Inokashira Park

Inokashira Park is near Kichijoji Station. I have spent so much time here since moving to Tokyo.

I don't really like izakaya parties. I would rather hang out where people can move around and come and go as they want and not just sit there eating and drinking. Partying outside is the best.

Inokashira Park is also good for picnics, cherry blossom viewing, reading, and fooling around in the bushes, I mean probably.

Memories!

Now the days are longer and warmer and in one more month it'll be total spring!

Spring is just a short sweet intro to another long summer in Tokyo and I am so fucking stoked. Cold drinks, thin dresses, sex hair, hot rooms, long nights, I'm waiting all my life for it.

See you outside my friends. This summer is gonna be sick!

Japanese Hairstyles = Impressive

I'm obsessed with hair right now. I'm the slovenliest of all Northwest coastal bums and basically don't know how to do anything with my hair. I can tousle it into a big trashy mess and straighten my bangs, and that's all that matters. But preppy Japanese girls with their crazy bouffants and sleek perms and magic oils get me pretty jealous.

I know I'm not supposed to think gyaru and kyabajo are cool but how could I possibly ignore the fact that their favored hairstyles are based on a CLASSIC 1960s aesthetic?

These are terrible examples. How come I could only find princess and cabaret -style gyaru looks on Google? I tried it in Japanese but then I just got porn. Anyway, you get the idea. Japanese girls who are way into their hair pull off insane 60s style glamor.

French twist

Last night I was determined to finally learn to do a french twist, and I found this girl's videos. You can follow them even if you don't speak Japanese. Amazing!

High-volume half-updo

Incredible! I didn't use any products, just a brush, elastic and a few pins, and I got all of these on the first or second try.

Easy fake bob

All of these looks are so simple and only take a few minutes. They will all look so good worn messy with sloppy makeup and old cocktail dresses. They're not as crazy and perfectly curled and sculpted as those gyaru looks above but that's for the better, right?

60s chestnut

My hair is still too short for this but oh my god! Perfection!

You know how hostesses go to salons for their hair and makeup before work? I cannot be the only one who wants to get in on that shit. Who wants to have a kyabajyo day with me?

Edit:



This is so easy and fabulous, I'm gonna die of happiness.

Or Don't Be Mine

I spent Valentine's Day with possibly the worst hangover of my entire life. I was in bed until 9PM. I only stumbled out of my room a few times to swallow some tap water and swear I was dying.

When I finally got up, I was all alone and the only thing to do was go buy a bento and watch Heathers online and sulk. Classic Valentine's Day variation, right?

And I had already eaten my share of peanut butter cups. I never want to see another peanut butter cup or another cigarette or another glass of whiskey as long as I live. (Really!)

Apparently no one made chocolates for Valentine's Day but me. That's funny. These peanut butter cups tasted exactly like peanut butter cups, by the way. Peanut Butter Cups Recipe

Set a Date

I get caught up and time flies by. I don't want to be in Japan forever. That's all I know. Sometimes I think I'll stay for years, and sometimes I think only one more. Usually I think about how hard it will be to leave and sometimes I think I'm getting bored.

I don't want to lose anything I have here, but I will. Places close and friends get lost. I do so much and it changes so fast. I wish all my good lives could follow me like a parade all the way to death.

How do you get your kicks?

Again. If I'm always broke, how/why do I go out so often? Because. My talent in life is getting away with things, I know how to be cheap, and I have no problem skipping bills and groceries. The fact is, it's extravagant to make a habit of going out on a part-timer's budget, especially in Tokyo. But I can't stay in my room all the time. I would get sad and crazy.

Free: Long walks, libraries, reading magazines in 7/11, sitting in the park, window shopping, nanpa fishing, restroom photography.

Cheap: Flea markets, casual sex, shitty chain cafes like Doutor and Mister Donut, first-time deals at host clubs, Starbucks, one or two drinks at a cozy bar, McDonald's, a small purchase at a crafts store, carefully budgeted house parties.

Overpriced but difficult to live without: kissaten, delicious coffee anywhere (incl. train fare), reasonably low-key nights out.

Painfully out of my price range: Books, music, movies.

IT'S NOT FUNNY

ENOUGH

I hate winter! I hate being cold and bulky all the time with my bag slipping off my giant wool shoulder and my nose red and runny. I do like this coat Hanako gave me, but winter is such a pain in the ass.

And these days I am not the kind of girl who can stay in and read a book. I need to go out and read a book. Out into the cold! I do have some warm places to go, at least.

This has been my favorite kissaten lately.

So warm, decent coffee, good space to write in. And great toast. Kissaten make toast into an art form. Do you see that I'm drinking cafe au lait? Defeated. I'll be back to black when I'm back in Stumptown.

Abridged Version

I woke up the other day in my kimono with screaming blisters on the tops of my feet.

Learn from my mistakes! Tatami-burn = 10x worse than rug-burn.

Hanako was sleeping on the kitchen floor, which I can't stop apologizing for. How appalling!

Plus, this road construction barrier was in my bed. I still haven't put it back because I'm not exactly sure where it came from. Is this gonna get me deported?

Dresses

I wanted to go out the other night and found out my ATM card wouldn't work that late on a Sunday. What! I had to come back home and settle for taking photos of myself rolling around in my favorite new flea market dresses. Here are the other two I love.

This one was inexplicably difficult to photograph. It falls just above the knee. 100 yen, adorable! I'm excited because it could be exactly the kind of goth I think I can dig.

I want this amazing 50 yen kinderwhore treasure to work so bad but I am slowly facing the fact that it was made for an A-cup and is sort of not doing me any favors. But it's so potentially versatile! Obviously I bought it thinking Courtney Love, but imagine how much I could charge if I went back to private lessons with salarymen like this:

HAHAHA. Now you know why I haven't starved yet.