Today I was lucky to be in Japan for an Angelic print release, which was for Mercator Antique Shop. My shipping service, Tokyo Pirates had kindly offered to guide us on how to pick up a release, as depending on the shop it can be quite complicated!
We chose to go to Shinjuku Marui One Annex store
and met Jamie out the front. For this store you need to line up in a stairway behind the building, before the Angelic Pretty store opens. Shortly before the store opens, the staff come down and count the amount of people in the line. They then allocate the same amount of tickets and have each person pick a ticket in the line, one by one. This method means that the first person in line, isn’t necessarily the person who picks the first ticket and gets first choice, its completely up to luck! Depending on the amount of tickets given out, the staff then take the first block of people to line up at the store and the remainder are able to come back in their allocated time.
Belle, Victor and I all picked tickets, I didn’t get a great number but Victor got number 12 and very kindly gave it to me. Such a low number meant that I was in the first block to go up, it also meant that realistically I had a great chance of getting first choice on most the items in the release.
Once the store opens, each ticket holder goes in store one by one and is able to have their choice of the release before their purchase is put through. Depending on the release there are sometimes limitations to the amount of pieces that you can buy. For example 1 main piece such as a JSK or OP and then socks and headbow. Once you have selected your items from the release, they are passed on to the person at the cash register and then the next person can go in and make their selection.
While the three of us were entertaining ourselves in line and taking sneaky selfies we overheard that the delayed OP from the Celestial series had arrived and those in line had first chance of buying that as well (WOO HOO!)
By the time my ticket was called up, about an hour had passed and I was lucky that everything I wanted was still available. I picked up the JSK and matching headbow in wine, the socks in navy and the Celestial OP in Navy as well. An expensive morning, but I so happy to be able to get everything that I wanted!
If you are looking at visiting Shijuku, here are the places that I would recommend visiting. On the left side of the station, second hand lolita shops Maiden Clothing and Closet Child have a great selection of cheaper lolita. Alice cafe is a really cute Alice in Wonderland themed cafe with cute food and amazing backdrops. It is a little hard to locate, so if you plan on going make time to find it.
After finishing up at Marui One we hopped on the train over to Akihabara. Knowing I was going to be doing a bit of a speed afternoon shop and picking up a few things, i lugged around a suitcase with me so I wasn’t carrying multiple bags.
We stopped in at the post office (one of the few atms that accept overseas debit cards and have english translation) to grab some cash and then had lunch at Kanda, one of my favourite little restaurants in Akihabara. Its a tiny little shop that doesn’t look like much from the outside, but the chef speaks English and his dishes are amazing!
We then split up and I head out to Mandarake, Cospa and Don Quijote. I picked up several items I needed for some cosplays including badges, samurai sandals and a school bag. Cospa are a little on the expensive side but the quality is top-notch.
With all the left over change (and then some) I perused the gatcha corner and picked up some really cute items. I managed to get the full set of Pokemon cookie charms as well as the macaron ones.
One unexpected thing I found in Japan was how popular Kebab shops were, not that I minded as I love kebabs. Its a great quick buy when you are on the run and easy to find. I also find a store that put mash potato in the kebab as well…. mind blown! Take note, alot of small outdoor food places will have benches and bins right out the front. Good Japanese etiquette is to eat and finish before leaving, its actually considered rude to eat and walk.
Another thing that was great about being busy and walking around, are the endless supply and variety of vending machines. My favorite was this peach nectar juice which was absolutely delicious!
Another whirlwind day of shopping and I was exhausted!
♥ Alyssium♥
Read on for Japan Again day 4
Go back to Japan Again day 2 or Japan Again day 1
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