Han, in London

Bit late with this week's entries due to being out and about, so I've got two things to talk about.

First up – Hyper Japan Christmas Market. My best friend organised this trip and I went along having not looked it up much beforehand, but expecting something like the Language Show (trade show for linguists/language teachers etc) but with a bunch of anime. I possibly should have done a bit more research.

So we headed off to Shadwell, which is a really odd nothing place to be honest. I mostly use it as a place to change from the DLR to the Overground when I’m on my wanders. However they do have Tobacco Dock, which is a pretty interesting building in its own right.

Tobacco Dock is a Grade 1 listed warehouse that was converted into a shopping centre in 1990 at a cost of £47 million (OK THEN). It was supposed to be the Covent Garden of East London (which you can see in the design of the place) but it failed and went into administration (I’m not sure if it ever actually opened). It’s now used as a corporate events space, and apparently has been used in quite a few films and TV shows. I suppose with Earl’s Court being redeveloped (is that still on?) it will become even more popular. It’s an interesting building, although some of it is open to the air so it’s flipping freezing on a chilly morning.

So when we got there it turned out that it was basically just a big pile of shops and stalls selling a) anime and anime-related stuff, b) traditional Japanese clothes, c) modern Japanese design, d) all the Gothic Lolita stuff you could want, e) a truckload of jewellery, f) another truckload of soft toys and g) any random shit that didn’t fit in to the above.

There were also stalls selling food, so obviously we got a sushi snack before making our first go round. And then we spent some money. And then we spent some more money. And then we talked to a nice lady from Inside Japan Tours about the trips they offer. And then we spent some more money.

We also went to the food stalls and I had takoyaki, which I just absolutely love (deep fried octopus balls).

And then we spent some more money. BUT! I got some amazing stuff. I was going to try to post pics here but instagram is an arse to embed, so please see my actual instagram: www.instagram.com/hanlondon

It goes from the blurry gold and green earrings (my phone refused to play ball) to the cute purple alpaca <3. Also, follow my instagram if you like pictures of London, jewellery and crafts.