Haven't done one of these in a while but this weeks topic was just too good to miss. I added this topic to the Lolita Blog Carnival poll a few weeks ago and finally it was chosen. I was very happy!
I had been doing a lot of planning for a upcoming trip to Tokyo anyway actually and I was eager to share my ideas as well as to read about the ideas of the other writers. This post will however be more extensive because, after all, this is my ¨ideal¨ trip.
So to describe my ideal trip to Tokyo ¨for frills.¨ Well I've been to Tokyo already and came to a realization that frills was just one of the many wonderful things to do/buy/experience there. I remember when I made my first planner it was full of Lolita things to do. When I actually arrived, ate, slept and breathed Tokyo I was soon shown a whole new world. The Lolita aspect was a wonderful experience but there are many more wonders in Tokyo. So my ideal trip will also include other aspects of Tokyo Japan which are equally as cute, amazing and delicious.
First off lets talk when to go, flights and a sleeping spot(s) for the trip. This is always the most exciting part I find. By the way, I am a perfectionist and it literally took me days/weeks to research the perfect deals, times to go to Japan for, locations to stay in, hotels and airbnb´s, so I could get really detailed. You have been warned.
Duration, when to go to Tokyo and flights:
I definitely want to stay for at least two weeks and in the month of October. Tokyo´s Halloween season is awesome plus I love Halloween so that's where that came from. Exact dates? Well I was thinking something among the lines of leaving for Tokyo on the 17th of October and arriving on the 18th between three and four in the afternoon. By the time I get into Tokyo it should be around five or six. That gives me enough time to head to the airbnb, get a bite to eat and go to bed. The reason I chose to arrive later during the day is because I want to overcome any jet-lag. Jet-lag just really sucks. The first time I went ,I arrived really early in the morning and suffered greatly from the jet-lag. I thought I would really tire myself out during that day and would have a great sleep but that didn't happen. I was so sleepy the whole day long and when it was finally time to go to bed I was wide awake. I hope that by arriving later and going to bed sooner my body will adjust much better and quicker. I would return on the 3rd of November. Enough time to relax after Halloween partying and enjoying sneak peaks of the Christmas decoration. I would like to fly with ANA (All Nippon Airways). They are a Japanese airline that offer you the Japanese experience on the flight. To me they had the most comfortable looking planes (with good leg room and a lot of comfort), great food (Asian and western style) and they have great prices. I haven't flown with them before but I am already greatly impressed by reviews from other travelers.
With whom Id go and where to stay:
My ideal people to go with would be my significant other and 2 friends. A group of four is equal so no one is left out. We would share a lovely airbnb apartment together in Otsuka which is in Toshima. I stayed in Otsuka previously and I loved the area. Its quite central but still very quiet and reserved. The area was also quite residential which was really nice. Plus its connected to the Yamanote line, which gets you pretty much to most of the central attractions in Tokyo or connections to the other places.
We all know that Tokyo is very known for its compactness therefore small and compact everything. When it comes to a place to stay its fine if you're by yourself in a tiny room but with a group of 4 we at least had to have some space for privacy and suitcases, I would have two. This reflected my choice in airbnb. If you haven't heard of airbnb yet I suggest you really look up the website. They have great accommodations for every occasion and person. They´re not hotels. Its basically a website where people, around the world, rent out their homes etc. But this can differ in many ways. You can either rent just a room from people, or stay in a share-house (which means the whole house belongs to one person and they are renting many rooms out to travelers and you share the kitchen, bathroom etc) or you can have a whole house/apartment to yourself. The latter one was my first choice.
Even though I like the idea of trying out the tatami cultural experience I think I would prefer a western style bed in my apartment. Sleep is holy okay?!
So we've covered the basics. Now for things I would like to do, see, taste, buy, etc.
~Kawaii Things to do and see~:
Like I've mentioned before there is so much to do in Tokyo. There are endless possibilities and each more strange and diverse than the other. I've already done some major sightseeing last time I went so I wont be mentioning those. Im going to mention the following in a list style. I feel this will be much easier to read.
☆Tokyo tower
☆Disney Sea
☆Visit a cat cafe
☆Visit more than one maid cafe (Maid Dreamin to be exact. Moe Moe Kyuuuunnn
♥)
☆Visit a butler cafe (Swallowtale)
☆Attend a Lolita meet up in Lolita
☆Go to a Kera snap shot
☆Attend Harajuku fashion walk in Harajuku!
☆Attend an autumn festival
☆Go on a boat trip
☆Visit korea town (technically I have already been there. I was visiting the hotel of a friend who was staying there. I didnt do much else.)
☆Play pachinko (Kamekazi girls style!)
☆Visit the different parks in Tokyo (I really loved the parks last time I went. Pure traquility in the middle of the city.)
☆Temple/shrine visiting (Best part of the holiday. Im in love with Japans culture and visiting temples/shrines feels so pure.)
☆Visit Yanesen (Its a district in Tokyo with lots of shrines and is a great place to stroll and there are loads of cute CATS!)
☆Ikebukuro Sunshine City ( For shopping of course, visiting the planetarium, aquarium and namjatown which is an indoor themepark.)
☆Odaiba (Palette town (Pokemon?) and Venusfort for shopping. There´s also an awesome edo style onsen there!Its called Ooedo onsen monogatari.)
☆Tokyo Bay
☆Do a bike tour (I love to cycle and doing a tour in Tokyo looks like a lot of fun. Tokyo really is a cycling city anyway. Reminds me a lot of The Netherlands where I live.)
☆Of course I need to climb Mt Fuji san.
☆Visit and relax in lovely hot springs (Id like to try out some of the ones on the outskirts of Tokyo. Ive heard they are very beautiful.)
☆Visit Nara ( Because deers are cute!)
☆Visit Kyoto (Visit shrines, temples and Gion and stay in a traditional Japanese ryokan.)
☆Visit Sanrio Puroland (of all the cutest places to go! To be immersed in cutness and kira kira shinning stars.)
☆Do tons of Purikura (This is so much fun to do! My goal would be to do it whilst wearing Lolita.)
☆Do a Lolita transformation at Maison Juliette (You know Misako Aoki´s booth in Laforet? I saw this cute pink booth last time but I was way too shy to go in. This time I will go and go full OTT.)
☆Do Karaoke (this would be so much fun to do with a group of Lolita friends.)
☆Travel around Japan if the time and the budget allows it (Id love to travel by shinkansen for example. Id love to go see Hokkaido and some of the islands like cat and bunny island because you have to when you love cats and bunnies.)
☆Visit the bunny cafe in Harajuku (BUNNY BUN BUNS ♥♥.)
☆Visit the new Monster Cafe (because I love myself some creepiness.)
Oh the list could go on..
~To taste and savor the flavor forever~:
Ive tried my fair share of foods and drinks in Tokyo but there are so many things I still want to try and retry also.
☆Ramen
♥
☆Curry rice (I so desperatly wanna try this!)
☆Any izakaya food (Izakaya is a Japanese pub which serves small traditional Japanese foods, snacks and drinks.)
☆Try more convenience store food (you would be suprised of how good the food is. Stores include but are not limited to 7Eleven´s, FamilyMart, Lawson and more.)
☆Drink adventures from the vending machines (they are so practical and fun. I loved buying drinks from these. I felt so sad when I came home to normal boring vending machines that are not on every street corner.)
☆Eat good sushi from a Japanese conveyer belt
☆Eat at another alice in wonderland cafe (Ive been to one before in Shinjuku and it was awesome and so cute.)
☆Eat at the lock up restaurant (because why not?)
☆Eat at one of those specialty cafes with themes like Pokemon, PomPom Purin , Sailor Moon or even Funashi themed ♥‿♥ (the Funashi one was at Parco when I was there but the line was sooooo long.)
☆Eat that squid dish (The dancing squid with the soy sauce. Okay this may sound disgusting to some but I would love to try this. Dont know what Im talking about, then Google or Youtube it.)
☆Try some weird ice-cream flavours.
☆Try more tea flavoured things (Japan loves tea flavoured anything. For instance I really loved Starbuck´s matcha frappechino. It had such a unique flavor. I also heard that Dunkin Donuts does some great matcha and earl grey flavours too.)
☆Halloween inspired foods and drinks (because its Ocotber in Tokyo and you gotta go with da flow. But seriously have you seen some of the foods and drinks they sell in Halloween theme? OMG to die for!)
☆Soba (Yummy yummy yummy.)
☆Okonomiyaki (there´s this one restaurant in Harajuku where you get make your own. That sounds so cool.)
☆Melon pan and An pan (My personal favorites ♥‿♥ .)
☆Curry pan
☆Takoyaki (Tiny little octopus balls. Sounds kinda yucky if you say it that way xD.)
There are tons more foods Id like to try but the list could go on and on and on and on.
~Buy-Ikura desu ka?~:
Drop a grand on brand. Haha! First time round I was actally really careful with my money. It literally took me 3/4 days before I made my first purchase, besides from food obviously. I had the grand in my pocket the whole time but was so timed because I didnt want to waste my money on impuls buys. And the funny thing was when coming back I still had 500 euros spending money left and my suitcase was 6 kg lighter for some reason too. Curious, very, curious.
☆Visit Closet Child to buy Lolita and otome style clothing (Of course.)
☆Stop at Bodyline to buy SHOES, SHOES AND MORE SHOES!
☆Any cute clothes store for clothes (In Harajuku, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Akihabara and anywhere where my eyes see cute clothes!)
☆Plunder all the Disneystores in Tokyo, Land and Sea (Big Disney fan! Guilty as charged!)
☆Make-up and beauty products ( Totally captivated by Asian beauty products and make-up. Brands like Etude House are so cool. Asian make-up is so cute. Plus Lashes are awesome too. They have soooooo many different kinds and brands.)
☆Daiso! (For any random needed stuff! I remember being at the Daiso in Harajuku haven heard it was huge but actually thinking it wasn´t that big at all. Only later (when I was back home) did I find out the store has a whole other floor down stairs...-_-. Man I felt stupid. Well next time I will explore more.)
☆Souveniers (For all the family and friends back home. Id love to get some of the realistic plastic foods. They look so delicious.)
☆Instax camera film refills (Lots and lots of these. I remember there was this one shop I totally adored located in Ikeburuko, Shibuya and Akihabara. They sold really cute house-hold items, stationary, instax cameras, orniments, tons of anime and manga, phone cases, key-rings and the list just goes on and on. That was my favotite shop in Tokyo. It was called something amoung the lines of Van Guard? Im not sure anymore.)
☆Stationery (oh please dont get me started on stationary in Japan. Its is soo adorable. I just wanted to spend all my money on it but realising I have so much at home already. If I could have I would have dropped a few grand on stationary alone *gets all emotional*.)
☆Swimmer (I have a customer card from them cause I bought loads of stuff from them previously. They sell such cute and practical stuff. Their bags were my favorite. I have a bag thing. Can never have too many different themed, coloured and shaped bags.)
I think its really funny that this list is the shortest of all three. Haha. Maybe thats the reason I came back home with so much money to spare xD.
Every day would be an adventure but I wont forget to relax every other day in an onsen of course. There has to be a nice balance. Waw if all of this was possible then Id be a mega happy little lady. Well one can dream and I find that if you dream bigger you may not get that one dream but you would still get better than if you dreamt more realistically. I like to be creative and positive like that. Or at least I try to anyway.
Thanks for reading! Your´s truely,
