Japan trip 2019, arrival and Harajuku visit

Heya! Guess who’se online! Unfortunately I can’t upload any pictures yet as I didn’t bring my laptop, so these posts will be just text until I get back and edit these. Sorry!
 12/04 edit: here are the pictures!
 

(I’ll make some posts depending on how interesting the things I did were, I’ll probably combine days where I didn’t do too much)

Nothing happened on our very first day in Japan, we spent it dragging suitcases around Tokyo and cursing, and when we got to the airBnB at 4 in the midday we went straight to bed, that’s how badly the trip wore us out! The second day however, we got up early to head to Harajuku. 

The first half of the day centered around bank problems, because it turned out even though the logos on our cards were on any and every ATM, we couldn’t actually withdraw any money! We figured out a way eventually but it was a super convoluted one and having to fight with bank employees while you just want to shop really puts kind of a bad aftertaste on the day. Seriously, beware if you use Maestro!! 

After all that, I finally got to go to Harajuku! 
 

Harajuku Station is gorgeous tbh.

First thing I did was stop at a konbini for snacks, as I’m pretty bad with big crowds and a little sugar gives an energy kick which really helps. I got two packs of limited edition chocolate crackers in espresso and cheesecase flavours. The box said that if you buy both and eat them at the same time it turns into tiramisu flavor, which I unfortunately didn’t notice until I’d already finished off one box. Oops! The cheesecake ones just kinda tasted like cookies and cream to me, with mayyyybe a smidge hint of cheese, but the espresso ones tasted really strongly of coffee. Both were super tasty, if not very accurate to the box. 

(Expect more limited editions to pass by, I LIVE for limited edition food!)

After that I went to Harajuku, and after wandering around Omotesando for a while (and LITERALLY PASSING LAFORET TWICE) I found Takeshita Dori! I entered it from the wrong side but I didn’t even realize, although I did notice the sign above the street was very different from what I had seen online. Looking back it was probably for the better I started from the back because it was wayyy less crowded. 

I think this is the back entrance to Takeshita dori? I had no idea the back even had a sign!

After some minutes of walking I found my holy grail, Closet Child! It was a very very small store, maybe the size of a living room, but CRAMMED with racks and tables with clothes. There were some incredible deals, like AP rings for ~¥400, but I’d told myself I was only going to buy stuff that I loved 110%. I did not come all the way to Japan to compromise! In the end, after like two hours of browsing and picking up stuff and putting it back I settled on buying just blouses and a casual dress. I had no idea Closet Child even stocked non-lolita brands, but they had several racks of them! Mostly F.I.N.T. and Axes Femme and such. I managed to buy a Metamorphose cutsew that was nearly new for just ¥276, just because the bows had come loose. €2 for a brand top because it needs five minutes of sewing? Yes please! I also picker up a flyer of a secondhand lolita market that was going to be held on the 24th, to see if I can attend. 

After paying I went up to the second floor, but the otome stuff was out of the range I was willing to pay and the Moitié rack was nearly empty (4 pieces! I walked past it like four times!) so I left again pretty quickly. I continued walking down Takeshita, wondering where the brand stores were, not realizing I had passed La Foret ages ago, but I did find Liz Lisa and Listen Flavor. 
 

Listen Flavor! Unfortunately no pics of Liz Lisa as it was suuuuper crowded that day.

Because I was getting incredibly tired I met up with my parents for some tea and rest. We sat down at a café next to a mall where some event was being held. No idea what it was about, my Japanese is very basic and the posters were kanji nightmares, but it attracted LOADS of people! I have no idea which floor the event was being held on, but when I went in, I saw the line go down the stairs, out the door and onto the street! 

After that, my parents and I decided to go to Takeshita dori again- my mom was incredibly curious about Closet Child. When we got there, there were loads of new things in the racks already! I’d heard they have a very fast turnover rate, but I didn’t expect it to be THIS fast. I found a gorgeous embroidered Axes Femme sweater that hadn’t been there before, and after buying that I went up to the second floor again to check out H. Naoto for cutsews. I found a tank top for just a few hundred yen in really good condition, so I got that too. 

After Closet Child, we went on to Bodyline to look for specific shoes (they didn’t have them), then Liz Lisa who were having a sale. 50% off of the whole store and several deals for sets, like 2 onepieces for ¥9800 or a top and skirt or pants for around ¥7000. I did find some lovely things, but some of them with too tight elastic (Liz Lisa’s shirring elastic is downright treacherous), and a lot of white stuff which I’m trying to avoid as I have started to hoard white and cream stuff lately. I did find a gorgeous purple dress with ochre roses (I know it sounds horrible, but trust me it was very pretty lol) but it was unshirred and I really wasn’t feeling up for undressing and fitting. I did try on some shoes, but the last pair they had was just a smidge too small. I decided to leave the purple dress for now, after all I can always come back later!

After leaving Liz Lisa and wandering in and out of stores we were getting hungry, and we just happened to pass Sweets Paradise which was on my list to go to. After a lot of issues with the ticket machine (all in Japanese with no pictures of course) and having to re-purchase mine (turns out everyone at one table needed to buy the same ticket) we went in. They were playing Vocaloid music and the place was crowded with high school students up to twentysomethings, including a very punky couple who contrasted immensely with the surroundings! Sweets Paradise was really good, honestly. I went back for seconds with the pasta and had to stop myself from going back for thirds. The cakes were really good! Not all of them were THE BEST, but the experience of being able to choose from such an insane selection canceled that out imo. They had a whole load of limited ones, there was a spring promotion going on as well as an anniversary one. Interestingly and kind of disgustingly, part of the spring promotion was a pink strawberry curry. My parents, who don’t speak Japanese at all, spent a good minute just looking at the pot trying to figure out what that pink goo was! Needless to say we didn’t try that. 

After we left Sweets Paradise it was around 8 in the evening, and the sudden drop in temperature plus it having been a busy day had us go back to our airBnB early-ish. I picked up two cups of limited edition Haagen-Dasz for later, cherry custard pie and almond-caramel Decorations, and we went home. 

I live for gentei products tbh. Both of these were delicious. I think the Decorations is just new?

That’s it for day one and two! The next one might combine day three and four, depending on how much I end up doing on the third day as I’m meeting up with some Japanese family of mine. See you soon!