☆ November in a Nutshell.

Well, it is ALMOST December, so I'm going to round up November as a whole. It also prevents me leaving the apartment; and trust me, I do not wanna go outside in this weather. Hot and windy? UGGH. However I've not been outside in a few days now, totally a hermit!

Mt Fuji in the distance during sunset.

   I am finally settled into our new home. Albeit a few things I am nitpicking at like storage boxes, and I avoid one room here like the plague, which I am basically leaving it up to my partner to rearrange. Men and their gizmos!! For someone who suffers from OCD it's rather difficult setting a new 'routine' with someone who just... likes to destroy any order I have created. (_ _ ||)
 
We celebrated D's Birthday a few weeks ago, actually D is the 'last' of the Birthdays this year - in Japan - because my Father's is next. So I hope to send him something back home on time! There was a large-ish earthquake during the celebrations, and everyone seemed keen to see my reaction. I'm strangely never phased?

   My Partner and I have been congratulated endlessly over the month, and finally was the end of my visa application which had been granted! (*^ω^*) It was difficult, but not impossible? I will write a more detailed blog about the entire application etc soon!

Disney GOAL!! Christmas Stitch!

   After finding out Yokohama has a Disney Store I pretty much demanded we went to find it. Traffic was insane for a Sunday which always seems to be deemed a holiday. I'm glad we have a car now.. even if I have to put up with One Direction. (￣□￣;) But the shopping center is full of Christmas spirit which I love! We visited a couple "Import Stores" as there is a current mission to find... gravy? We ended up with chocolate and C-R-I-S-P-S. It's (unwisely) agreed we learn British English and not American English, thus it's crisps not chips.

   We also went out one evening and I was introduced to a couple more Friends and I was actually the youngest in the group. ( ´艸｀) We ate okonomiyaki which was my first time eating it and then we went to karaoke which was horrible because due to health reasons (another topic) I can't drink, so while EVERYONE else was drunk I was just so quiet and timidly on the verge of an anxiety attack.

I post photos often to my Instagram, however my account is currently private.

My ID: PINPIKO

(☆ω★) ハッピーハロウィン

 ハッピーハロウィン

Today is Halloween~ another reason why I love October so much. (ﾉ)´ω`(ヾ) Yesterday while talking to my Boyfriend I decided to go carve my pumpkin~ he asked me if I were to eat it, and in all honesty, I have never ate pumpkin in my life, and don't plan to either. (Although I was tempted to purchase pumpkin candy, totally the same, really).

Complementary before and after photos! I had sent multiple photos to my Boyfriend via mail, as a result my phone has the pungent smell of pumpkin and I hate it. （つ３；｀） I hope next time to celebrate with my Boyfriend, or at least to go visit D-chan so I can carve pumpkins with him! Actually Halloween in Japan seems so fun and I would love to experience it. For a nation that is very superstitious about ghosts and ghouls, this is one Holiday they don't forget. Nearly every building in Yokohama had some form of Halloween item in it's window, celebrating the beginning of Fall and welcoming the seasonal changes. (´ω｀。)

 

While I was at Tokyo Disney Sea, I picked up some chocolates as a gift for my family. I was torn between cookies or just regular chocolates, both the same style tin. Actually at the Gift Shop there were even Christmas goods out, and well, as always in most Disney themed stores I spend an eternity browsing.

My family tend to not eat anything I bring back from Japan -- Why? Because of packaging and sentimental value (for myself) but these were around 1,200JPY so it is mandatory they eat these, AND the ones I got them in March. The packaging overall is super cute, and we have yet to eat any! So hopefully tonight we will get to share a piece!
I'm putting a couple bracelets out for some younger Trick or Treaters, they glow in the dark so they will be really nice~ we usually get really young Monsters early evening, but honestly, we get very few Monsters now.. more chocolate for me!

I hope everyone has a safe and very happy Halloween!!

(*´ω｀*) Shibuya x Harajuku

Sep 14 2012: Today my Boyfriend had the day off work, so we headed out to Tokyo for the day. Originally we were going to head to a Garden in Yokohama, but the weather is sometimes really off putting with the heat. We stopped off at Shibuya 109, though I had only two shops in mind so we didn't dilly dally around. The new CO&LU items were out, which makes me miserable because I was too big for them. Damn my ass. I was tempted to buy a shirt, but the Staff were insisting I purchased three shirts, which would have saved me around 500/1000JPY, but, I saved myself 3,500JPY by not buying. HAH.
I have a bad track record with hand mirrors, and I knew CO&LU had hand mirrors which were not the plastic folding ones, so I bought this one! I had a choice of two colours but my Boyfriend suggested this one.

After we moved on to Laforet because I wanted to check out the fliers, but they hadn't been updated, or worth bothering to pick any up. So I then dragged the Boy towards Monomania - again nothing worth buying. I was tempted to buy the dripping heart ring, however in Harajuku there is an offbrand version of the SAME ring for perhaps 1,000JPY less. We slowly made our way towards Harajuku and stopped by the first shop, 777. Everything was apparently priced at 777JPY (or more or less, tssk) I was going to buy my Brother a new iPhone case but it was so impractical, since it was the same size as a retro camera, therefore not possible to fit into his pocket. Oh, my Boyfriend purchased this keychain for us. It's disgustingly romantic and it glows in the dark.. I admit, I stared at this for a good 10 minutes waiting for a leg to twitch.

Talking about romance and all that kissy stuff, I pointed out the 10ST store to my Boyfriend and out of interest I went down to see who they had left. Not many decent bands actually - though the Staff were quick to point out my own bracelet. I noticed a sign saying you could make your own bracelet for a set price, so I nudged my Boyfriend. I only wanted him to make his own - but instead we ended up making two bracelets of the same colour.

Of course when you are in Harajuku, it is the tradition to get a crepe!! I was going to treat my Boyfriend but he rushed in with his money, but struggled with finding the 30JPY in change so I managed to pay SOME. I probably have the most boring taste to him since this is my second strawberry and cream crepe. He had a.. pizza crepe. Tuna, lettuce, tomatoe sauce and I think mayonnaise.. and.. no. A crepe is a sweet! Why?!

We visited a couple more shops, Closet Child and Pet Paradise, we ended up buying his Dog a little Stitch outfit! So cute! Since it was my Boyfriend's Mothers Birthday I was allowed to give it to her when we next met! It was getting late so after stopping off to buy Kanako some perfume we headed back home. However we got stopped by someone photographing accessories etc and taking notes? It was so odd and he spoke so fast that I couldn't pick up much of the conversation either. Eventually he took photos of our bracelets, asked where we were from, he seemed surprised when we told him 'England'. On the walk back to Shibuya, I took some photographs of the graffiti tags there, so I may do a picture blog later, since there are a couple places here in Yokohama with graffiti tags. Oh we stopped off in the Disney Store, but some fat hag of a foreigner was stood in front of the Halloween stuff.
Still, really enjoying it out here~ I was going to add another two blogs here, but it's too lengthy and I need to shower, I'm not sure if we are going out later, I'm going to hint to go out, even if it's for a walk. I love it here.

(*´∀｀*)♡ Purikura

During my trip to Tokyo, we decided to take a lot of プリクラ or, purikura. However being a little forgetful I left my book back in England, so I wasn't able to stick straight into my book. Ah, anyway, プリクラ is basically the Japanese for 'photo sticker booth', the name is actually a shortened variation of プリント倶楽部 which roughly means 'Print Club'. These machines are very popular in Japan, regardless of age - though seem very popular amongst young Women and School Girls. Occasionally couples will also go to take photos. We managed to try and take at least one or two photosets a day!

 

Juu and I took purikura after 高田馬場AREA, so excuse if we look a mess. The bottom photo amuses me so much, someone actually walked into our booth, thus Juu looking away. This booth was very cute, and it was perfect for showing off our ~twin~ outfit! I borrowed Juu my MONOMANIA necklace to wear so we were matching accessories wise, we also wore our own 10st bracelet!

 

Next is a set of purikura we took in Asakusa after going to Tokyo Disney! We ended up taking two sets in total, for whatever reason. We were all wearing our Disney ponchos!

This blog is a little short, and mainly a picture dump. I'm in the process of taking photos of my GETS from Japan, again it will be a HUGE picture dump so a pre-warning.

(★ω★。) Tokyo ・ March 2012 ・ PT5

This entry will possibly be super long and image heavy, just a small warning! March 13 - we spent the entire day at Tokyo Disney! I love Disney, and I have never-ever been to any Disney resorts! Paris is of course the closest Disney to me, but it doesn't look as magical as Florida or Tokyo. This place was MAGICAL and I loved it!
The train ride there was super long, and boring. Since I was unwell I spent most of the journey sniffling and trying not to cough too much.When arriving you are greeted by these gates, honestly the walk from the train to here was a mission alone, but filled with Disney songs. Regularly there were Disney characters on the fence posts as you walked, it was rather cute, but I didn't spot Stitch.

 

Once we paid for our tickets, we had a random bag check which was pointless since they just glanced at the top layer and we were on our way. The park had rules also, while I was waiting I glanced over them and noticed one rule was, 'Please cover up tattoos' - unless all Disney Parks have this as a rule, since I know how taboo tattoos are in Japan. They gave us a map in English too, the Japanese map looked cuter.

Not even into the main park and my camera was out, one shop had the cutest window layout! Stitch! We went inside too and, oh there was so much I couldn't even begin to describe. I could have easily blown all my cash in this shop alone, and it wasn't just Stitch either, but all characters. Everything from phone straps, ponchos, hats and even lint rollers for your clothes! Everything.

Not even a few metres down and we finally came into shot of the Disney Castle. There was also Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse, as a statue, in which there was an orderly queue formed to have your photo taken with it. Something I was amazed at, because here in Europe there would have been several people posing and a dozen photobombing. Though Hachiko in Shibuya is the exact same, you can never get a photo without someone else being in it, so I thought this was something very well thought out. 

Straight after we entered we went for breakfast, though it wasn't very much like a breakfast - more like a sugar rush for myself. I had a Mike Wazowski melon pan, which my Mother calls 'Shrek Poop' - and Imke wanted the mug from the cheese cake, so we paid half, it was sticky and delicious!

After breakfast we moved on to go on some rides, first was the Monsters Inc: Ride and go Seek! The queues were rather long for most rides too. But we were having too much fun to really notice how long we were stood around for. Haha. The ride was a bit like a shoot 'em up, you have a gun - well it is a flashlight, and you had to activate the Monsters by flashing it at them, and they would pop up! Some parts were a little scary. The Parade that morning was at 14:00 so we quickly made our way to the Parade route and settled down to wait.

Juu got the most perfect photo of Stitch, oddly I have none - I don't know what the hell I was doing at the time either, but I do have some videos so maybe I filmed him. If you have me or Juu on Facebook you can see the rest of the photos there! We took so many.

When the Parade had finished, I'm not sure what we did next, but I think we went en route towards Stitch, he had a shop called Tiki Tropic Shop which sold tropical clothing, accessories and Stitch character items. There were cute hats, cell straps, candy, pens and - well again, so much to list! Juu bought me a pen, it's a Pinpin Stitch pen, since he has huge sunglasses on. (Well, 3D movie glasses since he holds popcorn) I love it! On our way there we saw the Monkey's from Jungle Book, and honestly people in costumes genuinely scare me - and since they were so in character I was nervous they'd suddenly run over to me. We went into Stitch's little show, which was adorable, he popped up in the middle, danced and sang his little song. Wehh, I want Stitch.

We went on Pirates of the Caribbean, which was a totally amazing boat ride! It took you through the story, with acting and at points there was Captain Jack Sparrow, who looked SO realistic, seriously. Juu and I are HEARTY, so we were making A related jokes, luckily in English because then people would think we were even more insane. At one point I just screeched Mucho, and we decided that Mucho was working at Disney Tokyo. Other comments were: "This is X vagina, it's so dark and wet." then we called a dead body Seba. All inside jokes of course.
When we got off we went on a couple more rides, we also had food by this river which was so peaceful - well not quiet but peaceful as in relaxing and watching these people row by us every so often. Then a Duck started to pester the girls sat next to us, but he suddenly decided to come bug us, again - I am terrified of birds if they approach me, so as a result I started to whine and scream silently because I didn't want it to bite me! Juu luckily chased it off, which was so funny because the duck basically waddled around our table, and another, and Juu insisted on following it till it flew off.

The temperature soon started to drop, once you were inside a ride, you didn't mind but once outside it was cold! We ended up buying (over priced) ponchos, because they didn't sell kigurumi. Can you guess which one I purchased? By now I am well aware I am showing my face too often in this blog. Sorry. The Ponchos were warm if you hugged yourself, the hoods had character heads, and paws as sleeves, in which you can put your hands in them! We had more food while waiting for the Night Parade too. Eventually we agreed on no more fries - NEVER!! We ate at a futurist place called 'TOMORROWLAND"

We had to sit outside for the night Parade and we arrived rather early for that so our asses were getting cold sat on the floor. But the parade was super magical, and it almost felt like Christmas. Here is one of the Cheshire Cat, since 90% of the others are SUPER ass blurry. Sorry.

I can't remember if we went on any more rides once the Parade had finished, since I was getting sleepy which resulted in walking around in a dazed phase and standing with Juu for a smoke is all I can recall. After we went back to the beginning where the biggest shopping mall was so we could do some last minute shopping from there. I bought my Family Chocolates, and a note pad for myself - it had a Pirate Stitch on, so it was like combining A with Stitch.
On the way home we decided to take Purikura back in Asakusa - yes we walked through Asakusa in our ponchos! I had Stitch, Imke had Minnie Mouse and Juu had the Cheshire cat! Cuteness overload!

Extras

PLANKING! We actually did planking here! Photos, I cannot find but I swear we did.
BRIDGE! Juu decided to jump along the bridge, which I wanted to do, so we both did.
ROOKIE! Casually insulting the Rooster, especially on the log flume.  We are sorry!

Well, that was it, for what I can remember. I should cut this since it ended up being SUPER long.