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?

Shopaholic and Baby

The Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella is a fun entertaining read, especially for anyone who loves to shop or is interested in fashion (I also liked her book Can You Keep a Secret?) I really loved the first three and i thought the forth one was okay. I was excited to see the fifth installment of the book, Shopaholic and Baby. Honestly, I have to say I was pretty disappointed. Amazon.com reviewers have given it 4.5 stars and both Publisher's Weekly and Booklist gave it a good review, so maybe I'm in the minority here but I thought the main character, Becki Brandon (nee Bloomwood as she says) has gotten incredibly annoying. While the ridiculous situations she gets herself into used to be funny and endearing, this time they just seem embarrassing. Maybe it's because I've grown out of my chick-lit phase or maybe by the 5th book a character can start to get on your nerves. I just feel like she hasn't grown whatsoever, especially now with a baby on the way. Also, I wish Kinsella would have made her a little more intelligent. It would make it more believable that her husband, Luke Brandon, who is a PR executive and educated, intelligent, etc . . would marry her. At one point (spoiler alert!) a character asks Brandon why he married this airhead and for a second the character is stumped and honestly, so was I. Nevertheless, the book is funny at times and a very very fast read so even though I didn't like it, maybe you'll agree with the rest of the amazon.com reviewers. If you have read it, what did you think?

On a separate note, I just read The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and absolutely loved it. I would try to read it before the movie comes out next year with Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams.

Gap Update

One of my favorite blogs, iamfashion just did an entry about the May 2006 issue of Vogue where the feature is "The World's Next Top Models" who are Lily Donaldson, Hilary Rhoda, Doutzen Kroes, Sasha Pivovarova, Caroline Trentini, Raquel Zimmermann, Jessica Stam, Chanel Iman, Coco Rocha and Agyness Deyn. But look what they're all wearing, Gap's limited edition shirts that I just posted on. I must say, I'm very impressed by how fashionable these shirts look on the models, but of course, it's Vogue (who really could make a plastic bag look like couture, wait, have they done that?) and the shirts are on incredible models. They made the styles I thought looked plain seem like couture. Either way, I think it's pretty cool to see something from Gap on the cover of Vogue. I'll bet Gap paid an arm and a leg for the publicity.

Whoa Gap!

Darn I wish i was in the US right now to check out these collections by Gap. Gap has decided to jump on the designer train (like Stella McCartney, Karl Lagerfeld for Gap, Paul and Joe, Proenza Schouler, Luella Bartley etc . . for Target) and they have chosen this year's winners of the 2006 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Doo.Ri, Rodarte and Thakoon to design a few pieces ranging only from $66-$88. I was upset that when Gap had Roland Mouret design a collection it was only available in London but I think we Americans are getting a good deal with 3 awesome designers here. You can buy the collection in stores or online here. Looking at the items more closely I like them, but I'm not in love with them. I don't have that OH MY GOD I MUST OWN THIS feeling for any of them. Maybe because they're a little plain and while very cool takes on the plain white shirt Gap is so well known for, they're not as unique as I thought they would be. However, that could just be the pictures, maybe when you try them on they look really cool and different. Sizes are going quick online so hurry and buy them if you want some! Here's are all the pieces that are available online (and I'm assuming the entire collection in general).



Doo Ri

On the left we have the Belted Shirtdress for $88 which I like but I think it's wee bit plain, looks like something the regular Gap designers would have done. On the right is the Scarf Shirt for $68.00. Again, it's cute but looks likes something I've seen before.



I like this Pleated Shirt for $68.00 much more. I think the back is really cool. There's only Large in this left online as well.
Surprisingly her stuff was my least favorite of the group even though I love her other clothes I've seen. I just think they don't look all the special.


Thakoon

Here is the Tie Shirt for $88. I think one is actually really cool, If you look more closetly there's a lot of detailing on the front. I also love the bell sleeves and the pleating in the back.


On the left is the Tied Shirt Dress for $78.00. I like how it's loose fitting and looks like you threw on your significant other's dress shirt, makes it a little sexy. I bet it would look good over a pair of jeans too (yes i still love the dresses/long shirts over jeans look). On the right is the Petal Shirt Dress for $88.00. Definitely much riskier and more what I expected from the collections. Would look like crap on me but I can imagine it look great on others.


Rodarte

On the left is the Trapeze Top for $68.00. I like it, but I have a feeling it might not look great on. On the right is the Bow Blouse for $78. I really like this shirt and the detailing. I would probably look pregnant though if I wore it. There's only Larges and XL's left online for these two.

What do you think of the collection? Are you gonna go out and buy some? If any of you go and try these on please comment, I'd love to know what they look like on.

All photos from gap.com

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!