人形！ ブライスドール！ Doll collections

To develop a post on doll collection throughout Japan would sheer insanity. Japan has too many cute, expensive, cheap, plastic, vinyl and wooden "ningyou" to ever hope to see them all. But, my girlfriend has found one type of doll that she is now an "otaku" of them: Blythe dolls! http://www.flickr.com/photos/30350986@N02/ That is her flickr. It's populated mostly by these strange little Blythes'. They are one small aspect of pop culture one can find in Japan.

But these dolls are sold almost exclusively in Japan. Now that I am here, I have to gather a few for her. I made a trip to Osaka on Sunday and went to two stores, Girlest Girl in Fukushima「福島」 and the Kiddy Land in Hankyuu Sanbankan「阪急三番館」. At Girlest Girl, I met Tomi, a Japanese girl that works at the store.

I forgot to ask her if she had any dolls, though! It is a really cute shop though. One room stuffed to roof with Blythe dolls.

They have the works here. Clothes, boots, accessories and what not. The dolls are originally from the 70's, but didn't sell very successfully. Later, in the early 90's, a woman named Junie Moon collected a bunch and made a photo book about them. That officially reignited the craze, and now there are new models being released. Certain ones are very limited, with only one thousand of some editions being made for sale.

I really liked this store. It is very small and comfortable. The Kiddy Land I didn't bother taking pictures at because of its large "chain-y" nature. I worked at locally owned deli back in the states, so I am big sucker for indepent vendor of any sort.