🐰 Usagyuuun Cafe - Bangkok - Thailand ❄️

Usagyuuun is a mix between a rabbit and a mochi and I first discovered this character randomly back in February when my friends and I noticed this crazy dancing bunny in an art gallery, then couple weeks ago while I was in Siam Discovery for a GOT7 event I noticed this crazy dancing bunny again and found out there was a pop-up café in Siam Center dedicated to it so I decided to go check it out.

The Usagyuuun café is so adorable and suitably festive, there are so many fun areas for you to take photos and they even have Christmas costumes you can wear to. The menu is full of delicious drinks, desserts and even takoyaki and some drinks and desserts come with a souvenir cup you can take home, I ordered a fruit soda and tiramisu and got an adorable cup and coaster to take home.

There is also a special gift shop next to the café and also one in Loft in Siam Discovery where you can buy exclusive Usagyuuun merch and every weekend in December until the end of January you can meet Usagyuuun at the café, dance with him and also take part in workshops such as bracelet making or gift wrapping.

It's always so much fun randomly seeing this bouncy bunny and I have definitely fallen for its charms and will try to visit the café again one more time before it disappears, hopefully when Usagyuuun is there so we can take photos and dance together again, also the pancakes looked really good so I definitely need to try them.

What is your fave dessert?

Love & Bunnies

Cate

xoxo

Psssst if you want to see more of my adventures you can support me by clicking the button below

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Anime Lucky Bag Giveaway!!

August has arrived and as it's my birthday month I thought it was the perfect time to host another giveaway so I thought we'd go back to my youth this month and have a giveaway for my childhood favourite anime Sailor Moon & Pokemon, so I've put together a little lucky bag with several little items dedicated to my fave childhood anime...

I won't tell you exactly what's included in the lucky bag to keep it a nice surprise but you can expect a few gashapon toys, stickers and more. The giveaway is open right now until the end of August and to everyone worldwide so if you want to be in with the chance to win yourself a cute lucky bag then follow the instructions in the widget below for details on how to enter.

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What is your favourite way to celebrate your birthday?

Good Luck

Cate

xoxo

Ryokan Cafe - Chiang Rai - Thailand

Hidden between the rice fields not to far from the mysterious, Wat Rong Khun in Chiang Rai, Thailand lives a little piece of Japan the Ryokan Cafe. The Totoro that waits at the bus stop across the road almost makes you feel like your living in your favourite anime, in fact the whole atmosphere of the place from the decor, to the food, to the green fields that surround it makes it feel like you're not in Thailand at all and have been magically transported to Japan's countryside.

Ryokan Cafe offers much more than food and drinks, you can actually stay there to in their traditional Japanese rooms and there's also a gallery where you can see local artists work and buy traditional Japanese items and organic foods which they grow there.

The food they serve is all homemade and home grown but unfortunately there were no vegetarian options so I settled for a very delicious coffee, hazelnut frappe which came with a scoop of Hokkaido milk ice cream, that alone filled me up so I ended up not getting one of the delicious cakes they also had on offer and my family really enjoyed the food there saying how fresh and yummy it was.

It really is such a beautiful relaxing place and I would love to spend the night there one day at as it's so serene and peaceful there, I really did feel like I was in Japan and not in Thailand at all and I love that all the food that they serve there is organic and homemade, it's definitely worth the trip to see especially if you're a Ghibli fan as you'll feel like you've stepped into the real life version of My Neighbour Totoro.

What is your favourite Ghibli movie?

Love & Sunflowers

Cate

xoxo

Psssst if you want to see more awesome cafes from around the world you can click the button below, buy me a coffee, get treats & a shoutout on my next post

Juku Store Review: Kawaii Japanese Fashion & Accessories

Juku Store, a kawaii harajuku fashion online retailer recently contacted me asking if they could send me a few products for review and as a big Japanese street fashion enthusiast I happily took their offer. Juku Store offers great Japanese fashion at great prices and ships worldwide, you may find a lot of Japanese retailers don't offer international postage so this it's a great alternative to buy from if you want to dress like the highly fashionable Harajuku kids.

My Neighbour Totoro is one of my all time favourite anime and as soon as I saw all their cute Totoro themed t-shirts I knew I had to have one for myself. The design is so cute and there are several to choose from, the material is super soft and comfy to and I love the baggy fit of it, perfect to wear for just chilling around the house or going out searching for acorns...

Juku Store also offers a lot of items for Cosplay and some cute anime themed accessories to, Death Note has always been one of my favourite anime and manga series but it's rare to find things related to it now so it was a nice surprise to see this Death Note necklace which also doubles up as a watch, the perfect accessory to show your love for the series.

In contrast to the cutesey kawaii fashion you can also find some more darker styles and one of my all time favourite Japanese styles has been the traditional embroidery painting style so as soon as I saw this embroidered koi fish t-shirt I fell in love, it's so beautiful and just as beautiful in real life as it appears online, this is one item I will definitely be getting a lot of wear out of!

Even more surprising to me was seeing that they sell a small selection of KPop items to and we all know I'm a big lover of Kpop especially GOT7 so seeing this GOT7 bracelet for sale I just had to, it's the perfect accessory to show my love for them.

I absolutely adore all the items I got and there's such a great selection to suit everyone's tastes, so if you're looking for some great kawaii fashion and cosplay items be sure to check out Juku Store and let me know what you think.

What's your favourite fashion styles?

Love & Boba

Cate

xoxo

Kawaii Stationery & Sticker Giveaway

Kawaii stationery is my weakness, I just can't resist looking whenever I'm out shopping even though I  already have a ridiculous amount of pens, stickers and notebooks which I'll never use but they're just so cute I can't help myself! So I though this month I would share the kawaii stationery love and give you all a chance to win some super cute things.

♥  The Prizes ♥ 

Swimmer Floral Pouch

Gudetama Stickers

Crystal Stickers x3

Flower Stickers

Bow Bag Clips

Rilakkuma Ruler Set

Notebook

Pen

If you want to be in with the chance to win this mini kawaii stationery set then follow the details in the widget below, this giveaway is open for the whole month of August and to everyone in the world so good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What's your favourite kawaii character?

Good Luck

Cate

xoxo

Anime I'm Watching & Loving!

It feels like forever since I've had the chance to really sit down and enjoy some anime, lately I just seem to have no time for TV and it makes me really sad as I really love just relaxing and escaping into a different world for a while but at the same time I'm busy for all the right reasons so I can't complain too much. I'm really out of the loop with all the anime news this year but that might be a blessing as it means I can finally catch up on all the old seasons I missed haha, be sure to leave me some anime recommendations though and let me know what you've been watching so I can add them to my watch list for later.

Himouto! Umaru-chan R

干物妹！うまるちゃんR

I finally got round to watching the second season of Umaru-chan after my visit to the pop-up cafe in Akihabara many months ago and I have to say I loved this season just as much as the first, in fact maybe a little bit more as it shows a much softer side to Umaru, yes she's still a lazy, crazy, anime obsessed, junk food eating, otaku but you get to see a different side to her in season 2 and how much she actually cares for her friends and her brother and it's really sweet. This season is a lot more character focused than the first and the side characters all get their own spotlight, I felt like last season it was more about the "fan service" with some characters but this season gives them a bit more backstory and depth and of course there's the typical amusement park and festival episodes which seem to appear in every slice of life anime to enjoy to haha! Umaru-chan is just such a fun series to watch, it's sweet, light-hearted and all to relatable and I hope they'll be more series in the future.

A Day Before Us

연애하루전

A Day Before Us is a webtoon series from Korea about the blossoming of love and those cute tiny moments when you realise you're really falling for someone. I'm so happy I found this on YouTube that I just had to share, it blends my love of anime and KDramas together so perfectly, from the dreamy animation, the soft colours, the heartfelt soundtrack and super sweet characters I loved it all! This series left me feeling so soft and squishy inside but also a little sad, I mean where's my romance already? But wow I had no idea such a thing existed and I want more, it's so cute and I definitely recommend you checking it out, each episode is only a couple minutes long but will leave you with the warmest, sweetest feeling inside.

Sanrio Boys

サンリオ男子

Sanrio Boys is basically about a group of boys who come together through their mutual love of Sanrio characters. I honestly was not expecting to love this anime as much as I did and I thought it would be hella cheesy and full of fanservice which I'm not going to lie it was at times I mean you can't go one episode without that obligatory anime abs or shower scene and of course the beach episode but I ain't complaining, I enjoy the cheese as much as the deeper storylines but back to the point I wanted to make is that this anime really touched my heart. At its core it's about not being ashamed to love the things that you love, about wanting to become better person because of the things that you love and surrounding yourself with people who love and encourage you for who you are, and supporting the things that you love even though they may seem out of the box. My high school days seem like a lifetime ago but this was definitely something I relate with and I love that Sanrio is delivering this message to anyone because who cares if you're a guy who loves Sanrio as long as it makes you genuinely happy that's all that matters.

The Reflection

ザ・リフレクション

The Reflection was an event that occurred worldwide that caused some people to wake up with super powers, some become heroes, and others villains. So this is an anime which was actually created by Stan Lee so I had to give it a watch. The storyline is similar to Heroes and Inhumans and a lot of the characters share the traits and superpowers of heroes I'd seen before but at times it did get quite confusing as many of the characters seems to appear out of nowhere without any motive or backstory, I was still left confused as to why The Refection happened and why only certain people were affected but I won't get to deep it is what it is a simple super hero story about people gaining powers and their choices about what to do with these powers. It's not an anime I would likely watch again but it was still interesting to see this type of anime and of course Stan Lee making a cameo in it to.

Convenience Store Boy Friends

コンビニカレシ 

This is the story of six High school students' and their lives that revolve around the convenience store on their way from school. I initially thought this would be some sort of Clerks style anime but it's actually just a regular slice of life, shoujo romance anime and the "combini" hardly features in it! I wasn't too disappointed though as it's still quite cute and very similar to A Day Before Us in terms of storyline although I did find myself getting slightly bored at the repetitive storylines of the different sets of characters towards the end but it was a anime I could relax and not think too much about while watching, again I probably wouldn't watch it again but if you're a fan of high school romance anime then it's worth checking out.

Don't forget to enter my anime giveaway!

Love & Strawberry Soda

Cate

xoxo

Kawaii Anime Lucky Bag Giveaway!

It's been a while since my last anime giveaway and a lot of people where asking when I was going to do another one so even though my Japan adventures are long over I thought I would host another one anyway in the hopes that I get to go back sometime soon haha! So here's another little surprise anime lucky bag for you to try your chance at winning.

I won't tell you exactly what's in this lucky bag as that's all part of the fukubukuro fun but there's a nice diverse selection of charms, jewellery and gashapon toys included which should please all tastes. So if you want to be in with a chance to win this month check out the widget below for details on how to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What's your favourite anime?

Good Luck

Cate

xoxo

Anime Haul and A Walk Around the Tokyo Skytree Pokemon Center

Whilst in Tokyo and Seoul I could not stop myself picking up a few anime goods, as much as I tried to resist, it's just too tempting with kawaii stuff everywhere you look. Compared to my last trip I do think I restrained myself quite well though but I think that was mostly because I only had a few days in Tokyo and although we visited quite a few otaku shops in Seoul their prices were considerably higher than what you can find in Japan, but I still put quite a dent in my bank account...

Most of the things I bought were Pokemon related, after Pokemon Go came out I became obsessed and it's an ongoing joke in my family that if they can't find me I'll most likely be out playing it, which isn't too far from the truth haha! I hope you've been enjoying seeing my hauls so far there will be a couple more coming soon but for now I'm on a spending ban... at least until I can afford my next kawaii adventure!

Who is your favourite Pokemon character?

Love & Squirtles

Cate

xoxo

Studio Ghibli Exhibition in Seoul, South Korea

Whilst in Seoul I noticed there was a Studio Ghibli Exhibition happening in the Sejong Center and as a huge Ghibli and animation fan I had to go check it out. I absolutely loved my visit to The Ghibli Museum in Japan so I was happy to get the chance to go to a different Ghibli exhibition and learn even more about some of my all my favourite animated movies.

Taking photos was prohibited in the first part of the exhibition but it was set up in a similar way to the Ghibli Museum in Japan showing Miyazaki's workplace, sketches and storyboards, I was surprised seeing some of the sketches on display as they just looked like random scribbles that didn't seem to represent anything so it was amazing to think how somehow these seemingly random ideas got turned into these beautiful movies which have touched so many hearts.

Another part of the exhibition was a room full of all the different merchandise produced for the movies and it was honestly life goals! I had no idea there was so many beautiful things made for the movies although most of the things on display are limited edition and long since out of production it was nice to see how diverse and cute all their merchandise is. I always enjoy seeing peoples different collections especially toy collections. Of course this leads me onto the gift shop which was full of beautiful things to but unfortunately everything there was priced a lot higher than Japan and as much as I wanted to buy out the whole shop I decided to just get one special thing so picked up a little Catbus purse to commemorate my time there.

The second part of the exhibition (which allowed photography) showcased Miyazaki's love of flying and air-planes and featured models, sketches and the inspiration behind just some of the many aircraft that have been featured in the Ghibli movies including a spectacular airship from Nausicaa flying over the city which moved and lit up. Although I've watched all the Ghibli movies multiple times I honestly didn't realise before just how many of the Ghibli movies featured some sort of interesting aircraft or depiction flight, it's so inspiring and touching to see how Miyazaki's dreams of flying were reflected throughout his movies

I couldn't find out much about the exhibit prior to my visit, in fact I only managed to find one short post on a Korean website just stating the location and dates so I had absolutely no idea what to expect so needless to say when I turned the corner ready to exit the exhibition and saw a life sized Catbus you can actually play with I freaked out! One of the biggest disappointments I had whilst visiting The Ghibli Museum in Japan was not being able to play on the Catbus because it was only for kids so having this opportunity as an adult was like a life-long dream come true and I really felt like crying. Ghibli movies are so nostalgic to me and bring back that warm feeling of being a child so having this Catbus all to myself to play with was everything I've ever dreamed of more. Of course I took a million photos with it because this would probably be my one and only chance I get to meet the Catbus and I wanted to preserve the memories, in fact while I'm writing this I have the biggest smile on my face, even bigger than the one on the Catbus!

It's the LAST DAY to enter my anime giveaway!

Love & Acorns

Cate

xoxo

Anime I'm Watching & Loving!

So I took a little break from watching anime, although when I say break I mean not watching one a week like I normally do and I've decided not to check out the new release lists and add anymore new anime to my already ridiculously long watchlist but not to worry I should have more than enough to watch until the summer (even autumn) season starts! There's a real mix of different anime for you to watch in this list, a lot of these I'm not quite sure how I found but there's so much great anime out there I hope there's something new or different for you to check out.

Alice & Zouroku

アリスと蔵六

Sana has spent her whole life inside a laboratory where she is a test subject due to a special ability she has known as "Alice's Dream" which allows her to create anything from her imagination. She escapes and meets a stubborn old man named Zouroku Kashimura in a convenience store. Zouroku empathises with her story and helps her by not only by offering her a place to stay but the chance at a new life as part of his family. The plot of this anime reminded me a bit of Elfen Lied but that's pretty much where the similarities end, where as Elfen Lied takes on a much darker gory route this anime is much more positive and will leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. The animation of the scenery is just beautiful and the relationship between Sana and Zouroku is so adorable, i definitely recommend you giving this a watch if you're feeling a little down because it's so cute you won't help but smile.

Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler

賭ケグルイ

Students of Hyakkaou Private Academy are the richest in the world, by day it's a regular school but at night it becomes a gambling den where the students reputation at the school is determined by a variety of games with high-stakes at risk, the students who can't repay their debts become slaves to those who hold their money. New student Yumeko Jabami joins the academy and unlike the rest she gambles not to win but for the thrill of it and her crazy way of gambling beings to shake the hierarchy. This is a really interesting yet twisted anime that reminded me a little of Death Parade. Yumeko is such an interesting character she's completely obsessed with the thrill of gambling and has absolutely no inhibitions which terrifies her peers. The anime gives a great insight into the gambling world, the nature of addiction and why people love to gamble. One of the things I really liked about this anime is how twisted and dark it got and the characters are just relentless, there's so many twists and turns each episode it really takes you on a trip.

18if

Haruto Tsukishiro wakes up to discover he's trapped in dream world! This world is full of witches who are actually young women who suffer from "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome" caused by problems they suffer in the real world so it's up to Haurto to break these witches spells in order to help these women and himself escape the dream world he's been trapped in. This anime confused me at first because I didn't know what the heck was going on as each episode was all over the place, had multiple styles and plots which I later found out was because each episode had a different director work on it so each episode can pretty much be view individually as the overall plot of Haruto doesn't matter in the long run as the focus is mainly on the stories of these young women. That being said after I understood the concept of the series I found it really interesting, basically each of the witches are a symbol of an insecurity or torment that each of the young women has and must overcome in order to wake up and live again in the real world. I liked the message that the series was trying to convey which was basically to not give up and learn to overcome the difficulties life throws at you. Each story was presented in a very unique way, there's a lot of symbolism and crazy art styles which can be distracting but I thought it was an interesting way to present the importance of never giving up and overcoming those difficulties faced in life so if you want to see an anime that's slightly different from the norm then definitely give this one a try.

Vatican Miracle Examiner

バチカン奇跡調査官

Hiraga Josef Kou, a genius scientist and Robert Nicholas, a cryptography expert are good friends and and "Miracle Examiners" appointed by Vatican City to examine the truth, conspiracies and lies behind miracles from all over the world. I love a good supernatural mystery drama and I kinda stumbled upon this one by accident and I'm quite glad I did, I don't want to spoil this anime because the mystery is part of the fun but some of these conspiracies just blew my mind, you think a case starts of quite simply but the deeper you go the crazier it gets! I'm a big fan of the gothic genre and I love religious imagery, conspiracies and all things supernatural so if you're anything like me you definitely need to check this one out!

Brynhildr in the Darkness

極黒のブリュンヒルデ

While searching for proof of alien life Ryouta Murakami is involved in an accident which results in the death of his friend Kuroneko. Ten years later a new transfer student joins Ryouta's class who looks exactly like his deceased friend, her name Kuroha Neko. Kuroha is not a normal student she can't read and doesn't know her multiplication tables and even stranger she seems to possess inhuman strength and abilities. This is another one that randomly showed up in my recommends list which I knew nothing about but it had an interesting plot line and name, which I'm still trying to understand. There's a lot of elements in this anime that remind me Elfen Lied and although it shares some quite interesting concepts I don't think it'a anywhere near as memorable or impactful as Elfen Lied it actually felt more like a harem anime than a sci-fi drama with all the random ecchi scenes. Overall I did enjoy this anime, the animation was beautiful, the storyline was interesting and the characters likeable and easy to understand, so if you liked Elfen Lied maybe give this one a try.

Don't forget to check out my anime Giveaway and enter for your chance to win some goodies!
Love & Bubble Tea

Cate

xoxo

FYeahJapan: A Day in Shibuya - Tokyo

After experiencing some culture and sights of Japan on my first day in Tokyo my second day was shopping day! On my first trip to Japan I noticed a guy at Shibuya station wearing this amazing Hachiko themed souvenir jacket and ever since then I've been on a mission to get myself one so top of my list was a trip to Vanquish in 109 Men's which FYI I think has a better clothes selection than the famous Shibuya 109 so definitely check it out even if you're into more feminine styles because they have some really cute and nerdy stuff BUT first we needed food so we headed over to Tower Records to check out the pop-up Osomatsu-san Kawaii Cafe.

Disclaimer: I know nothing about this anime but Violet is a fan so we had to check it out and it's kinda a rule that when you're in Japan you need to check out as many themed cafes as you can! We had to order a drink and a dish each so I let Violet choose the cutest desserts for her photos because I will pretty much eat anything when I'm hungry so I ended up with a matcha cheesecake but it didn't taste like matcha or cheesecake... it had a strange sort of jelly like texture and was kinda bland but it came with fruit so that at least gave it a bit of flavour, the coffee was good though and that's all I really wanted.

Once we were done eating at Tower Records I wanted to get my jacket but on the way noticed a sign for a We Bare Bears event and decided to check it out and to our complete surprise and amazement met not only the bears but Finn and Jake from Adventure Time, The Powerpuff Girls and a bunch of other characters from The Amazing World of Gumball. If you couldn't already tell from my vlog I was super hyped and I took as many random selfies as I could, I kinda love the fact I'm making the same expressions as the bears in these photos even though it wasn't intentional, I was so happy seeing them I just couldn't contain my pure joy and excitement.

During our amazing encounter with the bears we found a shop selling a whole bunch of different anime stuff for just ¥100 so ended up spending a lot longer than we probably should have checking out absolutely every little thing they had and then after way too much browsing we finally reached 109 Men's and I got my jacket YEY! Of course I couldn't go to Shibuya without visiting the famous Shibuya 109 to check out all the cute fashion and BTS pop-up shop, Kpop really does follow me everywhere! We also took some Purikura in their super cute new pastel pink selfie room because you have to do purikura when in Japan, it's the law! After all that shopping we were in desperate need of some more food so decided to get some cheap noms at Genki Sushi before walking over to Harajuku for even more shopping. I totally forgot to vlog the rest of the day as my hands were getting full of shopping bags, I was loosing the will to live and it was already getting dark but if you're curious to see all the things I bought in Japan I will be posting a haul video very soon so be sure to stay tuned for that and even more Tokyo adventures...

What's the most random but amazing encounter you've ever had?

Love & BEARS

Cate

xoxo

FYeahJapan: A Visit to the Himouto! Umaru-chan Cafe in Animate, Akihabara

If you're ever in Japan one of the things you have to do is visit a theme cafe! As I only had a few days in Tokyo I wasn't sure if I would have time to check out one of the many awesome themed cafes there but luckily whilst shopping in Akihabara and in much need of a refreshment break I stumbled upon a pop-up Himouto! Umaru-chan cafe inside Animate and as a fan of the anime had to check it out.

Animate usually changes the theme of its cafe every month or two so I was quite lucky to be around for the Himouto! Umaru-chan one which was in celebration of the second anime series being released. I absolutely adored the first series and like many otakus totally related to Umaru's character... we're like the same person!! Although I haven't had a chance to watch any of the second series yet with all the travel craziness now I'm home and settled I'll definitely be catching up soon in true Umaru style in my underwear with lots of junk food and soda.

After a day of shopping in Akihabara my energy levels were running low so I was in need of some sugar and caffeine to boost my energy and prepare me for even more nerdy shopping so finding this cafe was like finding a treasure and compared to other theme cafe's I've been to in Tokyo quite reasonably priced with all the desserts and drinks costing no more than ¥700 each, they also had main dishes such as okonomiyaki, omurice, curry, hamburgers etc. for just under ¥1000 however as with most theme cafes in Japan there were no vegetarian options but luckily I was craving something sweet anyway so I went for the the yummiest looking thing on the menu, the pancakes.

The pancakes were served with maple syrup, cream, vanilla ice cream and orange sorbet which are all of my favourite toppings, they gave you quite a big helping to and the pancakes were so soft and delicious they definitely satisfied my sweet cravings. The coffee I got was pretty good to even though I don't normally like sweet, creamy drinks I felt like I kinda had to get a cute one because when in "kawaii land"... but despite all the cream and stuff on top it was still surprisingly a good cup of coffee and more importantly gave me that extra energy I needed to get me through the rest of the day because I was not done with my otaku shopping yet!

Animate were also selling some exclusive merchandise in the cafe so I picked myself up a little towel with an embroidered 8-bit Umaru on it as I've been into cute towels recently and I also got some cute coasters as a freebie of Umaru-chan, Onii-chan and, Ebina-chan, the coasters are all supposed to be random so I was pretty lucky to get different ones of the main characters. My one day in Akihabara was definitely a good one not only did I find one of my "MUST HAVE" toys I got to visit a theme cafe of one of my favourite anime to so I would call that an overall successful nerdy trip to Tokyo.

What anime themed cafe would you like to visit?

Love & Hotcakes

Cate

xoxo

Psssst if you want to see more awesome cafes from around the world you can click the button below, buy me a coffee, get treats & a shoutout on my next post