TUJ

All work and no play makes blogging a dull chore.

Topshop and Muffins

This past Thursday, Topshop/Topman had its grand re-opening. They closed THREE days before I came to Tokyo so that kind of sucked but I guess it was (supposed to be) worth the wait.

Because the H&M opening in Ginza had two hour-ish lines the day it opened, I decided to wake up early and grab some food at Pure Cafe and then wait in line for the opening.

After only thirty minutes or so of sweating in queue next to two French girls, we were let in.

It was SUPREMELY disappointing. The clothes were uninteresting. It was basically like H&M in terms of style of clothing ( blah / nu-wave remnants ) and also in terms of shitty quality. Even if I had found something interesting, the prices were 'chotakai' (extremely expensive) as they say in Tokyo.

Ohh well. With all the money I saved on not buying anything there, I went to Shinjuku and bought some Cheap Mondays I had my eye on. The highlight of my dad was certainly my vegan choco orange muffin and coffee from my perma-favorite restaurant "Pure Cafe":

Niku o Tabemasen!!

I'm so excited!

This Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. there is going to be a vegetarian festival in Yoyogi park!

There's going to be soooo much good food I can't even stand it. There's also going to be tons of vegetarian / vegan groceries which will also be exciting. I really hope they have nutritional yeast. Aye aye!

Princess, Jokers, and Slayers University

Well my three day weekend iscoming to a close and thus begins midterm week. Basically I have two art history exams and a Japanese oral thing. It should be whatever.

Yesterday, we did a little shopping and then went to "Tokyo School Night". This party is held the night before a day off from school ( aka typically a school night ). It was held on two whole floors at Trump Room. How fun! The dress code was school uniform or "castle" ( which entailed princess, jokers, or slayers ). Themes are always so fun because people usually play around with it and never do a straight up literal interpretation of a theme. Also, sometimes a theme will be something strange like "the boudoir of Danae" or "Andy Warhol's threesome with John and Yoko". You get the idea.

The night was really enjoyable and we made some new friends with people that we constantly see at parties and what not.

Here are some photos:

Trump Room is basically what I want my entire house to look like someday.

Someone should really invent a dress that looks like that as opposed to it just being an optical illusion created by my camera.

Marie Antoinette took time out of her busy schedule of macaron eating to make an appearance.

"Syrup" girls and boy. Please note the following: cat mask turned into a hat, leopard jacket, lace dresses under leather motorcycle jackets, and general kawaii-ness. Not featured are the furry flats the girl on the right was sporting.




Hannah went for the school girl look.


Party people.

These girls are known as the "Spank Girls". We see them a lot. They went for the "princess" look. Also, apart from some stray stripper at the party, nobody does stupid "sexy" costumes which is such a relief. People always look mad classy.

Hannah auditioning for a spot as one of the Spank Girls.

I forget names like nobody's business, but this is one of our friends. He has these really great Jerri Blank jeans with braid details on the side.

Tokyo parties usually culminate into slumber parties.


Found objects: Gold crown, broken tiara, and hand cream.

This chucklehead was taking a photo of this sleeping girl so I thought I'd capture his creepiness. He turned to me and said "I'm going to send this into Vice" and proceeded to fix his hair in one of the mirrors. It was too perfect.


You put a pole in a club and this is bound to happen. Nobody really cares too much (as evidenced by those two people on the left more concerned with conversation) except that white girl in the blue wig was patiently waiting her turn. Oh and also, some awkward white guy (there is always one or two) was staring hxc.

This is our friend Tomo. He was at Narzib Saturday and was all excited about this party. We thought he'd be decked out in the best costume but he just wore what he wore the night before and fell asleep. Oh well. He's still awesome.


Blowin' bubbles out of a sword.

Well good morning! Does anything say 'school' uniform better than mixin' plaid? Also, considering how crazy in Japan dressed you think people wouldn't give me a second glance but I've never had so many double-takes in my life.

Oh well.

Now to study some Early Heian and Kamakura period junk. Ugh.

Come back and visit!

Tokyo Hedonism

Well this is a three day weekend and to celebrate, Hannah and I are going out every night for really good parties.

Friday night was Vanity at La Fabrique and it was decent BUT last night was Narzib and certainly the best night out I've had in awhile.

The have a new venue called "Trump House" ( and upgrade from their usual venue of Trump Room ) and the 'salon' was crazier than the previous. Apart from the standard use of 1,000+ mirrors on the walls and 2,000+ chandeliers on the ceiling, there was lots of: White marble, mirror topped gold Rococo-ish tables, silver plush upholstery and all sorts of insanity. It was basically 2001: A Space Odyssey + Le Petit Trianon (ultimately bringing two things Tokyo loves: Kubrick and France).

Here are photos:

Before we went to Shibuya, we stopped in at Shinjuku to visit our friends at Candy Shop! There were having an art gallery. Neat stuff!

Narzib.

Our two BFFs from "Syrup", I donno who dude is but I'm pretty sure he was with those girls as well. Aoyomi ( on the left ) was the belle of the ball last night. Evurrybody wanted her photo and she was down to pose.

Ya know what else I like (maybe more of a love/hate thing actually) about Tokyo nightlife? Everyone makes an effort to look mad decent without coming off looking silly or like they're trying too hard (except for the occasional backwoods-Paris version of Sarah Gilbert circa 2002 sporting flared whiskered jeans and Adidas all-stars in a limited edition color scheme). And not only are people dressed in their best, they have a certain aesthetic in mind when they dress. One boy told us he was going for a Hunter S. Thompson look via "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". He was quick to point out that he was drawing his influence from the book NOT the movie. Three others ( two boys and a girl ) were sporting the Mrs. Mia Wallace look and no one came off looking costumey.

And as always, everyone was shocked and awed at the fact that I am hatachi ( twenty ).

Oh p.s. bonus information, last night marks the THIRD time in one week that I was 'street scouted'.

Dear Mom and Joe,

I'm quitting school and staying in Tokyo permanently because it's 100x better than my American life. Please send your blessings ( and $$$ ).

--Andrew

It Wasn't Even That Hot Out...

La Vie du Marie

On Friday night, after shopping Harajuku, Hannah and I went to a party two floors below ground that had the slightly pornographic film "Shortbus" playing on the screen. People were sporting such things as: Panda fannypacks, Sir Galahad / Ramones style haircuts, destroyed t-shirts, perfect blonde bobs, etc. etc. Also, the kids are still keen on "MGMT". At around 5 a.m. we staggered to the Harajuku station and went home.

I woke up around 4 p.m. and took the train to Ginza to meet up with friends for tea and macarons at this famous French pastry shop that's modeled after Marie Antoinette's private house ( Le Petit Trianon ).

Later in the evening, Hannah and I people watched in Shibuya while eating more macarons.

Macarons are probably my new favorite dessert and I'm going to try my best to veganize them.

Flavors I ate:

-- Pistachio
-- Lime
-- Coconut
-- Dark chocolate
-- Orange blossom
-- Strawberry
-- "Red fruits" (basically just tasted like raspberry)
-- Vanilla
-- Chestnut

SO good.

First here are some photos that are not mine:




And here are my photos:







I do not want to go to class tomorrowww.

Move Over Male Supermodels of Tokyo!

Just kidding, there aren't any!

Anyways, I was walking around Shibuya today when suddenly I feel a tap on my shoulder! I turn around and expect to see Hannah but instead it's some Tokyo dude. I thought maybe I dropped something but he asks me where I'm from, if I speak much English and then he asks how long I'm going to be here. I tell him two months and he looks very disappointed. Then he goes on to say that he wanted me to model for his magazine. I was like "whaaa" but just as quickly as he tapped my shoulder, he bowed and said "thank you thank you" and scuttled away.

It happened so fast! Darn my short stay in Tokyo, I could have been SOMEONE. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

Sophia Coppola Loves Japan More Than Me

I just read on Jezebel that Sophia Coppola will be designing a new line of shoes and bags for Louis Vuitton. Jezebel seems confused as to why they would sign her saying "for some reason" she has been signed and that they're "sure she earned it". For those who don't know (since Hannah only told me like a week or two ago), Ms. Coppola designs a line of clothes called Milkfed with Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and its sold exclusively in Japan.

Like her personal line, the LV stuff will only be sold in Japan.

Field Trip: Ueno

I had to go to visit an art museum on the other side of Tokyo for my "Russian Avant-Garde" class this past Saturday. Not a bad gig since it was right in the center of a fairly historic area that I explored a little bit after my museum tour.

Later in the night, Hannah and I went out to a neat little party later in the evening. This week has been very rainy but now that the rain is gone, there is no more soaring humidity and the heat has lowered significantly! After my two hour Japanese art history class is over today, the worst parts of my school week will be over!

Photo times:

I have to write a paper on this painting.

Narzib! We look good all things considered ( it was 4:00 a.m. at this point ).