New Year's in Japan

For New Year's, we decorated a little.

Japanese homes, traditionally display a grass wreath on the door and standing bamboo and evergreens by the door to welcome in the New Year. Since my wreath and bamboo are so tiny, I made a little display on the buffet.

Mochi and Mikans (Mandarin Oranges) are a traditional New Year food.

For New Year's Eve, we spent the evening at the O Club party. Cute and festive decorations.

Dave.

Me.

The band.

Dave being too cool.

The perfect balloon that Dave rescued from mean spirited "poppers" at the party.

Today we took part in the local tradition of Lucky Bag shopping. Stores get rid of their old stock by selling items in "mystery bags" at a low price.

Bag from the Seiyu toy department - pink for girls.

Bag from the snack store.

My haul.

Dave's haul.

Skitter even got a bag. ;)

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

Momoko: I Think Both the Cosmos

Merry Christmas! My Christmas present to myself is a 2008 Momoko - I Think Both the Cosmos.

I found her at the local Hard Off/Hobby Off at a decent price and couldn't resist her.

She comes with her undies, dress, boots, purse, cell phone, and hair flower. Best part, she comes with her own stand.

I love that she looks like a real Japanese girl, not like an anime character or Western girl.

I now understand why Momoko is so popular. I just want to gaze at her in adoration.

A few more photos of my new girl.

16 Inch Dolls in an 18 Inch World

Last year I bought two Springfield Doll outfits to try them on my My Friend Mandy Doll. I only had a couple of outfits for her, and she had had them since the 70s. She was way overdue for new clothes. Springfield Doll outfits are meant to fit 18 inch dolls, Mandy, unfortunately is 16 inches.

Here she is in the holiday party outfit (known as Dressy Outfit on the Springfield Dolls Website.)It consists of a one piece dress, belt, and sweater. 

All together, it doesn't look that bad, but look closer, and it is huge on her.

Plus, the outfit is not cut to hide the cloth body on Mandy, like Mandy's other clothes are.

The shoes are hilarious. Here is a Springfield shoe next to a Mandy shoe. It is twice the size of the Mandy shoe. 

The other outfit I bought was the Shirt and Plaid Skirts set. I think it is a cute "Back to School" outfit. This one I had a little better luck with, since the skirt and shirt are two separate pieces. I tucked the shirt in, hiked the skirt up high on the doll, and rolled up the sleeves. Adorable.

So, while the outfits can work on my My Friend Mandy doll, they are quite big and will be handed down to my new Madame Alexander Friends Boutique, Sadie.

Decking the Halls

Sienna believes that the new crystal Christmas tree should be hers, due to her being the "Most glamorous and lady-like doll in the house", in her words. What do you think?

Evangeline Ghastly Out takes

Just a few out takes of Evangeline Ghastly from when I was putting away the Halloween display.

She decided to crouch down behind the tombstone, in hopes that I would not put her away.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It is almost Christmas time, and my dollies have started to get into the holiday spirit.

My Effenbee Mama doll fits nicely in this 2T button down shirt and jumper, except for the sleeves. I think I will have to alter them, they are way to long.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Don't eat too much turkey and pie.

Hakone National Park

Yesterday we took a day trip to Hakone National Park.

Click on photos to see them larger.

We took the Ropeway (cable car) up the mountain to Owakudani Valley, the last point of volcanic explosion.

The view was wonderful.

If you look closely, you can see the smoke and yellow staining from all of the sulfur.

A poster advertising the boat ride we will be taking later.

It is Hello, Kitty with a black volcanic egg.

Wow, look at the steam. We climbed up the mountain to buy our volcanic eggs.

Off Limits! Can you imagine how hot those springs are? All I know is that it was hard for me to breath in the sulfur fumes and I needed to back away before I got really sick.

The stall selling the eggs.

500 Yen for 5 eggs.

Yum! Now Dave has added 7 years onto his life.

The view. Fuji is hiding behind the big cloud.

Do you see the steam on the mountain? That is where we got the eggs.

Hello, Kitty is now a volcanic black egg.

The boat ride!

 The boat was pretty gaudy, but fun.

Back on land, we toured a small museum.

After lots of stairs we had another awesome view.

Ship ahoy!

Yes, that is an adult sized panda ride on.

And a bunny.

After a long day of touring, we piled into the bus and headed home. Traffic was horrible and took us 5 1/2 hours to get home. Yuck. But we had a great day.