Blog’s 2nd anniversary & next Tokyo trip.

Well, I somehow  missed my blog’s 2 year anniversary recently – as in, last month, on October 7th!

Life has rather been getting in the way, and admittedly at times I’ve been questioning what direction to take or whether to continue. Looking at my very first post, “The Tokyo Obsession“, the subject shows me that while some things change, others don’t.

As in, I’m still obsessed with Tokyo, and am flying back there in 1 week. In my low-key way I’ve been keeping up with a few things there and have things to attend, such as the opening of new Alternative Club “Ground Heaven”.

All of the artists sound interesting (including DJ Raveman from Aural Vampire), but it is Steampunk band Strange Artifact that has really caught my eye. I don’t know of any other Japanese steampunk bands, and it is refreshing to see a band doing something other than the usual visual kei! I’ll let you know how they are when I’ve seen them live.

Strange Artifact recently featured on the Steampunk compilation Pergasia Music, The Lost Journals Volume 1, alongside known talent such as Abney Park and Vernian Process.  This was released on October 13, so it’s hot off the press, so to speak! And be heartened, dear budget-conscious readers, for it is FREE!  Download at your earliest convenience.

Another of Artism’s projects, the Alamode Markets, was recently held on October 15

Alamode Markets are a great place to nab one-offs from emerging designers in the gothic and lolita fashion field. See more from this post, which I wrote a few years ago when I visitedthe markets for the first time.

You can read about the recent day here in the goth loli blog, and more events from the organiser D’s Valentine can be found at Artism.

The other very exciting night I’m attending is Tokyo Dark Castle!! It’s one of my fave clubs, and the line-up this time is SUPERB!!! Check out the promo video here: Tokyo Dark Castle November 19

There’s Kozi!! (ex-Malice Mizer), the Candy Spooky Theater, Velvet Eden, and of course Auto-Mod and Dj Chihiro. What a night!

But wait!! Whilst finding the poster for that one, I saw that the very week before there’s the Tokyo Dark Castle vs Rituals night!  The Rituals part of the night means that not only will Kenzo’s band Gabriels Stiletto be playing, but his fashion line Rituals will be there for the buying, as well as Pure One Corset Works. Hmm…better take some extra cash then!

I’ll be hitting the Shinjuku Marz both Saturdays and having a super bumper time basically.  OK, so rescheduling my trip meant I missed Japan Fashion Week, but to have these fab clubbing nights whilst I’m there makes me very happy 🙂

As long as there are cool things like this going on, I’ll be reporting on them. So, though I may not be as prolific as I used to be blog-writing wise, the Fashionate Traveller hasn’t hung up her travelling boots just yet, and will be around for a while to come 🙂