Things I love #1

Since today is a super sad day for me (anniversary of my mum passing away), I thought I'd create a blog series that's the opposite, things I love :)  Each one will feature a different theme, today's theme is Japan - everything that I love that's Japanese, there's quite a bit :)

My new phone cover

One of the bloggers I follow Instagrammed a YYKawaii phone cover they had and I loved it!  I love anything Kawaii, so I popped over to their Etsy store and saw that they even do Totoro cases! (another Japanese thing I love which I'll be coming to!).  Very quickly I found I was placing an order for an HTC One purple Totoro case ;)  Well, it turned up a couple of days ago and I really couldn't be happier.  It was about £15 all together, which for a custom made case is pretty fantastic and it looks so cute, it's absolutely one of a kind :)

If you're interested in having one made, you can find her Etsy store here :)

My Totoro teddy bear

This I had for Christmas last year and was hands down my favourite present :)  It's the official Studio Ghibli one (more on that later), he lives on my desk behind my laptop, it's like he's always photobombing me :P

Studio Ghibli

** My Totoro/Ghibli computer wallpaper **

I think this is what first started getting me into Japanese culture.  I saw Spirited Away one Sunday morning while I was having breakfast and I was really drawn into the stunning animation, the amazing story, everything about it I loved and just instantly clicked with it.  After that a friend of mine bought Howl's Moving Castle for me for my birthday, I loved that too, so I started buying the DVD's and building up a collection.  My favourites are My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Arrietty, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and The Cat Returns.  I love others too - but they're my favs. Warning though, if you decide to watch Grave of the Fireflies, back it up with a comedy or nice heart warming film afterwards, Grave of the Fireflies is probably the saddest film I've ever seen - have tissues handy for the tears that ensue.

Sushi

** Sushi lunchboxes we made the first time we made Sushi **

Ever since the first conveyor belt sushi restaurant (Zushi) came to Wales (it's now closed down...) I've loved sushi.  As I became vegetarian my love of sushi didn't change, as pretty much the only sushi I ate anyway was the vegetarian ones.  Now, I love nothing more than heading to Yo Sushi! for dinner, or more recently the hubby and I have taken to making our own sushi.  It takes a while with letting the rice soak etc, but it's totally worth it, it tastes exactly like ones you get in Yo Sushi!

Kawaii International

This is a show I discovered over on NHK, which is another Japanese thing I like, both me and the hubby love leaving this channel on :)  This show has 3 presenters and they showcase Kawaii fashion and culture from around Japan, and around the globe.  Just like the phone case at the top of this post, they show you how to make cute things like that too :)  Sadly, I haven't seen it on TV in a while, but I always keep the last episode series linked ready for when the next one will be on, if you like anything Kawaii you need to see this :)  I think you can watch their episodes online too, which is what I might be doing too :P

So they're my main Japanese obsessions at the moment - there's a few other little things too, like the language and the history, the culture, but they're a bit broad for me to put into a blog post :)  Hope you enjoyed this little insight into some of the things I love.

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Hayley from Water Painted Dreams

 

Written by Georgina Kent