark though, I was gawking more at the scene of Shibuya in the dark.  I feel like this place is even crazier at night than it is during the day.  The lights are brighter, the music is louder, and there are tons and tons of people.  Despite the fact that I come from a place that is the polar opposite of Shibuya, I found some sort of peace and refreshment in it.  I made sure to take some pictures for you guys, and risked looking like an idiot tourist with a giant camera around her neck and standing in the middle of the street with tons of irritated locals bumping into her.  But that's how much I love you.

I still can't even believe I'm here sometimes, and I really feel that way right now.  The worst thing is, though, that I know Tokyo will be just a memory to me soon.  I wish I could stay here forever, but life sucks and people who live in Tokyo suck because they live on the best place on earth (just kidding to my Tokyo friends).  I feel like crying again just trying to fathom the fact that I'm going to leave so I'm going to stop writing and go cry and scream into a pillow.  Leaving Tokyo is way worse than a bad break up.  Seriously.

Goodnight :(

Ohayo!

But not really.  That means good morning in Japanese (I'm pretty sure) and it's certainly not morning but I just felt like saying it.  Anyways it's night time and I'm sorta pooped but I still have fathomed up enough energy to catch you up on all of my exciting Tokyo endeavors. 

Yesterday was quite a busy/tiring day filled with record shopping.  I trekked Shinjuku without getting lost (I know you are so impressed) and found Disc Union.  It's a big union of disks of all sorts and good things like really good vinyl for good prices. I climbed and sorted through six stories of goodness, although I have to admit that by the time I got to my favorite section, the indie pop section, I was so tired that I didn't even feel like moving my fingers to sort through the records.  But whatevz, I have more time for that.

Shinjuku was a lot less intimidating than I thought it would be, mostly due to the fact that the train station is pretty hard to miss.  I think I circled it a few times and I took quite a few pictures.  Never mind whatever I was wearing, it doesn't even matter.  Let's just say that I looked like a big, greasy piece of poop and that the city of Tokyo is definitely a lot more pleasing to the eye than I was at the time.  Here's some shots:

  Today my lovely tour guide/friend, Nina, took me to Harajuku.  We started at the most pleasant Starbucks I have ever been to.  It was set on a rooftop of a mall, with a wide outdoor patio.  We lounged on suspended wicker chairs and sipped on our lattes and discussed how pleasant the weather was.  Quite relaxing!

We then set off to eat and shop, the greatest pleasures in life.  If you think Harajuku is all about gawking at girls dressed in ridiculous outfits, or cosplay, think again.  This art of looking like a cartoon character isn't as prevalent anymore.  It's pretty strange, considering that it seemed to be one of the main attractions of Harajuku (think Gwen Stefani's Harajuku girls).  Nevertheless, I enjoyed the shopping and stuffing my face with a strawberry and cream crepe.

dress- asos; sweater, shoes, purse- thrifted

Later on, Nina had to head off and study for a mid-term, so I took to the streets of Shibuya for some more record hunting.  I stopped off at a few shops and searched for Violet and Claire, a small, independent, and incredibly adorable shop owned by Sumire Twee (who is incredibly adorable herself).  She signed my good friends, Sea Lions, to her label, and recently brought them to Japan for a tour.  I heard so many great things about her that I just had to visit her shop to meet her myself!  I walked into the shop and she graciously welcomed me and we talked about Tokyo and records and life and all of that fun stuff.  I highly recommend visiting her shop if you are ever in Shibuya, not only to check out her selection of records and clothing/accessories and curios, but just to meet the lovely woman herself!  She is just the greatest.  Anyways, I was so absorbed by talking to her and her shop that I didn't even think of taking any pictures.  But here is her website. Go look at all of her stuff and all of the cool stuff she is selling/doing!

 

pics from violet&claire blog

Aight, I'm off to sleep now.  Hope you all in cyber land are having a good time reading all of my ramblings.  Nighty night!

jet lag

Oh hello!  Here I am, in a tiny hotel room in Tokyo, equivalent to the size of a bathroom, at five in the morning, wide awake.  I had the bright idea that maybe I should start blogging again, and felt that my travels this summer would be a nice foray into the blogging world.

I'm here in Japan visiting my friend, Nina, and generally having an awesome time.  This place is impossibly cute/amazing/heavenly/delicious.  I don't get it, but whatever, I guess all of the rest of us just have to accept the fact that Tokyo is way cooler than anywhere else on the planet.  Ugh.

Yesterday Nina took me to a neighborhood on the outskirts of Tokyo called Kichijoji.  It's the polar opposite of the craziness and neon-ness of Shibuya and Shinjuku and what most of us visualize when thinking of Tokyo.  It's a quiet little neighborhood filled with tiny cafes and vintage stores, and of course it's cute in every possible way. 

We spent most of our time in Kichijoji walking through a big park there that I can't remember the name of.  Apparently if you go to this park with your significant other, you guys are bound to break up.  It's a pretty hilarious legend considering this park is like lover's paradise. 

shirt, sweater, belt, and shoes- thrifted; skirt- american apparel; socks- ralph lauren; backpack- fjallraven; headband- forever 21

       

Anyways this is what I wore, I guess I can't decide whether this blog is going to be a fashion blog or a travel blog so let's just say it's having an identity crisis and let it be both.

I'm off to try and sleep, today I'm going to Shibuya for some record shopping.  After I fall back asleep of course, which I'm sure I won't.  Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! Ok bye!!!!!!!!