shabondama's blog

My friend that is a boy (well, man) that I love dearly has had to put up with my antics for the past 10 days in Japanland. I thank him dearly for not judging me while I prance around in multiple outfits in one night.

However, I had to tell him to “Shut up! You’re ruining it, ” when he was trying to sing harmony to Spice Girls’ “Stop” at the karaoke bar a couple days ago. Sometimes you just feel like a diva when you karaoke. (I will say he has a lovely voice though… ^o )

My first attempt at vintage shopping in Japan was this dress. Not too bad for approximately 20 USD. Vintage shopping here is an emotional business for me here in Nippon. All the clothing tends to fit me well unlike American vintage but once I glance at the shoe section I’m absolutely heartbroken. My hugeMONGOUS gaijin feet are far too leviathan for the adorable pairs of granny laceups. :( In fact, I just barely fit into the largest size for females here. I’m an 8.5 in US sizes. I find it a big shocking.

Anyway, another big trend here are over-the-knee socks. I thought they were kinda slutty at first but you just have to pair them appropriately.

I bought this skirt and blazer in Hiroshima and it wasn’t til I got home that I realized that my outfit is essentially a fashionized version of what my Junior High school students wear here. It makes me sad that I can’t wear this blazer to work but oh well! I can disguise myself like a superheroine in my pseudo-school clothes and no one will ever realize that I’m truly an English teacher.

Let’s look at some inspiration!

I’m very excited about my recent fashion discoveries in Hiroshima. I’ll try to showcase them soon. Only sad thing is that I can only barely fit into the largest shoe size here. Hmph!

I can’t live without a sheer-as-hell tee, menswear blazer and black skinnies. Although I think a new pair of black skinnies is in my cards because these have been so well-loved.

Kind of annoyed that my multi-chain necklace isn’t showing up very well in these pictures but I’m in absolute love! I wish I could wear it to school, but I’ll reserve it to the weekends I suppose. Oh, Japanese conformity standards.

So tormented by shoe lust. In fact, I’m waiting on a pair of beautiful brown vintage brogues but I need more heelage. Unfortunately, many of my heels were left in America. Can I say though that Japanese women have perhaps the greatest tolerance for heels I’ve seen yet. And I’m not talking taking-a-cab-now girls, they walk around and do hardcore shopping in them.

These shoes are at my attainable price range so that’s why I featured them. There are many more shoe fantasies that beyond this realm. The Nine West ones have the highest likelihood of entering my skimp closet.