Part VIII of Travels: Stores

Of course there are hundreds of stores in Japan but these two caught my eye and they're pretty opposite ends of the spectrum. Hirofu and Uniqlo.

The first is called Hirofu which basically looks like an Hermes copycat. They even stamp a big H (in the same font as Hermes) on the bottom of their bags. I really like the layout of the store with all the colors arranged together (notice the orange, Hermes' signature color). The items are actually pretty plain but the leather quality is fantastic. I think the purses run from $500 and above, mostly $1000 and up.





Now on to my FAVORITE store I found in Japan, Uniqlo. It was hard for me to shop in Japan because the women there are TINY and I am, um, not. When I say tiny I mean Nicole Richie size. For example, stores carry a lot of size 20-22 jeans because that's what people wear there. I've never even seen a size 20 -22 in the US. But anyways, Uniqlo had lots of different sizes so it was easier to shop. They're like a way cooler version of Gap. Their clothes are stylish, really good quality and very reasonably priced. Their cashmere sweaters are under $100 and fantastic quality. They also have high fashion designers design lines for them. When I was there it was Lutz and Patmos but Phillip Lim had a line there in April and Alice Roi has a line there right now. I'm so jealous I can't check out the Phillip Lim line.


Here's a picture of the Lutz and Patmos line.


Uniqlo just opened a store in New York City on Broadway, hopefully they'll come to LA soon!

Part VII of Travels: East vs. West

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, I didn't even realize it until I checked my stats and realized it's been a while! Anyways, back to my travels. One of the greatest things about Japan is how diverse it is. Tokyo is a modern crazy busy city while there are other rural areas that are still very traditional and old school. My hotel experience is a perfect example of that.

"West" (even though Asia is west of Los Angeles and not the East, we'll call the more Americanized modern hotel "West")

In Kyoto I stayed at the Hyatt Regency, a beautiful, new and pretty modern hotel (especially for a city like Kyoto which is more historical and less modern than Tokyo).

I loved this room, it has beautiful amenities and also a hint of the "east" with the Japanese cloth above the headboard.

"East"/Traditional

On the way from Kyoto to Tokyo we stopped by an Onsen for a day and night. Onsens are Japanese hot springs and are very popular in Japan. Many hotels are are built around these hot springs where the entire experience is centered around soaking in the natural hot spring which is supposed to be very good for you (something about opening the pores and sulfur, etc . .). The hotel I stayed out was very beautiful and relaxing.

The hotel room does not have a bed, it's a large room where during the day there is a table a few chairs and at night they move everything and put down futons. You also eat in the same room on the table. We had this very cute lovely lady who took care of us and brought in the food, changed the beds etc . . (In Japan you don't tip either, we gave her a tip and she used it to buy me a present).


This is what it looked like when we slept.


You also eat in the room (food is included in the price) and it is a wonderful meal that is several courses. This is only dinner!






Here's breakfast

Pretty different from Western hotels huh?

Here is a picture of one of the hot springs, most hotels have more than one pool. The hot springs are HOT, hence the name, and yes, you don't wear any clothes in them. I could only soak for about 15 minutes at time before I had to go rinse off with some cold water.


At the Onsen you also don't wear regular clothes, they provide you with Japanese style robes which is what you wear all the time. They are very comfortable and it's pretty awesome to basically spend 2 days in your robe. You even get a little jacket (right).


Here is the outfit for men.


Instead of shoes they give you slippers with special socks to fit specially into them .


Pretty cool huh?

Part VI of Travels: Architecture of Shopping

Someone told me that the Prada building in Tokyo was pretty cool so I made a special point to go. Prada has started this thing where the architecture of their flagship stores are just as important as the clothes. I know that the LA and New York City stores are pretty cool and so is the Tokyo store. The Tokyo location was designed by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron. The store is like 6 stores high and pretty insane.



This looks like a shower head but there's actually a TV in there. They're all over the store too.


Next to the Prada store there is this complex that has Cartier, Omega, Chloe and a couple other stores. It's pretty cool with all the wood and glass.
You also can't tell how many floors and stores there are in the place which I like.



The Christian Dior store was really pretty too, especially at night.


I don't think you can tell but there's a giant TV playing Dior's runway shows when you first walk into the store.


These buildings make shopping so much more interesting.

Part V of Travels: Celebrity Endorsements

Celebrity endorsements are nothing new to us in America but in Japan it's a whole other ballgame. I've heard how many celebrities endorse products in Japan but when I went I was still pretty surprised by how many "A-list" celebrities are selling stuff there. What are your opinions on celebrity endorsements? I don't mind them, although having my favorite celebrity be a spokesmodel for something doesn't make me want to buy it anymore. We all know they probably didn't use that product before they were being paid millions of dollars to pretend they do. Cough, P. Diddy/Jessica Simpson/Lindsay Lohan for Proactiv, cough.

I'm used to seeing Scarlett Johansson as the face of Louis Vuitton and I think she does a fantastic job at it. However, I was pretty surprised to see her as the spokesperson for this random Japanese coffee brand. Sorry the pictures aren't great, can you tell this is her in the commercial?



Here is Jennifer Lopez selling some shampoo.


I know of Samantha Thavasa only because I heard how Nicky Hilton designed a line of purses for her (ugh, I hate the Hiltons, but I digress). It says Samantha Thavasa New York but have you ever seen her purses in the US? SOOO many brands in Asia, Europe, etc . .put New York or Los Angeles in their names but they don't sell them in the US!! But that's a topic for a different entry. Anyways, apparently a bunch of celebrities design purses for this brand and are on their billboards. If you check out their website you can see better pictures and the products. Honestly, I didn't really like their products very much, it was a little too Clarie's/Forever 21 at 10 times the price. They wouldn't let me take pictures of the store inside so I did my best.

Here's the Hilton sisters and Penelope Cruz and her sister.


We also have Victoria Beckham and Wimbledon champ Maria Sharapova.


Here's the outside of the store.


Here we have Brad Pitt and Cameran Diaz selling cell phones for a company called SoftBank. This place really loves Cameran Diaz, she's all over their buildings.


This is a kind of cool and creative way to do it. It looks like a bunch of skateboards.

They're also in commercials. I couldn't find Brad Pitt's but here's Cameran Diaz's for your viewing pleasure. It's weird how they made her a suburban mom since that is not her movie or celebrity image at all.


SoftBank does have some pretty cool phones in SO many different colors. This was my favorite, the screen goes from horizontal to vertical!

Part IV of Travels: Cool Sites

I went to so many different sites that there's no way to write about them all. So here are a few of my favorite sites.

I'd been to France before but never got a chance to go to Versailles. This time I made a point to go and was not disappointed. After seeing Marie Antoinette I knew that I could not miss out on seeing this absolutely beautiful place. Just for fun I've taken some stills from the film and put them next to my own pictures.


This is the front of the castle where the scene at the beginning of the movie where she first comes to court is filmed. Also, the screencap below is towards the end where the people are protesting and she comes outside and lays her head down. This front of the castle is so beautiful.


The gardens are beautiful, and huge! The sheer massive amount of land Versailles is on is pretty crazy.


After I left Versailles I thought, "I really want to watch Marie Antoinette again." Guess what was playing on the plane ride home? Marie Antoinette, I think it was fate.

One of the coolest places (or weirdest/scariest, depends on your taste) was the Kostnice Ossuary (aka Bone Church) in Kutna Hora, about 40 minutes outside of Prague. I had no idea this was even here until I met some Australians who told me about it and I'm so glad I did. It's a room in a church made out of over 40,000 human bones, yup, HUMAN FREAKING BONES. In 1278 the Cistercian abbot of Sedlec, Henry, traveled to Palestine and the ‘Holy Land’, bringing home a sample of earth which he sprinkled on the grounds. This caused the grounds to be considered sacred and as a result, lots of people wanted to be buried there. After the Black Death spread throughout Europe, there were 30,000 bodies that all wanted to be placed on these sacred grounds, so they um, got creative.


The chandelier is made out of every human bone in the body.




The Park Hyatt in Tokyo is where Lost in Translation was filmed. Even though it's just a hotel I absolutely loved it. I didn't stay there but made a point to go see it. Sofia Coppola said she chose to film the movie there because it felt like a floating sanctuary in an incredibly chaotic city, and I couldn't agree more. The reason it seems so serene is because the hotel begins on the 41st floor. The lobby, etc . . are all 40 stories above Tokyo and every room has a fantastic view of the city. The combination of black granite everywhere, incredible sweeping views of Toyko and quiet atmosphere, combine creating this odd feeling of calm.

My stupid camera ran out of battery so i couldn't take pictures of the incredible view but check out the website to see more. If you're even in Tokyo and can afford, definitely stay here! Funny enough, Lost in Translation was playing at on TV when i was in Tokyo. It's been a trip of Sofia Coppola movies.

Next up: Japan! Get ready for lots and lots of posts about it.