Cute Koenji Cafe: Hattifnatt

My sweet new friend Sara showed me this adorable cafe in Koenji.  I fell in love with it with the first step I took through the door.  A few weeks later, I came back with my friend Megan because I knew she would love it.  These photos are from that trip.  The cafe is located within a few minutes walk of Koenji station.

I thought the name sounded like it could be Finnish and did some googling.  It turns out that Hattifnattar, in Swedish, is the word for a creature in the Finnish Moomin comic series, which the white creatures on the sign above the door resemble.

The best way to describe this cafe is that it feels like a cross between some restaurant out of a Ghibli movie and a tree house... if it weren't actually inside a tree.  Upon entering, you can see the food being prepared behind the counter and it feels like being in someone's home kitchen.  On the right side is a counter with cute packaged cookies and desserts for sale.

The seating area is on the second floor so you have to go up some tiny steps to get there.   All of the walls are painted with colorful murals and there is a lofted seating area that you can access by climbing a ladder.  The cafe also plays a soundtrack of lullaby versions of famous songs.

On my second visit to this cafe, I found out that there is an English menu available.  I'm so happy about that because I was afraid to recommend this cafe to some of my friends who don't speak Japanese, especially because you must place your order over a little intercom system.  However, if you struggle with Japanese, a waitress can come to the table and take your order instead.

mushroom doria looks like it's out of a Ghibli movie

the cutest strawberry milk drink

Hattifnatt is a truly unique location and I highly recommend it for a cozy and memorable cafe experience.

☆ Access ☆

Address: 2-18-10 Koenji-kita, Suginami-ku, Tokyo

Transport: Koenji Station (Chuo line), north exit

Telephone: 03 6762 8122

Map: TimeOut Tokyo

Design Festa 2014

This is really overdue but I felt like I still should make a post about it because it was so much fun!  I went to International Design Festa which is a huge art convention that happens twice a year in Japan.  It takes place at Tokyo Big Sight in Odaiba which is kind of far from me but if course I went anyway.  The event only costs 800 JPY for admission in advance and 1,000 JPY the day of.

he whole building was full of little tables of artists selling their work.  There were also some artists doing live painting and an area for performances.  I didn't bring my camera though but I think it wasn't such a terrible decision just because the event was so hectic and I did not feel like carrying that heavy thing around.

There were really so many cute artists whose work I loved and I took business cards from all of them!  I followed a lot of their twitters so you if you're curious, you can check out this little list I made here.  I'm thinking of doing a write-up on some of them in the future.

I loved this girl who did live painting in a seifuku.  It made me want to try and paint something big too.

Not entirely sure what was going on here but I was down for a photo.

Here are a couple shots of things I bought from artists there!

From the Japan Lover Me booth!  These pins are by Little Miss Paintbrush.

I love this cute little framed embroidery piece. n_n

You can't see it well but it's a gift for my local Japanese friend.  It's a photo holder that looks like a strawberry cake and they even packaged it that way too!!

This pin is amazing but difficult to photograph.  I bought it from this sweet girl who looked like she should be working in the Spank! shop.  She doesn't have a website but her instagram is here.

This event was really so much fun.  I highly recommend going to Design Festa because it's a really inspiring experience.  It's a good way to meet and learn about other artists as well as purchase original artwork at a reasonable price.  I did a lot of gift shopping too.  I spent a lot of money here but it was definitely guilt free because I knew the money I spent was going directly to an independent artist who more than likely was the person I just physically handed my money to.

I had so much fun blogging in Japanese last time around and I will resume that with my next post on my trip to Mt. Fuji so stick around~

My Melody Cafe and Shibuya Shopping!

I am so happy that I finally made it to one of the kawaii themed cafes in Parco!  My friend Natalie and I got to the My Melody Cafe at around 11:15 am, 15 minutes after it opened and the wait was already about 2 hours long but we happily got on line and stayed there for the whole 2 hours.  We were the only non-Japanese people in line and I was kind of surprised.  The two hours passed very quickly and when we approached the entrance of the cafe, one of the staff members allowed us to place our orders in advance.

me and My Melo-chan

Is this a good look for us?

We decided to just order dessert food because it looked cuter.  We did not plan this in advance so lunch became dessert.  I never claimed to be a health blogger.  That being said, I would not recommend this route without eating something in advance.

We both ordered this iced latte.  It was really cute but also kind of strange.  The top layer was this thick, strawberry creme and the coffee was just the part with ice underneath.  The cream on top just kind of stayed there like it was floating in the cup as we drank the coffee part.  But we eventually mixed it in and it tasted pretty alright.  The stenciled My Melody character tasted like it was made of powdered dried strawberries.

I ordered this cute roll cake with strawberry creme that tasted like what was in the latte.  It also came with the fruit decorations and the themed cookie.  It wasn't outstanding but it looked really cute so I wasn't mad.

Natalie got this parfait that was really cute!  I tried some of the strawberry flavored popcorn and it was really good.  She said that there was some kind of jelly in the bottom of it.

We also got to keep the placemats and coasters that came with our food.  There was a souvenir shop and special limited gacha toys but we didn't get anything.  I think that it was worth the wait just to have the experience but it's not like the food was particularly outstanding beyond aesthetics.  I'll basically do anything for cute food, obviously.

Since we were already in Shibuya, we decided to go to 109.  If you don't know 109, it's one of the most famous malls in Japan and has many brand name stores.  Some of the stores there include Swankiss, Punyus, Kokokim and Fig and Viper.  We made a point to walk through the whole mall.  I don't have any photos because many stores in Japan are very strict about photographing their products.

I mostly did shopping for my friends' birthday gifts so I can't post photos of those because they're a surprise.  Today was kind of sad because there was a lot of clothing on sale but none of it was anything I liked all that much.  However, I did buy these amazing tights.  They were kind of a splurge at 2,000 JPY but they were the last pair and I would never see then again if I didn't buy them so...

I can't wait to wear these when it gets colder!!

At nearly every store we went into, someone who worked there saw my shirt and said "Sailor Moon, kawaii!!!" I had a nice conversation with the guy who was working at Swankiss and a girl working at Liz Lisa.  Even when I was outside, a guy who was advertising for an izakaya yelled "月に代わって、お仕置きよ！" (in the name of the moon, I will punish you) after me.  So embarrassing.

We made a point to find the Galaxxxy store too and I hadn't been there in 2 years since I was last in Japan.  I found that they had different things than what was listed in their online shop.  There was a jacket I really wanted but I couldn't justify the purchase even though it was on sale.  I was really into the video game themed clothing and things today.  I think that's my new aesthetic interest.  I aspire to be some kind of magical pixel space girl.

For dinner, since we needed to supplement our dessert for lunch, we went to Uobei sushi!  This is an amazing hidden gem of Shibuya.  It's one of those sushi places with plates that are 100 yen (~$1) but the difference between this restaurant and others is that the sushi comes directly to you after you order it instead of you picking it up off a conveyor belt.  It's really fun!  I actually learned about it from my friend Elleanor.  She shows clips of it in this video here!  It should have been super crowded given what time it was and the price of the food but we didn't even have to wait.  I think most tourists don't know it's there because it's on a side street.  Another cute thing about this place is that when you order a certain amount of sushi, a rock, paper, scissors game comes up on your screen and if you win you can get a coupon or a coin for a sushi keychain gacha machine.

We also went to LOFT which is this amazing store that sells all kinds of toys, stationery and electronics.  They didn't have the Rilakkuma toys we wanted but they had these.

These big Tara McPherson bunnies are the best and they reminded me of home because I miss working at her gallery/store.

Fuchiko toys are so funny and strange.  I'm kind of obsessed with them but I haven't even bought any yet.  This display was amazing.

Of course no day is complete without purikura.  I somehow managed to salvage this shot from my crappy flip phone, truly a miracle.  They're much easier to access from a smartphone.

Then of course, I had to get on a crowded train home and stand almost the whole 2 hours because my stop is last and no one knows that by looking at me so no one offers me a seat.  It's always the worst and I feel so tired from walking at the end of the day, but I always somehow manage to get a second wind when I get home which is why this post happened.

I'm sorry it was just iPhone photos today!  Carrying my DSLR around all day can hurt my back/shoulders so I don't want to do it all the time.  Thank you for reading and of course if you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them here or in my ask.fm.

International Tokyo Toy Show

Last weekend, I went to Tokyo to check out the International Tokyo Toy Show!  I saw some people post about it when it happened last year so I knew that I had to see it this time around.  The show was held at a convention center called Tokyo Big Sight.  I had never been to this area of Tokyo before and it was so beautiful!  It reminded me of one of those futuristic Pokemon towns.

The space was really large and there was so much to see!  When I first walked into the exhibition hall, I saw a bunch of mascots like this one below.  They were so cute!

This post is very image heavy so I am putting the rest behind a link.  Please click below!