Day 10 - Nippori and Shinjuku

A day we had both been looking forward to - fabric town in Nippori. It's basically a whole street running about three blocks with fabric, trims and notions stores running the length of it. You could easily spend a few days and lots of money trawling through the store there, and it makes you appreciate how easy it is to cosplay with great materials in Japan. But we were limited by luggage weight so had to reign in our shopping to just a few hours.

After a quick late lunch we headed to Shinjuku. Unfortunately were were too late to make it in time to the Bunka Fashion Museum which closes at 4.30pm. So instead we wandered into Odakyu for a quick look through the fabric available there. By this point though we were both feeling pretty shopped out. Hard to believe, I know. I did however find the fortitude to wander into the Wachifield store at the back of Studio Alta.

Afterwards, we decided to call it an early night. We stopped by Mister Donut for some halloween themed deliciousness to take home for desert before heading back to Tawaramachi. For dinner though, we called into a local place that we walk past on the way to the train every morning. The food is ordered at the front of the store with a machine and then brought to you when it is ready. It's a very efficient way of serving food and I can see it coming into place across the world. And to top it off, the food was great too.

We then dragged ourselves back to our hotel to start sorting through our luggage as our days remaining in Japan are limited, and I really needed to know if I would be posting any fabric home to myself. Thankfully though, it all looks like it will come in just under my weight allowance.

Day 9 - Nippori & Shinjuku

After the exhaustion of Disneyland yesterday, it would have been such a good idea to take it easy today. But no, I didn't have it planned that way and so today we were up and about and off to Nippori, or rather, Fabric Town. Essentially, it is a street running from the JR Train Station in Nippori that has an abundance of fabric and trimmings stores.

I bought so many beautiful thing today, so I decided to take one photo of the lot to show my fellow fabric fiends out there what I picked up today. My favourite pieces are the Strawberry Shortcake and Hello Kitty stuff.

After shopping our hearts out for fabric (yes, we will be posting that mountain of stuff home!), we made the trip into Shinjuku. Where we took in one more fabric and trimmings store. It was the one that I visited last time I was in Japan and found some very beautiful fabric in. We didn't stay in there too long though, as the shop was rather over-heated and it wasn't very cold outside.

Afterwards, we took in the sights that are Shinjuku. And I bought a new carry-on suitcase for the trip home - a Hello Kitty one.

By then, starvation had set in and we headed over to the Alice cafe for dinner. If you have never seen one of these, I highly recommend it. They are themed restaurants throughout Japan, and believe me when I say that there would be a theme to cater to just about every taste. There are certainly some very weird ones out there. But the one we chose, was Alice in Wonderland.

You enter by catching the lift down to the basement. It opens to a richly decorated foyer. Your waitress, dressed as Alice then pushes open one wall that looks like a book and you walk into the restaurant proper. The ambiance is incredible, and I have tried to capture what I could in the photos below. What you will notice though, is that all of our food is themed.

Today's photos are courtesy of Tracey's borrowed camera. Unfortunately I drained the battery on both of my cameras. One is refusing to charge and the other I forgot the charger for. But fear no more, I bought a new charger for my big camera today, so it is back to photo land for me!