Pink

I wanted to share this photograph with all those who have never been to a Japanese department store.

In every one, there is a corner, or in some cases practically a whole floor, which looks like this. Pink, fluffy, cute and generally vomit-inducing. This is Japan at its very Japanese-est. After a while you get used to it. Even I, a staunch advocate of banning the colour pink since I can remember, have succumbed to the Japanese obsession with it, and have added bright pink laces to my new purple shoes.

Oh, yeah, that's another thing. Japanese people, both men and women, love shoes. Girls wear all kinds of heels and flats, even just to normal university lectures, and men seem to love very brightly coloured trainers or expensive looking boots with skinny jeans tucked inside. I should have taken a photo of the store I bought mine from - it was like a shoe palace. I think after this year, English fashion is going to be such a disappointment.