My Favourite Oahu Spots

Thank goodness and light off some sparklers because Fall semester is officially o-v-e-r. Stick a fork in it, it's done, time to tear the salvageable scribbles out of my notebook and toss the notes. 

The end of a semester means it's also Christmas, and time to fly home and visit my folks. I really think I should invest in a frequent flyer program, because how many miles have I racked up bouncing around the Pacific in the past four years? 

Though it's always a good thing to see family, it also means leaving some of my best friends behind for bit.

Here is me and my friend Yami. Recently we twinned AATP's "Unlock Pandora's Memories" jumper skirt and took Christmas Purikura. 

The location for Purikura, Funpix, is one of my favourite spots on the island. It has moved from it's original Kalakaua location to a roomier, air conditioned location in McCully shopping centre. It is still near Ala Moana mall though, and accessible by bus. 

Ever since I met my first lolita friend in Hawaii, we have been dressing up and going to FunPix. The owners and business have remained the same too, and even though I was gone for a year, I feel like they remember us. 

I have a fat album of memories thanks to this place, of dinners with friends, of conventions and holidays, of cosplays and birthdays... my purikura and photos are some of my most precious things, which is why, I love FunPix.

As I was thinking about FunPix, and the places I'll leave in Hawaii for a little while, I decided I wanted to tell you about them, in case you ever get to come to Oahu. 

One of my favourite places, recently discovered, is Bubbies Icecream. They don't just serve delicious ice-cream (I recommend "Macadamia Nut"), but they also have amazing ice-cream cakes, with some of the most creative names I've seen (check out the right side of the board):

Their signature mochi ice-creams are also popular with kids and adults. They come in all kinds of flavours, from Tiramisu to Guava.

Speaking of sweets, there is an amazing bakery right around the corner from my school, which specialises in hand-crafted cupcakes. The name of that bakery, with its bright pink door and smiling vendors, is Let Them Eat Cupcakes.

Their story is pretty inspiring. The owner used to be a journalist, who lost their job, most likely when the Honolulu Advertiser merged with the Star Bulletin in my sophomore year. It was then that they found their passion: making cupcakes! They started with tents, booths, and food trucks, and now have this lovely downtown location. 

One main reason I love them are their exciting flavours... when I first saw their menu, it was the first time I had ever heard of "Peanut Butter and Jelly" cupcakes. They also have Bailey's Irish Cream, Caramel Macchiato, Chocolate Malt, and Cookies & Cream, to name a few. But what I love most are their local flavours such as Li Hing Mango, Liliko'i, Guava, and Mochi.

A few weeks ago, I translated for a group of Japanese Exchange students visiting from Hiroshima. The girls seemed tired and stressed, so after a tour of the campus, I took them around the corner to Let Them Eat Cupcakes, and treated them. They seemed so happy! They also really enjoyed the creative sprinkle bar, where they could each decorate their own cupcake.

I could go on and on in true lolita fashion about great places to find sweets on the island, but instead I'd like to switch gears, and talk about one of my favourite local shops. 

Like Let Them Eat Cupcakes, they started small and have flourished over the past few years. It is a shop in Aiea called "Mini-Q", which sells rare and specialty anime figures from Japan, and imported blind-box figures. 

I remember when I first came back to Hawaii for college, and I found their tent at the Aloha Stadium swap meet. At that time they only sold imported cellphone straps and stickers. 

I am really happy to see they have grown to a physical location, and now carry so much stock! They are very good about updating their Facebook page, so I can stalk the new Tiger & Bunny releases. They also have a reward points program, so you can earn discounts and things like that. 

I am saving to eventually adopt all of their Nendoroids...

As with all places, I feel this doesn't even scratch the surface of cool spots in Hawaii. That is one of the reasons I keep this blog though, so I can tell you about interesting places everywhere I go, wherever my suitcase takes me. (Corny, but true.)

I may not be earning frequent flyer miles now, but through all this traveling and always finding new places- or revisiting the old ones I love- I think I've racked up plenty of frequent flyer smiles. 

To Favourite Spots and roads less traveled, 

Cherie

Loli Meet: Cream Pot, Waikiki

Cream Pot is notorious among my group of friends as one of the best places to eat on Oahu. 

It's a Japanese owned and operated cafe that's situated just along the Ali Wai canal, not quite submerged in the hustle and bustle of Waikiki, but over the bridge from the sketchier places surrounding Ala Moana mall. 

The outside looks like a Bed and Breakfast from a Mori Girl story book, the front porch decorated with hanging flower chandeliers, light blue benches and flowers of all varieties on every table. The inside looks like a dining room from a Studio Ghibli film. Lucky me, after living here quite a while, I finally got to go with some of the Hawaii Lolitas for our September meet-up.

We arrived at about noon and passed the time chatting while we waited for everyone to show up. It was a smaller meet up with only five people, but it was comfortable, especially in the charming little cafe. I loved getting to meet two girls who joined the community after I left for Japan.

The food was amazing! I'm not even a foodie but I was really excited about this dish. As a warning, it's a little weird sounding: Maguro Benedict.

It was maguro (high grade tuna sashimi) served on avocado, a soft-boiled egg and rice, with salad, and a citrus miso sauce.

I washed it down with their delicious strawberry and orange juice.

One thing that really surprised us, was when the owner came by and gave us free dessert! He gave us what I think is the house special... belgian waffles with salted caramel, whipped cream and bananas.

Salty and sweet is one of my favourite flavour combinations, and this definitely had it! I only had a bite, because I have to be ready for upcoming shoots, but oh I wish I could have had more. ; w ; 

After, we gathered around for a mandatory group shot!

I wore Honey Cake, Catherine wore Meta's new Dim Light Jsk, Cat wore a Miho Matsuda OP, Angelina wore ETC's Red Riding Hood OP (which I covet! haha), and Aileen wore AP's A La Carte Salopette. 

We all agreed, that if we lived in Waikiki we'd eat at Cream Pot every day. It was one of the best meals I've ever had out!

Oh, and while all was said and done, Aileen and I ended the day with a long overdue Purikura session. The local Purikura parlour moved when I was gone in Japan, from its Kalakaua location to the McCully shopping centre. But now it is bigger, air conditioned and has newer machines! Still not the same as Japan, but pretty darn close.

Xoxo, Feeling slightly more Darling than Darkly, Cherie.

(Overdue) Outfit Post~!

Hey Darlings!

I can't believe that my study abroad ends in one week. It feels like it can't really end... I can't wrap my mind around going home! But I still have to scrub my apartment floor to ceiling for inspection this weekend. I wanted a break from that nonsense, so started to go through my photos again.

Then I realised, even though this is sort of my "Lolita" blog, I never post my outfits. The truth is, I'm really shy and hate taking photos. I never post to communities and try to avoid the spotlight... ^^;

But, I just got some Purikura scans from my friend, so what the heck? Here are a few of my favourite outfits from the past year, some from really fun outings. 

This was around the start of Spring semester, and Nagoya was still freezing! My friend and I braved the frigid wind to twin in Angelic Pretty's Honey Cake series. This was the day we visited the "Kuma Cafe", a cafe all about Teddy Bears.

This is from around last Christmas. NUFS organised a field trip to the Linear Motor Museum, a museum all about trains. We got to explore old rail cars, play with displays, and eat eki bento.

Naturally, I wore Metamorphose's "Romantica Train" JSK. Unfortunately I forgot my camera on that day, so these were taken with my cellphone!

These are some of my favourites. My friend and I dressed in old-school/aristocratic outfits, sticking to a black and white colour scheme. I wore an older Metamorphose Jsk I found at a second-hand shoppe.

I also wore this butterfly, cross and chain ring by Ozz-On. It's so ridiculous and lovely, but it's kind of impractical, so I rarely get to show it off. 

About our hair... My friend loves Miku from Vocaloid, and I love Luka... we were both excited for an upcoming cosplay event, so decided to try out our Vocaloid wigs!

(Ironically, our plan was to visit a Butler Cafe called "Imperial Rose" that day, but it was closed for a different cosplay event.) 

... I'm not sure when this was. But I'm glad I didn't get a full outfit shot, I have no idea WHY I was wearing so many bright colours! xD

I don't think this is the most flattering picture, but I love this new Putumayo JSK. I just got it at the shop, and wore it to class one day...

(Can you tell, I really love those red Metamorphose shoes.)

And my most recent outing was yesterday! My friend and I were choco-twins, both wearing the Chocolate Chess bustier JSK in mint. 

As you can see we wear lolita together often, but yesterday people wouldn't stop ogling us! People even kept walking into things! xD Lots of people took their picture with us too, which I don't mind... but it's the weirdos video taping us on their phones as they walk by that bother me. :"| You really have to watch out. 

And afterwards, we got matching chocolate pancakes at one of our favourite cafes.

And well, now you can't say I never post outfits. xD Maybe I'll do this once a year or something. 

Hope you are all doing well! And don't forget, there are three days left on the Taiyaki Maker give away! Good look to everyone who has entered, and if you haven't, there's still time! 

Now, back to cleaning for me... I don't really like Cinderella, but I feel her pain now.

Till next time,

Cherie

Better in Japan? Karaoke and Purikura

Two of my favorite pass-times in Hawaii were of Japanese origin: Karaoke and Purikura.

In Waikiki there are a lot-- and I do mean, a lot of Japanese tourists, and in Hawaii in general, there are many people of Japanese heritage. Maybe for this reason, it's easy to find Japanese entertainment on Oahu.

My favorite places were GS Studios for karaoke, and a Purikura parlor called Fun Pix, both in Waikiki. Since I got hooked on these things at home, I needed to do them here in Japan to see what the 'real version' was like.

You'd never think that the "same things" could be so different!

Let's start with Purikura. "Print Club" is a large photo booth you enter with your friends, taking spontaneous photos based on chosen backgrounds. After the shoot, you choose your favorite shots and decorate them with "ryugaki" (stickers/decorations) on a touch screen. Each booth has unique options, such as special stamp features, seasonal backgrounds, and different touch-screen games.

In Hawaii, some of the booths were in English to accommodate non-Japanese speakers. The cost of one photo session was $6-8, a little expensive unless you split with friends. Fun Pix offered a frequent buyer stamp card, and when it was filled you got one free Purikura session.

After the photo shoot was over and your stickers were printed, you had to cut them by hand. (Purikura are usually cut into strips so each participant gets the same number of photos.)

Fun Pix was run by a husband and wife team. The woman had a lot of experience as a nail tech, so one part of the parlor was set aside as a place for her to do nails. Since they had a daughter, many of the puri on the walls were of her. It made the shop personal, and I liked bringing my business to them.

As for Purikura in Japan, it is hard to begin differentiating because there are so many. But in my latest trip to Ohsu I tried a Purikura booth with a friend, and it was substantially different. For starters, it was only 400 yen. The experience taking photos was about the same, aside from cute backgrounds unique to that machine, like Magazine cover styles and postal stamp frames.

The differences began when we exited for ryugaki. First, the machine asked for our "team name". We put in our names, and when we started to decorate, all the stamps were customized with our names on it. The "magazine cover" background was edited to have our names on it too.

When we printed our photos, the machine asked us for our choice of present: makeup or cotton swabs. A small pink package was dispensed with our photos, and inside there were heart-shaped blotting papers, a pink and white band-aid, and hot pink Q-tips. Perfect for makeup touchups before the next machine!

Also, there was no need to cut the strips. They were printed with serrated edges, so all we had to do was tear, and we each got an even number of photos.

GS Studios was probably the closest experience you would get to the Japanese karaoke box. The rooms were sound proof, nicely furnished, with climate controls, a disco ball, and an astounding music library. They had just begun phasing out the paper song books and replacing them with touch screen controls, when I moved. 

Karaoke is incredibly popular in Japan, but I doubt I needed to tell you that. So far I've been to a venue in Sakae called "Big Echo" twice. 

It's the building on the right. (I took this photo from the top of the Sky Boat, a larger than life Ferris Wheel across the street.)

One of the coolest things about Big Echo is that every floor has a different theme. The first time I came, we were on the 9th floor, which was totally modern and neon green. Last night, I went back with a friend expecting the same. We were given a room on the 5th floor this time, but instead of a room number, there was a kanji on our card: 'Fuji'. 

We were confused, but decided we'd figure it out when we got there. Imagine our surprise when the elevator doors opened, and we found ourselves in the genkan of a traditional Japanese styled hallway?

We stepped into the carpeted entry way, where a tenant asked us to remove our shoes. Then, we stepped up onto the polished wood platform, and were lead to our room.

The Fuji room had platform seating around the table.

In GS Studios and Big Echo, you can order food to your room if you don't mind paying a little more than usual. GS Studios had typical grill food, and local favorites like ahi poke and musubi. Of course Big Echo had a much wider selection of foods, from pizza to onigiri.

When you check into Big Echo, you are charged per 30 minutes, depending on the time of the day and your choice of drinks. 

You pay a flat rate which includes one drink, or if you pay slightly more, you have unlimited drinks from the soft drink bar. (The soft drink bar includes frosties, tea, coffee, melon soda, Kalpis, and other favorites.) 

The downside is, if you want to sing a long time it can rack up. At GS Studios, you could purchase an Early Bird Special and keep the room for eight hours, for about $12 each person. GS Studios usually gives you one free soft drink to start, too.

For the experience, I prefer Big Echo. The microphones are cleaned and covered before you enter the room, so you know your mic is sterile. The atmosphere, service and decor are top notch. 

For song selection, GS Studios and Big Echo rank about the same, surprisingly. In both venues, song selection would vary depending on the room you had and when that library was last updated. In general, there are literally thousands of artists to choose from, whether they are Japanese, English, French or otherwise.  

Also, both venues have touch screen remotes, which is much more convenient than flipping through cumbersome song books.

GS Studios' old song book.

GS Studios' touch screen system.

Big Echo's touch screen system.

Big Echo's has some sort of member card function. You can take photos with this touch screen system some how, and probably have them sent to an online album for a fee.

In Hawaii, it seems you get intimacy with smaller venues. Since the establishments are smaller, employees tend to remember you, which could be a pro or a con. In Japan, you certainly get the best experience, and the most entertainment for your money. 

These are generalizations of course, since I can't speak for every Purikura booth and Karaoke box. From my observations, I haven't concluded whether one is 'better' than the other. They both have different qualities based on their unique locations that set them apart. 

No matter what it is you like to do, I hope that you get the chance to travel and experience it in another culture. Purikura and Karaoke are just two pastimes; there's a whole world of activities out there and people to meet through them. 

At my university, I'm planning to join at least the International Communication Club, for foreign students as well as Japanese students. The committee organizes social events such as Pizza Parties, Barbecues and weekend trips, all for the purpose of intercultural and bilingual communication. 

Hopefully, we'll all get to do fun things like this! I'd love to take them to karaoke and see what they like to sing, or make memories with Purikura strips they helped decorate. 

Ah, sorry, is this too sappy yet? 

Sayonara, Purikura

Friday afternoon, I met up with my loli friends at the Purikura Parlor, Funpix in Waikiki. They have all kinds of booths, from Mickey Mouse to Tsubasa-endorsed ones. I had to drop off some Q-pot Peace Chocolate bands for my friends, and figured we might as well have fun while we were at it!

I don't have my scanner since I'm moving, sorry! But in the mean time here are some scans I borrowed from my pals, haha~