Wandering Kimono and Other Things

I went strolling around the city on New Year's Eve and Day. This is one of the few days the streets gets cleared of people returning to their hometowns for the holidays. A great chance to photograph my outfit at. Few days before this, I received a package in the mail and it was these beautiful handcrafted pair of shoes I bought off a second hand store. They are generally known in Japan as "Jika Tabi" (Tabi boots). They are traditional shoes in Japan but you might have heard about them from these Maison Margiela boots. Just that these pair that I got where made from leather. I've never seen anything like this living in Japan. 

Tabi Boots

So much easier to take photos when theres no one looking at you like you're breaking the law. 

I also hung out in Shibuya on Jan 1st, and was amazed by the crowd. There tends to be larger crowds on holiday in this part of the city, but the place seemed to be visited mainly by tourists, and not a single Japanese soul was to be witnessed. (Except for the workers.) It was a weird atmosphere. You would eavesdrop the couple sitting next to you, the group that passes you by, and no one seems to be speaking Japanese. 

Empty Stations

So excited for the New Year. I have a lot of things in mind I want to accomplish, but first, finals!


Maria

Prints and Patterns

  I went skipping stones in my Hanae Mori dress that I thrifted. It was such a beautiful day in February at the Tamagawa River, I didn't even need my jacket so I just slipped on my light Zara jacket. (It was super cold the next day though..)

On me:

Dress - Hanae Mori

Jacket - Zara

Back Pack - Zara

Oxford - Pertini

Tights - Kutsushitaya (靴下屋)

Watch - Triwa

The pattern of this dress reminds me of the cards used in the Japanese card game Hanafuda (花札). I believe the design is composed of momiji leaves and flowing water. 

  I don't know if you can tell in the pictures but the jacket has these whimsical patterns printed on them? It looks something like a really lazy paisley. (That's what I would call it) I love how I can match the two distinct patterns in this outfit, it works because the jacket's pattern is subtle.

Now that it's April, the weather is getting a lot better so I'm looking forward to wear all the spring/summer clothes I got in my winter sale. They've been rotting in my room for god knows how long. 

A Mixture of Everything

Greetings, Internet.

I haven't updated in a year. But I'm back with a few photos to throw out here so here we go! 

  I recently (7 months ago) got myself a new lens for my DSLR. It's the AF-S NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G DX from Nikon. The first photo I took with it is of my pet hedgehog which can be seen above. Probably one of my best investments in a while. A little too bright sometimes but it works wonderfully under low light condition so I really love it. I love to go to aquariums to take photos so it the best lens I could get at a low price. All photos on this post are taken with this lens so I hope it interests you into looking into this lens! 

Photo taken at Enoshima Aquarium. One of the best aquariums in Japan. Follows the model of Montrey Aquarium in California. 

Cats love my coat. Love the blur. 

Some photos to remind myself that I meant to run a fashion blog... Photo was taken on my trip to Kamakura in October (I think). It's so much colder in Japan at the moment. I wore all Zara except for my shoes from Cole Haan and my backpack from Yoshida & Co., Ltd.

This year, I made Osechi with my mom like last year. Except this year, we used these authentic lacquer box given by our grandmother. 

Outfit on my birthday! Photo taken at Setagaya Art Museum.  

I'm wearing 

Black leather down jacket - Max&Co.

Green Ultralight down jacket - Uniqlo

Olive Skinny faux leather pants - Zara

Flower print shirt - Zara

Black leather combat boots - Staccato

Backpack - Yoshida & Co., Ltd

A little over exposed in the back ground but I wanted to share this. I found this stone lantern in the garden of Nezu Museum in Tokyo. A beautiful mixture of nature made and man made. Nezu Museum is a great place to be if you're interested in Japanese traditional art. The Garden there alone is beautiful and they have a cute cafe right beside it!

This was a brief overview/photo diary of my life in Tokyo the past few months. More posts to come in the next few months because I'm having my spring break. Trying to make more time for updating and getting my life straight! I hope you enjoyed this post (:

Maria

Being Tourists

My friend came over to Tokyo to visit me so I took him around. I dont really tour around Tokyo (i live here) so it was a nice opportunity for me to get to know the place better.

Cute wooden things from Tokyu Hands Shibuya 7th floor.

The Enoshima Aquarium（新江ノ島水族館）was just breathtaking. I love how near you can get to the sea creatures and observe them to the finest details. They put a lot of effort in presenting jellyfishes, my favourite (:

The new born turtles were only 5 cm wide when I saw them a year ago, now they aren't babies anymore...

We had a nice walk around Enoshima Island, and ate barbecued squid. Enoshima is known for seafood. You should try some if you ever visit.

It was very hot that day but windy at the same time. Very nice weather.

Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum had the best ramen noodle I ever had! A cool thing about this museum is that they replicated the Japanese streets in the 1950's precisely. It feels like you've traveled back in time. In the museum, there are variety of shops that offer many kinds of ramen. The above photo is the Salt Ramen from Kamome Shokudo. I definitely reccomend it.

We also had Sushi in Shibuya. I couldn't find a link for the shop ):

The view from 450m above. We went to Tokyo Skytree, first time for both of us. I never really saw the point in paying money just to ride an elevator to see things from higher places, but I was wrong. The whole experience was priceless. The experience was definitely worth the ticket fee.