Setting Up in the Base Apartment

Nothing much to add so far this week, so I thought I would share with you some photos of my dolls in their new home, the guest room.

These are all of the non-fashion/Barbie type dolls that I brought with me to Japan. The rest, alas, will hide away in storage for the next three years. From left to right: Genius Baby, My Friend Mandy (up top), My Friend Becky (an after Christmas purchase), Sadie (Madame Alexander Friends Boutique, and also an after Christmas purchase), Dave's Cabbit (from the anime, Tenchi Muyo), Pot Belly Bear, a new doll crib I found at the base thrift store, panda, and my two Raggedy Anns (Applause Raggedy Ann - 25" from the 1990s, and 1970s Dress Me Raggedy Ann from Knickerbocker).

As you can see, the room is in serious need of furniture. The only items in the room, besides the dolls, are my dresser, a lamp, and the litter box.

The cradle is missing one ball but is otherwise in great shape. I think I will paint it, since the modern pink and green design on the head and foot boards just don't blend with my older dolls.

I also really want to find a child or doll sized table and chairs for the room (as well as a futon for guests).

A Stroll to the Tama River

On Sunday, the hubby and I took a leisurely walk through Fussa to the Tama River. It was a lovely day, and the directions from the YOSC (Yokota Officer Spouses Club) travel website were detailed and accurate. On the way we saw a beautiful shrine.

The first statue is of the Buddhist god, Jiza, the patron of travelers and deceased children. The next set of statues are the children he cares for.

We then came to a canal, originally built in 1653.

What you can't see are all of the cherry blossoms floating down the canal. Lovely.

We eventually got to our goal after walking down a street lined with gorgeous houses, some traditional. The river park is very nice and we got to see the river.

We then headed on home, stopped at the Seiyo for lunch, and I bought another Re-ment sushi mystery pack. This time I got Mackerel and Sake!

So, it was a beautiful day, we had a lovely walk, and I got new toys.

Clothing Changes

My household goods shipment arrived this week. This means that I now have all the items from home that we shipped here to Japan. (This also means that I now have a handful of my dolls to display and play with.)

One of the first things I did was change Baby Genius out of her Christmas outfit and dressed her in her new Spring finery. A little late for Easter, but at least the cherry trees are still in bloom (mostly).

Soooo, Tada! 

Doesn't she look adorable?

Remember, you can click on the links to enlarge the photos.

I also dressed Licca in her new school outfit, since the Japanese school year has just restarted.

Samurai Festival

Last weekend, we traveled to Kofu for the Shingen-go Samurai Festival. The festival commemorates the territory's most famous and best loved samurai from the Edo period. 

Here we are as honorary samurai.

Outside the reconstructed fortress of Shingen and the view from the tallest tower wall.

For lunch, Dave and I had Takoyaki, basically round octopus fritters topped with a savory sauce and bonito (dried fish) flakes. Yummy!

We then watched the Samurai march in and declare their loyalty to Shingen, that is, until his arch nemisis arrived. Words were had and then they marched off.

Afterwards, We had dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant: Barolo.

http://www.barolo866.com/

 It was pretty cold that evening, but the restaurant had the heat cranked up and the wine and warm food heated us up on the inside.

Licca Chan

The most popular fashion doll in Japan (not counting Neo Blythe, who is Takai/expensive) is Licca Chan. She is a cute young girl (like vintage Skipper) with big anime eyes.

This is my brand new Licca chan (little) in her pretty "Purple Party Dress".

You gotta love her amazing corkscrew curls!

I also bought her a school outfit for when she doesn't have a fancy party to go to.

To get an idea of her size, here she is next to my Liv dolls (the only other dolls I have here in Japan until our household goods shipment arrives) . As you can see, she is about the same size as a classic Skipper.

Unfortunately, Licca's legs do not bend. :(

For more info on Licca: http://licca.takaratomy.co.jp/

Licca can't wait to meet Skipper next week.

Re-ment miniatures

These are the cutest little barbie-sized accessories. Sold as mystery packs, they come in all sorts of categories. I bought two bags of mystery sushi accessories.

One bag had unagi (Eel sushi) on a plate and a cup of green tea. The other bag had fish tail soup and shrimp sushi.

These are fabulous. I am hoping I can collect all of the Sushi set. If I do, I will set up a little display of them.

Here is the flyer that came in the pack. It shows all the Sushi variations available.

If you want to learn more about Re-ment, their website address is: http://www.re-ment.co.jp/

Kewpie Dolls

So, the Japanese (Nihonjin) are wild about Kewpie dolls. I see variations every where, even on food packaging. 

I went back to the Seiyu craft store and took a photo of the Kewpie crafts.

They didn't have any packages of the apple or mouse suit in stock, so I decided to buy the Koala kit.

I've never really worked with felt or sewn anything this tiny before, but I think I did OK. The directions were in Japanese, but because of the detailed use of diagrams, were easy to understand and follow.

I think I did OK.

What do you think?