Anyway, so in July, James & I travelled to Japan and visited Osaka, Hokkaido and Tokyo (once again). I absolutely love Hokkaido! Probably even more if Jamie didnt have his tummy aches which lasted for a full 10 days T_T On this trip, I kept a keen eye out for Lolita shops (many thanks to Karmen & Bunny for shopping tips! ) Here's a lil break down of our Japan trip.
osaka
hokkaido
On day 4, we flew to Sapporo. We were spoilt for choice at the ramen village in Esta (10th floor) located at the JR Sapporo Station. There was an entire arcade floor in the same building, together with Purikura machines. Took our first purikura together and both of us looked rather hideous lol. Such large eyes! I guess Purikura is not very guy-friendly too... Tried our luck at the UFO machine as Jamie was really determined to get the Neko Atsume Sassy Fran plushy (or as he calls it, Maid cat). Luck wasn't on our side in Sapporo. Day 5 - We visited Shiroi Koibito park & Sapporo Beer Garden. Shiroi Koibito park teaches the process of chocolate making and there were amazing viewing windows where we could see the manufacturing/ packing process of the lovely white chocolate biscuits. | There was a lovely flower garden behind the building as well which makes a nice spot for couply photos. We also had some yummy desserts and to-die-for hot chocolate drinks. Dark hot chocolate was served with orange liquer (above photo) and I had white hot chocolate which was served with what looked like jam. I could really go there again just for the hot chocolate drinks! After Shiroi Koibito, we headed to the Sapporo beer museum and had our meal at the Genghis Khan Hall. Fully felt like some warlord munching on all that bbq lamb & chucking down beer. |
Day 6 - Collected our rental car and started making our way to Asahikawa. Stopped by Hokuryu-cho Himawari-no-sato sunflower fields but realised we got the dates for sunflower blooms wrong... We were too early... Nonetheless, the town was filled with sunflower-themed fixtures, which was an adorable sight. Drove to Asahikawa and checked in at Yuka's BnB. It was a convenient location and comfortable apartment with great facilities. James could finally wash his clothes for free without having to find a laundry shop. After dropping off our stuff, we quickly continued on our way to Kumagaikitakitsune farm which was close to a 2-hrs drive from Asahikawa. The foxes were rather skittish at first and moved away quickly when we tried to approach them. However, sitting amidst them, they grew bolder and started to drag and chew on James' bag. They were really playful creatures at heart, and it very soon became a competition of who would get the bag amongst them. It was probably the very first time I've heard a fox whining up close. More surprisingly, there were actually a few Tanukis living with the foxes and they got a along really well. Contrary to legends, they didn't seem to have big balls. |
Thereafter, we headed to Furano Winery where we bought some palatable dessert wines, followed by Ningle Terrace, a collective village of small crafty shops. As it seems, one of the shop owners has made a habit of feeding the squirrels and the squirrels turned out rather bold. The popular Mori no Tokei is situated right at the end of the path, and simply opening the door to the packed cafe rewards you with a whift of fragrant coffee which you are denied 'cos of the queue. Anyway, following that, we took a shuttle bus to the Garden of Wind; a place where gardeners' dreams come true... The variety of flowers there was simply amazing! The buzzing of bees was all too familiar a sound there. I had rose ice cream there, which totally tasted like frozen bandung. We concluded our day by checking into Goryo Guesthouse. |
osaka
Stayed at Shinjuku for the first few days and it was basically a shopping expedition. Was so glad the boy was accommodating and went on the lolita shopping hunt with me. Visited two other Closet Child shops in Tokyo and bought more dresses. Under James' insistence, I got the Metamorphose Happy Balloon dress. Was rather unsure of this purchase as it didn't really seem to be my style... The boy also bought me an early birthday present - Metamorphose Day Dreaming Goldfish and a biscuit bag from Axes Femme to go along with my ETC biscuit dress =) Thank you for being so accepting of my hobbies and not finding them weird! XD As it seems, I've found myself a new fashion consultant.
Visited Sanrio Puroland as well, but wasn't too impressed by it. I think it would suit children better... I felt that it was pretty much a giant shopping mall of Sanrio merchandise. The performances were rather cute nonetheless. Somewhere in an arcade near puroland, maid cat sat there waiting. It was pretty much lucky that we chanced upon the arcade due to the rain and this time, Jamie bagged her just after a few tries. I guess studying all those videos on UFO- catching by the pros did pay off! The boy was so elated he couldn't wait to kiss her XD |
Visited a boys love cafe and there were a couple of eye-candies there <3 One of them even works as a model in Singapore on an occasional basis! Unfortunately, I couldn't read the manga provided by the cafe as they were in Japanese but I was really happy to see Koisuru no Boukun mangas there!
We also visited Akiba Fukurou owl cafe where there were many different breeds of owls. An early reservation has to be made for this owl cafe. We had to be really quiet and contrary to my idea of a cafe, no food/drinks are served in the cafe. It was nice that the owls took turns to rest (as indicated by the pink stickers on the wall) so that they wouldn't be manhandled throughout the day. My favourite was a derpy baby tree owl that did funny winking actions and threw its head back once in a while. I'd love to visit them again on our next Japan trip.
On the last day in Japan, we visited Marui Annex. Regretted not going there earlier. There are heaps of lolita shops there. Bought some stuff to match the Balloon dress from Metamorphose and a BTSSB Marie Antoinette - Splendid portrait of Beauty Queen skirt.
Overall I had a fun trip and I think I'd love to return to Hokkaido in another season and try out a different set of activities =) Looking forward to our next Japan trip, hopefully with J & WX =)