Japan trip Summer 2015 part 10 - Travel notes

I wanted this post to serve as a concluding post for my trip to write about things that I wanted to remember for myself. Just like, small notes or other anecdotes that didn't fit in any of the other posts. Therfore, it likely won't have a lot of flow - more like hamajang style where everything about anything related to the trip is just thrown here lol.

Japan in August
First, let me just start off by saying that it is truly very, very humid in Japan in August. That's partially the reason why I took less photos during the trip - because I looked and felt gross all the time from sweating and also because I couldn't be bothered to get my phone out of my purse because even that action was too much lol. It's hot in Hawaii year round, but it's definitely a different kind of hot. During our trip in early August, when you were leaving a building with AC and going outside, it felt like you were in a car with all the doors closed that was sitting in direct sunlight for 8 hours prior. And we used our hand fans a lot, but that was as effective as using the fan (but not AC) in the car - it really just blows the hot air around. It does help a little, but in order to generate enough "wind", you end of expending more energy than you really want to. Idk if that hot car thing was a good analogy but the other day when I got in my car, it reminded me of Japan, and I feel like that might be the most relatable thing lol. Sorry if that was a terrible example lol.
Despite the heat, most people are still wearing sleeves or are dressed as they would have for the prior few months lol. There were people wearing sweaters, people in knit beanies, people in long sleeves, all kinds of seemingly nonsensical clothing choices for how hot it was lol. I think that's partially a fashion choice and partially that local (Japanese) people might just be a little more used to it. You really don't see a lot of tank tops/tube tops/spaghetti strap/cami tops on girls too much. I could probably have counted the amount of (non tourist) women I saw with those kinds of tops on with one set of fingers. I literally have no idea how people could be wearing long sleeves of any kind and not be sweating lol. I was kind of prepared for the weather since I had been in Japan during the summer twice before, but seriously it's so much hotter in Japan during August than it is in June or July, no joke. [For what I chose to wear on the trip, check out my OOTD post here.] And actually, it's hotter in Osaka/Kyoto than it is in Tokyo - by a lot. We also experienced very little wind when we were in Osaka so that didn't help either. In Sendai, which is bit more north, it wasn't noticeably cooler in any way lol. It was comparable to Tokyo weather though I think. What helps S a lot is this cooling/deodorant spray? He buys it when we go up and it supposedly helps keep your body cool. There isn't a particular brand he purchases that I know of.
Anyway, going to Japan in August? Be prepared to sweat. The humidity is not a joke. Arm yourself with as many cooling tips as possible lol.

JTB JR Rail Pass vouchers and customer service
In the past, we've purchased our JR Rail Pass vouchers through this website. [I previously talked about it here (Summer 2014) and here (Spring 2015).] I liked it because the price was on par with what it should be, and it came with free FedEx shipping. When I tried to order our vouchers for this summer trip, the shipping was like $11 and I didn't know why. I ended up emailing the website to ask, and it's because I was only buying two ticket this time instead of 4 like we usually do and didn't meet the minimum purchase requirement. Okay, fair enough. I didn't want to pay for shipping, so I explored my other options and I remembered that for the spring trip, the family that was traveling with us had ordered theirs through JTB.

I went to the JTB website and they were/are doing a free shipping promotion for their Rail Passes, so I decided to order through them. We also have a local JTB office in Honolulu so I didn't really feel all that uncomfortable with it. HOWEVER, it ended up being way, way more complicated than it needed to be.
This all happened before the trip so some of the details are escaping me at this moment, but basically they sent me a pass voucher with my name middle name spelled incorrectly. There's no confirmation email with the information you entered on it, so I have no idea if it was my mistake or theirs, but I kind of don't think I switched an "i" for an "n" on something like my name which I know pretty well. And it's not like those two letters are close to each other on the keyboard that it might have just been a mistype. In any case, regardless of whose fault it was, I decided to call JTB as soon as I realized the mistake. They are not available 24/7 lol. So I had to wait until the next morning to call. When I did, I talked to someone who advised me to just try it since it's only one letter off. The reason that's bad advice is because almost everywhere else will tell you that your name on the voucher and the name on your passport must match exactly since the passes are not for everyone. I paid $240 for the voucher and did not want to get to Japan only to find out that it was invalid and I would then have to pay for every train ride out of pocket. (You must get the voucher outside of Japan before you leave on the trip, so it's not like I can then request a new one while there.) Then, this person suggested I call the California office and get them to write me a letter explaining the situation. She tried to transfer me to them and failed. I hung up and called the number she gave me and the person wanted to transfer me back to the New York office which is where the first lady I called was located. JFC. Meanwhile, I had also emailed about my name problem the night before and received a response just around the same time as I was making the calls. In the email, the employee asked that I call her to clear up the confusion. I call her and she was the first competent person I talked to that morning. She didn't give me any bullshit about why we were in the situation, nor suggest I just "try and see" or pass me off to another office. She just asked me to send her an email with what my name should be, and she would resend my voucher via FedEx and include a return envelope for the incorrect voucher to be sent back to them. See how easy that was? Wtf I have no idea why I was getting the run around before. That was probably too much detail, but I just really can't stand customer service like I first received. I felt like it was just a MESS.
Oh also, for Hawaii customers, it seems like they have some sort of system glitch that cancels your order because of your address? I'm not really sure. But a day or so after I ordered the pass vouchers, I received a phone call from someone at JTB who let me know that I would receive an email saying my order was cancelled but it was not cancelled and they were going to be shipping it out soon. Okay....Like, I really don't know why they have that error or why it cannot be fixed, but they did ship out the vouchers, so I guess it's not that big of a deal. I think this situation is specific for Hawaii addresses, but it's just kind of annoying because I feel like there are things that could easily go wrong there and if you take no action just based off of a phone call but they have the email evidence that says something completely different...well...
Ugh. ANYWAY, I would hesitate to fully recommend JTB after this experience, but knowing they have free shipping and did end up fixing my problem before my trip without really costing me anything except like a wasted hour on the phone, I do still consider it a valid option. The vouchers themselves were fine once the name was fixed. I would avoid dealing with anyone on their main line if possible though. For some reason every time I called, the person couldn't handle the conversation or situation very well. I only got good service from the woman I was able to call directly named Miho.

Catching the Shinkansen using the JR Rail Pass

S and I had so much fun catching the shinkansen during this trip. It was always an option while we had the JR Rail Passes (like on the past trips), but were just not as confident with how the system worked, so we never took full advantage of it and basically only used it to go to and from Shin-Osaka and Tokyo.
During just this trip, I think we rode on a shinkansen-type train at least 11 different times. (Usually we do 2 lol.) This is partially because Shinagawa (where our Airbnb apartment was located in Tokyo) is a shinkansen station, so it was really easy for us to just jump on one and go. Although the JR Rail Pass doesn't give you access to Nozomi and Mizuho type shinkansen, we were still able to catch Hikari, Kodama, Hayabusa, Yamabiko and Hakutaka types! (And of course there are still more types as well.)
For some reason, I find it really interesting/cool that the different types of Shinkansen have different interiors and seat design. This, of course, only makes sense, but since I had previously only ridden on Hikari type shinkansen before, I never really thought about it much lol.

Hikari / Kodama

Hayabusa / Yamabiko

Hakutaka

I've brought up this point several times in the past when talking about the advantages of getting a JR Rail Pass, but a huge one is definitely being able to reserve seats for "free" (free as in it's included in the price you pay for the pass itself).

It's not necessary to reserve a seat for most shinkansen (Hayabusa is the exception), but when we have major plans like going from Shin-Osaka to Shinagawa/Tokyo, we prefer to know that we'll have each have a seat and preferably together. It also kind of generally gives you an idea of how full the train will be. We haven't had to deal with this in the past, but there were a few trains that we wanted to catch that we learned were completely booked during our stay when we tried to reserve tickets the night before lol. Also, because reserving the tickets don't have any extraneous cost to us, if for some reason we miss the train or change our minds about what time we want to leave, there aren't really many negative consequences for us except that it's kind of rude to others to reserve seats that you don't need because someone else could have had them. If I had to pay out of pocket for a reserve ticket for a specific train at a specific time and missed the train, I'd have to deal with handling fees or forfeit the money which we really don't want to worry about as tourists. We really enjoy having the flexibility and freedom that the JR Rail Pass offers.
Although you can reserve seats and we usually prefer to, we really discovered the joy of casually catching the shinkansen in an unreserved car during this trip. Your rail pass serves as your ticket/access to the shinkansen tracks and then you basically just catch whatever you want in an unreserved car (as long as it's not Nozomi or Mizuho). We always felt like it was a bit of a hassle to do this in the past, but it's really not lol. And sometimes it doesn't save us a TON of time if it's just a short distance like from Shinagawa to Tokyo station, but there's very few stops in between and there's less of a chance that we'd have to stand lol. Even on Day 10 when we were catching the shinkansen with the very real purpose of getting back to Shin-Osaka before leaving, the unreserved car was a great option because all of the reserve cars were booked on the trains we wanted to catch! If we had gone to Tokyo station instead of getting on at Shinagawa, we probably could have gotten seats together too since Tokyo is where the train originates. (If we couldn't get seats on the 10:10am train, we were definitely going to try to go to Tokyo to be in line for the 10:40am one.)

I'm really happy that we finally figured this out and enjoy catching the shinkansen so much more now lol. This was all very convenient for us because of Shinagawa though. I feel like if we stayed anywhere else besides near Tokyo or Ueno station, it wouldn't nearly really be as advantageous because we'd need to catch a regular train to get to a station with shinkansen tracks instead of just being able to jump on one right away which was definitely part of the appeal for us. Getting the JR Rail Pass was definitely suitable for us on this trip since we went round trip from Shin-Osaka to Shinagawa but even more so because we also went up to Sendai (and also used shinkansen and other JR lines a lot as well). It definitely paid for itself.

Hyperdia

I mentioned/introduced this website as a resource in a previous trip's post [check it out here if you haven't read it yet since I'm not going to repeat everything again], but it is so helpful, that I feel the need to reiterate it. I personally prefer to use Hyperdia, but S is into using Google Maps for the same thing. It's a dealer's choice, I guess. Sometimes, you do get slightly different information, but I think they will essentially serve the same function and give you very similar results and both allow you to define variables. We used this every day, multiple times a day. It helped us figure out when to leave (so we wouldn't be sweating at a hot platform for 10 minutes when we could have been in air conditioning) and also helped to route us in less familiar areas on the go. I used to just use printed maps and just take whatever line seemed most reasonable, but especially with us catching the shinkansen as much as we did, there are so many more alternative routes that are less obvious but might take less time. It also usually tells you if you can take a (special) rapid or not (based on your destination station). Using Hyperdia or Google Maps (or any website/app with similar routing functions) is definitely something I recommend. I took screenshots of the routes occasionally, so I wouldn't always have to wait for the page to load again in areas where the wifi wasn't strong or to allow me to compare different departure times or adjust other variables.

Breakfast from a convenience store
I mentioned what we did for lunch and dinner on most days during my earlier posts, but I left out breakfast! And this is because most of the time, breakfast was pretty uninteresting. Both Airbnb apartments were very near to convenience stores like Lawson or 7-Eleven, and in the morning, we would just walk down and pick up a few things. Sometimes, we would pick up something the night before for the next morning as well.

These are all examples from the first 4 days in Osaka. After that...I'm not sure why I stopped taking them. I think it kind of just got boring and S would rather start eating than wait for me to compose a good picture lol. Anyway, the pictures contain items from both my breakfast and S's. For me, it was pretty much a croissant or similiar bread item and half a bottle of orange juice every day lol. On the fourth day, I got a beef bowl from Matsuya on the way back from reserving our tickets at the station in addition to the croissant which was purchased and eaten earlier though. I eat breakfast more out of necessity than enjoyment. Pretty much all of the other items in the pictures were ingested by S. If not for breakfast, then later in the day as a snack. (Except all the hi chew which just made it into the pictures because I had purchased it at the same time.) He mostly picked various kinds of onigiri/sushi and yogurt and some kind of fruit juice.
There are restaurants at which you can eat breakfast, but I'm really not a breakfast foods person, and the convenience store breakfast is by far a cheaper option. It's also....more convenient lol. Most conbini are open 24 hours a day and have many locations. Breakfast restaurants sometimes don't open until 10:00am or later and aren't necessarily quick to access. We would often get going by 10:00am or earlier, so it was in our best interest to eat by 09:00am or so and could eat at whatever pace while still getting ready for the day.
There are obviously a LOT more options to pick from than just what we personally chose to eat, and I definitely consider conbini breakfast a very valid option, especially if you're on a budget, prefer to eat privately or want to get going earlier in the day.

Scouts  
I don't have any pictures of this because I thought it would be rude, but there were literally scouts everywhere we went lol. Like boy scouts or girls scouts (which are entirely separate in America) except they were from all different countries and all different ages (although most of the ones we saw where in the mid teens at least).  They didn't all look alike or were all in the same place at the same time when we encountered them, but they were always in huge groups of at least 10 but sometimes more like 50 and had huge bags that they carried on their backs.
This confused us a lot. We had no idea where all these people were coming from or what they were doing and why some of them were so smelly. (Okay, that might be unfair to say but literally sometimes for certain groups you could smell them before you could see them. It might not be their fault, but their scent was quite prominent.) It turns out that we were in Japan the same time as the 23rd World Scout Jamboree. The main event had taken place in southern Japan, but groups could go wherever they pleased after (obviously).

It wasn't a huge deal for them to be there, and obviously they are allowed to enjoy their trip as well, but some of them seemed really clueless as to what was going on around them for people who are supposed to be scouts! If I could tell just one story about them and what it was generally like to be around some of the groups, it would be this one:
We were seated on a train from Osaka  and were about two stops away from Kyoto station when a large group of about 10-15 scouts enter our car which was mostly full but there were some seats available. However, none of them could sit down because they all have huge backpacks on. Instead, they sensibly choose to stand in the space near the doors which is the most open and allows them to still talk to one another. This one scout has two flag/long handkerchief like items sprouting out of the top of his bag, trailing out behind him. They reach to about his waist at the lowest point but are free flowing. He is the one who chooses to lean against an occupied row of seats and, with his back to the people seated, he is constantly shifting his weight and moving his bag around so that the flags are DIRECTLY in the face of the boy seated there. Imagine this: you're on your train, headed home, minding your own business, just playing a game on your DS. Then all of a sudden, there's this dirty, unfamiliar piece of fabric that's draped in front of your face blocking your game. The boy is about 10 years old maybe and does of good job of trying to avoid it by leaning to the side, but because the scout moves around and shifts so much, he is constantly interrupted by it again and again and it even touches his face several times. Meanwhile, the scouts are all oblivious. His mom was sitting across from him as well, watching the whole thing happening and I'm surprised the boy had so much patience, but since their stop was coming up, I guess they didn't feel like saying anything. I mean, that's such a small thing, but if you're going to have trailers on your huge ass backpack, can you please pay attention to where you're swinging it?
When we got to Kyoto station, one or two different scouts almost hit a sleeping toddler in the face because they kept something similar to a yoga mat secured to the top of their backpacks which made them extra wide, and they kept turning side to side looking for each other without realizing that there were other people around who they might end up whacking. Thankfully, the father had a watchful eye out and literally blocked it just in time.
Honestly, I have nothing against scouts. I'm sure most of them are nice and cleanly and respectful, but there were multiple instances on this trip where having particular groups of scouts around just made the situation particularly unenjoyable for us based on their presence and caused us to leave an area sooner than we really wanted to just to avoid them. I doubt that they'll have the next jamboree thing in Japan again in the near future, but yeah, definitely a huge hindrance in having a good time on the trip sometimes.

Foot bandages

This is kind of a weird one, but I almost forgot about it, so I'm gonna write about it haha. I don't usually have this problem at home and also didn't really encounter it specifically during my spring trip, but I did have the same issue back in July 2014 during that trip. Apparently it's related to either the climate during summer or the shoes I wear during the summer or both...Regardless, I get all these cuts and blisters on my feet from my shoes that are usually very comfortable. I like to think that I'm not really a shoe weenie, and I can usually just walk through the pain if it's caused by heel height, but when blood starts coming out or I'm having a hard time just standing flat footed, that's when I know I need a bandaid at least lol. After just the first day of walking around, I already needed 1 bandaid on each foot. By the fourth day, I needed 4 on each hahaha wtf. You can get bandaids/whatever the generic name is from Daiso for really cheap but the ones from Don Quixote or drug stores that cost a little more are definitely better quality.
Okay bandaids for cuts or blisters are kind of obvious so that's not the helpful hint that I need to write about lol. The item that really helps me out are these adhesive bandages from Daiso (which I'm sure you can purchase elsewhere as well but the Daiso/100yen store ones actually work quite well and you can't really reuse them so might as well keep it cheap.) It's basically like the stuff you get wrapped around gauze to stop bleeding or when you give blood. Also good for sports since they're not restrictive and still allow movement while still getting the job done. After I put the bandaids on my foot, I then put the adhesive bandage over that. It serves to keep the bandaid in place (which is sometimes a problem because if the cut or blister is due to your shoes, then it will likely continue to rub there) and also works as an additional barrier/slight cushion. I make sure to cover each bandaid at least once. Wearing socks over everything usually helps a lot as well lol.
This is how I wrapped my feet for the day that made wearing any pair of shoes bearable -

I was able to wear any pair of shoes I wanted, including the ones that actually caused the blisters and cuts, without pain this way, and it also allowed them to heal in relative peace lol. It does look a bit weird when exposed, but that's not as important to me as being able to comfortably walk in the shoes that I want to wear lol.
This method might be really obvious to other people but I don't usually injure myself that badly and then am limited to a certain kind of shoe or have to continue to do a lot of walking lol, so I don't find myself in this situation a lot. Like I said before, this kind of thing has only happens to me when I travel to Japan in the summer. I have a feeling that it mostly has to do with my shoe choices, but hey, I was still able to wear whatever shoes I wanted with bandages, so I don't feel like I necessarily have to change that when I have this solution lol.

Kuroneko Yamato and luggage forwarding

I mentioned this in my last trip's posts as well, but it definitely came in handy again, so worth another small mention at least. We used Kuroneko Yamato's transport services to get our huge pieces of luggage from Tokyo back to Osaka. This was what I planned to do because I knew I would have a lot of purchases at that point and didn't want to have to deal with it on the trains. I doubt I would have even been allowed to bring that much on the train with me at all wtf lol. We dropped off the luggage at the Prince Shinagawa's luggage forwarding window because we were familiar with it, but I'm positive there are lots of other places you can use. I think next time, I really want to look into what those other options are. Anyway, we were charged 1420yen for each piece. These are full size check-in size suitcases that weighed around 40-50lbs each and they would arrive in less than two days with tracking, so I'm happy to pay that price lol. We had them shipped to our final hotel which was the Westin Osaka but you can send luggage to your departure airport as well! You hardly see people rolling around huge luggage pieces in stations or on trains even if they're going to the airport, and I'm pretty sure this is why. I would definitely recommend checking out this service if you have heavy or unwieldy pieces that are difficult to handle that you need to transport within Japan.

Also all over the place is this compilation of videos S and I took throughout the trip. I think it fits best in this post since the clips are from all different days and all different things we experienced. I did my best to label them, but it's not really a solid vlog with a beginning, middle and end. I wish I felt more comfortable holding out a camera in front of myself and talking to myself and vlogging, but I'm really not that kind of person lol. It's really just tidbits of video that kind of supplement the photos. Sorry, it's not the best quality because it's just from my iPhone 5s, but hopefully you can still enjoy it! 

A bit of an unorganized ending to this series, but that's the conclusion of my posts for my Japan trip Summer 2015! (I may need to add to this later with other tidbits as I remember them before forgetting them again lol.) This was really just a mess of notes for me without very many pictures, sorry, but maybe you might find something helpful as well if you read through the whole thing. Or, if you have a suggestion for me because I could be traveling better but don't know enough, please let me know lol. I thought I would be able to write a bit about budgeting for this trip, but since I was traveling with S, he would pay for some stuff for both of us (meals, small convenience store purchases, etc) and wouldn't keep the receipts so I don't have a good grasp on what was spent throughout the entire trip lol. If you have any general questions for me, this might be a good post to ask them on and I'll do my best to answer! I'm definitely not a travel expert by any means, but I do okay/haven't yet died on these trips without much outside help besides google imo, so I wouldn't say I'm a total dud either lol.
Thanks for reading!

  Japan trip Summer 2015 posts:
Part 1 - Osaka & Kobe: Day 1 - 2
Part 2 - Kyoto & Namba: Day 3
Part 3 - Tokyo-based: Day 4 - 6
Part 4 - Sendai: Day 7
Part 5 - Tokyo-based: Day 8 -9
Part 6 - Osaka: Day 10 - 11
Part 7 - Airbnb & accommodations
Part 8 - Liz Lisa purchases
Part 9 - Other shopping
Part 10 - Travel notes

  Japan trip Spring 2015 posts
  Japan trip Summer 2014 posts

OOTD - August 2015 (Japan trip Summer 2015 coordinates)

I've really been slacking with outfits lately, but I think the important ones for August are the ones from my Japan trip! This post is being published a little late because I wanted to get all of the most relevant trip posts done first, but hopefully it can still be appreciated lol. I put a link to the trip blog post corresponding to each day with each outfit so you can go read the post to see what I did that day in that particular outfit lol. These were all taken once I was back in Hawaii because the Airbnb apartments we stayed in did not have full length mirrors and S is horrible at taking photos of me that I like so I gave up trying to get them on the actual day and just recreated them at home the best I could. Overall, the trip was very, very humid, and I think the way I was dressed reflected the weather lol.

Outfit for Day 1 -

Liz Lisa stripe peekaboo OP, off brand cardigan, Liz Lisa rose quilted purse and Liz Lisa flower lace-up back wedge sandals --> then Ank Rouge lace frill high top sneakers

Outfit for Day 2 -

Liz Lisa lace sleeveless top, Liz Lisa floral chiffon sukapan, Liz Lisa rose quilted purse and Ank Rouge sneakers

Outfit for Day 3 -

Nineteen89 floral dress, Liz Lisa crochet cover up, Liz Lisa rose quilted purse and Ank Rouge lace frill high top sneakers

Outfit for Day 4 -

Liz Lisa sunflower OP and Liz Lisa (flower removed) wedge pumps --> then Liz Lisa flower lace up back wedge sandals

Outfit for Day 5 -

Liz Lisa x My Melody 6th collab sweets OP in pink, Liz Lisa rose quilted purse and Liz Lisa (flower removed) wedge pumps

Outfit for Day 6 -

Liz Lisa off shoulder ribbon blouse, Liz Lisa cinderella suspender skirt, Liz Lisa 2015 3 piece cup Team C bag and Tralala pearl gladiator wedge sandals

Outfit for Day 7 -

Liz Lisa sleeping beauty OP, Liz Lisa 2015 3 piece cup Team C bag and Tralala pearl gladiator wedge sandals

Outfit for Day 8 -

Liz Lisa dot floral OP, Liz Lisa 2015 3 piece cup Team C bag and Tralala pearl gladiator wedge sandals --> Ank Rouge lace frill high top sneakers

Outfit for Day 9 -

Liz Lisa Shibuya 109/web-limited gingham floral OP, Liz Lisa 2015 3 piece cup Team C bag and Tralala pearl gladiator wedge sandals

Outfit for Day 10 -

Liz Lisa lace sleeveless top, Liz Lisa panel floral skirt, Liz Lisa 2015 3 piece cup Team C bag and Ank Rouge lace frill high top sneakers --> Tralala pearl gladiator wedge sandals

Outfit for Day 11 -

Spinns ruffle sleeve collar embroidery top, Liz Lisa floral chiffon sukapan, my Liz Lisa tote and trunk! and Ank Rouge lace frill high top sneakers

The items I brought with me from home are the ones that do not have a link in the description of the outfit. I packed: 4 dresses, 2 tops, 2 bottoms, 2 cover ups, 1 purse and 1 pair of sandals. If I bought it during the trip, the item does have a link, and the link goes to the blog post about that item. You can kind of see that I wore all of the clothes that I brought with me first and exhausted those options, and then I went straight for all of the new stuff lol. For the clothes, that was intentional. For the purse and the shoes, it was not lol. There were some days where I changed footwear in the middle of the day because of situational appropriateness lol. I did re-wear 1 top and 1 bottom, but thankfully we were able to do laundry while we were there, so the clothes weren't gross despite all the sweating due to the heat lol.

  Japan trip Summer 2015 posts:
Part 1 - Osaka & Kobe: Day 1 - 2
Part 2 - Kyoto & Namba: Day 3
Part 3 - Tokyo-based: Day 4 - 6
Part 4 - Sendai: Day 7
Part 5 - Tokyo-based: Day 8 -9
Part 6 - Osaka: Day 10 - 11
Part 7 - Airbnb & accommodations
Part 8 - Liz Lisa purchases
Part 9 - Other shopping
Part 10 - Travel notes

  Past OOTD posts:
OOTD - April & May
OOTD - June
OOTD - July

Japan trip Summer 2015 part 9 - Other shopping

These are all of the non-Liz Lisa purchases that I made (that I feel like are worth sharing and that weren't meals). I actually did a little bit better than last time in terms of buying non-Liz Lisa items...I think. Or did I lol? I have a really bad habit of thinking about what I could be missing out on from Liz Lisa by spending my money elsewhere which inevitably results in me missing out on amazing items from other fantastic brands. But I really attempted to branch out a little more this time, and I wasn't as successful as I could have been, but I'll give myself a little pat on the back for this effort lol.

mon Lily Logo embroidered princess OP (purchased on Day 6)
ロゴ刺繍お嬢様ワンピース

The only mon Lily store that I know of is in P'Parco in Ikebukuro. I didn't get to check it out during my last trip, but we had some time during this one, so I insisted we stop. I like the general theming/aesthetic of mon Lily, but haven't felt compelled enough to purchase anything from the brand online yet. The store itself isn't very big, but there was still a good amount of selection. I ended up picking this dress because the shop staff was wearing it and it looked really cute on her. Plus, this dress seemed reasonably tame (like not all over the place and kooky which isn't really me) and not unreasonable in design which was good because it was too hot for me to want to try it on lol. The dress actually comes in two sizes - M and L. I purchased it in M (which is the closest equivalent to free size). It's simple but still cute!

  with Flag J pumps and hair barrette from Daiso -

  with Liz Lisa ribbon belt, Tralala pearl gladiator wedge sandals, bow headband & Samantha Thavasa ruffle ribbon purse with Liz Lisa champouf charm -

  with Liz Lisa floral lace peek cardigan, Liz Lisa ribbon pumps in pink & Liz Lisa flower applique beret -

Spinns Ruffle sleeve embroidered collar blouse (purchased on Day 8)
フリル　エリ刺繍ブラウス

Lol I had such an ordeal deciding about this top. In the grand scheme of things, it's really not a big deal, but in the moment, I was sweating bullets trying to figure out how to ask the shop staff if this top was the same sale price as the other colors of the same top haha. I'm really glad I sucked it up and purchased it though. It's such a great basic, and I happily wore it on Day 11, the last day of the trip, with my Liz Lisa sukapan and I thought they went very well together. The material is really light and therefore a bit sheer, but that's not really something I care too much about. I'd rather have it thin and add layers situationally than have it be too thick and ...not be able to wear it because it's too hot lol. I wore it without a cami underneath (just a beige/nude bra), and I thought it was fine/not too exposing and really good in the hot weather.

  with Liz Lisa pleated bow shorts and Liz Lisa floral wedge sandals -

  with Liz Lisa floral jumper skirt, Liz Lisa flower lace up back wedge sandals & Samantha Thavasa 2-way bow handbag -

  with Liz Lisa floral dot skirt, Liz Lisa clear pearl sandals, hair clip from Daiso & Samantha Thavasa ruffle ribbon purse with bunny charm -

Spinns COOLMOON V neck cardigan (purchased on Day 8)
COOLMOON Vネックカーディガン

This was actually the first thing I picked up in Spinns while I was browsing. It's really just a basic white cardigan. I figure I can never have too many of those and the ones I have are constantly getting trashed because I wear them so much lol.  This one looked like it would fit really well, so why not? The material is quite thin and flimsy (not in a bad way), but it will perfect for a casual cover up when I'm not actually trying to find warmth lol.

  with Liz Lisa floral collar OP and Liz Lisa knot wedge sandals -

  with Spinns ruffle sleeve embroidered collar blouse, Liz Lisa check skirt, Tralala pearl gladiator wedge sandals & Ank Rouge quilted heart handbag -  

  with Liz Lisa x Yui Kanno stripe flower OP, Liz Lisa heart suede pumps in pink and hair bow from Daiso -

Cecil McBee bijou pearl strap blouse
ビジューストラップ付きオフショルカットソー
 and
Gradation big flower tight skirt (purchased on Day 9) 
ぼかしBIGフラワータイトスカート

(I didn't even bother trying to get these on my mannequin because I knew they weren't going to fit well, if at all, on it lol)
I bought these two items full intending on wearing them together. The shop staff was essentially wearing the same outfit in a slightly different skirt (I think it was a different material but the exact same cut) and it was also on a mannequin. For once, I decided to try this on in store lol. I super love it! Cecil McBee was my first love when I started becoming interested in Japanese fashion, but for some reason I don't own many pieces from them! I think it's because by the time I actually started buying Japanese clothes, I was already into Liz Lisa and chose to funnel my money there instead, but in the background of my mind, I still really love Cecil McBee's items and aesthetic. I think these two pieces have refueled/bumped up my interest in the brand, and I would definitely look forward to buying more. I love that it's cute with the details and colors but still a little flirty/sexy with the fit!

  (both) with Flag J pumps & Samantha Thavasa ruffle ribbon purse -

  (both) with Flag J sandals & Michael Kors handbag -

  (top, straps removed) with offbrand skirt/shorts and Hollister skirt, Flag J pumps and Betsey Johnson necklace -

  (skirt only) with Cecil McBee off shoulder bow top, Flag J pumps & Samantha Thavasa ruffle ribbon purse -

Ank Rouge Lace frill high top sneakers (purchased on Day 1)
レースフリルハイカットスニーカー

I bought these from the Ank Rouge store in Hep Five on the first day because my feet were absolutely dying in the Liz Lisa sandals that I brought with me wtf. These were definitely not shoes I was planning to buy and actually I wanted Liz Lisa sneakers but Hep Five's Liz Lisa didn't have them, so I found my way to the Ank Rouge store and bought these because they were the first things I saw LOL. They're not so bad looking from the side, I think, but personally these are not shoes that I really prefer despite how much I wore them on the trip. I think they look really odd from the top (the image of bushy bearded man immediately comes to mind) and also make my feet look super big/long and my legs look super chubby and short! These are size M btw. I'm usually a size L for Japanese shoes but I tried L on in the store and they were HUGE. Even M leaves me a little extra room - not too much but not too little either (but there's no way I could be size S for shoes so I didn't bother trying). They definitely served their purpose and I'm not unhappy I got them because my feet were in desperate need of a change of shoe, but I definitely don't see myself wearing them much, if at all, back at home lol.

Tralala Pearl gladiator wedge sandals (purchased on Day 5)
パールグラディエーターサンダル

I bought these from the Tralala Harajuku store which is located on the second floor, above Liz Lisa. I didn't go in intending to buy anything, but knowing I needed another pair of shoes (preferably heels) for the trip, these jumped out at me! The shop was staff was wearing them in another color and the design looked cute but still sturdy with all the straps. When I plan on doing a lot of walking, I prefer for the shoe I'm wearing to be really secure on my foot. Thankfully, these fit really well. I got them in size L, and I think the size is just about perfect. They're also really light which is a huge plus for me. After I tried them on, it was a no brainer to purchase them. And I'm glad I did because they were a great option for me when I didn't want to wear the sneakers (and I was experiencing problems with the other pairs of heels).

Samantha Thavasa ruffle ribbon purse (purchased on Day 7)

I think this purse is from a few seasons ago. I found a stock image of it (I think?) from a different retailer lol. It was on pretty decent sale and it was the last one in store lol. I hadn't really seen any other similar shape purses in the other stores I briefly looked at in passing, so I was happy to see it in Sendai! There were a couple of things I was able to find in Sendai, that I didn't see anywhere else I had been actually lol. After trying to dig up photos of it, I got a little concerned because most of the photos of similar bags actually have the front and back buckle/strap details going all the way down to the base of the purse instead of stopping halfway which is a common Samantha Thavasa design from that year (see picture on the left of the stock photo). But I literally purchased it from a Samantha Thavasa store and have the little Samantha Thavasa care card so I don't think it can be a replica or something. I'm really not sure lol. When I look up the item number, the only results are from Chinese online stores lol. Regardless, I feel confident that my money actually went to the brand unless it's possible to have an entire crooked store in a major train station o__o. The bag itself is quite plain imo, so I think I'm going to have a good time accessorizing it a bit with purse charms/pass case, etc! But being on the simple side means it will easily match with coordinates. This is my first all white purse, and I think it'll be really useful! It's a good size and also comes with a shoulder strap. The shoulder strap is not adjustable which is another reason I questioned the validity a bit because I found that a bit odd, but maybe they purposefully designed/manufactured a few more cheaply? I have no idea. Regardless, it's purchased direct from a Samantha Thavasa store, and I do like it, so I'm going to just take it for what it is lol.

Kaiyukan (Osaka Aquarium) whale shark stuffed animal (purchased on Day 11)

Awwww I love this thing so much lol. If you haven't seen my room tour, I have a lot of stuffed animals. For years and years, I actually had a lot more than what's shown but I got rid of what seems like 3/4 of them because...no reason to keep them, right? I've just always been given things like that as gifts and my parents have never made me throw them away, so I've just kept them lol. But anyway, I guess I have a soft spot for plush animals because I was surrounded by them growing up lol. And I especially love fish/sea life because my dad likes fish, and we visit a lot of aquariums. It's never felt right to get a big(ger) whale shark plush in the past because when I've visited Kaiyukan, there was no whale shark. I think the stuffed version is really cute though so in the past I've compromised with myself and just got a tiny stuffed whale shark charm and a tiny stuffed whale shark magnet lol. BUT THIS TIME I FINALLY GOT TO SEE A WHALE SHARK and I was like, NOW IS THE TIME and I was determined to get a regular size stuffed whale shark lol. They have a lot more options now that they have the whale sharks back, but I ended up choosing this one but I really liked the color and the face and also it was the cheapest one for its size. I think it's because it's not as complex (the mouth doesn't open or anything and the dots don't match up) but it was the last day of the trip and I didn't want to spend 3000yen on something like this, so this one was my obvious choice! And I'm really happy with it. I don't know why, but I find it so cute lol. He didn't fit that well into my carry on but we made it home okay, so that's all that matters haha.

Also related to this "Other Shopping" topic - 
A mess of snacks and things (purchased through the length of the trip)

This is mostly omiyage and things that my mother wanted me to bring back. I kept maybe like 10 things for myself lol. In Hawaii (and probably other places too, but as it relates to me, I'm just going to go with Hawaii), you will typically bring back items from your trip for all of your friends and family. My mom is usually the one who handles bringing back most of the omiyage because I spend more time and money shopping for myself, but since she wasn't coming on this trip, I had to step up lol. I don't think this is as big as her haul last time, but she also had more space since my dad hardly buys anything and she could use his suitcase weight/space as well lol. A number of these things are for her specifically anyway lol.
Unfortunately I don't have good close ups or reviews for most of these things because as soon as I got back and laid everything out, I had to start portioning it off for the recipients and I don't really get to try most of it myself lol.
But a few notable mentions (going clockwise, if that helps) -

• In the top middle-left in the green and yellow packaging: Butter corn candy from Daiso that my mom loves. I bought 12 packages for her lol. I haven't tried it myself, but apparently it tastes exactly as it sounds lol.
• In the upper middle in the green packaging: Zunda omiyage from Sendai. There are four different items that are zunda flavored. Apparently it tastes a little like grass to some people lol.
• Just to the right of the Zunda items in a clear, circular plastic container with a red label: Black garlic from Tsukiji Fish Market. You may be able to buy it elsewhere, but a particular stand in Tsukiji is what we've familiar with which is why I went back to buy it. It's essentially just straight up garlic lol. Purchased for my dad because he liked it during the last trip.
• In the bottom third on the right side: The three staple removers that my coworker's gf requested I look for from Daiso. I couldn't find them in any of the Daisos I went to until Sendai lol. I don't know if it's not a common item and they don't stock it anymore/discontinued it or if it's SO popular that none of the stocks can keep it on the shelves lol. But thank goodness we went to Sendai otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get them.
• If you look left of the staple removers and stop in the center for the long pink rectangles before the KitKats start, you'll see the salmon flavored Puccho. I specifically hunted them down in convenience stores after my host mom's son mentioned them when we had met up for dinner on Day 2. They literally look and taste like salmon. It's not just a gimmick for the packaging. The flavor is real. And I think there might also be little bits of salmon in it too lol. Some people who tried it thought it was strange but okay but a lot of other people tried it and just spit it out lol. If it's still in stores the next time I go back, I would probably buy more just for the odd factor lol. 
• Also, on the Puccho note, the one photo I did manage to arrange and organize before things got snatched up: all of the Hi Chew and Puccho (except not the ones in the individual loose multi-flavor packages, only the ones in these single flavor bar things & the minis in the boxes lol) -

  

  Mini Hi Chew (grape, strawberry, apple, pineapple), Hokkaido Cantaloupe Hi Chew, Sendai Zunda Puccho, Kumamoto Lemon Puccho, Okinawa Sheqwasa シークヮーサー Hi Chew, Tohoku Apple Hi Chew, Okinawa Mango Hi Chew, Kyushu Decopan/Mandarin Orange Hi Chew, Acerola Hi Chew, Peach Hi Chew, Strawberry Hi Chew, Soda Puccho, Muschat Puccho, Grape Puccho, Cola Puccho, Sour lemon Hi Chew, Pineapple Hi Chew, Cola Hi Chew, Orange Hi Chew, Salmon Puccho

I got most of the food items from either Daisos/100yen shops, Don Quixotes, drug stores or convenience stores like 7-Eleven or Lawsons. The major exceptions were already mentioned in the bullet points besides the various mochi which I got from Shinagawa station, Hankyu Umeda station and Kyoto station, and the konbu my mom requested from JR Osaka station. If there's any place that's good for omiyage, it's a major train station lol. But of course, the cheaper candy/snack food items are probably easiest and most cheaply found in a convenience store. Unfortunately, I'm probably unable to answer too many specifics about how they taste, but I will do my best to answer what I can if there are questions lol. I usually like to bring back Tokyo Banana as well but we just brought that back in March, and I don't know anyone who really loves it...and we also didn't have enough room for it.

Deserving their own section if only due to their cost, these are the expensive KitKats that I bought from the Chocolatory in Tokyo station on Day 8 -

The individual Sublime bars I think cost around 358yen each (over 300yen but under 400yen). It's just one stick in there lol. The flavors are Dark Chocolate, White Chocolate and Framboise. We've only tried the Dark Chocolate one so far, and it was good as far as I can tell, but I'm not sure if it's much different than the regular dark chocolate KitKat since I'm not much of a foodie lol. That was the only one I tried myself. (Actually my mom just tried the white chocolate one last night and said it was good but not $3.50 good lol.)
In the white box with I ♡ Fruits on it are 2 each of strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, something and something lol. We haven't opened it yet to read the description of the last two and I can't immediately discern what they are by the picture. If I had to guess, I'd say maybe lemon and grape, but I'm really not sure. This pack cost around 2268yen I think (over 2200 yen but under 2800yen if I had to guess).
In the red boxes, we got Orange Cocktail (2x), Sakura Matcha, Strawberry Maple, Ume and Butter. S took one of the Orange Cocktail ones and we gave the other one away so I don't have a solid conclusion on that one except S saying it was "good" lol. My grandparents were give the Sakura Matcha and didn't have anything special to say about it lol. (Matcha KitKat is easy to get here so idk if it just tasted similar maybe.) My mom said Strawberry Maple just tasted like strawberry lol. Ume has not been tasted yet. Butter is by far the favorite that I can tell lol. Inside each box are 4 small packets of 2 mini KitKat bars.
Would I buy these again? Ummmmm for the price, probably not lol. If anything, I would probably buy Butter again since it's kind of unusual and people seemed to like that one the most, but I am unlikely to go to Tokyo Station specifically for this. It was interesting to try, and I was most looking forward to giving these "fancy" KitKats to people who had given me money for the trip as a thank you. I think most people probably wouldn't realize how much you paid for them though so it might seem like a weenie gift because it's so small lol.

And that's about it! I was initially planning to put a few scans from the magazines I purchased in this post as well, but I don't want to make it any more picture heavy, so I'll have some scans in a supplement post on the side like I did last time. Sorry there's some clothes/fashion items squished together with the general omiyage which is not totally related, but this is basically everything else I bought that I brought home that's not covered in Part 8 - Liz Lisa purchases lol. If you have any questions about anything specific, I'll do my best to answer!

  Japan trip Summer 2015 posts:
Part 1 - Osaka & Kobe: Day 1 - 2
Part 2 - Kyoto & Namba: Day 3
Part 3 - Tokyo-based: Day 4 - 6
Part 4 - Sendai: Day 7
Part 5 - Tokyo-based: Day 8 -9
Part 6 - Osaka: Day 10 - 11
Part 7 - Airbnb & accommodations
Part 8 - Liz Lisa purchases
Part 9 - Other shopping
Part 10 - Travel notes

  Japan trip Spring 2015 posts
  Japan trip Summer 2014 posts