Fashion – Daily Monday

An accumulation of random purchases

I thought I’d post about the items that I bought from a month ago. Here we go!

Not sure why it turned into *Nobember* when the 2019 ver. was *November*

This is my third calendar set from the same artist, Nishi Shuku. I love his/her artwork so much that I was willing to spend money on this instead of a 100 yen (approx. $1) calendar from Daiso. The only thing that triggered me was the spelling for November. I’m not sure why it’s spelled with a b when the spelling two years ago was already correct with a v.

A slim scissors and a portable washi tape holder

I discovered both of these products through a Youtube video and decided to get my hands on it. I have enough scissors on my desk but the sleek and cute design of this one drove me to purchase it. The washi tape holder actually comes with the pattern tapes as illustrated, which are really cute. I could reuse the holder to store other patterns once the original one ran out.

Found this one when I was browsing randomly at Tokyu Hands. I thought the concept and the pattern of this was cute. It’s made by the same maker that created the washi tape holder (see above). They promote it as label you can use to highlight your monthly calendar. I find that this doesn’t suit my taste that much, though. I wish the paper itself was a bit more translucent so it could show more of the contents behind it. I also think it’d be better if the material wasn’t plasticky on the top since it just makes it hard to write on and inks dry really slow on it.

Features a very light grey grid that I love

I decided that I wasn’t a fan of my previous B6 notebook that I used for journaling my stream of consciousness. After using Hobonichi for 4 years, I couldn’t bring myself to use normal lined notebooks anymore. I prefer plain or light-gridded ones. Since Stalogy was also a popular brand that people use as an alternative to Hobonichi, I decided to give it a try and immediately fell in love with it. It’s way cheaper than Hobonichi at $15 and gives you 368 of gridded pages. And I just adore the sleek jet black cover. It’s something that doesn’t need extra protections and can be used as is. It also comes in A5, B6, and B5 sizes.

I discovered this small display fair of ceramic wares and they were selling all different kinds of wooden spoons (I didn’t think to take a picture of it, ugh). They were priced $2 each and being a sucker for anything wooden, I just had to get some. I use most wooden utensils to have tea time and snacks rather than using it for eating proper meals, so I got the tiny coffee spoon (or tea?). I’m not sure what I’m using the right one for since it’s really long and big, different from the standard wooden cutleries I’ve seen so far. Maybe I’ll keep it as a collection or display haha.

I came across this Miffy tote one day and fell in love with the cute and simple design. I’m not sure if this character is popular outside Japan, but I think it’s a pretty big thing here since there were a lot of other goods associated with this cute rabbit (yes, it’s a rabbit character). My previous canvas tote bag of this size got mold on it (summer in Japan sucks) so I had to throw it away and get a new one. The outer side comes with this sleeve so you can slip your suitcase handle through it while traveling. I wish they had made it into a gigantic pocket instead though.

I’ve been into film photography these days so I wanted to invest in a proper (not plastic) film camera. I found this beauty off Mercari (a Japanese flee market site) for around $100 (with the lens!) and knew I had to get it. Despite being a second-hand camera, it’s still really clean and well-maintained. All the functions are still working properly, too. This model also allows you to have full control of the settings, which is really great for experimenting a lot of shots. Plus, this body works with almost all Nikon lenses ever created, so that’s a plus for versatility.

I used to wonder why people buy antiques, but now I kind of understand the charm of it. I can’t wait to take more pictures with this camera and get it developed! But first I gotta find a studio that does that …

Anyways, this is all for my purchases. Hopefully I’ll be able to restraint myself from buying more items for the rest of the month. Haha.

September fashion and tech items wishlist

I haven’t been busy with anything lately, which leads me to browse the web even more often and finding stuff I don’t really need that gets into my wishlist.

PRESSo Wallet

I discovered this brand after watching a Japanese Youtuber who features this brand called Drip on his channel a lot. I love leather products so naturally, I’m attracted to it. I don’t need another wallet since I’m really satisfied with my abrAsus wallet I got a couple of months ago, so I’m eyeing this more as a card holder. But then again, I still have my current card holder doing perfectly fine aside from being a tad too bulky. This PRESSo wallet costs around $100 so it’s on the pricey side. I guess I’m not getting this any time soon haha.

The classic Muji backpack

I feel like almost every Japanese would have seen this backpack or possibly own it. It’s a very basic backpack from Muji with an extra feature of being water repellant. With a very affordable price of $30, it just makes me want to own this and add it to my personal backpack collection. But of course, I have too many bags right now and I don’t even use them since I don’t go out these days. I do have an option of selling my old bags off to someone else or to the secondhand shop but both options doesn’t really bring any merit or good income to cover the purchase, so … No.

Allbirds sneakers

I’m a sucker for pure white stuff. And I know sneakers are the first thing that I will get dirty upon receiving. I have three pairs of sneakers lying in my cabinet unused because somehow they’re too tight for me (even though I got my usual size) and it hurts when I use it for too long. I’m actually facing the same dilemma with the backpacks since I have multiple of it but I’m not really sure whether I should sell it off and where to sell it off to. These wool sneakers are $100 a pair and it looks so soft to wear (and also machine washable!). I’ve heard great reviews about it in the past and only rediscovered it recently (of course, from an ad ….).

New Macbook and iPhone

In terms of item condition, my laptop and smartphone are probably the ones that needs to get replaced soon. Both batteries are busted and they can’t live without a charger. Plus, both are above 4 years old which causes applications to run slower and apps to crash more frequently.

I’m waiting for October’s iPhone release to see if it’s worth switching this year or wait for another year again. I’m definitely changing my laptop once I get enough income after starting my job next year. But that’ll be in a couple of months. I know Apple’s trying to release a new Mac with their own chip but I’m really risk adverse so I fear bugs and whatnot coming with the first release. So if I do get a new laptop, it’ll be their current Macbook Pros with the intel chip.