Hi friends and happy Monday!
Wow it’s February already and I am already planning for my May trip to Japan. *eek!*
As I sit here preparing posts on top of posts of shares from my last trip in November. (ikr! finally huhuhu) It’s been 2 years of (remote) building there ALREADY! *looks up 💭... where’d the time go?!*
In that time, though, I have been blessed to touch some amazing dreams of working in Japan. So I guess my time was being spent wisely.
Well I couldn’t help but become a bit nostalgic about my first trip to Japan. Though I had already been grounded in the tattoo industry for over 9 years, Japan in June 2013 was my first “vacation” as a working professional. It was so amazing and I think I was pretty successful in bottling that feeling forever.
Take a trip down memory lane with me~
My travel buddy (anxiety item) was the Kidrobot x Tado collaboration panda plushie. He now stays at home to annoy my beau when we’re apart. 😀
let’s go Shinagawa Prince Hotel!
TheEssentials~
Check in with friends. Announce that I am alive. Die in my bed from exhaustion >.<
seriously?! how did we EVER get along with flip phones? SO ANNOYING >>.<<
FirstTime for Everything! ❤
Of course! It’s my first time in Japan … in a whole other UNIVERSE so of course it’s my first attempt at life here, period. haha
♡ Hotels & Transit ♡
fancy business hotels with cool greetings and … vending machine rooms?! #swag 😮😬😎
first time riding trains in Japan …
looks like New York transit so this should be easy! ^^
so crowded … until now, I’d only seen this on YouTube! whhhaaa~
♡ Harajuku ♡
my, my HELLO Harajuku & Takeshita Dori. Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu ~
♡ O Nom Noms ♡
fist time at a REAL izakaya~
there are plenty in DC, but none with that … feel! (yah know?!)
kawaii obento!!!!! ❤ a welcome surprise made special by a friend
♡ Culture & Entertainment ♡
I was complimented on sitting seiza effortlessly but it’s been my favorite way to sit since I was young … maybe reincarnation IS real *hee hee*
I LOVE looms and happy he took the time to talk about the craft with me ❤ I was also proud I understood most things even though I couldn’t respond >.<
(shy AND my Japanese is still weak but gambattimasu yo!)
I fell in love with Mitaka right HERE!
hidden jinjya (Japanese temple) in Shinagawa
checked out the homies, Dramatic Soul, at a polka dot themed music showcase event
♡ Randomness ♡
I’m almost positive I’ve NEVER seen cats just chilling like this 😹
(☝︎)I’ve never been on a random ferris wheel in the middle of a busy city
or seen such a beautiful view of a metropolis (☟)
hey! I got lost and ended up here ^^
Awahhh~ KawaiiKiddy Land
WELCOME to Japan!
Good Peoplex Good Times!
I never subscribed to the kindness of strangers until my first trip to Japan. As Americans we’re bred to be independent and self-contained. I never realised HOW self-contained I truly am … and I’m not talking introversion. I want to change this ~
so many smiles with people I never knew before this trip was so refreshing!
most of us were language exchange friends online, ONLY, for years before I made the jump~
Thingsto Take Back …
♡ Kawaii Reads for Continuing Language Immersion ♡
Shin Chan!!! I was so happy it’s easy Japanese ❤
trying to read signs is my new hobby there but if I don’t understand it, I take a picture and study when I return home ^^
♡ Kawaii Hauls ♡
friends (and the hotels) gave me so many welcome and parting gifts so I didn’t buy much
According to society, as a black woman hailing from a single parent home and the ghetto neighbourhoods of DC, I am supposed to be an uneducated, unwed mother possibly on welfare.
But somehow God saw fit to guide my mom in raising me so that I can break out of the box I was placed in. I was am able to change my stars.
My first trip reminds me of this every time because I did it ON MY OWN – my money, my terms, and traveled alone.
These feelings that I want to bottle aren’t my feels fem being in Japan, but the feelings of dreaming and someday attaining those dreams.
I want to bottle this feeling so that it inspires other youth to chase their dreams.
Follow my snapchat + Instagram (@ipukekawaii) to Japan with me! ^.^
Gambare, minna
🌸✨・🎨☀️🌈💗💕✨・✨🌸
Imani (イマーニ)
Let’s keep in Touch!
DC to Japan 