These photos are from our brief time in Kyoto, and mostly from Tenryu-ji, a Buddhist temple founded in 1339. The original botanical garden is still largely intact today. Isn’t that incredible? My mind supplied visions of priests sowing the seeds and raking the ground into the landscape I saw in front of me, as though I were watching a historical montage. I tried to imagine creating something that people would experience in 600 years time and it is mind-boggling!
We travelled to Saga-Arashiyama in Kyoto primarily to visit the Sagano bamboo groves (pictured in the above two photos) only learning about Tenryu-ji when we arrived in Kyoto. The groves were a really beautiful site – very still and calm. Arashiyama itself was a pleasant suburban town – it was a nice change of pace from the bustle of Tokyo and I would have liked to have spent longer there. (I also would have liked to have spent longer in the kimono shop… those beautiful garments aren’t going to wear themselves!).
The walk through the bamboo groves and the quaint village felt very Studio Ghibli – I know I sound like a western fangirl but there was something so surreal and whimsical, particularly when we stumbled across a tiny train crossing in the middle of this epic walk between the bamboos. I always find areas with a rich history to be very comforting – picturing all the thousands of people who have walked the same steps, admired the same groves, the same sakura, the same rolling Kyoto mountains in the distance.
As a child I wished I could be going to a Japanese school alongside Serena Tsukino or Sakura Kinomoto, catching up with my friends at the arcade after class or meeting my brother and his friends to go to a festival at the shrine. I spent hours reading manga and daydreaming about my alternate life – it was an escape from my life as a loser at school. I don’t think I realised how much of the clothes and fashion present in anime and manga infiltrated my young brain until this trip – so much of my personal style was identical to the young girls we saw daily in Japan.
This seifuku outfit was completely serendipitous (blouse, skater skirt and trainers is my daily uniform at home) but the minute I emerged Sam exlaimed “you look like you’re going to school!”. So of course when we visited Keio University we had to take these “going to school” photos! My own school uniform was pretty boring – I would have preferred cute sailor collars and pleated skirts! We headed to Kinchi Park afterwards, a beautiful little playground filled with teenagers and kids.
The Keio Univeristy campus itself was so regal – I’m sure it was partly due to the combination of sakura bloom and intense sunshine (notice me squinting in every photo…) but the buildings seemed steeped in wisdom, authority and knowledge. It wasn’t too hard to slip back into my childhood daydreams and imagine myself chatting with friends on the walk to lectures or studying under the sakura during summer exams. I always like visiting universities when I go somewhere new – my own university meant so much to me and I suppose I’m curious about where everybody else spends their student years!
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Blouse – £4, charity shop. Cardigan – £3.50, Topshop via eBay. Cat ears – gift. Shoes – £25, Rocketdog. Skirt – £10, Urban Outfitters (sale). Socks – £2.50, Topshop (sale).
Hello! I’m so, so happy I can finally share with you my photos and thoughts from Japan! I’ve spent the last month with a dead laptop – huge and endless thanks go to this guy for extracting the contents, replacing the hard drive, re-installing everything and saving me multiple and expensive trips to the Genius bar!
I went to Tokyo last month – we timed it for the world-famous Sakura festivals. The sakura last for just a couple of weeks – a few days where the blossoms are at peak bloom, with a couple of days either side of buds appearing and shedding. We arrived just as the blooms were opening and caught the full wonder of the season – from seeing the tiny unfurled buds everywhere and anticipating the first full trees to blossom, to the wonderful days (and it was really just a couple of days) where we woke up and all the trees were in full bloom, not a single petal out of place. By the time we left they were starting to shed – the falling petals looked like soft snow and carpeted the roads in baby pink velvet.
These pictures are predominantly from Yoyogi Park. There’s something about the pastel pink against the clear blue sky that just seemed so whimsical and dreamlike to me – like the parks and roads had been dusted with candyfloss and pastel clouds. I’m already feeling wistful about returning. More from Japan very soon – yay!
I’m incredibly excited to announce that I’m going to Japan!
I can’t wait! I’ve wanted to go to Japan since I was 8. My childhood and teenage years flew by through a filter of J-Pop, karate, harajuku fashion, raiding comic shops for imported manga, scouring London for Japanese restaurants and finding anime on the internet after the death of Fox Kids. As a kid my love for japanese culture marked me out as a weirdo but these days everybody has a favourite Studio Ghibli film and there’s sushi on every corner – I couldn’t be happier!
I met the wonderful and amazing Sam (check him out!) last year and we became close friends, eventually realising last Autumn that neither of us had ever been to Japan despite a lifetime of devouring Japanese culture and wishing to visit. So, we’re going – to see the sakura!
I’ve put together this Pinterest board of places to go to and I would LOVE your recommendations!
TAPE PARADE 