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!

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 ).

La Fabrique of Time

I had to steal this photo from Hannah because my camera did not come out with us last night.

Hannah and I went to our first "kurabu" (club) last night and it was on par with going out in Philly and even Barcelona.

The crowd was what I wanted and the I couldn't have asked for better music ( as guest DJ-ed by Senior for Junior/Senior ).

The party did not start until 11:30 p.m. and the subways close at midnight sooo we were pretty much hoping it would be fun because we'd have to stay out all night until the subways start up again at 5:30 a.m. Apparently a lot of other people in Tokyo planned for the same thing.

Everyone was soups friendly / really talkative / drunk0rz so that's fun.

We snagged a table and people just gravitated towards us and talked with us.

The first two people were some late twenty year old designers from Norway. They were in Tokyo shopping around for new stuff to sell. Their company paid for their hotel, taxis, subways, booze, and of course shopping.

Next two boys and girl named Yuki came over and chatted with us, and just like everywhere I go, they commented about how young I look, estimating I was about 16 or 17. Neat! But they were really nice and really into the party so that's always good. We even rode the subway back with them in the morning.

While heading towards the bathroom some kid took my photo and you allll know how much I do not mind that. Later, while sitting another kid ran up to us and said "you guys look supah cool! can I take your photo?" And naturally, we obliged. So now Hannah and I are probably the background of someone's mobile.

Another chatty person was a Dior model who invited me to his next party that is "super crazy and wild" so I'm sure that will be super crazy and wild. Meanwhile, a girl named Yo-Yo was chattin' up Hannah. Later this other super drunk Japanese girl was alllll about Hannah and I and she was really crazy. It's amazing how better everyone is at speaking other languages.

After playing Lithium, Boys Don't Cry, Lithium, Panic, and Love Will Tear Us Apart, right after one another, the party ended and my shoe fell apart and we left.

I really hate walking home and going to bed after the sun has risen, but such is partying in any city except NY and Philly.

Can't wait for more!

Staying Up Past Eleven

Well hello! It's Sunday so the fun is done for the most part because I have to read and study, blah blah.

But Sunday also means I get to buy my Sunday treat, coffee! I drink the cheap 55 cent iced stuff all week and then splurge on a $3 hot coffee on Sundays. It's the little things, eh?

Anyways, this weekend was fun. I'll break it down for ya with photos:

Naturally, there are many bubble tea stands everywhere.

We went to this mall in Harajuku on Friday and it was really into Avril Lavigne. They had a HUGE poster of her hanging on the front and then the basement had an entire wall of magazines dedicated to her. I guess the Japanese are really advanced in some areas, and are totally clueless in others.

This photo is a good example of the traditional east meeting the modern west. Aka an old woman in a kimono ordering a six inch cold cut combo.

Crossing the street is basically the true stereotype that you see in the media. I blame it on the fact that the lights take forever to change so naturally a huge crowd will build up. This mob scene in Shinjuku is NOTHING compared to the one we saw in Shibuya on Saturday.

This is "Green Spice", which could also mean that she is matcha powder. We got in trouble for taking photos because I guess the fool doesn't want exposure. Geeze.

Ahhh Shinjuku! So fun.

Saturday morning. I usually wake up to this. I want to pet it BUT there are garbage cans nearby and I fear that it was probably just playing in them.

Later, we went to Shibuya where there is a HUGE department store called "Tokyo Hands". They had everything, including a play-doh-esque product where you could make neat pastries and stuff and a selection of miniature bottles of liquor. My mom has a tiny collection of miniature bottles of liquor; not because she is an alcoholic but because she's really into miniature versions of things that look fancy, e.g. alcohol bottles, antique salt and pepper shakers, tables, oil lamps, etc.

This cake is from a "pastel and pasta" cafe in one of the malls. It was mad cute. As always, Hannah and I forgot to take a picture BEFORE we started eating. Oh well.

We did some more shopping at this mall in Shibuya. They had a lot of neat clothing and towards the end of the evening I was finally finding stuff that I would actually wear. I was becoming a bit daunted because a lot of the stores were selling "American" inspired things like... plaid shirts that have car repair shop logos and stuff on them, weird leather goods, and pointed shoes. I guess that's a big trend right now. The Japanese are alllll about parameters in style so they'll pick the trend or style that they like, and then shop at a small handful of stores that exclusively sell that trend or style. It's pretty neat actually. One trend that I could easily get into is "British Preparatory School". It's all about mixin' tartans, loafers, peacoats, navy blazers, etc. It's great.


NUTS stands for "New Urban ____ Space".


Aaaand I finally found the shop I had been looking for. It was pretty neat... although there was nothing I would buy. The owner was really nice and we chatted about this and that and told him we'll be BACK.

Other weekend highlights:

-- Really awesome "antique clothing store" with great music, clothes, and friendly staff
-- Delicious tacos. The tortillas were made out of rice paper, but it didn't stop them from being amazing.
-- Downpours (wouldn't be a weekend in Tokyo without some!)
-- Speaking French on the last train home
-- Eating curry

Etc. etc.

Now I'm going to get my coffee, eat, and e-mail the Spanish embassy.

Olé!