Okay that’s totally me… except with a PS3! muahahaha!!!

I swear, only the Japanese could come up with something so cute… a mushroom chair you can sit on seiza style (folded legs). I bought this little beauty way back in 2008 and have loved it ever since… I use it regularly to sit at my small table, play video games, watch anime or just to enjoy sitting in a funky position for a while.

After many years of use it’s still very comfortable and always brings a smile to my face. I don’t know which is better, thinking of Super Mario or random anime-ness everytime I look at my mushroom.

So where can you get this must have item? The most amazing website to purchase the coolest and trendiest items from japan: Strapya World! Oh my gosh this has to be one of my top 5 favorite websites ever; they never disappoint! Strapya World specializes in cellphone charms but you can also get anime stuff, wacky Japan stuff, video game stuff, kitchen stuff… all kinds of stuff! Make sure you subscribe to their website so you can be informed about discounts and special promotions!! wooooOOOO!

Strapya World: http://www.strapya-world.com/

Petite Mushroom Chair: http://www.strapya-world.com/products/17656.html

♡ Snapshots of my shroom! Yay! ♡

After watching the first episode of Kuragehime (Princess Jellyfish) I fell in love with Kuranosuke’s sense of style when dressing as a gal.  He is often decked out in elaborate Shibuya-style outfits that are adorned with accessories and topped off with wigs, bright leggings/opaque tights and shorts/miniskirts. Personally, I love his outfit from episode one the most so far.

Kuragehime has really touched a soft spot in my heart. It kind of reminds me of Higashi no Eden, Eden of the East, in regards to the music, the animation and the references to otaku culture and NEETs. I also see resemblances to N.H.K. ni Yōkoso!, Welcome to the N.H.K.! in regards to the peppy opening and closing songs and both anime touch on subjects related to the personal lives of otaku and NEETs. A comment I read in one blog pretty much summed up episode one,

” this episode was full of win. very original and refreshing. one of the best in the season so far :]“.

I’ve only watched three episodes but I know that as soon as Kuragehime comes out on blu-ray, I’ll be in Best Buy picking up my pre-ordered copy! I must study Kuranosuke’s style further!!!

If you can’t wait for Kuragehime to come out for sale, check out Funimation’s channel on You Tube to watch it subbed! Fantastic! Thanks Funimation!

For a more in depth information about Kuragehime the anime, read tehnominator’s excellent review at MyAnimeList.

Fabulous diamond studded pink bow belt and cute white leopard print shorts!

Bold colored tights, a nice thick wig and a warm cuddly turtleneck!

The brown cowboy boots really set off Kuranosuke's gal look

The following images are screenshots from Funimation’s You Tube episode of Kuranosuke. I do not own them but use them for purposes of illustrating Kuranosuke’s style! <3

This becomes a problem when I find an absolutely fabulous bright green skirt or a really shiny silver skirt that I can’t pass up… or at least that WAS a problem until I figured out how to accessorize them to get an ultra cool punk rock look. Here are some of the ideas that I came up with! These two bandanas I have are phenomenal because they can be used with: mini skirts, pants, as a handkerchief around the neck, around your head, around your arm, etc. A great bandanna goes a long way, it may be a good investment if you don’t already own one!

ITEMS USED

1. Studded Belt
2. Large Safety Pins
3. Bandanna of Choice
4. Mini skirt/ Shorts/ Pants
5. Chain (optional – as seen with Skull Candy Bandanna)

Punk Rock Skull Candy Bandana = Butt Kickin Punk Rock Gal ! ! !

Punk Rock Vivienne Westwood Bandana = The Sassy Punk Rock Gal ~

Alodia is one of those rare people that gets to live their dream and pursue their passion… she’s a professional cosplayer! WOW! I mean, I’ve heard of professional gamers (I was a tester at Konami for a while) but I have NEVER heard of a professional cosplayer! But along with being a professional (which entails attending events, judging competitions, modeling, hosting photo shoots and appearing on TV) she likes video games, collecting figures, playing piano, doing art and blogging… just like any normal girl! ^_^

She’s totally adorable and has a smile that could melt an iceberg! And she has a flawless complexion…

[what does she do? Get facials? She must be getting facials... I should be getting facials... hmmmmm...]

Now, why is her cosplay so successful? Let’s try to analyze her photos and see what are some of the key points! Maybe we can learn a thing or two!

1. Alodia wears full on make-up (eyes, face, lips). Don’t underestimate the power of make-up! It is necessary when wanting to give your face that smooth clean look. It covers up all the little “imperfections” and can highlight your best features. Also, make-up is an easy way to make yourself look more like the character, whether it’s coloring your eyebrows or puting on fake eye lashes.
2. Alodia takes care of her face. Or she’s just blessed with perfect eyebrows and skin! Either way, it looks like she takes care of her eyebrows (plucking perhaps) and her face (maybe with cleansing soaps, facials, masks, moisturizers, etc). As for me, I have thick strong eyebrows and if I didn’t pluck them they’d be out of control!!! I’ve gotten compliments on them by strangers, thanks to plucking!
3. Alodia knows how to style her hair and wig. Whether she is wearing a wig or going natural, Alodia always has her hair tight! It’s very important to keep your hair fabulous, do you know why? It is said that your hair is the first thing that people notice… for cosplay, it may be your outfit, or may be your wig!
4. Alodia works with good photographers. The photographers that she works with have the “anime eye“, meaning, they know how to shoot in an “anime-resemblance” way. It is completely different shooting a portrait for a Christmas card and shooting a giant robot with flashing eyes and a spinning drill hand… or a humanoid dog demon from fuedal Japan.
5. Alodia has confidence! You can tell by her photos, she has confidence in what she’s doing and is having lots of fun cosplaying! When you’re confident, you’re personality is able to shine and the camera captures that… you show the most beautiful side of you when you’re happy and having fun; being open and confident in what you’re doing! Alodia has mastered that!

A picture is worth a thousand words… fortunately for us, Alodia’s are full of tips, tricks and cuteness! I think we learned a lot from Alodia’s cosplay! Thanks Alodia for working so hard!

Flawless Complexion!!!! Not even Photoshop can do that much!

This girl's got CONFIDENCE

One of Alodia's many Meet and Greets! Too cool!

I was TOTALLY mesmerized by this gyaru fashion… the gyaru live footage from Japan, where camera crews interviewed the most extreme gyaru girls on the street, was incredible! The interviewers looked and rummaged through the gal’s purses, asked them personal and embarrassing questions, and even followed one home to meet her boyfriend! (>_<) I guess they were trying to figure out what makes these girls tick!

Although the most extreme of “gyaru” fashion (where super tanned skin and bleached hair was commonplace – “ganguro“) has faded from popularity in Tokyo about 10 years ago, mainstream “gyaru” fashion still holds a niche market and features it’s totally kawaii looks in Japanese magazines such as “Popteen“, “Cawaii!”, “Ranzuki” and “egg“.

The coordinator of USA h. Naoto events was there too! She gave out prizes to the best dressed attendees which was super cool! I love h. Naoto… such a nice guy! I actually met him earlier this year and even talked with him for a while at Anime Expo! His apparel can be found at anime related conventions in So Cal so be sure to attend!

All in all, HOLiDAY HOT MESS was a great night! Click on the links below for more information about “gyaru“, Royal/T,  and HOLiDAY HOT MESS photos!

Detailed info and about event and invite from Kawaii Kakkoii Sugoi

HOLiDAY HOT MESS Photos

HOLiDAY HOT MESS Article Review

Diamond Gal Circle – L.A. gyaru style circle

Japanese Fashion Magazine Scans – look for Popteen, egg, Ranzuki and Cawaii! to see “gyaru” fashion

Royal/T website

Photo courtesy of Shannon Cottrell, LA Weekly

me and a friend at HOLiDAY HOT MESS! ^_^

Because of my strict diet, I thought it might be a challenge to find food for me in Japan being that it’s the fish eating capital of the world! I imagined that I would be eating mostly only tofu and rice every day… Lo and behold, eating vegetarian in Japan was super easy!!! All the food was delicious and there was a great variety of tasty dishes to choose from. Here are a few notes from my trip to Japan which hopefully will enlighten people about how easy it is to be vegetarian in Japan.

1. There is an abundance of vegetables and vegetable dishes to choose from which are all very fresh. Japanese people choose their meal based on the seasons so for instance, you might see a  ”Spring Salad” on the menu if you are visiting in April. Out of season foods are not usually eaten.

2. You won’t go hungry cause there’s food everywhere! In Akihabara, Temples, Train Stations… there are little vendors or booths that sell awesome food (usually snacks that are cheap). Also, you can trust places like 7-11 of AMPM to get a good meal cause the food is great there too! My friend and I were hungry in Harajuku so we went to 7-11 and I got some onigiri (rice balls), a tofu salad and a box of green tea for around $5…. SUGOOOOOIIIIIII!!!!

3. Traditional Japanese snacks are vegan more times than not. Think about it, most traditional Japanese snacks are made from rice or flour, sugar and salt, and a few other ingredients. So this means when you go to those temples or out in the boonies, you can eat the food! Way easier than finding vegan food on the strip in Las Vegas…

4. Waitresses/waiters and SUPER nice and helpful in Japan so don’t be afraid to ask what’s in the food! I was in Tokyo eating lunch with my friend and her dad. We were not sure if there was fish broth in a dish so he asked the waitress. She seemed more than happy to investigate this issue and quickly left . After about 5 minutes she appologized because she still could not find the answer so she said she would make some phone calls to some distributors. After all that she confirmed that the dish in fact had fish broth. She was so polite and so sweet about it!

Now here is one thing that would be difficult if you are a vegetarian and go to Japan… if you don’t like rice you might want to learn to love it like your mom’s home cookin’! Thankfully I love rice so I had no problem eating it 3 times a day and for snacks. Seriously though, you will probably be eating rice at least once if not 3 times a day.

So if you are still feeling a little iffy about being able to eat vegetarian in Japan, FEAR NOT! I have provided a PDF document in this post with words to watch out for when reading the ingredients on menus and packages. This document can be printed and used as a reference sheet, study sheet or you can cut and paste the words on small study cards (Japanese style!) to make it portable! When in Japan, you can also show these to your waiter or waitress and express that you do not eat these items. I’ve also included useful phrases and websites. Cool huh? Hopefully it’s of some use to you guys! Enjoy! ♥

Vegetarian Japanese Vocabulary List PDF

Small Example ~ Click to download PDF

Traditional Japanese Breakfast

Only Onigiri for Sale!

Purple Potatoe Specialty Shop

Pre-packaged Roasted Chestnuts ~ Yummy!

Giga Pudding!!! (wtf?!)

Get Good Food at AMPM!

I LOVE Nana! It’s an amazing manga and the anime is super good too! The creator of Nana (Ai Yazawa) has a passion for fashion (just like me ^_^) and draws all of her characters in ultra fashionable clothes. Yazawa-san’s favorite designer is Vivienne Westwood and has her characters dress in actual Vivienne clothes.

[How lucky... the characters in Nana get to wear beautiful Vivienne clothes everyday... *dream sequence*]

Anyways, back to reality. This post is inspired from a pin that my friend bought me in a Vivienne Westwood store when she went to England. I love it so much and it’s too cute so I want to wear it as much as possible. That’s when I thought of buying some kilt pins and rework my Vivienne pin so I can wear it at least once a week. (^_^)V So, here are my ideas and notes! Enjoy ♥

Vivienne Westwood Tie Accessory

Vivienne Westwood Custom Accessory

Vivienne Westwood Custom Choker

Vivienne Westwood Accessory & Scarf

Vivienne Westwood Accessory w/ Button-Up & Wrap

Akamatsu suggests putting advertising in dōjinshi and splitting the advertising revenues between the original creators and the dōjinshi creators. Akamatsu added that he believes that “Japanese dōjinshi are an part of our cultural heritage.

via Negima’s Akamatsu Wants to Put Dōjinshi on Manga Site – Anime News Network.

That’s right, J-Comi.jp gets 5 hearts! Why? Well the download was fast and easy, no advertisements, no sign-ups, no illegal downloading, no shenanigans, no hullabaloo! What can be better!?

Now… what does this all really mean? Well, now we can download manga to make more personal signatures, avatars, wallpapers... sugoi! I see some creative potential here!

Thanks so much Akamatsu-san! He really made my day! If you guys don’t already know, I absolutley LOVE Kaolla Su from Love Hina Again. She’s my first cosplay ever and she will truly hold a special place in my heart…

Super exciting!!

The first manga available on Akamatsu’s site will be one of his works (and one of of my FAVORITE anime) Love Hina! <3 The Beta version should be available 12/26.

For more info check out: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-11-17/negima-akamatsu-plans-free-site-for-out-of-print-manga

Akamatsu's New Site Home Page

When I went to Japan, my friend and I went to Akihabara and took lots of pictures in the photo booths in Japan. These pictures are called “Purikura” (プリクラ, sticker pictures that you can edit on the spot!). What’s really cool is that in Akihabara, there are cosplay outfits available to wear in the photo booths so we took extra pictures as well! I dressed up in Evangelion!

So, Purikura in your pocket? Well, there are a few iPhone apps available now that enable users to take pictures and then edit them Purikura style! They turn out super cute! I’ve already used two apps to edit pictures for profiles, Halloween and friends! If you love taking super kawaii pictures, these apps are right for you!

Puri 2.5 app

STiCKi PICi

Purikura (プリクラ Purikura) is either a photo sticker booth or the product of such a photo booth. The name is a shortened form of the a registered trademark purinto kurabu (プリント倶楽部 Purinto Kurabu). The term derives from the English print club. - Wikipedia