Garden festival at Eko Temple 2018

Hello dears!

Last Saturday was the annual Garden Festival at the Eko Temple where I performed with my Koto group. It was a really wonderful day!

I liked it so much because I spend a lot of time chatting with the other students and also with one of my friends who was so lovely and came to help us dressing up in Kimono! Thank you again, it was so amazing of you <333

I was wearing Kimono for the first time and it was sitting perfectly the 2 hours I had to wait for our performance, but when I sat down it got super messed up because I was sitting down in a complete wrong way and also walking wrong. Oh well at least most of the people at the festival don't have a clue about Kimonos so they didn't noticed xD

The concert was over too quickly haha, I'm always nervous at concerts but at the same time it makes so much fun, without performances I feel it's not worth to practise haha ^^'''

Yeah it was such a wonderful day and I was really sad it was over ;__;

Here is also a picture of my own Koto, I'm taking classes now for 1 year but I have my Koto since ~4 months.

Thank you for reading,
Miuko~ <3

Dokomi 2018

Back in May was the Dokomi again and this year was the first time that I was a volunteer there! My main "job" was helping in the Maid Café in the kitchen and taking polaroid pictures. But I also already came on Thursday and Friday for a few hours each to help setting up the convention.

I could write much more but I think it's not so interesting and I already forgot a lot of things haha. I can just say overall it made a lot of fun, especially taking the polaroid pictures because you could directly interact with the guests and see how you bring them happiness (ok that maybe sound weird xD).

Actually the last few years I already thought about applying a volunteer and also applying as a Maid for the Maid Café, but I was unsure and too shy to do it. But now I think why haven't I done it earlier haha!

So here two pictures I stole from the Maid Café Facebook page, because I totally forgot to take any pictures!

Credit => https://www.instagram.com/fox_talez/

And another picture I took of the beautiful volunteer T-shirt for the Maid Café which unfortunately only arrived after the convention T__T

Thank you for reading,
Miuko~ <3

Japan Day 2018

Hello dears!

In May was Japantag (Japan Day) in Düsseldorf again. I was sooo tiered in the morning because I worked hard to finish my Kimono Lolita (inspired) outfit. Luckily my dear friend picked me up in the morning with her car and usually on Japan Day I would just meet with my friends and stroll along the rhine promenade, but this time I had something else to do!

I play Koto (japanese harp) since several months and we had a small concert at the Eko Temple. I hadn't a lot of information about the concert before, so I invited my parents and also some friends there! I thought we would play a few pieces and then the people could try to play Koto, and I really wanted to show it to my parents and friends! However the concert turned out to be 1,5 hours and I played almost at the end, but my lovely friend waited until I played <3

Afterwards I wanted to eat lunch with my parents, but I totally forgot how full the city is at Japan Day! Actually the last years I never had a problem to find a place at a restaurant, but this year everywhere were looong lines! So we had to choose one quite empty restaurant which only had Ramen and soggy Karaage. But afterwards we ate the selfmade Matcha ice cream from Takumi which is really delicious!

I wanted to show the rhine promenade to my parents as well but damn my new Btssb shoes hurt soooooooo much and I made the mistake and didn't packed any comfortable shoes to change. I don't know why I always make this stupid mistake but now I swear to god from now on I will always pack my Rhianna bow sneakers, the shoes were so bad my feet hurt the whole damn night and my knee as well because I walked weirdly in them because of the pain T__T

Yeah so my Japan Day was short and painful but still I was happy that I could play Koto haha.

Here another picture of my skirt (worn on a different day but you can see the beautiful fabric better):

Thank you for reading,
Miuko~ <3

Le Spectacle Marine Event

Hello dears!
A few weeks ago I was visiting the Le Spectacle Marine event in Wuppertal! I really loved the event, especially since there were sooo many people and friends I haven't seen in a very long time.

The location of the event fitted perfectly to the theme (you can't really see it in the pictures though ^^''').

I bought a VIP ticket for 70€. It sounds expensive but all the money goes just torwards covering the costs of the event! I really like to get an event tote bag and a few presents, and also it was announced that there would be a few games during the VIP hour, so I hoped for some more presents hehe.

For some reason the pendants were not attached to the nacklaces in ALL goodie bags...

There were only around 10-15 other VIP ticket holders, so we could check out the shopping booths very comfortably. There were a lot of them actually, especially the remote vendor stall was well stocked. I didn't planned to spend a lot of money though, so I couldn't take advantage of it. I did plan to buy a few items from AP if they would have brought the items to the event, but luckily they didn't so my wallet was safe xD

Then they started one of the games where you had to answer a question, and the first one saying it would get a prize. I was the first one to answer the first question, so I could choose between the prizes and decided for a pink glitter unicorn ring :D

Me shopping hehe

When the VIP hour was over, around 50 more people with normal tickets entered, and I started my shift to help out at the remote vendor stall. During this I could watch the Indie Brand fashion show. The organizers forgot to play music but it was still nice to see so many beautiful outfits. Btw also the owner of AP Paris was going around the stalls and bought a few things from indie brands ^^

At the end of my shift I got a little present as a thank you. Tbh I always feel bad when I get a present since I only helped out for 1 hour vs. the weeks and months of work the organizers put in! They should get a present from me haha.

I even had way more chocolate in it, I just ate a lot before I took the picture ^^'''

Then it was time for cake! Btw the event had tables and chairs where you could sit. I really like when events have this, it's much more comfortable and it makes it easier to get in contact with other people! We could choose from 3 different cakes and I chose orange cake. It did tasted good but it had Orangeat inside *ewww*.

Afterwards was the AP fashion show with a few outfits. The models were walking around the whole room so everyone had a good view of the pretty outfits. Also the light in the room was so that all the items with glitter really sparkled~

Afterwards there was a little more free time which I of course spend talking to other people. There was also a posing workshop but at that time I was taking pictures with the official photographer. I think the same girl also offered to do the make-up for other people, and she did a good job in both!

The potographer didn't uploaded a full outfit picture yet, so I can only show a portrait

Towards the end of the event was of course the raffle. They had some nice quality prizes from Indie brands and also 2 from AP. I can't remember both but one was a huge pink bow bag everyone wanted to have haha.

Of course we also did the group picture, but not everyone was going to the different room to take it. Since no people were coming anymore we started to do the pictures. When we were finished and wanted to go, one of the organizers came together with other people and the AP staff. Ooops we forgot to wait for the special guest haha so we did the group picture again.

Then it was already time to go. We had to catch our train so I couldn't say good-bye to everyone. But I will surely try to stay more in contact with people!

Of course I also have to show you my purchases:

(Pictures with water mark are from ASFotodesign or Sanifeya Fotografie)

Thank you for reading,
Miuko~ <3

London 2017 - Sunday - Dream Masquerade Carnival Tea Party

On Sunday I slept quite long, so I didn't do anything before the event, not even eating breakfast. I arrived around half an our earlier before the event would start and quite soon we were let in a waiting room with air conditioning. Suddenly everyone rushed to the door because they were starting to check the tickets. However I was at the very back so I had to wait almost one hour to be able to enter the Tea Party room!

I was a little worried to find a good seat because I wanted to sit next to a Lolita from Sweden which who I exchanged messages before the event, as well as next to my friends from Germany. And guess what they were sitting both at the same table so that was really awesome! When I entered, the food was already served so I didn't had to wait long to start eating (I was soo hungry!). However they announced that they wanted to take the group picture now. But since I was hungry and had to wait so long to enter, I couldn't be bothered and started to eat (I wasn't the only one - there were quite a lot of people who did the same). The food was really delicious and sooo much! If I could I would have taken the leftovers home xD.

After the eating there was no program for over 2 hours. Of course they leave this time so you have enough opportunities to talk to people and take outfit pictures. But OMG the place was so cramped. Since so many people wanted a Tea Party ticket, they sold more and more but there was literally no space between the tables when people were sitting.

Only 30 minutes before the official end of the event they started with the rest of the program, which was choosing the best outfit by each guests, a speech and the raffle. During the speech, one guy proposed to his girlfriend and Kyra announced that this was the last event of Tea Party Club and it won't exist anymore. I was a little sad about it even if it was my first TPC event.

Asuka always appears so serious to me, I would have never thought that she can goof around like this xD

Then the raffle started when the event was supposed to finish. I left to change into my real clothes because I wanted to go to Camden afterwards for a little shopping. I wanted to go back to the room but since it was so hard to move I waited outside. However the raffle was still not finished 20min later so I just left because I was tired and really wanted to go to Camden ^^''''

The group picture I again wasn't part of ^^'''

I arrived at the shop but because of the traffic I only had ~20 minutes left for shopping. I could "only" buy 4 cardigans but I would have bought much more if I had more time xD

Afterwards I went back to my hotel and then to the Afterparty, which was at a cocktail bar in London. When you signed up for their newsletter you got a 10£ voucher, so I only had to pay 20 cents for my cocktail :D. But they were sooo tiny and considering their original prices (~14€) I didn't bought any more. The music was quite bad as well. So in the end I only stayed 1 hour, because I didn't liked it much and my friends from Germany also already wanted to leave (because they came much earlier than me haha).

It was a looong day but I wanted to sleep as long as possible, so I still packed my luggage in the middle in the night.

Thank you for reading, 
Miuko~ <3

London 2017 - Saturday - Dream Magic Carnival Event

On Saturday I arrived quite early at the venue because I was a volunteer at the stall of RoseMarieSoir during the Gold VIP hour. The owner Ayumi was really nice and we talked a little. She can speak some english and I would have loved to talk to her more, but I'm really bad at holding conversations with people I don't really know ^^''''''. Unfortunately there was almost nothing to do for me because the stall of AP was in a different room, so there were nearly no costumers haha.

My shift was over and it was time for the Silver VIP hour. The other volunteer came a few minutes too late and I was a little angry at first, but then I went to the entrace (because I couldn't find the AP booth) and saw the looong line of Silver ticket holders. So at the end I was basically one of the first Silver ticket holders at the venue ^^'''.

I rushed to the AP stall but sadly all the good stuff was already gone. I heard from other people what they had for sale and apparently they only brought 1 piece of everything. I was very bummed to be honest because they announced an "Angelic Pretty super store" beforehand and I bought an additional Silver ticket just to be able to get some good stuff (I already had a Bronze ticket). In the end I bought nothing from AP!

Cute Maki and Asuka <3

Instead, I bought nearly every postcard from Imai Kira so I spend like 40£ just for postcards xD Plus I bought her totebag and all the buttons. For some weird reason I didn't thought about visiting the Triple Fortune booth at the beginning of the event even when I was a volunteer at the same room, so when I came there was nearly nothing left >_<

After my unsuccessful shopping trip I took advantage of the reeeally amazing photo corner! I also had a drink as they had set up a bar with a lot of booze xD.

Picture together with Shalisa which I know from blogging acutally <3

See all the bottles in the background ?! xD

Finally it was time for the first fashion show which was from the indie brands. There were sooo many outfits, it took quite long.

My favorite outfit - from Sweet Sakura

Afterwards they brought out a birthday cake to celebrate 10 years of Tea Party Club! The cake had super fluffy biscuit and very creamy cream and tasted really delicious :D Unfortunately they didn't had forks so it was a little hard to eat ^^'''

Cute Ayumi cutting the cake <3

Then it was time for the second fashion show with the well-known brands and of course Angelic Pretty! Most people were really waiting just for their fashion show but they came at the very end! And then they didn't even had many outfits or new stuff >o<

Afterwards Kunika made a little presentation about her cookies. I have hoped for more interesting information like how long does it take to make them or what kind of materials does she use etc, but she only described some pictures of her work (I would have asked those questions but there was no opportunity to do so). Then they had a cookie challenge where the special guests should decorate a cookie. But it also wasn't that interesting because they didn't had good colors to draw with (of course that would have been really difficult to set up without a kitchen). It was fun though because Triple Fortune said "Oh nooo I can't draw" but in the end one of them won!

Random detail picture of my outfit

Since I spend so much time sitting in the stage room, I wanted to walk around and take another look at all the stalls and talk to some people. However this was a mistake because the most fun program was happening now, which was the family feud game and fashion fix. I heard the music and the laughter but I realized too late that I should watch it ;__;

Now you may think there was already enough program and fashion shows but NO! There was a third fashion show which should be a celebration of "10 years of Angelic Pretty". I hoped they would bring their special fashion show dresses for this occasion, but in the end only the first one was such a dress. There was also a little presentation about the 10 years of Tea Party Club.

The special fashion show dress (it is hard to see but it had rhinestones all over)

The event was almost over, but no Lolita event ends without an obligatory raffle and the group picture (which I wasn't part of because the event was already over time, I was too tired and I already had taken off most of my outfit anyway).

Group picture without me haha. Here you can see also the beautiful venue, the 3 main organizers in the front and behind them the special guests from Japan: Triple Fortune, RoseMarieSoir and Angelic Pretty

Aaaaafter the event my day was not over, no I rushed with the other german Lolitas trough half of London because they wanted to buy shoes at a certain store, and afterwards we went for very delicious Hot Pot in China Town.

I added this picture because you can see the really cool photo corner here! Here you can also see the other german Lolitas hehe

You can find a report about the event on Kera online as well: http://www.kerastyle.jp/fashion/9101

 ~*~ Credit for pictures: Emily Valentine Photography & Freefall Creation & Shalisa & Sheri Branson ~*~

Now my post is finished and congratulations if you read through all of it! Thank you as well,
Miuko~ <3

Garden festival at Eko Temple

Last weekend I visited the Garden Festival at the Eko Temple in Düsseldorf. I knew before that there was a japanese temple in Düsseldorf, but I thought it was more like a room in some japanese-inspired house.

So I was surprised to see that it was actually a "complete" temple with a quite big japanese garden and a few "praying spots" (not sure how to call them). When I stepped on the temple grounds I immediatly felt like I was in Japan.

First we were walking around the garden and then entered a building with an Ikebana exhibition. They had a lot of flower arrangements and they were pretty to look at, althought they might even be more interesting when you know the meaning behind them.

Then we heard the Taiko drums and hurried to see the performance. Taiko is not only a listening experience but also a visual one; you have to see the drummers to really feel the energy!

Afterwards we took the time for a few outfit pictures and then secured a place for the Koto performance.

Koto is a japanese harp and the performance was amazing! I actually applied for Koto lessons starting in october, but I only applied to them because it's the only traditional japanese instrument that you can learn in this part of Germany (I also would love to learn Shamisen, Shinobue or Shakuhachi). But after the performance I felt in love with this instrument as well! They didn't only played traditional japanese music but also more modern pieces.

Then they had a performance of traditional japanese dance. It's the same kind of dance style that Geishas dance and I tried really hard to understand it and see the beauty in it, but both the dance and the music are just not my thing.

Afterwards was a second Taiko performance which I liked even more because it had even more energy (I feel like western Taiko performers play more soft and 'floating' but I like more sharp movements).

Overall I really loved the garden festival and I was happy to see traditional japanese art here in Germany. Of course I also liked it because it gave me sweet memories of my trip to Japan again. I want to visit it again to enjoy the garden with less people and to see the altar and the tea room (which were not accessible during the garden festival).

Btw I was surprised there where more german than japanese people (however mostly old folks) and that we were still stared at because we were dressed in Lolita fashion (this festival was not one of those were you accidently run into or have it advertised in the newspaper).

~*~*~*~

The garden festival was not the only thing I did that day.

Before, we met with another friend (because I wanted to buy something from her ^^''') and we went to TenTen café for about an hour. We all ordered iced matcha latte and cake. The latte was like a frappe but less brain-freezing and more fluffy. My cake was citron tarte and delicious as well.

In the evening we went to Relax Café for their special scary dinner menue. The first course was Takoyaki with a spicy fruit sauce, the second was sushi with a spicy sauce and the third one was icecream with candy cotton and a balsamico-garlic-onion sauce. The icecream tasted actually good, however it was too much balsamico and milk products with vinegar does not feel good in your belly after a few spoons ^^'''

Afterall it was a great day and it was nice to spend it with a friend who has similar interests in japanese traditional art and food hehe.

Thank you for reading,
Miuko~ <3

Dokomi 2017

At the beginning of June it was time again for my favorite convention - Dokomi !!! In my opinion this year was the best one ever, but I also have to admit that I took much more advantage of the program than I did in the last years.

This year the convention was in 3 big halls for the first time (instead of many small rooms with carpet) and many people complained that it lost its "family feeling", but in my opinion there was much more space for sitting down and walking around, besides the fact that there was much more program and shopping booths to see. So for me it was a positive change :)

~*~ Saturday ~*~
The first thing I did when I arrived at the convention was to make a reservation in the host club for the next day, because it is always sold out so quickly (but not as quickly as the maid cafe which was sold out after 10 minutes haha).

Then I visited the most important booth "Harajuku Closet" which was selling Btssb \(*o*)/! They are a new shop in Germany, not 100% like a real Btssb shop but they had quite a lot of new items of Btssb! The prices are so-so, the dresses cost nearly as much as in the old Paris store, but accessories cost almost the same like in Japan. Because of this I bought a strawberry necklace from Btssb which I already wanted to own for a long time! I also talked a little with the shop owner and he told me that you can order stuff through their shop from the Btssb online shop.

Then it was almost time for the Tempura Kidz concert! Since you usually have to line up quite early for concerts at the Dokomi and I wanted a good seat, I arrived at the concert hall around 1 hour earlier. But this year there was no need to line up so early because the new concert hall was really big! Instead I had the opportunity to watch a cosplay competition for the first time in my life... yes I'm visiting Cosplay-related conventions since 6 years and never actually saw or did any cosplay-related stuff xD.

It was actually quite interesting and funny, however I expected the cosplays to be more "amazing", I had the feeling I could easily do the same (it was the official German Cosplay Competition after all). But maybe I'm underestimating the time and work you actually need to create an accurate cosplay and a matching performance.

Random picture of the cute Lucky Chocolate Maid Café charm I bought :)

Then it was time for the Tempura Kidz concert and it was sooo amazing! Tbh I didn't knew a lot of their songs, only "Cider Cider", which they unfortunately didn't peform ;__; But the dancers were actually singing live and sounded definitely much better then some of the famous Idol groups! Their concert felt a lot like a party and they were really animating the crowd to dance with them.

I also had the feeling that P-chan was winking at me a few times during the concert but maybe he was winking to someone else behind me or to a camera or whatever xD. I was suprised that the concert wasn't very well visited but I think Tempura Kidz are just not that famous. For me however it was great because no annoying crowds, no pushing, no huge guys standing in front of me, instead I could easily stand front row directly at the stage!

I have to say Tempura Kidz are sooooo cute! Really I loved them and I wished they would have a second concert on Sunday as well ;___;

Picture is from Tempura Kidz' twitter. I'm on the very left with the bear ears xD

After the concert I went shopping again, it was really nice to meet many friends, even some people I haven't seen in a long while!

I also found a nice shop called "The Ichigo Shop" with korean make-up. I checked the prices online and the shop had really good prices! So I bought a few items there.

In the evening I visited the signing session of Tempura Kidz, again they were sooo cute and funny, especially when they posed for pictures and were always goofing around between pictures xD

~*~ Sunday ~*~
I arrived quite early and took the time again to look around the booths. I found out about the Nintendo booth where you could play Mario Cart! Since I was walking around alone I had to play with strangers and it was fun but not that much fun because I didn't knew them haha. I hope next year I can find some of my friends to play together! I also played another racing game and now I really want to have it haha!

Then I went to the "character auction" (people can put themselves for auction and if you win you can spend 2 hours with that person - ok sounds weird but the money is raised for a good cause ^-^). The auction is always quite funny but this year there were 2 guys in Cosplay on stage besides the usual hosts and I think they wanted to be entertaining but sometimes they were a litte aggressive and didn't knew where to stop, so I was annoyed by them and didn't watched the whole auction.

Afterwards I visited the Lolita meet-up and hoped to find someone to visit the Host Club with me, and I was successful :D Shortly after the meet-up it was already time for my reservation, so we visited the Host Club and I liked it quite a lot. However I didn't liked that each host had a group of 6 people at the same time, so when my friend and I visited the club, we had to share our table with 4 strangers which was a little awkward. I mean the other girls were very nice but still we didn't really had a lot to talk about. So next year I also should find more friends to visit the Host Club haha.

Unfortunately the Host Club didn't upload the pictures with the host and me yet :/

Afterwards I wanted to watch the Dance Off Competition. I like this kind of dance and I wished I had a friend which whom I could participate in the competition ^^''' However I wasn't really impressed by the first few entries because they weren't the best dancers, so I got bored and left the competition quite soon (of course I know how hard it is to dance and I would probably fail horribly if I would participate myself haha).

In the afternoon I visited the signing session of Tempura Kidz again, took another look at the shopping booths and talked to some friends.

I already can't wait for the next Dokomi :)

Thank you for reading,
Miuko~ <3