What, no hello, no hi how have you been? No, none of that. I became too much of a Tokyoite, looking fresh and oh so cool from outside but being bitter on the inside. Besides, who the hell even says hello here? Right, only people who study Japanese. Or store attendants.
By now I’ve just been in Tokyo way too long. And it’s true what they say, after the 4th, 5th, 6th or at least after the 7th year you will start hating Tokyo. Or grow bored with it. Or it’s a mix of hate, boredom and disgust, like in my case. Or you already gave in to everything and accepted it, then congrats. Or you lost your brain somewhere among the zombie crowds, in which case I feel sincerely sorry for your loss.
Either way, hey, I finally got out of the drained state (tokyo vampire lemonade hah) for a second, and lately I have been thinking of restarting this blog. There was so much I wanted to write about the last few weeks and finally, finally after watching 3 seasons of Sex and the City (yeah, I actually never properly watched it) I thought: hey, I should write! I should share all the things I have to say! Maybe there’s something useful in what I have to say.
Let’s start with all the cool stuff about Tokyo that’s still actually rocking, besides food (which will make you get stomach or another form of cancer sooner or later but let’s save that for next time):
Fashion
The fashion is still freaking awesome and cheap considering the not too bad quality (I am not even being sarcastic I can’t help sounding like that even when I want to praise Japan).
Yes, Gyaru fashion toned down and everything became really onee-san-y or leaning towards Kyabajo/Agejo-ish fashion because let’s be honest, those girls are basically the only group left wearing that fashion. Those or the freeters, NEETs and maybe some of the high school/universtiy students.
With the identity crisis among the Japanese and the rush of working women who are stressing through managing their household chores as well as their office (lady) jobs that demand more and more overtime hours, what time is there left for fashion? Actually if you look more or less decent after finishing a 50 hour work week plus additional unpaid work at home, you will be happy to just throw on anything and go out to have fun, if you still have the energy that is.
No idea where women like Sayo Hayakawa take the energy &time to raise a child alone on top of all of that work
(I swear I am not being sarcastic)
Where, I ask you, is the time to find your own identity or fashion sense? Or fashion, for that matter?
And hence, what you see these days is either the old gyaru-ish toned down, the childish-sweet inspired or the foreign inspired fashion. And by foreign I mean mainly European/American or Korean. I’ve mostly really seen a raise in Korean fashion (hence I probably don’t go out much anymore haha). There’s nothing much to see besides that. But at least it has become cheap!
Since the wages are dropping while taxes are rising (I feel like half of what I am writing should be put in a paper about Japanese culture), we can see that ‘I will buy it all as long as it is cheap & cute’ attitude. Fabric, quality, size? Yeah, don’t care too much about that, it just gotta be cheap.
There there, girls, now let me introduce you to the shop that every girl and there Japanese mom is already shopping at: Puci Puri (actually: puchi pri taken from the french petit prix) / Qoo10
Let me tell you one thing, I have seen these sandals a lot and even in Shinjuku already... last summer! And they’re still going strong.
Also, want one of those trending mini Furla style bags but not spend all that $$? Save that money for your next trip out of Japan and go with this one!
I have bought these cool bags myself and they were cheap considering they look exactly like in the picture! Of course the quality isn’t that amazing but how amazing do they look?! The design is just art! This art smells quite a bit of plastic though, so be warned. But then again, I've seen one of the other versions hanging on the shoulder of a young woman in Kabukicho just 2 days ago!
The awesome comfy shoes that I bought, rarely wear because of the super thin heels but nevertheless needed to possess
Though be warned, that stuff is still cheap and that means cheaply made. Besides the bags, I have bought 2 pairs of shoes of which one was quite awesome and the other one rubs against my feet until they bleed but they also look quite awesome. I’ve also bought a shirt that I wasn’t very satisfied with, it had a way more unflattering cut than expected. So be sure to always check the reviews!
Do you have any experiences with that site? I would be glad to hear about your experiences. To everyone else happy shopping~
