Japan trip 2019, Harajuku and lots of panicking
I designated the fourth day in Japan as a full on shop day, as there was a lolita secondhand market scheduled that day. I went on my way late-ish, so I didn’t expect to find the bargain of my life, but I hoped to find some cute tops or jewelry. I was worried that finding the place was going to be hard, but as soon as I entered Takeshita Dori I saw signs pointing me in the right direction.
One was held by a lolita in a very OTT outfit, even on Takeshita Dori it was hard to miss! I went up into the rented space and was, to my surprise, greeted in English by a western girl. The “international lolita” thing turned out to be actually true!
The market itself was small but fun to browse through, and one girl was selling a gradient Misty Sky of all things. I ended up buying just a cutsew, and when I went to pay the Japanese guy who sold it turned out to speak English flawlessly. Honestly after days of struggling with broken Japanese and English it kind of threw me off!
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| The red sign was for the event space! |
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| Cheap buys this way! Strangely enough the hand was pointing at some stairs going down...which was the wrong way. Oops! |
One was held by a lolita in a very OTT outfit, even on Takeshita Dori it was hard to miss! I went up into the rented space and was, to my surprise, greeted in English by a western girl. The “international lolita” thing turned out to be actually true!
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| One of the event hosts. Such a cute coord, and such a cute dress! |
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| Event space. By the time I arrived most of the good buys were gone, but still fun! |
The market itself was small but fun to browse through, and one girl was selling a gradient Misty Sky of all things. I ended up buying just a cutsew, and when I went to pay the Japanese guy who sold it turned out to speak English flawlessly. Honestly after days of struggling with broken Japanese and English it kind of threw me off!
After the secondhand market I went back to Closet Child to see if there was anything new (which of course there was), and I got a pair of cute denim sandals at a very small and very cramped shoe store.
After that, I made my way to LaForet!
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| CUTE. |
After that, I made my way to LaForet!
When I imagined LaForet I always imagined it to be kinda small with just lolita and kawaii brands. Imagine my shock when it turned out to be an eight story flat with like sixty brands inside! No wonder I walked past it several times without realizing.
Inside LaForet I wandered around a bit to see what I could expect before going down to the lolita floors. They were so pretty I honestly wanted to take thousands of pictures, ESPECIALLY considering Blue by LaForet was going on and lots of brands had special edition blue pieces on display. However ever flat surface was plastered with “NO PICTURES”-signs, so I ended up with just two quick, shaky snaps of the hallways.
I first checked BTSSB for a parasol, because I’ve wanted one for years but I’ve been terrified of the shipping costs so I never got one. Now that I was actually there I could buy it and take it with me on the plane! Unfortunately BTSSB didn’t have any designs I liked in white, so I left and checked Angelic Pretty. To my surprise they had the kind of design I LOVE for sale, with lots of ruffles and laser cut lace. I immediately bought one. They also had a bag and necklace I loved, but the bag was out of my budget for the day and the necklace was equally expensive as the parasol and something about that felt very wrong. After AP I explored the rest of the floor before heading out again. I headed to Komagome station, which I thought was were my parents would be, and that was the start of a very stressful and shitty situation. Basically, we ended up at opposite sides of the city with no way to contact eachother, I had left in the middle of a whatsapp conversation which I never do, and I didn’t have a key of our AirBNB. After leeching free wifi off of a passing train I sent a bunch of whatsapp messages to my parents explaining what had happened, hoping they would get them when they arrived home that evening. Assuming I had time to kill, I went to Shibuya to visit the second Closet Child. Which wasn’t worth it, to be honest. By this point I was stressed out and I was carrying four bags and an umbrella, plus Shibuya station turned out to be a hot mess. I somehow got myself stuck between two gates and had to get help to get past. When I made it to Closet Child I had a super difficult time figuring out where to go, as Japanese addresses don’t have house numbers- it’s just the building number and one building can have multiple entrances. After walking around the block twice, I FINALLY found the entrance: a rinkydink elevator that just about fit one person and was so old and worn the word “crack den” came to mind.
I didn’t believe it until I checked the inside and there were Closet Child labels next to the buttons. I went up and got out in a super narrow shop. Unfortunately they didn’t have anything I liked, and then one panicky message from my stepfather managed to get through to my phone (he thought I had suddenly left our chat because something had happened to me), but I had no way of texting back thanks to my provider blocking me off. I explained the situation to the shop girl in mangled Japanese and I must have looked very tired because she handed me her own smartphone(!) to try and call back. Didn’t work either, and at that point I was just done, I thanked her profusely and quickly left. When I was at the very last stop of my metro, while I was thinking about how I didn’t know the way home yet, suddenly my phone connected to some miraculous wifi source nearby AND my stepfather was online and texting me! Because I had no idea where the wifi was coming from and I had a suspicion it was the other train which was leaving, I rattled off a message, and THANK GOD when I got out he was there waiting for me. After all that none of us felt like going out for dinner so we grabbed some bentos with loads of fried food and went home. I didn’t even make it to bed properly, I ended up falling asleep sitting on the floor with my phone. All in all not a day I would care to repeat, save for the shopping. Luckily the next day was better!
Inside LaForet I wandered around a bit to see what I could expect before going down to the lolita floors. They were so pretty I honestly wanted to take thousands of pictures, ESPECIALLY considering Blue by LaForet was going on and lots of brands had special edition blue pieces on display. However ever flat surface was plastered with “NO PICTURES”-signs, so I ended up with just two quick, shaky snaps of the hallways.
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| I tried |
I first checked BTSSB for a parasol, because I’ve wanted one for years but I’ve been terrified of the shipping costs so I never got one. Now that I was actually there I could buy it and take it with me on the plane! Unfortunately BTSSB didn’t have any designs I liked in white, so I left and checked Angelic Pretty. To my surprise they had the kind of design I LOVE for sale, with lots of ruffles and laser cut lace. I immediately bought one. They also had a bag and necklace I loved, but the bag was out of my budget for the day and the necklace was equally expensive as the parasol and something about that felt very wrong. After AP I explored the rest of the floor before heading out again. I headed to Komagome station, which I thought was were my parents would be, and that was the start of a very stressful and shitty situation. Basically, we ended up at opposite sides of the city with no way to contact eachother, I had left in the middle of a whatsapp conversation which I never do, and I didn’t have a key of our AirBNB. After leeching free wifi off of a passing train I sent a bunch of whatsapp messages to my parents explaining what had happened, hoping they would get them when they arrived home that evening. Assuming I had time to kill, I went to Shibuya to visit the second Closet Child. Which wasn’t worth it, to be honest. By this point I was stressed out and I was carrying four bags and an umbrella, plus Shibuya station turned out to be a hot mess. I somehow got myself stuck between two gates and had to get help to get past. When I made it to Closet Child I had a super difficult time figuring out where to go, as Japanese addresses don’t have house numbers- it’s just the building number and one building can have multiple entrances. After walking around the block twice, I FINALLY found the entrance: a rinkydink elevator that just about fit one person and was so old and worn the word “crack den” came to mind.
 |
| Look at this. This isn't just me, right? |
I didn’t believe it until I checked the inside and there were Closet Child labels next to the buttons. I went up and got out in a super narrow shop. Unfortunately they didn’t have anything I liked, and then one panicky message from my stepfather managed to get through to my phone (he thought I had suddenly left our chat because something had happened to me), but I had no way of texting back thanks to my provider blocking me off. I explained the situation to the shop girl in mangled Japanese and I must have looked very tired because she handed me her own smartphone(!) to try and call back. Didn’t work either, and at that point I was just done, I thanked her profusely and quickly left. When I was at the very last stop of my metro, while I was thinking about how I didn’t know the way home yet, suddenly my phone connected to some miraculous wifi source nearby AND my stepfather was online and texting me! Because I had no idea where the wifi was coming from and I had a suspicion it was the other train which was leaving, I rattled off a message, and THANK GOD when I got out he was there waiting for me. After all that none of us felt like going out for dinner so we grabbed some bentos with loads of fried food and went home. I didn’t even make it to bed properly, I ended up falling asleep sitting on the floor with my phone. All in all not a day I would care to repeat, save for the shopping. Luckily the next day was better!
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