all i ever do is think about you

(photo belongs to sea of shoes )

I feel as though my heart has been ripped from my body. I can't believe you can love a country and people so much without ever even experiencing a place. I know it will never be the same, but I hope for the sake of the people of Japan, especially the northern areas, they will be able to regain some kind of normality and peace.

As for my trip, well that's to be seen. I could postpone and miss the cherry blossoms, or go and sidestep Tokyo completely. I hate both options. But I have my health and I can always go another year, probably. I have 2 weeks to decide, and maybe if the blackouts aren't as bad as planned, and the nuclear problems get better, and I feel I won't be burdening the city....I still desperately want to go and support this country in it's time of need.

i'm right on top of that rose!

So, I've been pretty blaise about planning this trip. Which probably isn't a good thing considering I'm going by myself to a country I've never been and will not be able to speak or understand any of the language. After I bought my ticket and booked a hotel room, about 7 weeks out, I researched books I wanted for planning,bought them, and then just stared at em. The laziness had set in. I was having more fun just playing on google looking at random sites with kawaii (cute) food, alpaca plushie vending machines, and crazy nails than actually taking note of places I might want to go and where they are located. So I finally decided last week I had to get it together. Decide how much money to get before I go and go to the bank and get it (although I haven't really done that yet I promise I will look into it more now!), get a legal pad and start lists of everything I think I might be interested in seeing (I'll narrow it down later), figure out the Japan Rail Pass thing (check!),and finally crack open the books and start the hilighting and flagging. Sidenote: just figured out this week that I had to go through an agency to get my pass. Why was I under the assumtion that it was through the rail co and I could just buy it and have something e-mailed to me to show to the ticket counter at the station? Brain fart I suppose. Ahhhhh the type A in me is a little calmer now seeing the flags and lists and e-mails confirming my rail pass has been bought.

Tokyo Trends: gal

One of the popular "looks" in Japan/Tokyo right now is gal. From what I can tell a gal is very girly, bleached usually long hair, colored contacts, false eyelashes, and crazy fake nails with 3D art. That's where I come in. I don't remember where I first saw these nails, maybe it was gaga, but I looked into it more after I began planning what I was going to do in Tokyo by myself for 6 days.

(love that universal doll has her name and site on the pics already to save me a step!)

The first site I found pretty much told me anything and everything I could ever want to know about the gal movement and getting my nails done at a Tokyo salon. Well, as urban legends have stated Tokyo is an expensive city, one story says that a cup of coffee will run you $13, so it should have come as no surprise that something this beautiful and custom made is no different. Depending on how much you get done, where you go, colors you choose, if you want someone to speak English to you, and how much 3D prettyness you get glued on, we could be talking anywhere from $90 to 150 a set. The gals who work in boutiques in Shibuya 109 are truly dedicated and are paid to upkeep their look to better represent the store and brand. So since I'm not a "gal" and I've never had fake nails in my life and wouldn't know the first thing about functioning with them, I'll probably skip this ritual. But maybe I'll stop by Donki Hote and pick up some press on 3D nails ;)

Things that make me "want to go to there"

kill bill

sea of shoes

cherry blossoms in ueno park

all things kawaii

adventurous kate, my travel idol

shopping!

lost in translation

Guess I should start reading up on earthquake safety tips...

earthquake hits north japan

*note the date of this post and the article I linked to; I will be leaving it up since it was posted before the tragic events of March 11th.

moshi moshi!