Toko Ebisu and Vintage Joy

Me and may have finally had some time off to explore together properly. And shop together properly. It's getting well freezing now, and being outside is actually painful. It's colder than I ever wanted to know about. But what kind of a fool would I be if I sat in front of the heater all day?

So Saturday, after fighting a losing battle with the now obviously broken iron, we walked into Shinsaibashi in search of the recycled clothing shops that are apparently popular in Amerika-mura. We made a quick stop at Mom's cafe for some Japanese baked goods and a hot drink, when we heard some chanting and saw everyone turning around and pointing. Loads of men in robe-type costume, geishas and cute little costumed adolescent girls were parading through the mall in Shinsaibashi, chanting something. A few lucky participants were being transported in a low chairs, and one girl was seated way up high looking very extra special. Taking photos got me a few shy looks from the girls in costume, plus a little wave from a geisha. Which is unusual here, most people around here either pretend we don't exist or look scared or annoyed and try to get out of our way asap.
They all congregated outside a department store and a series of speeches began. Realising it was useless sticking around when we couldn't understand a word, we moved onto to continue our shopping adventure. I quickly dragged May in Daimuru, one of the many Japanese David Jones', and allowed every piece of super cute outside of budget item an individual swoon.

Finally I tore myself away and we pressed on. Amerika Mura had loads of vintage shops, but unfortunately not so many of the recycled clothing shops as I'd hoped. The vintage shops had THE cutest stuff, and Maynard managed to get a jacket that actually fit him.

Any kind of trend is uber-cutified here. Like the feral hippie trend, it's still all knitted and colourful, but a lot more full on and baby-dollish. I bought a top from a store that hand knits everything, so I'm going to get my cute on when we finally go out.





Freezing to death, we ran up to where Maynard had seen cheap thermals on sale to try to score some warmth before it closed.
We struck lucky and, goal achieved, finally realised how very very hungry we were. Walking back through Shinsaibashi, we went to Tapa, which seems to be a mid-range pizza restaurant chain. Good choice. Then Maynard allowed himself an extremely tasty crepe.






Both of us really wanted to go out, so we went home to start drinking and research our options. Maynard had vending machine beer, and I had Super Tamade sake.

But despite our enthusiasm we absolutely could not find anywhere to go within our budget! Everywhere is super expensive, and the only place we could find was far away. Admittedly, there are a million places to drink. All you have to do is step outside. But we wanted a bit more of a party vibe.


Perhaps we need some more insider information, but we failed miserably. So we ended up getting really drunk, really disappointed, and really sleepy after walking around for a good 8 hours. Oh well, we got word of an indie night on Thursday which is a good price, so hopefully we'll make that one.






Maynard woke up today with a super sore throat. I would definitely attribute it to the mega cold weather and switching between extreme cold and heat over and over again. So I made him breakfast and told him to have a day off.

There was some clamor going on in the park outside our window, and looking down I saw some kind of wood-chopping-soup-making-community-cookup. I took a photo but was too shy to join in or get a better look. I'm starting to feel like the locals will only ever tolerate me as a guest, and my attempts to penetrate further than the 'Sumimasen, Shinsainashi wa doko desu ka?' will be met with distaste.


We had planned to go the Joypolis in Hep 5 in Umeda, but I promised Maynard I would only go to the shopping complex there and we'll leave Joypolis for another day. Am I ever glad he ended up staying home. Walking up Midosuji-saki, something I'd never experienced before happened to me. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I was ACTUALLY SNOWED on. ME. IN THE SNOW. It all left me very confused.

Almost as confused as Hep 5 left me. It is massive in there. Like, I got lost massive. And they were having some kind of super mega sale. AHHHHHH. People were queuing for the escalator. Not to mention inside the stores. You pretty much couldn't move of your own accord, you had to follow the stream. Security guards were literally herding people. It turned out to be a bit pointless being in there at all, so I took a couple of photos of the two giant whales suspended from the ceiling and the ferris wheel and went home to cook dinner.

I feel like we're starting to settle in, but I'm yet to decide whether it would be cheaper to eat out every night or attempt to cook and make lunch etc. I'm still finding the balance. So far I've been relying on the Family Store for my lunch, but I might try supplying myself for a while. I'm also going to try to cut down on my Starbucks addiction, which will be hard considering a hot coffee on a cold day is the best.

Love to you all, hope you had a good weekend. :) xoxoxox from zo