Sunday, March 8, 2009

Final Tokyo photos

There are so many photos.

Disneyland:

Emily, Me, some character and Ebony.


I bought a bow this time, I normally buy Minnie Mouse ears. I also look like a 4 year old in this photo, so happy. OH and guess what? I got RECOGNISED from my blog in TOKYO Disneyland! Crazy right???


Big Thounder Mountain broke down while we were in line. We got a free pass to go to the front of a line at any other ride of out choice, but it would have been nice to have been able to ride this.

Vanity Party:



Pierre playing keyboard in his band Gimme Um


Maya, me and Yuki. I wore fake eyelashes, its looks pretty amazing!

Vegetarian Izakaya:



Toshi's "Sensei" (lecturer) and Toshi shouted us to this meal. Thanks guys. The lecturer teaches Math's and as Toshi is doing his masters, researching street fashion (um he studies computer science and is making an amazing website, but its all secret right now, can't explain anymore than that), the lecturer came up with a mathematical equation to predict fashion trends as part of Toshi's work. Yep maths is useful! It can help predict fashion trends. They both came to Australia last year, but only Toshi made it to Melbourne. That is how I met him. Remember this post?




Oishi vegetarian Japanese food. Not sure what it is though...but it was super Oishi (yum!)

Sleep over at Maya's house:

Maya and me.




Super girly house. This is what I woke up to that night I got so drunk I don't remember how I got back to Maya's. It was so trippy to wake up in this ultra pink barbie dream home.

Fucca Fucca Crepe shop in Koenji:



I love Japanese style Crepes!

Taco Bourbon in Koenji:



Avocado veggie taco. So bloody yum! My sisters favourite place to eat in Japan. She wanted it every day. Lucky we lived just 1 block away. We were there so often that on our last visit they gave as a present each. Thanks Taco Bourbon guys!

Design Festa Gallery in Harajuku.





I wore my new shoes. So comfy.

Akhihabara:

Ebs wanted to go to a maid cafe. Your not allowed to take photos of the maids however. So this is me in "Electric town", where you can buy electronic goods, anime figurines and cos play costumes.

Wut Berlin:

Why was the dollar so bad?


This shop used to be a restaurant, the restaurant where Henry proposed! Oh well things change.

I bumped into a friend from Melbourne in Shimo Kitazawa. Crazy right?

Me and Benedict in Shimo. Still can't believe I bumped into him. He was getting last minute gifts for people back home at Lush...he works at Lush here in Melb...why get gifts there? Lol. I also bumped into Alastair from Melbourne Street Fashion's housemate and all his friends who I met on New Years Eve at this party, and then again one day in Shinjuku, and they happened to be friends with Henry's sister's ex bf who was also there. Small world.

Ebony wore this one day in Tokyo (all the days are jumbled together now):

The brown shoes are mine. The leggings are from Uniqlo and the red top is from a shop in Koenji. The red beret is from Paris Kids in Harajuku.

Ebony's Goodbye Karaoke Party! (she left 2 days before me)

Do you notice her hair colour? She got it dyed grey at this 24 hour hairdresser in Shibuya.


On my last day in Tokyo it snowed. It also was the day I decided to check out the view. Doh!


Super nice shop staff at popular shop Galaxxxy. They have a photo of me on their blog.


Uber cool shop Candy. I always forget his name, but he is so nice, he paid for a taxi for me and my sister. I wish I had a better memory with names.


Yama at Tokyo Bopper.


The owner of Marios Left Tanker and Igalliano who works there. First time I've seen Igalliano not in a wig!


Max really does love Spank!


My goodbye party at an Izakaya in Koenji (an izakaya is like a Japanese pub). Daisuke from Drop Snap, Tabuchi, Koshiro and Max.


Maya, Me, Eri and Yuki.


The two western girls are Rah Rah and Sheila from Sydney. I bumped into them all the time around Tokyo (again with bumping into people, so crazy in such a big city). I think Rah Rah reads my blog and contacted me that she will be in Tokyo at the same time as me (it could have just been Myspace though?) we are friends with some of the same people too. It was nice to have people to speak English with. We ended up sitting in the street till 4am drinking beer and talking on my last night, just us three. So fun. A policeman rode his bike past us a few times stareing us down though. We weren't doing anything wrong (drinking in public is legal in Japan!).

A few of us went to Karaoke after the Izakaya.

Maya is so funny. She really screams when she sings. So loud, but so fun!


Asami, Sheila and Rah Rah sing their hearts out.

Ok so that's all the photos. Guess what? I don't feel sad any more about not living in Tokyo. Well that's not 100% true, I would love to live there again, but I did learn something. If I was still there I would still be teaching English. I met a lot of people who are still teaching English and sure, they go to amazing parties, but really, so what? When they go back to their home countries they have to start again. Teaching English doesn't really lead to any career, especially as with teaching English in Japan you don't need qualifications, but back home you do. I am so excited about all my opportunities here in Melbourne, if I was still in Tokyo this would not be happening. Uni is amazing (Charlie Brown the designer gave us a talk on my 1st day! It was mostly about her recent trip to LA and how expensive her hotel was, but still it was interesting) and I have some exciting work ahead of me. In Tokyo I met a Melbourne couple who don't teach English, they work in design. They did it the right way around, they went over when their careers here were settled and they could get interesting jobs in Tokyo. That is my new plan. I will not live in Tokyo if it means I have to teach English. It should only be a 1 year thing, staying longer is kind of sad because really your life is on hold. I'm so glad I came to this realisation.

Another funny thing is just before I got to Japan a couple from Australia went into the Spank shop and spoke to Tabuchi and said they went there because of "Hayley's famous blog". Lol. Tabuchi showed me a photo of them. They were both wearing Romance Was Born. Thanks to who ever you are. Tabuchi was very impressed with me being famous, I had to explain that its not really true at all. So funny though.

Tabuchi was very very busy the whole time we were there. The reason was she was part of a new temporary store by Fruits magazine in Shinjuku. The store is called Fruits Mix. I couldn't take photos but please have a look at this site. It was really cool. But poor Tabuchi slept at most 1 hour a night. Crazy. Japanese people are such hard workers! (major generalisation there)

I had a great time, but its so nice to be home in a comfy bed with a shower that actually goes over my head! I will post again soon with photos of all the magazines and clothes I bought (not much really, stupid dollar!)

15 comments:

  1. amazing pics as always hayley! i can't wait to be able to go overseas again but it will probably be a little while for me to save up. all the vegie food looks delicious, i wish there were options in australia. and lovely that you don't have regrets about not living there now, a little hard work now means massive rewards later. you're definitely going places girl! xx

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  2. amazing photos as always hayley. makes me look forward to go overseas but it will probably take a while for me to save up. all the vegie food looks super delicious, i wish there were more/better options in australia. and good for you to feel happy about not living in japan at the moment. a little hard work now will have massive rewards in the future. you're definitely going places girl! xx

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  3. Hail, I like the top you're wearing in the first two photos. DIY?

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  4. Amelia: Veggie food in Melbourne is super easy to find. Japan is normally very difficult for vegos but this time my friends had researched places for us to go, hence yummy food. On a day to day basis it was so hard though, my sister ended up eating fish and chicken and now we are back she is "detoxing by becoming vegan".
    grimeisgold: the top is actually from an op shop in Box Hill (if your not Aussie what I mean is its from a charity/thrift store in a random suburb)

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  5. really really cool Hayley!
    Adn I think you're totally right! get ur carreer settled and then move over there again.... who wants to be an english teacher their whole life? I mean some ppl do but not youuuuu!!!
    aynways grreeeaaat PICS I so cannot wait to go there myself! Oh and for your info the guy who u always forget the name of in the candy store is called Yana ;)

    <3
    coco

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  6. OH MY GOD i'm so jealous... Tokyo looks amazing and it looks like you had the best time!!!

    re: about savers, which one did you go to??? i find the ones in the outer suburbs like greensie and dandenong have better shit than the brunswick one!!

    see you around xx

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  7. Wow...this is the post I have been waiting for. Amazing. It seems like everything went just right for you in Tokyo (except Space mountain, haha). I love the pic of you with the minnie mouse bow, haha. Thanks for posting all of the cool shops, I will have to look for these when I go back. Its funny that I see so many familiar faces because of the internet. I would love to meet some of these people someday.

    And don't worry too much about the future..you'll have it all figured out. I think in the end, if your passion is to have a design/fashion related job in Tokyo, it can totally happen.

    GAMBATTE!!

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  8. Aww Hayley I'm so glad to hear that you had an awesome time in Japan! I cannot believe you got recognised at Tokyo Disneyland! That is pretty damn cool! And if anyone were to understand the longing that a person can have for Japan -- it is most definitely me! When I came back in 2004 it troubled me so much for so long that I had to go back. So I went back and made sure I wrapped it all up... so I guess your trip was a similar thing. The photos are awesome. I can't wait to go back there someday soon (soon? who am I kidding?).

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  9. I love the top you wear to disneyland and also... CAN I COME TO KARAOKE NEXT TIME? Amazing.

    P.S I'm a shoe whore. There's more where those Jessie Hill's came from...

    xx

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  10. What GREAT photos!!
    I LOVED Tokyo Disneyland when I went.
    I went there with school in year 9, and oh such funny memories.
    How bad is the 'it's a small world' ride AAAAH!! I took like two rolls of film in that.. I have no idea why haha.
    I wish I went to Japan now, I could appreciate it so much better than I did at the time.
    Looks like you're having a ball!!
    Look forward to many more photos :):)

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  11. i love the pic of you with the bow in your hair. it's cute!
    also can't wait to hear about that math formula. that's downright wacky. and does it work?
    sooo many pics. and i'm shaped right now. i'll have to give this post another visit later.

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  12. Looks like way too much fun!

    I've just started a blog (http://welliguessmyheartstopped.blogspot.com/) which I'm using to collect anonymous true stories of love.

    I'd really like it if you could add me to you blogroll, i've added you to mine! I've been reading your blog for ages and love it.

    THANKS HEAPS.

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  13. awww man, I want to go to SPANK! shops one day...I absolutely adore them..sounds like you had fun..I read that you are doing some coverage on some shops there...did you get to go to Grimoire or Syrup?

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  14. I really love your black jacket - I've been looking for one just like, but nothing as perfect has come up. Where did you purchase it?!

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  15. ommmmg real serious tokyo karaoke. so awesome.
    I LOVE your tiedyed top in the first photos!

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