Tokyo Decadance: Versailles! 15.06.2013

Sandra and I went to Christon Café in Shinjuku, to attend Tokyo Decadances Versailles-themed party!

In short: IT WAS AWESOME.

I'd been looking forward to this for such a long time, and was worried that nobody would want to come with me.. but luckily, Sandra was game, and we went!
It was my first time going to Tokyo Decandance, so I was quite nervous, and very excited for what I was about to experience. I had been planning my outfit for some time, and for a first try on the Versailles style, I think I did pretty well!

My outfit for the night:

Trying to find a map to Christon Cafe

At the station!

Dress: Innocent World

Shoes: H&M

Corset: Vollers

When we arrived at Christon, after a small hunt in the rain for a working ATM,  we were greeted by FABULOUS people by the elevator, and was escorted up to the party on the 9th floor. The music was pounding, in the electro/house genre. It's the same as in almost every club around the world; they have different DJ's throughout the night that specialize in different genres. Funny thing, the most mainstream DJ played first, and the obscure ones for last.. x) 

The program was filled with goodies, we saw a tehcno opera performance (lol), striptease, concert with Velvet Eden, suspension show and other stuff. It was awesome!

Opera guy getting at it. Check out those New Rocks :) 

I also met other lolitas, also from Livejournals egl community! They recognized my face, and we hung out for the night ^^ I got the feeling of nostalgia, thinking of my younger years with lolita fashion, hehe.

Lolitas :D 

More lolitas! ^^

When it looked like some show was about to start, people were gathering around, while Decadance staff handed out roses to the partygoers form the stage. Suddenly, one of the staff pulled me and other girls up on the stage! I was like "WTF lol what is happening??" and us girls on stage started dancing. After some time, I felt tired, and I wanted to drink more, so I got Sandra to help me off the stage XD

Stage pic :)

People at the door :) 

After some hours of drinking and dancing, the staff started to prepare for the suspension show. And boy, I haven't seen anything like it. I've seen suspension show before, where they hang people high under the ceiling, sometimes pushing the back and forth, but this was sooo violent haha XD 

I have a picture, but if you have the stomach for it, you could watch the video ;) (Small warning: Sound is shit, just so you know.)

Whatcha doin', rose guy?
Dunno, jus' hangin' around..  

When it started getting late/early, Sandra and I thought it was best to go home, we were sooo tired! I think I got home around 6 or something, almost passed out of exhaustion! All in all, it was an amazing night with lots of awesome people! 

The next Tokyo Decadance special party is July 20th, with an 80's theme! I'm going of course, and I've already started planning my outfit :)
If you're in Tokyo that night, stop by the Trump Room for a good 80's party! :)
Facebook event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/395149097271552/

Manga recommendation: Yotsuba& よつばと！

Yotsuba&  / よつばと！

I'm currently reading Yotsuba in Japanese, for reading exercise. So if you're learning Japanese, I would love to recommend this manga for you guys! 
It's mostly written in hiragana, but the few kanji they've used have furigana as well! This makes it easy to look up a word you don't understand. The language and plot is very simplistic, so it's pretty easy to read!

You've probably seen the lead characters picture, or even read the manga before, I guess she's kinda popular in the manga/anime world.

It's an incredibly cute manga about a girl and her father moving to a new city, and then take on daily adventures and challenges. It's kind of a feelgood manga with not a whole lot of happening, each chapter describes maybe one day, one happening or so, and the chapter aren't that connected together. Think sitcoms :) 

Covers of volume 1 & 2 

First chapter, ひっこし (Moving)

Yotsuba is made by the same manga-ka that created Azumanga Daioh, Kiyohiko Azuma. I never really like childish silly anime, but I've always seemed to love Azumanga Daioh! 

So if you have the time and motivation for reading Japanese, this is a good place to start! 

Until next time ^^

My birthday party! 11.06.2013

Hello everybody!

Thought I'd share what I did on my birthday with you guys. This was my *whispers*25th*whispers* birthday, so I wanted to celebrate a bit! I don't think I ever really expected to celebrate me *whispers*25th*whispers* birthday in Japan, I always thought I'd celebrate it in Norway, with a rented venue with all my friends and family.. Oh well, I'll do that for my 30th or something ;)

I had a really good time! Since I don't have class on Tuesdays, I went to Harajuku by myself to do a bit of shopping. I have to remind myself never to shop by myself every again. So tempting to buy everything, haha! But since it was my birthday, I allowed myself to splurge just a little bit!

I bought a JSG hoodie with skeleton print, Listen Flavour White T-shirt, Vivienne Westwood one-shouldered purple jumper (Second hand), among other things : ) I forgot to take a picture of all the stuff, so maybe another time :)
I was also wearing my new AN*TEN*NA rocking horse boots, so at the end of the day my feet were almost crying! Haha.

Later that day, me and some friends from uni when to a wonderful place on earth called Sweets Paradise. Basically, you buy a ticket, get seated, and then you can eat as much food and cake as you want for 70~~90 minutes. And I just have to say, the cake selection is amazing!! Soooo tasty, haha.

Half-eaten cake. Yummy!

Also, Sweets Paradise has this birthday package, which was amazing(ly awkward) haha XD

They started playing a VERY cheesy version of "Happy Birthday" over the speakers in the restaurant, staff came over to our table while ringing bells, and singing the song. A lot of the other guests started singing as well, and everybody applauded after. Sooo touching and kind of awkward XD 

They also gave me a piece of cake, freebies and a picture with me and all of my guests! I have it hanging on my wall now :) I feel so lucky to have such a cool gang to hang out with, wether it's in school or otherwise! I actually got quite a bit of birthday gifts as well, I didn't expect that! Haha, sounds weird, but I actually didn't because "I'm so old" now :P

Look at my loot!

Luvz it!

After Sweets Paradise I didn't really have any plans, but I thought it would be a great idea having a couple of drinks to relax after a long day. Half of the guests went home (Tokyo life is busy ;)), and a few of us went to out drinking! As time passed, one by one people went home, and finally I went home as well. It's a miracle I was able to get up and go to school, do a test and have a drama presentation! *kind of proud*

So all in all I had a great time, hopefully next year and the next ones will be just as awesome!

Rain Season....??

So Japan has officially entered the rain season, with heavy rain all day, every d- wait what?? 

This isn't the rain I've been expecting? It's.. it's clear! As in sunny! Really sunny! 

Also, due to lack of wind, it feels more like 33 degrees..
And since I'm a fragile Norwegian:

It.is.so.hot.

And it's not even humid today! It's just really, really hot.

But, the Japanese have many ways to cool themselves off during this hot (and soon to be very humid) season, and I thought I'd write a little about that.

I'll start off with the most obvious.

1. Air conditioner

I am SO glad that I have an air conditioner in my dorm room! Allthough I've only been used to using it to crank up the heat when Norwegian climate gets colder, I'm slowly adjusting to using it when it's far too hot outside too! I personally like to have the setting on 18 comfortable degrees, while sitting in jammies and and tank top.

2. Fans

You can get fans in 100yen shops, people will hand them out one the street, there is always a fan near you when you're out walking in the cities of Japan! 

The fan I have is AGES old, a sensu (扇子) style fan that I got from a friend the first time she was in Japan. Close to 10 years ago, I think.. So it's a bit beat up, but it still able to do what it's made for; cooling me down when I need to :) 

Isn't it cute? :D Marie <3

3. Washcloths

When the temperature is on its hottest, you will see lots of Japanese wiping their sweaty faces with handkerchief or washcloths! This was something I just realized after I moved here. Last time I was here I bought a lot of washcloths at Tokyo Disneyland, just thinking "wow the bathing/washing culture here is really big", but after moving here I realized the Japanese often bring a washcloth with them when they're out and about! Very practical, if you ask me. 

My washcloth from Tokyo Disneyland. Cute, no?

4. Sheer/light clothing

Coming from Norway, I'm very used to wearing jersey clothing. Stretch everywhere, and if you layer it you will be warmer (of course depending on type of material). Jersey is most of the time warm clothing. So after coming I've been buying more lightweight clothing, blouses in chiffon and sheer tights.
But how the hell Gothic Lolitas survives in full head-to-toe loli outfit in 30+, I have no idea... Props to them! I find it hard to not look too "hoochy" by Japanese standards when I'm almost litteraly melting away. Bare shoulders or visible cleavage is frowned upon, but skirts so short that your butt almost shows is fine! I'm confused.

Anyway.

Also, since rain season is probably coming within the next couple of days: 

5. Umbrella

You will need this. Don't bother to buy umbrellas other places than 100 yen stores, you'll probably just loose it anyway! I know I am ^^;; 

Though, it seems that people here will pop up their umbrellas for anything here. If they feel oooone teeny tiny drop, it's OMG UMBRELLA. And, I've seen a lot of girls and women using them as parasols, to keep their complexion bihaku(美白), fair and white. 

These are a few points that could make your Japanese summer less excruciating, and remember to stay in the shade with SPF30 unless you want to become a lobster!

Take care, y'all.

Blondie on TV??

I've been forgetting this blog. I'm sorry!!

I am blogging every week, but I tend to forget that that's the blog for my blogging class, and not my personal one. LOL.

SO.

Hi.

This has happened these two last weeks.

I went to Shimokitazawa with Sandra, to do some light light light shopping! (I needed a wallet)

Kaiten Sushi! As you can see, I ate quite a lot. And it was quite delicious! 

We walked past a bar/restaurant/something with these gorgeous vintage adverts. They were really cute!

Train crossing 

Starting to get dark... 

Shop front with a gorgeous dress on display

Cute art :D

I FINALLY FOUND A PERFECT WALLET! No more loose coins everywhere!

Also, I had an appointment at a japanese hair salon. SCARY, right? 

Okay, the staff spoke English and they both had experience with nordic hair. So it wasn't that scary! I haven't been to a hairdresser I didn't know personally since I was in elementary, but that's a whole other story. 
The salon is called Dude, and is the most chill salon I've been to. Not a regular high-tech modern salon for young noisy people, but a salon with a quieter, a more relaxed atmosphere. They also had really cute paintings one the wall that I could stare at while i got my hair rinsed, and actually up-to-date fashion magazines. 
I grew tired of my washed out purple colour in thousand shades of ugly, so I wanted to become platinum blonde! It was quite the challenge, really.
I reacted to the bleach, even though he used only a 6% solution! I was really bummed about that, so my roots only were lifted to a brass colour before we had to rinse it out. I became red, and my whole body started itching. I'm just glad I didn't have to go to the hospital, and I'm glad the Dude was understanding and booked me another appointment :)

So we continued the treatment 2 days after at 10am in the morning, with toning and the cut.
Why so early? 
Because, that Sunday was the day of my TV-interview with Nihon Terebi! So I didn't want to have the ugly purple hair when I went on television hahaha 

After I was done with getting my hairdo finished, I went straight to Ginza, but for looking around and for getting to know the area so I wouldn't get lost. I tend to do that if I have to be somewhere.
The thing is, walking around in such an expensive part of Tokyo as Ginza, while you're broke... It's boring as HELL. *sigh* And even if I had money that day, I wouldn't throw it away on something stupid like overpriced brand goods, when I could spend it on food :) 

My interview outfit. They said I had to wear my Kumamon skirt, haha :D
Top: Milk
Skirt: Handmade
Socks: Metamorphose
Shoes: H&M
Necklace: D&G

Me looking strange.

AAAAAH SO FUCKING NERVOUS

So yeah, that was the most horrible thing in my whole life, and at the same time bloddy awesome. We talked a bit on e-mail the weeks before the shooting day, they asked me different questions, I gave them answers, bla bla bla. Regular preparations.

BUT

When the interview started my tongue turned into moosh, and the interviewer suddenly spoke in a language I didn't know anything about. It's so easy to say that one is able to speak japanese after learning for two years outside Japan, but.. No, that's not it. Talking to actual people in actual situations is fucking hard. The interviewer asked new questions, even though I asked beforehand that he wouldn't because my Japanese is still not that great. So that was kind of a bummer. I'm not sure if my interview actually will air, because there was a loooot of foreign people being interviewed, so maybe they'll just pick the 5 best or something.

Nonethless, it was a fun experience! And if I'll be on TV, I'll be able to say that I've been on Japanese television! Speaking (bad) Japanese! One of my bucket list things crossed out :)

So if you have an interest in me possibly making an ass of myself on Japanese national television, tune in 8th of June, on Nihon Terebi (Channel 4) for the program ズームイン！！サタデー (Zoom in!! Saturday) from 10:30! 

*:--☆--:*:--☆:*:--☆--:*:--☆--:*

ALSO: Is anybody interested in me vlogging? I kind of want to do it, but I feel weird talking to a camera. Seriously how do people do it? What will I talk about? Am I going to be funny? Am I going to be personal? What??? Aaaah haha I'm so bad at this internet stuff.