I Get Dressed In The Morning

Because I haven’t posted an outfit in a while… Here you can see me posing like an idiot with a pirate mannequin on Tokyo! (we were at ‘King of Pirates’, a pirate themed restaurant.. Full review coming soon!)

Wearing: vintage tee with kitties on it from Pop, bodycon skirt from tkmaxx, hairbow from Tokyo Disneyland, beads from Pop.

I love this outfit, but unfortunately it’s all in a box somewhere between Tokyo and me because our cases were so full we had to post stuff back.. Oh yeah and its coming BY SEA.. So will take 3 months! Gah!

chrislamberttattoo:

I have just got back from my holiday to Tokyo a few days ago and finally got round to uploading some pictures on here. This was my 5th trip to Tokyo and me and my girlfriend stayed there for 17 days. We were joined for part of the holiday by my good friend (and fellow tattooist), Dave Voegeli from Norfolk, Virginia in the USA.

It is sad for me that the holiday is already over, but I now feel refreshed and full of new ideas and inspiration to put into my work.

There were many highlights of the trip, but one of the main events for me was to meet Japanese tattoo master, Horiyoshi III.

My tattooist (Horiyoshi III apprentice), Horikitsune (Alex Renke) was also in Japan at the same time as us and we arranged to meet him at Horiyoshi III studio in Yokohama. Myself, Alex and Dave then spent an hour or so with Horiyoshi III in his studio. After this, Alex was kind enough to take me and Dave on a tour of two local temples in Yokohama.

Shortly after our temple trip we visited Horiyoshi III tattoo museum, where we met his wife and son (future Horiyoshi IV) and spent some time studying the items and pictures on display.

Myself and Dave are both very grateful to the Horiyoshi family for their hospitality and warmth, in particular Alex, who showed us some great things that day including a fruit shop which sold $100 melons and bunches of grapes for $80! It really had to be seen to be believed!

We had a great time and it was a very memorable day for me, the photograph here is of Dave, Horiyoshi III and me in his studio.

So, I have had an amazing first full day in Tokyo! We went to our regular little coffee shop for breakfast before hopping on a train to Harajuku and tearing our way down Takeshi Dori, the main shopping street. Here me, Chris and Dave browsed our way around: Pink Latte, 6%DokiDoki, Fred Perry, Daiso and many more!

After that, we went to the more specialised areas of shops where you find the real gems. I visited Eddie Legends store ‘Attractions’, the famous Jack ‘elovis’ Sato’s shop ‘Jumpin’ Jacks’, designer toy shop ‘Secret Base’, lowbrow artist Rockin’ Jellybeans shop, ‘Erostica’ and the brilliant ‘Tokyo Peppermint’. The staff in Attractions and Erostica remembered me from last year and were chatting away to find out what gigs I am performing this year!

The rain pelted down for about an hour! There was bright white sheet lightening and thunder claps so loud I actually screamed! We hid underneath the entrance to a shop and waited until the rain died down a little before continuing back to Shinkjuku.

When We returned to Shinjuku we had a rest at our hotel before going to the Tokyo Government Building to see a view of the whole of Tokyo lit up in the night. 45 floors up in the elevator and we arrived at the observation deck.. It was great to look at the buildings and lights of Tokyo and it made me want to just jump into this huge amazing city!

We grabbed ourselves a bowl of pork ramen each and wolfed it down before racing round to absorb the atmosphere of Taito Game Centre at night.. ‘UFO catcher’ machines grasping desperately at toys we would never win, thick smoke rising from abandoned cigarettes and players who had abandoned them glued to screens with fit-inducing flashing images and noise so loud it should be illegal.. I love this side of Tokyo just as much as the peaceful, serene temples and shrines.

I posed my heart out in a stickerpicture machine and used the electronic doodle pad to write childish words and scribbles all over the pictures. 

And now here I am! Ready for bed.. we have no idea what we will be doing tomorrow, but that just makes me even more excited! I was going to leave you with some photos I had taken on my iPhone, but for some reason I cannot get them from my phone to the computer using the sync cable :( So, i’ll let you have extra pictures tomorrow! 

Arigato! Katy x

Actually cannot wait!! Get me outta this country!