Robert Pattinson is my James Dean

Little Boots

Turns out I was sitting behind Little Boots on the flight back from Tokyo. I could tell the group of 6 young trendy-types were a band of some sort when they first sat down in the seats in front and behind me. I don't really keep up with the music world these days, so I didn't recognise her or any of her bandmates, I actually found them quite annoying. I thought they were very loud and ignorant, so I wasn't looking forward to the next 12 hours I would have to spend with them thousands of feet in the air. They must have been pretty tired though as they kept quiet, leaving me to watch Moon and Year One in peace.

It wasn't until I was queing up alongside them in Customs when we got to Heathrow that my curiostity got the best of me and I asked who they were. The lanky fellow with a keyboard was closest so I asked if "you guys are all in a band", to which he replied "yeah" so I continued with "oh, so you've been playing in Tokyo?". They had been in Japan for around a month and by the sounds of it, it had been quite an exhausting stint. Each of them had various festival admission wristbands dangling from their limbs and luggage, on one of them I saw 'Little Boots' scribbled, so I guessed that's who they were. I asked Mr Yamaha and he confirmed it, "This little girl here", he said, pointing at the singer, "and we're the band".

I'm not a fan of Little Boots so I wasn't all that bothered. My only exposure to Little Boots prior to sitting behind her on a Virgin Atlantic flight was in one of those pesky Spotify adverts that so rudely interrupt Sacred Heart by Cass McCombs or Get Innocuous! by LCD Soundsystem - that's all I'm listening to these days.

Special Note: Little Boots had grey hair. She reminded me of Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle. Maybe she was inspired by Miyazaki while visiting Japan.

Book-Off

Book-Off could quite possibly be the best shop ever. Found in Japan, Book-Off sells used manga, books, CDs, DVDs and games for extremely reasonable prices. Pictured below is the loot from my visit on Saturday. Perhaps the best buy was the Full Metal Alchemist Soundtrack CD & DVD set sitting at the front - only 900 yen. Book-off can be found all over Japan, the store I visited was in Tama-shi and is the only Book-Off store in Tokyo that contains the brilliant B-Hobby - a treasure trove of old and new toys at super low prices. I got overexcited and started loading my basket with old Star Wars toys, a boxed-as-new speeder bike with scout trooper was just 300 yen. I realised though that there was no way I could take it all home so I had to put some stuff back.

Welcoming Party

A few toys were waiting for me when I arrived in Japan, I mentioned them in my previous post. Here they are in all their embarrassing Otaku nerdery.

I like toys

Awaking at 7am on a Saturday morning is not pleasant. At least it made the weekend feel longer. After taking 500 photos of people in Gorilla suits running through London, I headed to the very busy Oxford Circus tube station to meet the world famous Steve Hogarty. We headed down Regent Street to find playlounge, a small, bustling and colourful toy shop that had been begging me to come visit for some time. I love designer toys, but they do make my bank account groan, so I purchased a very sensible total of four toys. One Droplet by Crazy Label and three Cactus Pups by Tokidoki. See that little grey monkey up there? See his cute face? Well he's also wearing a nappy which multiplies his cuteness by at least tenfold.

My toy buying spree did not end there. That evening I went to Doc18's Toy Boot Sale Blog and bought one of his Gloomy Dunnys, it will look especially nice with the three small gatchapon Gloomys sitting on my desk at work. Today I ordered Nendoroid Yoko and Danboard Amazon Box from Amazon Japan which should be waiting for me when I arrive in Tokyo later this week.

Oh yes, Tokyo, I forgot to tell you. I'm attending a wedding and will be in Tokyo for 10 days. I'm hoping to stop by Book Off in Tama, the Pokemon Center in Hamamatsuchō, some Otaku toy stores and the fabled Super Potato in Akihabara and of course stop by my favourite Curry Udon place in Shibuya. I'll hope to blog at least once while I'm out there but knowing me I'll be too busy catching up on my sleep.

I didn't expect to write this much, I only wanted to show you the photo of my new toys. Oh well, makes up for the months of silence on here I suppose.

Sighted

Me and my cat (and my brother)