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Friday, June 12, 2015

O-i Keibajo Flea Market

I'll start this off my saying I love rummaging around in other peoples old stuff or junk. It's just fun and you never know what you could find! So I asked google about flea markets around Tokyo and decided to go one at O-i Keibajo. This flea market is held every weekend and is actually located in the parking area of a horse racetrack. It's pretty close to where I live and has around 600 (!!) venders.

Everything seemed to be priced pretty reasonably, which was a welcomed change from the super expensive, trendy resale shops in places like Harajuku and Koenji. You're reselling some shirt you probably thrifted for 2 bucks for $40?!?! Nooo thank you. But that's the price of big city trendiness I suppose.

 photo DSC_0779_zpshxjgpva9.jpg
 photo DSC_0784_zpsgxx0bojr.jpg
 photo DSC_0783_zpscdt1bilq.jpg
 photo DSC_0780_zpst0ix8kju.jpg
 photo DSC_0782_zps0ywtg55l.jpg
 photo DSC_0781_zpsujswc1ol.jpg

I had a lot of fun digging through people's items and found a few things- including a little gold tiger brooch and some patches to sew on shirts. There were even a few food carts set up and I got to eat a super yummy taco for lunch. It made me realize how much I miss eating Mexican food, which Japan does not have enough of, but that's another story.

All and all I had a lot of fun and would definitely check this flea market again. If you're interested in flea markets around Tokyo I suggest you check out this guide by Tokyo Cheapo. I just love that site and it's seriously my go to for tips and guides about living in Tokyo.

Have a great weekend!

-Allison

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Tokyo Disney Sea

During Golden Week my sister and I decided to go to Disney Sea! Tokyo Disney has two separate parks- Disneyland, which is like it's US counterpart and Disney Sea, which is unique to Japan. After going to both parks I can honestly say I like Disney Sea more. It's geared more towards adults in that it houses bigger rides, my favorite being the Tower of Terror. It's also the only place in Japan where you can buy official merchandise of Duffy and Shellie May (which people go crazy for).

We had originally planned to go to Disneyland the day before as well, but the weather ended up being terrible and rainy. The weather was pretty nice for our Disney Sea day- just a bit colder than I would have liked.

 photo 6ed663e8-5e66-441a-b370-f4129968a5d6_zpsac0awnxk.jpg

 photo DSC_0737_zpsh8mplm3z.jpg

Dun dun duuuuuuun The Tower of Terror. We rode it twice that day! Of course it's not Twilight Zone themed like in the US, but still just as fun!
 photo DSC_0744_zpsoxf6607q.jpg

 photo DSC_0715_zpsuwvy6axd.jpg

 photo DSC_0717_zpsk6nfbqqa.jpg

 photo DSC_0748_zps8nikuiyg.jpg

Bernard and Bianca! They were soooo cute. We also saw Maria, Cruella Deville, Chip and Dale, and Shellie May. Kind of an odd mix of characters right?
 photo 3ff0c2fa-e8af-4bf3-be37-0ce186224d53_zpsdkgvbilf.jpg

 photo DSC_0755_zpskn3nv1ps.jpg

 photo DSC_0757_zps6zrjrtri.jpg

This year's Easter theme was dubbed, "Fashionable Easter", hence the awesome costumes above. They has different costumes representing four sections of the park- Port Discovery, Mermaid Lagoon, Lost River Delta, and American Waterfront. Everything around the park was so cute and pastel colored.

Looking back through these photos makes me want to hop on a train and head for the parks. It won't be for a while but I do plan on going back for Halloween at Disney Sea. I've seen some pictures and it looks super cute. I mean, I love Disney and I love Halloween. What's not to like??

-Allison

Monday, May 25, 2015

Disney Easter Nails

 photo DSC_0767_zpsz2qqq0ms.jpg  photo DSC_0769_zpssqlbpth2.jpg  photo DSC_0770_zpsfbbshd1v.jpg

These were my nails for my visit to DisneySea. The parks were decorated for Easter, so I just had to do something pastel on my nails. I started with a white base and sponged the colors on with one of those little make-up sponges. I always see people using those sponges for nail art but this was my first time using them. They turned out better than I expected, so I'll definitely be using them again!

I've sort of been in a nail painting slump recently. In the states I would have an amazingly huge selection of good quality nail polishes just down the rode at Target, but not in Japan. Buying OPI at a store here could set you back $20. Twenty bucks. Twenty. Even iffy quality polishes are $5+ and I'm kind of a stickler when it comes to nail polish quality. So I've been stuck with the few polishes I brought with me. Though I was surprised by a dollar store polish that I got to last 5 days. It would be perfect if their color selection wasn't so limited...

Also- my fingers are like, super wonky right? I feel they go in all different directions. Haha, you've gotta be able to laugh at yourself.

-Allison

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Walk Through Nakano

One train stop away from where I live is a place called Nakano. This stop draws in tourists and fans alike with Nakano Broadway- a shopping mall of sorts that's loaded with shops that sell both new and old anime, manga, and other pop culture merchandise. One such store is Mandarake; an absolute mecha for used collectables. With shops that sell so many second-hand items, you never know what you'll find hidden in Nakano Broadway.

I took a few train trips to Nakano before realizing it would only take about 20 or so minutes to walk there. Now if I need to head there, I'll walk to work in some extra exercise! Plus there's some super fun graffiti painted in various layers on various walls along the way. I particularly like the section where someone painted various animals/objects along with their respective names written in katakana. I only photographed a few of my favorite, so maybe next time I'll take pictures of some more.

Here we have "ワニ" (wani) who's by far my favorite.

Then "コアラ" (koara) for our fine, down-under friend.

And finally the delicious fruit of summer "スイカ" (suica).


When I saw the balloons I just knew I had to take a picture with them. I mean, there were painted at the perfect height for me to pretend to hold them. So how could I resist?! Though I did feel a bit silly when people walked by. 


-Allison

Thursday, May 7, 2015

The Perfect Teal








These pictures were taking a stroll down Cat Street in Harajuku. I saw this bright teal wall and just had to have my picture taken in front of it. It might be the most perfect teal color I've ever seen (and I'm pretty serious about my teals). Speaking of teal, this last dye-job on my hair has definitely been the best to date. I usually mix my Punky Color turquoise with a bit of green but this time I just went with straight turquoise. It sort of did an ombre thing towards green at the ends and I just love the result. It's fading really nicely too.  It definitely feels like my "natural" color.

There was a pretty constant steam of people walking while I was trying to take the pictures. I felt a little silly with the people looking as they went by but tried not to let it bother me. That's just part of living in such a big, congested city- no matter the time or the place there will be people.

This sweater is probably my favorite thrift find of all time. I originally got it for my sister who likes Minnie Mouse, but she didn't really wear it and it came back to me. That's the good thing about having a sister- sharing clothes!

-Allison
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Friday, June 12, 2015

O-i Keibajo Flea Market

I'll start this off my saying I love rummaging around in other peoples old stuff or junk. It's just fun and you never know what you could find! So I asked google about flea markets around Tokyo and decided to go one at O-i Keibajo. This flea market is held every weekend and is actually located in the parking area of a horse racetrack. It's pretty close to where I live and has around 600 (!!) venders.

Everything seemed to be priced pretty reasonably, which was a welcomed change from the super expensive, trendy resale shops in places like Harajuku and Koenji. You're reselling some shirt you probably thrifted for 2 bucks for $40?!?! Nooo thank you. But that's the price of big city trendiness I suppose.

 photo DSC_0779_zpshxjgpva9.jpg
 photo DSC_0784_zpsgxx0bojr.jpg
 photo DSC_0783_zpscdt1bilq.jpg
 photo DSC_0780_zpst0ix8kju.jpg
 photo DSC_0782_zps0ywtg55l.jpg
 photo DSC_0781_zpsujswc1ol.jpg

I had a lot of fun digging through people's items and found a few things- including a little gold tiger brooch and some patches to sew on shirts. There were even a few food carts set up and I got to eat a super yummy taco for lunch. It made me realize how much I miss eating Mexican food, which Japan does not have enough of, but that's another story.

All and all I had a lot of fun and would definitely check this flea market again. If you're interested in flea markets around Tokyo I suggest you check out this guide by Tokyo Cheapo. I just love that site and it's seriously my go to for tips and guides about living in Tokyo.

Have a great weekend!

-Allison

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Tokyo Disney Sea

During Golden Week my sister and I decided to go to Disney Sea! Tokyo Disney has two separate parks- Disneyland, which is like it's US counterpart and Disney Sea, which is unique to Japan. After going to both parks I can honestly say I like Disney Sea more. It's geared more towards adults in that it houses bigger rides, my favorite being the Tower of Terror. It's also the only place in Japan where you can buy official merchandise of Duffy and Shellie May (which people go crazy for).

We had originally planned to go to Disneyland the day before as well, but the weather ended up being terrible and rainy. The weather was pretty nice for our Disney Sea day- just a bit colder than I would have liked.

 photo 6ed663e8-5e66-441a-b370-f4129968a5d6_zpsac0awnxk.jpg

 photo DSC_0737_zpsh8mplm3z.jpg

Dun dun duuuuuuun The Tower of Terror. We rode it twice that day! Of course it's not Twilight Zone themed like in the US, but still just as fun!
 photo DSC_0744_zpsoxf6607q.jpg

 photo DSC_0715_zpsuwvy6axd.jpg

 photo DSC_0717_zpsk6nfbqqa.jpg

 photo DSC_0748_zps8nikuiyg.jpg

Bernard and Bianca! They were soooo cute. We also saw Maria, Cruella Deville, Chip and Dale, and Shellie May. Kind of an odd mix of characters right?
 photo 3ff0c2fa-e8af-4bf3-be37-0ce186224d53_zpsdkgvbilf.jpg

 photo DSC_0755_zpskn3nv1ps.jpg

 photo DSC_0757_zps6zrjrtri.jpg

This year's Easter theme was dubbed, "Fashionable Easter", hence the awesome costumes above. They has different costumes representing four sections of the park- Port Discovery, Mermaid Lagoon, Lost River Delta, and American Waterfront. Everything around the park was so cute and pastel colored.

Looking back through these photos makes me want to hop on a train and head for the parks. It won't be for a while but I do plan on going back for Halloween at Disney Sea. I've seen some pictures and it looks super cute. I mean, I love Disney and I love Halloween. What's not to like??

-Allison

Monday, May 25, 2015

Disney Easter Nails

 photo DSC_0767_zpsz2qqq0ms.jpg  photo DSC_0769_zpssqlbpth2.jpg  photo DSC_0770_zpsfbbshd1v.jpg

These were my nails for my visit to DisneySea. The parks were decorated for Easter, so I just had to do something pastel on my nails. I started with a white base and sponged the colors on with one of those little make-up sponges. I always see people using those sponges for nail art but this was my first time using them. They turned out better than I expected, so I'll definitely be using them again!

I've sort of been in a nail painting slump recently. In the states I would have an amazingly huge selection of good quality nail polishes just down the rode at Target, but not in Japan. Buying OPI at a store here could set you back $20. Twenty bucks. Twenty. Even iffy quality polishes are $5+ and I'm kind of a stickler when it comes to nail polish quality. So I've been stuck with the few polishes I brought with me. Though I was surprised by a dollar store polish that I got to last 5 days. It would be perfect if their color selection wasn't so limited...

Also- my fingers are like, super wonky right? I feel they go in all different directions. Haha, you've gotta be able to laugh at yourself.

-Allison

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Walk Through Nakano

One train stop away from where I live is a place called Nakano. This stop draws in tourists and fans alike with Nakano Broadway- a shopping mall of sorts that's loaded with shops that sell both new and old anime, manga, and other pop culture merchandise. One such store is Mandarake; an absolute mecha for used collectables. With shops that sell so many second-hand items, you never know what you'll find hidden in Nakano Broadway.

I took a few train trips to Nakano before realizing it would only take about 20 or so minutes to walk there. Now if I need to head there, I'll walk to work in some extra exercise! Plus there's some super fun graffiti painted in various layers on various walls along the way. I particularly like the section where someone painted various animals/objects along with their respective names written in katakana. I only photographed a few of my favorite, so maybe next time I'll take pictures of some more.

Here we have "ワニ" (wani) who's by far my favorite.

Then "コアラ" (koara) for our fine, down-under friend.

And finally the delicious fruit of summer "スイカ" (suica).


When I saw the balloons I just knew I had to take a picture with them. I mean, there were painted at the perfect height for me to pretend to hold them. So how could I resist?! Though I did feel a bit silly when people walked by. 


-Allison

Thursday, May 7, 2015

The Perfect Teal








These pictures were taking a stroll down Cat Street in Harajuku. I saw this bright teal wall and just had to have my picture taken in front of it. It might be the most perfect teal color I've ever seen (and I'm pretty serious about my teals). Speaking of teal, this last dye-job on my hair has definitely been the best to date. I usually mix my Punky Color turquoise with a bit of green but this time I just went with straight turquoise. It sort of did an ombre thing towards green at the ends and I just love the result. It's fading really nicely too.  It definitely feels like my "natural" color.

There was a pretty constant steam of people walking while I was trying to take the pictures. I felt a little silly with the people looking as they went by but tried not to let it bother me. That's just part of living in such a big, congested city- no matter the time or the place there will be people.

This sweater is probably my favorite thrift find of all time. I originally got it for my sister who likes Minnie Mouse, but she didn't really wear it and it came back to me. That's the good thing about having a sister- sharing clothes!

-Allison