Sharla in Japan meets Kawaii Pateen and Cathy Cat

Kawaii Pateen had the pleasure to welcome Sharla, from Sharla in Japan to the Kawaii Pateen studios in Tokyo. I transformed Sharla into a Decora girl and later into a Lolita.
As a result we did a variety of videos on our channels which all can be seen as some sort of story, so here is a suggested order to watch and enjoy that story:

1) The Summary of the Day



2) The Kawaii Pateen Makeup Tutorial



3) Asking Sharla 10 Questions about Lolita Fashion



4) Doing a general Tutorial about Lolita fashion for Sharla's channel



It was a real pleasure to spend time with Sharla. I love dressing up people and Sharla suits Harajuku Fashion SO WELL! I hope some day soon we can roam the streets of Harajuku together in the most adorable fashion styles! 

Most importantly, I hope this will inspire more people to dress in cute and extravagant fashion. Let's make the world a more colourful place!

That's it for now peeps! Hope you like the show!
x
Cat

SAMURAI NINJA and a LOLITA - Chonmage World ISE Bunkamura

A deep cry echos from the distance and suddenly the large gates in front of me open with a thud. Loud music starts, and a ninja carefully walks outside to greet me. Looking over, I see a samurai bowing politely and waiting for me to enter the gates. But more than that, there is a large humanoid cat with a samurai knot on its head, waving at me.

Must be another day in Japan.

I had the ultimate pleasure to get invited to a place with the incredibly long name:

Izuchi Azuchi Momoyama Bunkamura also called Chonmage world (or formerly called Edo Wonderland). (*Chonmage is the samurai knot that samurais wore on their heads in the old days.)

The following video took me 9 hours to edit but I think it is one of my best edited videos so far:


WHATS THAT?! It's the name of a Japanese Theme Park that is set around the Edo period in Japan; the times of Samurai, Ninja, Geisha, Oiran and all the other famous occupations we know from films, books and anime.

HOW COME? Actually, I was invited by my friend Kana who works there! She is learning to become a performer there and gave me the great opportunity to come and see her "workplace" as such.

WHAT HAPPENED? I actually was allowed to film those great days! I watched shows, joined games, enjoyed delicious food, walked around the beautiful landscape, explored their VERY OWN CASTLE and met lots of interesting people. All in all it was probably one of the most enjoyable experiences this year so far.

IN LOLITA? Visitors are free to wear whatever they like - actually dressing up is encouraged! You are free to wear Lolita fashion, Cosplay or you can opt to rent out some of their traditional costumes against a charge. Imagine walking around the "old Japan" dressed up as Naruto, Ichigo or a magical girl that has traveled through time!

HOW COULD YOU FILM THERE? Visitors are free to film their experience but I asked for a special permission to film in the early mornings and late evenings in order to not accidentally get visitors in front of the camera. That way I managed to take flawless shots of the area which makes me kinda happy.

WHAT DID YOU FILM? Actually over the two days I collected so much video material, that I decided to split the videos into categories. A general overview is the starting video but then I will focus on traditional fashion, Japanese shows and customs and also how to become a Ninja Lolita, which will be a funny little movie.

I hope you will like this series. I would love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for reading
Stay smiley!

x
Cat

6 Kimono styles, goldfish and fishy latte

You will never ever see goldfish in the same light again.
The Tokyo international Lolitas met up in their finest Yukata (summer kimonos) to see the Glittering Goldfish exhibition: The Art Aquarium at Nihonbashi, Tokyo

I chose a yellow yukata with little bunnies on it

You might have already seen the video, but there is a lot more to it.
Video part one, with the truly amazing visuals and artful settings is here:



Video part two is our bonus free time, after we went to the aquarium:


Funnily enough part two seems to be almost doing better on Youtube than part one.
We took lots of beautiful pictures of our yukatas, and I hope you will enjoy them too:

Akira is always so adorable

Random fun picture

Spot the octopus with the head bow!

Akira looks always gorgeous!

Harriet loves goldfish! Her hair was beautiful!

Check out how well tied the bow on the back is!

Cute in pink! Head accessories match the Yukata

Gorgeous Yukata from the Innocent World Lolita brand!

I decided to spice my Yukata look up with a wig and accessories

Yukata Cathy Cat

Yukata girls group picture time

It was a lovely day, we had so much fun! I hope the videos could take you there with us.
See you next Wednesday for another fashion post!

x
Cathy Cat

Crossdressing cafe PRINCE

The cutest boys you have ever seen, wait for you at Cafe/bar "Prince". Just that those cute boys are... actually girls!
"Danso" is the term for girls wearing boys clothes and cafe PRINCE has themed their cafe in a way to accommodate the dreams of a "perfect" boy in a way that reminds us a little of anime scenarios. In anime a very beautiful boy is often described as "beautiful like a girl" or having a feminine face. The girls at cafe Prince are thus called "Prince" and are incredibly charming or entertaining - depending on what personality they represent - just like in an anime.

Danso cafes and butler cafes are not yet as popular as maid cafes but they still are aiming at similar guests - those who love those dream worlds and fluid spaces in-between.

To be honest, i was almost a little nervous when i walked into the cafe the first time, not knowing what to expect. I was greeted by a "Prince". All staff at the cafe are to be referred as Prince - to further deepen the prince/princess dreamscape. (I shall refer to them as "he" now, otherwise it gets too confusing). We were then shown to our place at the bar. First i was wondering why they put us at the bar, instead of the leather sofas...but then i realized that this was so we could easily chat with the princes behind the counter. The bar was stocked impressively with spirits of all sorts. Their evening bar part is another popular feature to the cafe, running on Saturday and Friday nights until the first trains take up their services again.
Today three princes were present. Two of them the cool type, looking beautiful and dangerous, one of them the cute type. Our cute "shota" type prince made jokes and told funny anecdotes, soon having the room in stitches. He said he was much older than he looked and he often got asked by guests if he was old enough to serve drinks yet.

I felt rather hungry and ordered some "omrice" (rice inside an omelette). Omrice, like in maid cafes, gets decorated by your prince of choice with hand drawn pictures. However, different to most maid cafes, the prince himself will cook especially for you! No microwave or magic box!
I got a picture of a cat drawn in ketchup by shota prince on my omrice. He said he cannot draw cute things but it came out quite cute.
When i left the cat picture (too cute to eat) he received it with the biggest smile i have ever seen.
Me and my friend decided to order some of their house special cocktails and "cool-type" prince made us his special: maccha cocktail with rose petals!

Another prince had brought back some sweets from a trip outside of tokyo and so we got free sweets.
In the end we decided to round it up with a cup of tea. To my surprise they had quite an impressive collection of different and high end brands of tea. They didnt only sound fancy, they also tasted good, and thats coming from a tea lover like me!
All in all a nice afternoon well spend. Its not as squeamy and noisy as a maid cafe, more like a classy bar/cafe with chandelliers and leather seats and entertaining situations.
Shota prince told us that most guests stay quite long, around 3 hours at least. I peaked around us to see what crowd has been here with us. Most were other cute geek girls and one crossdressing boy, enjoying being a princess for an afternoon.
All in all it was a fun experience, and after a while i wasnt so nervous anymore. You can also be in touch with your prince of choice after your stay, on twitter. Generally you have much more time to talk with the staff and be entertained by their quirky sides, banter and conversations than in.moat themed cafes

Overall Review: Fun, if you are brave enough!
FOOD & DRINK
The food was delicious (handmade), the cocktails creative, the tea collection impressive, the free sweets a nice addition.
LOCATION
Near Nakano station and easily reached. The inside interior is classy and a little posh looking
CHARGES
Table charge (at the time of this being posted) is about 500yen. Drinks vary between 700-1000 (or more for high end spirits).
Foods are around 1000-2500 depending on what you get.
- no cake set with a drink, not so much cake choices.
It was fun and kinda exciting. I like that you can take it slow and there is no "time limit" to your stay (like in most maid cafes). A good place for anime lovers, princess lolitas and brolitas, if you dont mind the small cake selection. Definitely worth the experience if you wanna get treated by an anime prince for a day :)
Catch you soon
X
Cathy

Alice in Wonderland themed Bakery Antique

When I imagine a Bakery, I imagine a large display counter with bread and cake, and maybe a fridge in the corner for some fresh milk.
The Bakery "Antique" however felt like a cafe and a family restaurant all into one.
Why?
Well, first of all, it was located next to a main street, with a large parking space like all restaurants do.

But something about the melting chocolate over the entrance enticed my cute cafe lover's heart and so I stepped closer to get a better look at the said "bakery".

Doughnuts doorknobs!

 Upon approaching the door, the design of the shop was so much Alice in Wonderland, that I wondered if this was just a themed cafe

The white rabbit was a re-occurring symbol

Once inside however, I was greeted by the open display of bakery goods and some trays and tongs. You pick your own tray and tongs, walk around and then select the sweet baked goodies you like. It's like a self-service bakery type, or one of those "bakery supermarkets" that are recently popular in Europe. The baked goods however looked absolutely sweet and tasty:

There was a secret entrance and exit for kids to go through behind the goods

The glass case was empty but still decorated nicely

Who would like a cute worm bread?

Special of the month: Green tea and rice cake bread-doughnuts with chocolate. The most tasteful combi EVER!

 At the counter you can order some hot drinks with your baked goods, which made it seem more than ever like a cafe to me. Just like a self-service cafe. I selected a hot chocolate and went to find my seat. But guess what, the seats had doughnut pillows and there were heart and card patterns on the tables!

So cozy!

My daily food haul. The rabbit card is a membership stamp card.

Coffee and Tea is on refill, all other drinks are just one-serving only. Customers however do not receive their baked goods on plates, but in little cute bread baskets, which is a charming twist to the whole bakery idea.
The green tea bread was so delicious, I am still dreaming about it sometimes. Unfortunately it was a limited edition for January, so I think it has been changed to something new by now.

Card-chandelier and doughnut chairs!

 The interior was quite spacious and left room for quite a lot of guests to visit.

☆REVIEW of Antique☆

☆☆PLUS☆

☆Alice themed interior

☆Interesting choices of bread

☆drinks on re-fill

☆secret tunnel

☆lots of space  

★★MINUS★★

★self-service

★mostly normal design on the baked goods, so cute faces etc are rare

★near a busy road

★★OVERALL SUMMARY★★

 Can I go there every day please?

Prices are good, you will always find a seat and the quality of the bakery was really good.

I like how it combines cafe and bakery and even adds a bit of a theme touch to it.

I vote for the staff to wear Alice in wonderland dresses. But then again, that would probably make the prices go up again. Possibly good for large Lolita meets, but maybe not comfy enough for smaller ones, because there is nothing close by and once you finished eating that's kind of it. I wish there was an Antique branch my way to work, I would love to have a coffee there before going to hunt the white rabbit.

Thanks for reading

x

Cat 

Lolita Snowman

Why make a Lolita Snowman?

The weekend an unusual phenomena hit Japan: Snow.
While snow is generally seen in Northern areas such as Hokkaido, the Kanto region including Tokyo, has not seen this much snow in 15-40 years.
People were urged to stay inside their houses. Why?
Most areas do not have the snow clearing system that countries of colder temperatures have, because it was simply not necessary to have one.
So the streets and the passageways remained uncleared while the snow kept falling.

The snow fell pretty heavily all of a sudden, and the weight of the snow tore down the whole sunroof of the nearest bakery. Furthermore, some electric lines took damage and some people had to sit in the rooms without electricity. That would not be as bad if you have central heating: but think twice! There is no central heating in most houses because it usually never gets that cold. Most people heat with electricity and some with gas. Which means the people that head with electricity, like one of my friends, had to live without light, heat and internet for up to 20 hours.

The next day, it was simply beautiful outside. The sun came out and it got relatively warm and I layered up my loli layers and ventured outside. After all, I don't think the chance to make a snowman in Japan will come around that quickly again.

The video of my Lolita snowman is here:

Fashion:
Fashion wise, I am wearing Baby the Stars Shine Bright Gothic lolita JSK together with a AP Kodona jacket (the trousers were so small, they won't even fit my youngest cousin, so at least the top gets some use out of it). The hat I bought at Disney Land Tokyo a while back but I was glad for the warmth it gave me. The wind got stronger during filming, so my hair was a bit of a mess.

What you might have seen in the video:
I am taking this video in a park
I forgot to bring eyes
It's practically not a snowman but a snowlady

What did not make the final cut:
As you would guess, even in Japan, a Lolita will draw attention to herself, making a snowman all by herself. So pretty quickly I had the attention of a group of boys in the park who were making their own igloo. They were actually the ones who shouted encouragement.

 There was a rather large part where I had to explain them why I am filming and the name of my channel. Reminded me how long my channel name is, I guess it's hard to remember.

But why make a snowman? Because life, that's why. It's short, it's cold but you can make something fun and pretty out of it. Some people call it Yolo, I say Carpe Diem.
Make the most of the moment, you never know when it will come back round. If you want to make a snowman now, it's either melted or ice. Sometimes you have to take a chance as it offers itself to you.
I am glad I made a snowman! Hope you all never forget your inner child!

See you next year Lolita Snowman! If there is enough snow that is...

Love what you do - Do what you love!!!

x
Cat

Subway Cafe Amanti: chocolate delight!

Right in the buzzing subway of Ikebukuro station you can find a piece of Europe. Cafe Amanti, located in the maze of subway hallways, gives you the chance to flee the rush and have a quick moment of rest and the illusion of time.

Once walking through the wooden door you are greeted by European inspired interior. A bar with a waiter polishing a glass with a towel makes you feel like you are watching a movie. Sitting down, the smart looking waiter comes over and presents you with the menu.
On the door a sign that had praised their hot chocolates has caught your attention and so the choice will be their special hot chocolate.
Even the wet towel and the coasters carry the logo of the cafe. Attention to detail that i appreciate.

Once the hot chocolate arrives you take a moment to marvel at the thick and dark brown colour, decorated with a white cream swirl. The colour of the drink already tells you that there is a higher cocoa content compared to the average hot chocolate. One sip and your tastebuds pick up rich and strong chocolate flavour. Where some hot chocolates taste milky, Amanti's tastes of dark chocolate.
But that is not the only thing trained cafe lovers will pay attwntion to. Looking around you, the person next to you has another delicate teacup with yet another design, different to yours. Even the bill has been customised for amanti customers.

**Quick review of Cafe Amanti**
PLUS
+Nice interior, you will even forget you are in the subway area of Ikebukuro station
+gorgeous and rich hot chocolate
+ lovely attention to detail in their branding
MINUS
-It seems a little small, so before going there with larger groups you might want to check for seats
- It seems quite posh, so going there in fancy fashion or lolita fashion might earn you some strange looks
A quick stop, a quick moment in a movie europe, is what amanti offers its customers. Classy and a little bit posh, amanti is worth a visit if you want to forget the busy day for a moment.

Have a great Setsubun!

Ehomaki are sushi rolls that you eat on February 3rd in Japan. You have to eat them while facing this years "lucky direction", preferrably in silence. I wanted to include them in yesterdays Setsubun video, but in my area they only get sold on the day itself. So here is a picture of it.
Happy Setsubun guys!

Bean showers! 豆まき! Tomorrow is "Setsubun 2014" in Japan

You might want to watch your head tomorrow, while walking through Japan, it's SETSUBUN 「節分」!  Setsubun is a tradition that happens on February the third in Japan.

Here is my interpretation/explanation of the event:



You might have noticed 3 things in this video:

1) There is a Korilakkuma (yellow coloured bear friend of Rilakkuma) in the video
2) I am wearing Angelic Pretty's Candy Sprinkle from my Candy Sprinkle unboxing video
3) I am throwing the beans ... possibly by myself. lol. Not looking to clever there, haha.

You will win extra amazing brownie points if you have realised:

1) I am wearing a new wig. It melts pink and blonde

AP Candy Sprinkle selfie

2) I am wearing a pink macaroon on my bow

Oh no it's an oniiiii!

3) Psst, behind me there was a white dress and it's my buy of the week. (I might do a thrift shopping video for you soon=)

Pssst! Secret!

Other things to say about Setsubun that didn't make the director Cat cut:

☆ There is a sushi roll that gets eaten silently while being turned into the "lucky direction" of the year. I have never seen anyone do it, but I have eaten the roll before.

☆ Certain shrines hold special ceremonies, where the beans get thrown at a crowd.

☆ While the red mask symbolises the "oni" = devil, the white mask is usually for lady luck.

That's it for today! I sometimes threw beans on Setsubun in the UK, just for fun, on Setsubun. No harm to try for more luck in the new year, right?! If you wanna try it, make sure you don't hit bypassers!
Happy Setsubun everyone!

Love
x
Cat

Why bad English is cute!

On a journey through Japan, you will have that situation when you look at a sign and stop for a moment. You will read the letters on the sign again, and it will still say the same thing, to your surprise. There is the "Preped Card" for your phone or the sentence "why to use this sensible notbook!" sentence on your stationary.

Let's fun!

It's those little wrong English words, that really brighten up my day.
I am not the high-baron of English usage, I still make my mistakes, and you will probably have picked up on some of them already if you have read this blog or watched my videos. I still cannot distinguish when to use save or safe, and after a month away from the UK my German "W" accent comes through. However, seeing wrong English printed officially on signposts, leaflets and maps, always surprises me a little. It's that certain innocent usage of wrong English in an official way that makes it so cute in my eyes. I'd rather have a wrong English signpost than one who doesn't even bother trying.

My favourite one was in a game center in Shinjuku. On the top floor, where the Purikura photo sticker machines are, there used to be a sign stating: 

"The man who is not taking the women,

cannot enter by this floor"

What it actually needed to say was, that men are not allowed on the Purikura floor, unless they are accompanying a lady. This was invented to avoid awkward chat ups in a "firls only" area. Boyfriends or friends of girls however are allowed to be there. Unfortunately that sign wasn't there anymore when I went to check for it this year.

Now some of these wrong English usages sometimes make you question your own sanity for a second before you re-read the message and go "no wait that's wrong". 

My absolute favourite this year was the automatic "SOUP dispenser".

I read the sign, stopped, looked at the picture. No, that cannot be for soup. It clearly states a hand. I've seen those things in the ladies loo. Did I read that right? But maybe they made a  clever invention and created a dispenser for soup?

Checking closer, the Japanese also clearly states that it's a hand soap dispenser.

How awesome a typo is that? 

I am not really making fun of the wrong usage, I really think it's sweet.

I rather have people trying to speak another language than not bothering! Making the first step is important, no matter if it's wrong. My Japanese/English was terrible when I started speaking it.

However, that company should probably have gotten a proofreader or double checked their translators before printing the packaging.

But then, what do I know?

Maybe tomorrow someone will invent the first hand-washing soup dispenser!

And I will be gutted because I had the inspiration, but didn't invent it myself.

Now go invent something awesome kids!

Thanks for reading this sensible blooog!

x

Cat