March 2024: Olivia in Japan

Konnichiwa, dollings!

Notice the Japanese greetings? That’s because in this post I will be sharing with you some doll photos I took during our recent March 4-17 trip to Japan. I must say it was a great follow-up to our 2017 one as we were able to experience both snow and cherry blossoms. 

Olivia was our beautiful travel doll and I’m more than happy I brought her along. She is a hybrid one with a Licca-chan head and PureNeemo 2 body. Of course, I crammed to give her a capsule wardrobe to bring along, too.

I hope you enjoy the photos I took, guys! It’s been a while so I do want to share what I have been up to for the last several months. Drop me a message in the comments section to say hi or ask me questions!

Okay, let the photo roll begin!

 First up, at the Tokyo National Museum, the oldest and largest art museum in Japan so far.

We initially wanted to just stroll around Ueno Park for that particular day but due to nonstop rain, we sought shelter and got inside the museum. Really glad we did!

Here are some miniature things we saw 💓

Here's one cool doll - there were others but somehow this guy caught my attention!

I didn't know Japan had water buffalo!

I just had to add this here as the intricate details in this ancient wooden sculpture are just jaw-dropping.

Hello from me and Olivia by the stairs of the main building of the museum!

Okay, so back to Olivia's photos just as we head out.

Grabbed some coffee before heading back to our AirBnB.

The next day, we roamed around Asakusa and went up the Tokyo Skytree to see the Tokyo skyline. It was cloudy and gloomy then so we weren't able to spot Mt. Fuji.  

Yay! And just as we were walking to our bus stop, we got lucky to see a Sakura tree showing its beautiful cherry blossoms! 

Up next, Mt Fuji!

You can see how happy Olivia looks with two hands to show 👍👍

Indeed, Mt Fuji is majestic, and we were again lucky it showed that day for us.

 

Here, Olivia is strolling in a lovely nearby place called Oshino Hakkai.

Behind Olivia here is a traditional thatched-roof Japanese house.

But look at this amazing miniature version of this traditional house! 

Olivia: Cool, eh?

And of course, never miss playing in the snow, even with such a short skirt 🤦🤪

On our way back to our Airbnb, we dropped by the Mt Fuji station mall, and there was a doll display!

I know, I got lucky again haha!

When we got back to our base in Tokyo, we visited the Marunouchi park.

Yep, gotta do everything just to get those dolly shots!

The next day was supposed to be a ski day at Gala Yuzawa but everyone chickened out 😁

So we instead just spent time malling at Solamachi.

We also went to a city an hour away from downtown Tokyo called Adachi where my husband purchased a woodworking chisel set.

Look what I found at the shop - a working miniature kanna (hand plane).

Alright, so the next day, we were on the go again, and up next, to Kusatsu Onsen town.

Olivia at the Yubatake

...where you see cats hanging around 7-Eleven. That brown logo there is not photoshopped - the branch here in Kusatsu did not have their usual orange, red, and green branding for the store to blend nicely with the neutral onsen landscape.

And that's when I realized I was too stup*d to not make Olivia a Kimono set.

I know.

Can you believe that Olivia and her wardrobe fit into that container while traveling?

And as we were about to conclude our two-week trip, we spent some time hanging out and shopping in Akihabara, the happy place for me and my son haha!

Of course, each family member had their own shops to visit, but I just got to not miss the Azone Label shop located on the 7th floor of Radio Kaikan.

I couldn't afford to buy the beautiful dolls I liked, so I just took photos 😋

Some familiar Sekiguchi ones here!

And of course, this is the area where my imaginations run wild haha!

It was truly a fun day for me as you can see in my giddy photo below.

By the way, those Pookie Boo Bon Bon Polka Dot dolls really got my attention but somehow I wasn't ready for it that time.

And now, the first in the series is SOLD OUT, and I can only cry.

Okay, so that was it for most of March, dollings.

I did a bit of traveling locally during the end of the month so not much doll stuff was done.

I hope you liked the post today and I hope to get back to posting regularly again soon.

There actually is a lot to share here so I am a bit overwhelmed and I had to set aside time to organize things and write about them.

Thanks so much for dropping by and see you next week!

much love,

shasha