Where the seller of stars for a penny or two will sell your heart's desire to you

It's probably looked like I've really done a lot in 2020 so far, but it's because I've been trying to do as much as possible before moving away. I haven't really had time to stop and process any of it until just recently, and when I was sat listening to Mika Ice Cream came on and it transported me straight back to his live shows and it really struck me just how wild this year has been. It's only March and I've already traveled to Luxembourg and Holland, seen three Mika shows and met him, been to see four West End musicals, went to a special screening of my favorite movie and met the director, Todd Phillips, afterwards. I can't even wrap my mind around it all. And now I've moved to Japan!

I've only been here a week and it's barely sunk in and still kind of feels like I'm on vacation, but so far it's been amazing, mostly for the people I've met more than anything. Throwing a bunch of people headfirst into the same situation is great way to form friendships! I've had a bit of time to myself so decided to head into Tokyo yesterday for a bit of a look round. I mostly visited Shinjuku and Shibuya, and it's weird how much my memory kicked in from when I last in Tokyo. I spent a lot of time in Shinjuku and Shibuya back then because I was super into J-fashion and as soon as I was back I was remembering things that I had no idea I even remembered! I kinda knew which way to go and where certain things were, and it was also cool getting thrown off by things that have changed in the time since.




The Disney Store in Shibuya was one of the main places I wanted to go, and I can't begin to tell you how incredible this place is. What I love most about Disney in Japan is that they recognize that single childless adults are the ones with the most disposable income so 90% of the shop is stuff for adults and there's just a tiny corner of the store selling toys for kids. This is one of the main stores and it's across three floors, and even the inside is designed like a castle and you have to climb a spiral staircase to get to each floor. I think I did really well buying so little honestly! Especially as all of my favorite Disney characters are super popular in Japan.



I only shopped at the Disney Store and a store called Tokyu Hands which has an incredible selection of stationary which I'm always weak for! I'm trying to be really mindful of what I buy as I had to clear out so much before moving and it really puts into perspective how easy it is to be wasteful, but I'm so happy with the things I picked and some of them I actually set out for. I couldn't resist the Wizard of Oz Moleskine as it's a book that's so important to me (I just hope I'm not too scared to write in it!), and I loved the New York file as it reminds me that I will go back! It's funny, I think I had the worst bout of illness I've ever had in my whole life when I was in New York and it really restricted me in what I was able to do and see, but I still came away absolutely in love with the city. And other than Broadway I hadn't even been fussed about going before I got there, I was only going for the theater. I keep a picture I took of New York in my wallet so that when I open it I see it and think to myself "Do I want this thing I'm about to spend money on, or can I save it for a future trip?", and I thought having my stuff in this folder would work in a similar way.

After the Disney store I wandered around Shibuya 109 which is a mall over 8 floors (although each shop isn't very big!) exclusively catering to young women and full of the latest J-fashion. I'm sure you can imagine the price tags on most of it, so I was content to just look but I love seeing it all as it's so distinctive and so much prettier than what people wear back home.




I also went to Tower Records as I've never actually been in one and I wanted to see the Japanese variations of my favorite records. Although I have Mika's CDs in English I'm tempted to collect these versions anyway, or at least one or two. And they had a whole Joker display. It was interesting to me that the movie is just subtitled because when I saw Joker at the movie theater in Paris it was fully dubbed into French. They had a DC Comics pop up shop in Shibuya 109 and I was disappointed that they didn't have any hint of Joker there, I find it weird how they're still not merchandising the movie despite how many awards its won. Let me give you my money!!

With this perfect finale, the cheers and the ballyhoo

I saw Wicked yesterday as it'll probably be a long while until I get to see it again. And although I obviously enjoyed it, I'm happy to say that I'm content to take a break. I still love it like always, but it's definitely veering into the familiar and I don't want to see it so often that it loses it's magic as it's such an important happy place for me.



Sat in my usual spot, second row right under the Time Dragon!
Lisa-Anne Wood was playing Glinda and she's fantastic, I'd not seen her before but I really loved everything about her performance. I never understand it when they hide away the better actors as the standby and I always appreciate getting to see them in the role - I hate when people complain about having to see a standby, it's a treat! Laura Pick is Elphaba now, she's been the standby Elphaba for years but Nikki Bentley had to suddenly drop out which is a huge shame and I hope she's OK. I'd seen Laura before when she covered for Alice Fearn so knew I was in good hands, and I'm so happy for her that she's the principal now as she's worked so long and hard at the role. Unfortunately I’m still really underwhelmed with Fiyero which is a shame as he's one of my favorite characters. I still really loved Kim Ismay as Madame Morrible, she looks like she’s chewing a wasp throughout the whole thing. There's a new Boq and I really liked him too, but it does bother me though that Boq is the only character that they regularly cast black actors for when Fiyero is canonically an Indigenous person of color and always played by a white guy. It would be so refreshing to see him correctly cast just once! Overall I really loved it though! I nearly cried at the end as it was just so perfect, and on my way home I couldn't help but wonder that, if my dreams end up coming true, whether this could be the last time I see it in London?



They had some new merch, so of course I had to get it.
Otherwise I spent most of my trip running after my own tail a little bit, but I still enjoyed it! I went to Covent Garden and had a little wander round, and popped into Cath Kidston as I was debating whether to get any of their frog collection which I really like (I love frogs!), but they didn't have my size so I decided to head to the flagship store at Piccadilly. I stopped and got some scoops of ice cream from a market stall, salted caramel and raspberry sorbet and ate it on my walk over as the sun was actually pretty warm. I ended up getting the frog skirt from Cath Kidston with a surprise 10% off at the till, and then I walked to the Saatchi Gallery as on the Tube I'd seen a poster for a Tutankhamen exhibition and checking their website I couldn't see any mention of tickets so decided to head on over. I've been to the Saatchi before so expected that even if the exhibit was ticket only, at least they'd be other stuff to look at for free. Wrong! I walked 2 miles all the way there for nothing, it is ticket only and tickets were £25 and it's taken over the whole gallery. I was at a loss for what to do as I had an hour to kill but my feet were killing me. I considered going to the V&A but there was nothing I actually wanted to look at, so I jumped on the Tube instead and went to Foyles as it's one of my favorite places. I love the huge array of books they sell in that particular store, and there's just something comforting about bookshops in general.