Plasticzooms / Style Band Tokyo.

Sorry for not blogging much recently, but all I've been doing is working! Nothing exciting at all. 
 
My Japan trip is creeping steadily closer, and one piece of good news on that is that I managed to score a ticket to see Plasticzooms after a brief talk with one of their members over twitter. He was the one who dealt with my overseas order when I wanted a shirt, and he's beyond nice. So rather than be an in-depth entry about something, this is just a quick one to let you all know that I haven't DIED.
 
Plus. If anyone is in Tokyo on this date and wants to come hang, COME TO THIS EVENT. It's not just Plasticzooms, an it promises to be amazing!

代官山　UNIT 

■OPEN/START 13:30/14:00
■ADV/DOOR ¥3,000/¥3,500(+1Drink)

STYLE BAND TOKYO 5th Anniversary Party
[Bo Ningen 来日公演ツアーファイナル！]

[LIVE ACT]
Bo Ningen
PLASTICZOOMS
世界的なバンド
ZZZ’s
moja
HATENOHATE
and more„„

[DJs]
TOMO(STYLE BAND TOKYO)
SUMIRE(TWEE GRRRLS CLUB)
HMS CONTROL / SAM & MARK(TOKYO INDIE)
APU(AFTERDARK)
U-HEY(BLACK NEON PARTY)
si oux(VIVE VAGINA)
TOMMY(BOY)
IAN MARTIN(Call and Response)
wizzjones
Judy(Throw that beat!)
Foujita(Less and More)
and more„,

Brand Series: Chrome Hearts

Chrome Hearts Tokyo first opened its doors in December 1999 as the first and only Chrome Hearts boutique in Japan. On April 26th, this location will reopen as the brand new flagship store.

Since its inception in 1999, the concept of Chrome Hearts Tokyo has always been make yourself at home. “Over the years, we began to feel that we’d like to take this concept even further,” said Richard Stark, the designer and founder of Chrome Hearts. “Along with the Chrome Hearts family and staff, we wanted to actualize and extend the Chrome Hearts world, and to share the ‘at home’ feeling we cultivated internally with everyone.” After 2 years of development, the innovative re-creation of Chrome Hearts Tokyo is complete.

The new space has expanded over 2,000-square-feet from its original size and now occupies 7,000-square-feet in the Aoyama shopping district, making it the largest of all existing Chrome Hearts stores around the world.

 A brand often favoured by musicians, Chrome hearts is an american brand but their store in Tokyo is just STUNNING. A must visit for anyone looking to see some amazing jewelry and interior design when in Japan but still keep a bit of the vk vibe! I'm still saving up to buy something from them (be warned, it's EXPENCIVE) but I'm sure it will be worth every penny.
And yes...they do have a basketball court outside...space inside for a band to play too. 

You can buy chrome hearts in store and across various online stores all over the world.

Chrome Hearts HP

Yock

I thought I'd try something different today and start bringing things other than fashion into my blog. So we're having a look at some Japanese artists! I love guro, manga and art, and Yock was an artist who was introduced to me recently by a friend of mine.

Yock (Yoshitaka Kawakami) has produced some amazing CG pieces of disturbing school girls. I see these floating around tumblr every so often, and his skill always amazes me. Currently his website has been removed...I'm not sure what happened there and if anyone else has info it would be appreciated!

May inspirations!

So first of all you can have a wonderful picture of my face lol. Then we'll be onto the inspirations for this month! Not all will be fashion, I warn you now! I hope you're all doing well at the moment, I've certainly had an amusing couple of weeks...stressful with work, but also really entertaining ahah.

Exciting news and new beginnings

I don't know how many of you follow me on twitter, but you might see the odd mentions of JES sometimes, likewise suggestions of moving. I wasn't sure if I wanted to write about it on here before now, simply because things were still so undecided, but now more is planned and I feel like I can actually do a decent post about it !

Next year I'll be moving to Japan.

It could be as early as March or as late as July depending on which position I decide to take up.

I have a meeting/interview with the school I'll be going to in Sendai in August while I'm on holiday, but I could be placed in one of several locations throughout Tohoku, their schools are located in Aomori, Goshogawara, Akita, Kitakami, Furukawa, Ishinomaki, Sendai, Fukushima, Koriyama, Shirakawa, Aiizu, Niigata, Joetsu, Yamagata and Yonezawa. My Visa will be processed over Christmas too!



The company is small as far as Eikaiwa go, but after hunting for months for information on various employers, they came out as one of the best, treating staff much better than larger organisations such as BERLITZ and ECC. So far from my emails back and forth with them, they seem better than I could have hoped. I have a reason to be nervous about my holiday too now, I'll take the Shinkansen down to Sendai from Hirosaki on Thursday 2nd of August and have my interview! I might go to find little hearts while I'm down there, depends how it goes for time seeing as it's a 2 hour train ride (Thank god for my Japan Rail pass, it's going to really get a workout!).

I invested in a smart suit dress the other day, my first piece of seriously smart clothing! I feel so grown up haha! I'm now working on slowly downsizing my things, and it feels really odd to have to throw out things I would have kept before, simply because I know there won't be any point in taking them with me.

It's sad but exciting at the same time.

A new beginning.

Mt Iwaki. Located in western Aomori. This might be my view!

Gets!

It's been a while since I've done a gets post! But here are some things I've picked up over the last few months.

LONG omega vest top.
H&M circle glasses.
Mejibray hair scrunchie.
Mejibray lighter.
Various fliers and some new cheki!

Juu went over to Japan last month, and she was kind enough to bring me back the Mejibray merch, fliers, and a cheki of Yuuya from Para:noir. The other cheki I bid from Auok/Mbok and a private auction! Nothing much but just a quick update from me. I'll be heading out to get a new tattoo and pick some more bits up for my holiday tomorrow, so I'll be sure to update more on that then!

Tattooing in Japan

Most people know about the stigma attached to tattoos in Japan, but I'm not here to talk about that today. If you want to know more, then head over to google! What I will be talking about though, is where to go in Tokyo if you want a tattoo. Some places you can rely on to give you an intimate and amazing service without you having to worry about being fobbed off or refused for being a foreigner. (Not that places would, but the language barrier creates problems, especially when dealing with something like tattooing).

1. Scratch Addiction.

Scratch Addiction is one of Japan most famous tattoo shops. Located in Takeshita Dori in Harajuku. The shop is quite small but their artwork is good!. They have been home to some of Japan’s top tattoo legends. The artists are able to tattoo any style, and are highly skilled.
They are appointment only and with limited english, but depending on who is in shop depends on how good the conversation is! They are welcoming regardless and eager to help in whatever it is you need.

Website: http://scratchaddiction.com/

2. Horizaru.

Horizaru is an appointment only, custom only shop. He is amazingly skilled at Japanese neo-traditional work. The tattoos are beautiful, artistic, and is highly recommended by many people in the tattoo industry. His website runs in both English and Japanese, so take your pick!

Website: http://www.horizaru.com/


3. Studio Muscat.

Small Shibuya based tattoo shop with a female artist. She is renowned for her black and grey work and has a large client base. Her website is easy to navigate and Asao herself is very friendly! Take a look and see what you think, she can do any style but favours stronger line work.

Website: http://www.muscat-tattoo.com


I'll add more to this list at some point when I find out some good information, but for now, it's just these select few. If anyone else has any experiences they would like to share then feel free to comment!