Japan: Mini Photo Shoots

First, I just had to take a few pictures of Takeru taking a smoke break in his natural habitat while we were in Shimokitazawa

And then he took my camera and got some of me at a Shinto shrine on the way back to the station!  I took some pictures of him here too.  This is definitely one of the things I love about Japan.  Just scattered all around the new cities, buildings, homes, trains, and hustle and bustle, you can literally just walk into the past.  These shrines range in sizes, and most of them aren't huge, famous, and full of people.

We got our little fortuney things, and I got the best one you can get! Takeru just got the regular one though XD I'll have to have enough luck for the both of us I suppose

The feeling at one of these shrines is similar to the calm, kind of peaceful feeling you'd get going into a church, or a beautiful naturey place.  Whether or not religion plays a role, churches, shrines, and nature do have that kind of feeling, I think.   It's really interesting to me, that a Catholic church in America, a Shinto shrine in Japan, and some beautiful natural wonder anywhere in the world can all have the same kind of feeling.  Just have respect and love for all religions, people, and nature is what I believe!

Blog: Japan Day 3 Part 1: Shimokitazawa and Italian Food

We went to Shimokitazawa again, because there was so much more to see still, and I loved it so much the first day!

This place was called the Garage Department, and it was a bunch of mini stores selling secondhand, vintage, and handmade clothes and accessories, kind of like a flea market!

I got an Axes Femme dress and an Anna Sui earring from here! I think I will make a post with more details and pictures of what all I got and where from. Unfortunately it might have to be mostly Iphone pictures because of my stolen camera though DX [link to post with that story here] I'll try to look at it as an artistic challenge... I want my camera! DX

This store had a lot of Gunne Sax dresses! I will also have a more detailed post about Gunne Sax in Japan, with maybe some links to their websites and pictures from inside the stores. ;)

After that, we took the train a few stations away to eat at an Italian restaurant where Takeru used to work

Right by the station

And that's all for the first part of day 3!

Blog: Japan Day 2, Part 2: Shimokitazawa

Takeru said that I would love Shimokitazawa, and he was so right!  It might be my favorite place to shop in Japan so far.  There were so many secondhand and vintage stores there.  Of course there will always be a special place in my heart for Harajuku and Shibuya for shopping ♡

I even spotted a little bit of lolita there!

I found two Gunne Sax dresses at this store! This was one of my favorite secondhand stores for sure.  Really cheap and absolutely full of  cool clothes

After shopping, we went to a game center in Shimokitazawa to do purikura and play some games!

Japan definitely knows what a girly-girl like me wants and needs ♡ This little makeup corner is for getting pretty for purikura.  Lots of girl's bathrooms even have extra mirror sections specifically for doing makeup.  Some purikura places have some costumes that you can wear for the pictures too!

Also, in the purikura section of game centers, boys aren't even allowed unless accompanied by girl.  So, yes to cute purikura with boyfriends, but no creepy lurker guys! ♡

It was exciting to use my Nesica card thingy again and access my old account!

One of my favorite games!  He still beat me though....

I couldn't figure out how to change my thingy from being fries...also I did horribly, but I was so happy they had this song!

This is probably the best I've ever done at this game!

Before leaving Shimokitazawa and heading to an izakaya to meet Takeru's coworkers, we ran into one more cute, literally hole-in-the-wall, store that was having a going out of business sale, and we haggled the price down on a skirt from $150 all the way to $60!

Matcha flavored Baileys! One of the things that I wanted to try while I was in Japan. I was lucky to find it on the menu here.

What all I drank....

And that ends day 2 after a quick ride back home sitting on the back of Takeru's bicycle!