Japan Day 3

Christine

It was out third day in Japan and I was ready to shop! Sharon and I were heading out to Osaka for a day long lolita search. Sarah and Leticia were feeling a little flat after the last couple of days, so decided to take it easy

and visit some local temples in Kyoto. Sharon, I do believe that means that we have out shopped our younger travelling companions!

Sharon

We had only one full day in Osaka and we had lots of shops to get to, so Sharon and I made an early start. We were both feeling pretty energetic so we enjoyed the walk to Kyoto station. When we got there I picked up some breakfast and and  Sharon treated herself to waffles!

It was a fairly long train ride to Osaka, so that gave us the opportunity to eat and decide which shops to hit up first. Most of the lolita stores in Osaka are in the one area and you can get there from a couple of different routes. The main stations in that area are Shinsaibashi, from there you can work your way South, Namba and then work your way North, or what we did, which was catch the subway from Osaka station to Yotsubashi and then walk East. The first store that we found after making our way out of the subway, was Vivienne Westwood. We took a picture, but decided to not have a look. In retrospect I some what regret not going in, but I’m sure if either of us went in, we would spent out entire budget there, so it was probably for the best.

vivienne

We made a right turn and found Innocent World and Atelier Pierrot. We head into Innocent World first ,which looked like it was in an apartment block. We went up an elevator and walked along a balcony walkway and came across a Innocent World sign advertising the up and coming mook. It was unfortunately not coming out till after we left Japan, but we got to have a peek at the bag that was going to be included in it. The store was well stocked and we both tried on jackets that we liked, though we didn’t end up buying them (noted for future purchasing though)

We crossed the road and went over to the Atelier Pierrot store. It was up on the second level, but had clear signs and a big glass window display that could be seen easily from the road with some mannequins. This store had a really good selection of brands including Atelier-Pirrot, Pina ~sweet collection~, Alice Garden &SNOG, Tokiaki Kumondai, Demonia, Triple Fortune, Enchantlic Enchantilly, Victorian Maiden, Juliette et Justine, Mag, Na + H, Moi Memê Moitie, Physical Drop and Morun x Muuna Stoik.

iw

I found several things that I liked including a lovely Crête de lis Croix necklace (just a tad too expensive at ¥14,700) a lovely silk floor length cape ( buying it would have been pure indulgence, but it was very lovely) and I was surprised to find a Le Cadre du Chat still in store, i would have snapped that right up, but unfortunately it was a size one. Sharon bought a couple of accessories and the store attendant was really sweet and allowed us to take a picture of her and Sharon as we were leaving.

shopsNext stop was Angelic Pretty, but we made a fantastic find on the way. While I was researching shops in Osaka I found a reference to a shop called Select Shop Near. I couldn’t find an address or location online, but I was very interested in finding it, as it looked to be a store similar to Closet Child. On our way to Angelic Pretty we stumbled across the sign. The entrance went down a long corridor that had a couple of stores and right at the back we found it. It was a fairly small room but it was packed to the brim with racks of lolita, even the walls were covered with lolita, more of the popular prints so people could spot them first when they walked in. Sharon head straight for the gothic racks and I went and investigated the sweet/classic JSK collection. There were lots of BTSSB and AP non-print dresses that were really cheap and a great selection of blouses, cutsews and jackets. They had a good selection of popular prints, however they were priced much higher, more in line with Closet Child or EGL pricing. The brand selection was also quite good, I remember seeing items from a huge variety of brands.Select shop near AP

The store attendant was really nice and chat to us a bit while we looked and tried a couple of things on. I picked up a Peace Now fur leopard print jacket that was really warm and fuzzy, a pair of AP shoes, a chocolate rosette beret and a ring. Sharon also picked up a couple of things. When we went to pay for the items the store attendant picked up each of the cheapest items and gave it to us saying “presento” which was really sweet! We had a really wonderful shopping experience here!

angelicpretty

Two doors further down was Angelic Pretty, it’s the first one that I have been to that has a shop front outside (take all the photos!) The store itself was quite spacious for an AP store, with couches and two change rooms. If you really want to try on anything Angelic Pretty before committing to buy, this is a great one to do it at, as many of the other stores do not have change rooms. The current print in store was The Royal Unicorn Gobelin print and I was pleasantly surprised about how nice it was. In the stock photos that were released, the colours looked quite washed out and plain so I didn’t really take any more notice of it. In person you were able to see the pretty colouring and how nice the fabric was. While I was looking around I also found a blouse I wanted that had long since sold out on the international website. They still had it in both pink and sax, so I grabbed the sax one and tried it on the the Unicorn switching JSK and loved them both. I ended up getting the JSK, headbow and tights as well as the sax blouse. On my second look around the store, while the shop attendant was wrapping up my items I grabbed a pair of chocolate tea parties, a misty sky necklace, bracelet and ankle socks as well as the latest catalogues and socks… phew, it was a pretty big purchase! (and so my budget was blown again)

btssb

Next stop was Metamorphose which was located in the LONCOURT  building along with a couple of other stores which stocked some punk and gothic clothing. This included Regulus, GROSS and SAAD.

We made a short stop at Putumayo where Sharon picked up some adorable pumpkin shorts with Kitty osaka_watermarkears and a tail. Baby the Stars Shine bright was the last of the main brand stores and was located down stairs. It was quite a large store and there were three staff on hand that welcomed us when we came in. By this stage we were lugging quite a few bags, so we popped them aside and had a look around. Out of all the stores that we visited, this was the only one that I felt uncomfortable in. Despite the fact that I was wearing a BTSSB JSK and the fact that we walked in with a number of brand bags, the staff were not very friendly at all. Two carried on with jobs that they were doing at the sales desk and the third slowly followed us around the room and just watched us, it was really awkward! I bought a pair of socks and an outfit for my Usakumya and we left quite disappointed with the service.

With the majority of the lolita shopping out of the way, Sharon and I dropped into Mandarake and found a small amount of gothic and lolita items on the top floor. The prices were very good and both of us ending up spending quite a bit of money here. They actually kept the store open a little longer after closing for us to finalise our purchases. By this stage we were both laden down with lots of bags and were feeling quite tired! We found a small bar and grabbed dinner and then caught a taxi to Osaka station to head home.

I think it was one of our best shopping days!

♥ Alyssium♥

 

Continue on to Day 4

 

Go back to my previous visit to Japan 2 years ago.

  1. I just LOVE reading about your adventures in Japan!! ^__^ It makes me all dreamy! hehe!

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