Sakura Mochi and Maple Cake - Lolita Date in Kyoto

I had a most wonderful outing last week on Thursday. I needed to go to Kyoto to pick up my blouse from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. I had forgotten my passport last time, which meant I couldn't buy it tax free. I contacted one of my Lolita friends in Kyoto who said she could meet up so my Lolita date was set.

We decided to meet at a cafe called Café du Thé François in Shijo Kawaramachi so I chose to wear Angelic Pretty's Wonder Party to match the cafe theme. I matched it with off-white accessories including a beret from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. Rest Room Selfie, anyone?

I wore a wig for the first time in ages to cut down on hair styling time. The wig is from Gothic Lolita Wigs and its definitely my favourite. This blonde doesn't make me look washed out and the hair style is cute but elegant. The reason for leaving early being is that I had to head off early to buy some Japanese sweets as souvenirs before meeting up with my friend. 

Buying Mochi at Futaba

The sweets shop I went to is called Futaba and is situated in Demachi Anagi. It's already quite well known for Mame-mochi but I was there to buy the Sakura Mochi! It's readily available during the cherry blossom season and is a gorgeous glossy pink colour wrapped in a Sakura leaf. Sakura is a slightly strange sweet leafy taste and with the leaf being salty and the mochi being sweet it quite an interesting sweet to eat. I didn't like it the first few times I ate it, particularly the leaf but with the mochi being recently advertised on the T.V. with high recommendations I didn't want to miss the opportunity to try it again.

When it comes to popular foods, in my experience, the Japanese have a different way of thinking to what I've seen in Australia. Firstly, Australians seem to be less enthusiastic about something simply because it's introduced as popular and on top of that most Australians seem to avoid waiting in long lines. Conversely, it seems that the Japanese are happy to line up in order to get something that's been advertised as it means they are sure to get a good product at the end. This certainly seemed to be the case at Futaba as the line curled around three times in front of the shop. There was a person outside the shop reminding people to keep moving forward and that the wait was around 20 minutes. They were also there to stop the line from moving too far over on the path. 

There were so many people and I didn't want to be late for my date so I didn't stop to take photos except for this one above. The line moved quickly and smoothly. Before long I was at the front of the line and my order was taken, the mochi was placed in a plastic pack, wrapped and handed to me in a bag. With my souvenirs in my hand, I walked to the bus stop to head to the cafe.

The Cafe and Kamogawa

I arrived at Shijo Kawaramachi bus-stop an hour before I was scheduled to meet with my friend. It gave me a chance to look around and take some pictures of the newly bloomed Sakura. 

The cafe is situated on Kiyamachi Street is a beautiful street with Kamogawa River running beside it and Sakura running down each side. In the Edo period (around the 18th century) many traditional style cafes, restaurants and bars were built to entertain the travellers who would come to the area. Today, the area is still a place for travellers to come to eat, drink and be entertained, however many of them are foreign travellers, like myself. Many of the places have a traditional shop front and some are even award winning gourmet restaurants. 

I also took a few snaps of Café du Thé François complete with poodle. 

History of Café du Thé François

Café du Thé François was listed as Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2002. While it was originally a machiya, a Japanese townhouse for merchants or craftsmen, the shop was opened by Shōichi Tatemoto in the 1934 with the building redesigned into a western-style cafe with a design to reflect the spirit of enlightenment through socialism and art. The name of the cafe is a nod to painter Jean-Francois Millet. In 1937, during the second Sino-Japanese war, Tatemoto was jailed for anti-war activities, which included raising money for the Japanese communist party and distributing anti-Facist publications. After his time in jail Tatemoto had the interior re-designed by an Italian architect friend, Alexsandro Bencivenni, who himself had run away from Facist Italy. The interior was designed to resemble an ocean liner travelling between Europe and Asia and is a mix of 17th century Italian Baroque and Renaissance in style. The cafe kept running through the Pacific War when it was re-named Miyako Sabo (Kyoto Tea house) due to the law not allowing the use of enemy languages. Bencivenni, who refused to swear allegiance to the Italian Socialist Republic when the alliance was decided, was even sent to a prisoner camp in Nagoya for two years. The shop eventually closed in 1944 due to food shortages. The shop was re-opened in 2002 with the instatement of it's new status and is now run by the owner's three children.

I didn't take many pictures of the rest of the day but safe to say my friend and I had a great time, which included ordering matching Maple cake and coffee with cream set. It was absolutely delicious and ended up being my lunch. In between I went to buy the blouse and we moved to cafe number two to enjoy a coffee float chatting until 6pm. We promised to get together again in Kyoto as soon as we could manage. It really was a wonderful day. 

The Opening of Leur Getter Kyoto

After a 17 hour flight, including a 6 hour stop-over in Singapore, I arrived in Japan on Thursday morning. I often read Misako Aoki's blog and she mentioned that she would be attending the opening of a new Leur Getter shop in Kyoto on the 26th. I met Misako at the Kera shop in Osaka last year in June so I was really excited at the possibility of meeting her again. Here's a picture from Misako's blog from the meet at Kera Osaka in May last year. It truly was great to be able to meet her and have a chat.

I admit I spent a good deal of time getting ready so I was late leaving the house and didn't get a snap of my outfit before leaving. There was also the problem of the mirror in the hallway being cluttered with luggage. (Most embarrassing behaviour.)

I wore a very similar outfit to this one below with the only change being the brown Innocent World head band that I wore with the cream beret. 

Luckily, I managed to catch the right train and arrived in Kyoto at 10:30am. The opening was scheduled for 12 so I decided to check out the place where Leur Getter was and then look for a place to get lunch before heading to the actual opening. I exited the station and headed to Teramachi street. If you're familiar with Kyoto you may know the Teramachi street shopping area and maybe even the Metamorphose shop there. The Leur Getter store is about a minute walk on Teramachi street opposite the shopping mall exit closest to Metamorphose. 

After finding the store's location, I returned to the Teramachi Mall and decided to take lunch at the Lipton cafe right at the exit onto Shijo street. The Lipton cafe is a quaint chain cafe around Japan. The main draw card is voluminous Western-style sweets and special drinks, however there is also a lunch menu, both of which can be ordered in a "set" which is a food plus a simple drink for a special price. I chose the daily lasagne with meat and eggplant and an ice coffee. When the drink arrived I realised I had missed a great opportunity of drinking a Lipton tea at the Lipton cafe and to be honest the coffee was not to my taste. The lasagne, however, was amazing. A thick topping of tasty white sauce topped with cheese with two layers of pasta with rich beef mince and eggplant. It was very hot so it took me a while to eat the whole thing but I enjoyed. Every. Single. Mouthful. 

By the time I had finished it was around 11:30am so I fixed my beret and lipgloss and headed down Teramachi street to wait for the opening. When I arrived the shop was already open and the little shop was full to bursting with keen Lolitas. Out the front was the creative director of Leur Getter, and Misako Aoki. 

The creative director is a wonderful older lady who was also the head designer of Emily Temple Cute but has moved on to heading this brand. I was very lucky to meet her once before when she came to look after a boutique in Kyoto for the weekend. She remembered me too! She is very easy to talk to and spoke about how happy she was to open the store and encouraged me to enter the shop and try something on as it would "surely suit me". 

I also spoke to Misako Aoki, who looked gorgeous in a full Leur Getter outfit. This picture is from her Line Blog. 

She asked me about my trip and where I was going. I mentioned that I was interested in going to Tokushima. She laughed as she professed that despite being Japanese she'd never been to Tokushima. I asked her if she was going to do anymore events but she answered that she was unsure if she would be doing anything in the Hyogo/Kyoto area while I would be in Japan. 

Misako wasn't taking pictures at the opening event but if I had bought something over ¥20 800 I could have gone to a flower viewing party with Misako later in the day. Being the first week in Japan, I decided against buying something so expensive so quickly. I took my leave at this point so that more Lolitas could browse the store. I took a few pictures of the shop front and said goodbye to the newly opened Leur Getter shop. 

Teramachi is very close to OPA Kawaramachi, where Baby the Stars Shine Bright is. When I lived in Japan in 2014/2015 Angelic Pretty hadn't opened. I believe that my visiting Baby in Kyoto greatly affected my own style. It was so wonderful to meet up with the staff, Bambi and Leo. Leo helped me to try on the new releases Snow Dot JSK in sax, Marie Antoinette JSK and skirt. She is amazing at tying waist ties, there's a video of her doing it on the net floating around somewhere. I was quick to cast my eye over the blouses and after a serious conversation with Leo about which would sell out first I decided to get the blouse. Surprise! I had forgot my passport. Without it, I could not get it tax-free so I put down ¥1 000 to hold it for a week. 

So, my next adventure is decided! I'm still unsure what I will do next week but I do know it will involve the acquisition of a beautiful chiffon blouse from the new Easter series. I hope you will join me then!

Flashback - Halloween Party 2014 at Baby the Stars Shine Bright Kyoto

 

Hi all,

Currently I'm in Perth meeting up with friends and having a relax so it's going to be a short post this week. It's already a year ago that I was getting very excited for the Kyoto Baby the Stars Shine Bright Halloween tea party at the end of October.  We had an evening party at Elk, a pancake franchise in Japan.

Without saying too much I would like to share a few photos from the day. It was lots of fun and great to meet some of the local lolitas including a few frillies from over seas. 

I hope you enjoyed the photos. I will post more about my Perth adventures next week. 

Until next time...

5 Things I've Noticed When Shopping in Japan

From the talking trucks to singing train stations Japan is very different to Australia including your shopping experience. Good service is very important in Japan and shop staff work very hard just to offer the service which is expected of them. Furthermore, there are some different rules of etiquette required of a customer when they enter a store. Here are some points I've noticed after spending 5 months in Japan.

Be sure to let me know about your experience shopping overseas in the comments section!

1. Umbrellas in the rack

During the rainy season an umbrella rack will be placed at the door of the shop. It's expected that customers place their umbrellas in there. Bringing them into the store may wet the floor, making it dangerous for other customers or simply damage the merchandise. Angelic Pretty has an umbrella stand outside for customer umbrellas and inside for their umbrellas - just be careful not to mix up the two or forget your umbrella when you leave.

2. Bags don't belong on the floor

In Australia I didn't worry about putting my bag on the floor when I went to cafe or restaurant. In Japan, cafes, restaurants and some shops offer baskets or tables to put your bags on. Victorian Maiden have a coat rack and a chaise lounge to put your belongings on and shop staff will kindly take your coat and bag when you enter the store. 

3. I'll see you to the door

If you purchase something at a store the staff will often carry your shopping to the door for you! If available they will also get you a new version of the item from the back of the store, wrap it up all nicely in a bag and perhaps include a sticker or postcard form the store. It's a way to thank you for your patronage and ensure that each customer feels attended to individually.

4. Kawaiiiiiiiiiii <3

Shop staff will compliment you if you try something on - without fail. I'm still not used of it myself but it's all a part of serving the customer individually and encouraging further patronage. The most popular comments I've heard are kawaii - "cute", suteki - "incredible/amazing" and o-niai desu - "it suits you". Shop staff are also forth coming when you're browsing the blouses: yoroshikereba, hirogete mite kudasai - "you can unfold it to see what its looks like if you wish" and when you're drooling over dresses: yoroshikereba, kagami de awasete mite kudasai - "you can hold it up in the mirror to see what it's like if you wish". They will also help tie up bonnets and do up your shoes if you try them on.

5. No shoes in the house

Or rather in the change rooms. Change rooms will often be carpeted and you will need to take your shoes off before you enter. There are also stores which have make up covers that you're encouraged to wear over your head and some places won't let you try anything on unless you're wearing a camisole.

I've always thought that shopping in Japan was like that feeling you get in your dream where you're in your school... but it's not actually your school. The setting seems to be the same but the feelings and things you experience are completely different. I take my hat off to the shop staff who work so hard to make everyone's shopping experience so special.

Let me know about your shopping experiences in foreign countries in the comments. What happened? How did it make you feel?

Until next time...

Osaka Adventures in August

Hello again!  The weather is terrible today so it's a perfect time to update the blog.

I am so happy with the way the under-dress
compliments the VM over-dress.

As I mentioned at the end of my last post I went out to Osaka again with one of the lovely friends I've made in Japan. It was a lolita Date!


This was our second date together, our first was when we went to the chocolate cafe Godiva for Easter.

Our first date in April
I love her BABY x Disney Snow White dress.

We headed to Victorian Maiden first to reserve a dress for my friend. I nearly bought the marine style skirt with the open back but decided against it at the last minute.

We then headed over to Angelic Pretty where I bought a couple of cutsews and the Romantic Rose Letter necklace that I've been eyeing off for ages. Then at the second hand shop next door I nearly gave into the BABY x Disney's Alice in Wonderland JSK in sax but decided it was a little beyond my budget after the purchase at AP.

When we went to BABY I couldn't go past some wrist cuffs that were on sale.

In the end this was the result of my mini-haul.

Clockwise from top left:
AP - Romantic Rose Letter Necklace in Red x Pink
AP - Pure Ribbon Cutsew in  Pink
AP - Airy Square Cutsew in Ivory
BTSSB - Scarlet Wrist Cuffs in Ivory

We also popped by the KERA shop and drooled over Juliette et Justine but agreed that we should wear cute prints while we are young. 

In the dying hours of the afternoon we went to a photo booth and then in the evening went to see another friend who runs a bar near Ibaraki called Precieuxse Endroit. We had a barbeque (yes, a barbeque) and ate watermelon (the summer fruit in Japan). I didn't get home until after midnight but it sure was worth it.

My friend and I both wore Rococo Bouquet
in different cuts and colours. I was so happy to
wear the under-dress I bought from VM
last time I went to Osaka.

Having a rest at Starbucks after going to AP.
I was very quick to put on the Romantic Rose Letter necklace.
I was recommended the red by my friend and I have no regrets.

Eating watermelon, taking purikura and meeting up with old and new friends at Precieuxse Endroit.

This outing probably marks my last haul until November. I've decided to take a trip to Tokyo to go to my best friend's wedding reception. I have to save, save, save. However, I do have some meets coming up, in particular a meet for international lolitas in Kyoto at the end of the month. I hope to write a post about that and perhaps one more in between.

Until next time...