-Shop cute Japanese products and cool products from Japan. This cute blog is about Japanese kawaii, kawaii Japan, kawaii fashion, Japanese pop culture and more. It's a kawaii blog from Japan, Japan blog in English by a Japanese girl.

Tokyu Hands holds annual sales event on Wed. 25 Aug. and that lasts for a week. Same as last year, I’m planning to go to the sales, probably the Shibuya or Shinjuku one, at the early days of the event and during the morning. Last year I got a small bag, coffee maker and some kitchen tools, towels, and some cosmetics I guess.

I could shop from Tokyu Hands online store, but I usually like to check out the products as themselves to see how the weight, texture, color, smell, and etc. are. The good (or bad) thing about shopping physically is I can find things I wouldn’t buy from online shops. Sometimes I can try the sample and it can be a lot better than I imagined. Sometimes people gather at a certain product which I would never mind but while I see the demonstration I finally find out why the product is so popular. I think I like shopping, especially shopping at offline shops, even if it’s only window-shopping.

Tokyu Hands online store does not ship internationally, just as most of any other Japanese online shops. If you want me to shop something from Tokyu Hands and ship to you, take a look at Tokyu Hands online store and give me the link of the item you want. I will upload the product onto my FlutterScape account and you can smoothly purchase the item from there.

If your order is complicated, such as this and that item from Tokyu Hands and this and that from somewhere else, for example, you can also hire me as your private buyer but actually there are several options you can purchase from Japanese online stores today.

I may be able to check out some of the great devices or useful kitchen tools that I shared in this blog some time ago.

Anyhow contact me if you want me to help you purchase any products from Tokyu Hands.

Since I had a discount ticket from Swimmer that can be used only Kawasaki – Yokohama area, I visited Lalaport Yokohama shopping mall for the first time the other day to get the goods for giveaway gift. Well, to be exact, I live somewhere just between Shibuya and Yokohama, 15 minutes to each by train. Thus I sometimes prefer going to Yokohama to Tokyo because it’s less people. I don’t like crowds. :p

In spite of weekdays, there were rather many people. No wonder, it’s in the middle of summer vacation for the most of people! As I work from home, my holiday will be when I have less work to be done or when others are working. I even prefer working over weekends, which is again to avoid crowds, and I’d go shopping in a daytime during weekdays. (I like shopping alone, because I’ve never made a great buy when I was with friends. I guess my attention is distracted by chatting more than shopping!) I feel very tired when I’m back from places like Shibuya or Shinjuku. But the fatigue can be healed unbelievably once I take a hot bath. I love bathing but it’s too hot to bathe during summer.

Anyhow I found something weird at the shopping mall. It’s Hello Kitty hair salon!
I saw a little girl having her hair cut while she was crying… This place must be something fun and the parents will have to pay more than they’d do at ordinary hair salons. According to the salon, they let kids watch Sanrio DVD and take a picture with the Kitty doll at the end. The hair salon encourages moms to get their hair done while their kids get a haircut. To me hair salon is sort of relaxing and refreshing place. I felt for busy moms.

I somehow felt it little weird, though. This weirdness may have something to do with Sanrio Puroland, I guessed. It’s very interesting that I like Hello Kitty more than Disney characters but I like Tokyo Disneyland and Disneysea hundred times more than Sanrio Puroland. Well, to be honest, I’ve never been there because I’m not inclined to. Having Hello Kitty goods and being surrounded by Hello Kitty themed interior is quite another thing, although Hello Kitty interior looks more familiar in Taiwan. Especially Hello Kitty doll at the front was weird when we are used to the little Kitty-chan with a large head and too short feet. The balance of the doll is very different from Hello Kitty as a character that we love.

When I felt sick of entire pink with too bright light, I found more pink right next to the Hello Kitty studio. (BTW what color is the complementary color against pink? I wondered how it’d be like to work inside this store everyday from open to close. I’d go crazy if I had to. Likewise I cannot stand listening to the same music on and on… So many things made me end up with working from home. haha…^ ^;)

It’s Pink-Latte, one of the branch stores I have seen in Harajuku. I saw so many teenage kids shopping there. I was just like out-of-place adult who liked to shop something teenage girls loved. Well but I like small goods from Pink Latte. I didn’t know they had so many stores around Japan.

To my surprise, I also found SunHoseki store on the same floor, which I may post under kawaii shop later. SunHoseki is definitely for teen age kids. I believe their goods will be nice souvenirs to kids because they are cheap and kawaii.

Do you have character themed hair salons in your area?

I knew summer sale started at the very beginning of July, but I was too busy to go out for hunting. Well, there are other reasons I didn’t because I don’t like the fashion trend this year (maxi-take wanpi = maximum length dress and this kind of hat) and nothing looks attractive enough for me to shop. As I have mentioned at somewhere, shops in Japan do not sell anything that goes against the trends. That means, there’s nothing I want to buy when I don’t like the fashion trend. (I’d save the money for what I really like to have!)

Anyway it was a surprise when I saw the sign “Final Sales” at a Marui department store in Shibuya the other day! It’s in the middle of summer when temperature is over 35 degrees C, sometimes even nearly 40C everyday!! I know fashion always take the trends from next season, but I wondered if summer sale has ever ended so soon. If my memory was correct, it’s been mid August that “Final Sale” was announced. I even saw some boots for the next season.

Wow…it looked like I totally missed the sale period. I didn’t plan to buy anything but as it turned out, I found myself attracted by these sandals. Whenever I shop, I find the thing I want very quickly. This time was no exception. There were black and white (with mixed color) as other options, but I liked this yellow from the beginning! I knew how I should wear these right at the moment when I saw them. I knew they’d look so kawaii with colored socks, tights or leggings especially dark blue or purple and in autumn! I could imagine it so well and I asked the sales assistant how she’d think about that. To my surprise, she was totally impressed with my idea, saying “You’re so right. I’ve never thought of wearing these sandals in that way. I was only thinking about this season, but you’re right, these sandals are so cute to be coordinated with colored tights!! Now I know…” ^ ^; It sounded as if I were the sales assistant. But I was glad she liked my idea.

They were not discounted for sales, but I loved them. So I bought them. It’s 12600yen. To me, what I like is what I like and that I buy. I don’t care about the trends or everybody’s having. The soles fit on my feet so well and they were very comfortable to wear. Well there are places we can get cheaper shoes but I’ve been a big fan of this brand named WanoNano for over 10 years, and I usually keep wearing a pair of shoes from them for at least 3 years. This day I was wearing a pair of WanoNano sandals, which I have been wearing 3 or 4 summers so far. I went back home with the new sandals on, in exchange for the old ones to get repaired. I will wear them 2 more summers, hopefully. :p

I placed a piece of paper underneath because I already wore them outside house. (Remember? We take off shoes at home.)

Finally I can say good bye to the old pass case I used for over 10 years. I’ve been looking for a new one since I found small holes on the old one. I bought the new one from the left-over goods that waited for someone at the last minute. I kinda like to keep a train pass, library card and keys all together in a kiss-lock type of pouch. I think I keep this style for decades.

Oh, I also carry my Omamori (charm for protection) with me. Wait…I have no idea how long I’ve been using that Winnie-the-Pooh keychain. It must be over 15years I guess….^ ^;

It’s such a personal diary, are you sure you want to read something like this? Right now I’m reading the entry emails for the giveaway contest and I found some people are interested in my daily life, as a sample of how a local Japanese live in Japan. I’ve been thinking that my posts are to be designed for something useful and informative, but I guess it’s nicer to include personal posts like what I bought, what I ate, what I did in Tokyo…right? ^ ^;

This post is only to share my napping with Pi-chan in the afternoon. ^ ^