Purikura

So, Japan is full of cute things. Everything is cute. Over the top cute. A plain picture, with no hearts and stars and kisses? Muri muri!! (Impossible!!!)

プリクラ or purikura is a famous thing in Japan. My new hobby is to take Purikura. Purikura is a katakana word, meaning it's borrowed from a foreign language. In this case, it comes from English~ Print Club. How you can make "Print Club" sound like "Purikura" is beyond me...

I especially love taking purikura, because it is relatively cheap (each session is 400 yen, or like about $5, but you split that in between however many people are in the picture. You never take purikura by yourself! So it's cheap, and its wholesome. It's hard to find many things to do with your friends that don't involve eating and drinking, and I'm on a diet. So all my friends know me as "Purikura Girl!" now.

These machines keep you occupied for a good amount of time too, because after your photo session in the booth, you can spend a while decorating the photos. There are so many options as you can see. A plethora of different little icons to decorate you photo. By the way, all these photos are really simple compared to what real Japanese people do! You can barely see their faces through all the little teddy bears, turtles, and occasionally: steaming piles of poop (there are lots of funny icons too). By the way, the machine sends the photos to your e-mail, which is why they are good quality here. And they print out for you too, as little stickers.

One time Christina joked about how she would sell her soul to have a purikura machine follow her around. And I stole the joke from her and say it myself. ;) But it's true! Somehow, the lighting and technology make you look so cute! I think the machine takes at least 20 pounds off of me. It's just the special lights I guess! The room that you take purikura in totally white. Glaring white. Bright bright white lights glaring on you from all directions. I'm not sure how we keep our eyes open when the machine tells us to get ready and take the shot. :)

Anyways, not sure why I did a blog post on this, but we don't really have anything like this in America, and I will miss it when I return to California! Someone over there may say "we have that!" But no. No you don't. You don't understand. haha. There isn't just one machine to choose from here. There are rows and rows and rows of them. Some advertising to make your lips look fuller. Some that add makeup and eyelashes to you. Rows and rows of machines that literally scream at you to come inside. It's a little like one of those bad clown dreams.....