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I follow a few selective fashion influencers on Instagram. Two of these such fashion influencers demonstrate more traditional (maybe old fashioned) fashion trends from bygone eras. Both of these guys showcase two totally different styles. However, they both advocate wearing traditional analog watches, not just as fashion accessories, but as actual classic timepieces. I even used to wear watches once upon a time, watches in all shapes & sizes.
When I was younger, around middle school to high school age, I wore watches. My watch wearing phase started with a vintage 1980s Sanrio Hello Kitty children’s watch handed down to me from my sister (her father used to import-export Sanrio merchandise from Hong Kong & Japan). The watch had a white (faded to a dingy yellow) plastic analog face with a tiny fish bowl as the second hand & a blue & red striped band. I wore that watch until it no longer fit my wrist, & am not sure what happened to it after I stopped wearing it. I even tried wearing it once after the battery had expired, but the children’s sized band just wouldn’t fit around my chubby wrist.
The second watch I ever wore was a gift from my mom that she got at a department store sale. It was a white & silver Guess brand watch with a white braided leather band & a round silver analog face. I wore that watch every single day throughout my high school days until the coloring on the leather band started peeling. After that, I wore a long silver chain necklace with a spherical shaped pendant that had a watch face in the middle. It was a very small pendant on a too-long-for-me chain, but I still wore it every day, even though it was difficult to read the time on it. One time, I asked my friends if I looked like rapper Flav-A-Flav, but they had no clue who he even was.
Since those high school days, I stopped wearing watches, mostly because I had gotten lazy. From my college days until young adulthood, I had no interest in fashion, jewelry, or accessorizing my outfits. I did go through a Japanese streetwear tomboy phase in my mid-twenties & tried wearing a Casio G-Shock watch, which had become very trendy & collectible at the time, but it didn’t make me look like a tomboy or a hipster. It only made me look like a try-hard playing dress-up in men’s clothes. So, I stopped wearing trendy watches.
At one point in my early twenties, I went back to wearing watches for a bit & had another Hello Kitty watch. It had a wide black silicone band, black square watch face, & a tiny red bow for the second hand. I bought this watch right around the time I started working at the Sanrio Surprises store at my local shopping mall. I used my meager employee discount to get my hands on the latest products before we displayed them in the store. I saw this watch & snapped it up immediately.
Somehow, in recent years, I started thinking about wearing watches again. I guess my romantic feelings toward nostalgic things has piqued my interest in watches again. For the past two to three years, I have been considering very carefully whether or not I truly want to continue wearing watches again, or if it is just a trend I am fixating on. Have I been noticing other popular influencers wearing traditional analog watches & feeling some sort of FOMO? Is my nostalgia increasing in strength as I grow older? Or maybe I am trying to actively wean myself off of being glued to my phone, & I am trying to not use my phone’s clock as an excuse. Maybe it’s a mixture of all these things. It doesn’t really matter.
I carefully thought out what I really wanted, waited patiently, then pulled the trigger & bought myself a watch. I have been seeing this brand BREDA on Instagram a lot in the past year, & I really fell in love with their watch designs. I consulted with Jian, who is my voice of reason, my truth mirror, & my sounding board. He helped me to choose a watch that fit my body type/shape & would fit my everyday lifestyle, but also match my wardrobe. This watch is not extremely expensive, yet also not the cost of a cereal box plastic prize. It looks fancy, but also can be worn with everyday ease. Here are the photos as follows:
So far I am loving this watch, & I am pushing myself to get back into the habit of wearing watches every day. I cannot wait to see how the band will look & feel once it’s been worn in. It’s a little bit stiff now, seeing as how it is out-of-the-box brand new, but it’s still comfortable to wear. Also, since this is the mid-size sedan equivalent of watches, I’m not too concerned about minor scratches or everyday wear & tear. It’s bound to happen anyway, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t take good care of this watch. I’m hoping to wear this one for as long, if not longer, than the one I wore in high school (which is a very long time).
I am so glad that analog watches are coming back in style. I have no desire to wear a digital watch. It’s nice to have something functional, practical, & pretty to look at instead of always reaching for a mobile device. I hope more people of the next generations get to appreciate the joys of owning & wearing a traditional analog watch like we do. Until the next post, cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
If you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?
This is as straightforward of an answer I can give you: jeans & a sweatshirt. I live in an area within California where I can pretty much wear long pants & sweatshirts/sweaters all year round. There is one small stretch at the end of summer, just before fall, where it gets almost unbearably hot. However, pretty much throughout the other parts of the year, I can wear long pants & long sleeve shirts.
My go-to outfit pretty much every day is a pair of skinny jeans & either a long-sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, or a lightweight sweater. Since I don’t have to get dressed up to go to a corporate office, or meet anybody in a formal setting, I don’t have much need to wear business casual clothing. I have some formalwear, a few basic pieces that I can throw on for special occasions, but most of my everyday wardrobe since becoming a parent, has been taken over by comfort-wear.
I have a small selection of skinny jeans in various shades of blue that I rotate through weekly. I don’t follow the major fashion trends, & I know skinny jeans are not in style right now, but I don’t care. I’m fairly short in stature, so I feel like wearing any other style of jeans (i.e. boyfriend fit, relaxed fit, boot leg, etc.) would just make me look shorter, wider in frame, & frumpy. I am a skinny or straight leg jeans lady for life. Also, being a creature of habit, I always stay within the blue hue range. I am not comfortable venturing out to other colors in jeans.
Because of the area I live in, the weather is always temperate, so I don’t usually have to put away my autumn/winter clothes or rotate my wardrobe based on the seasons. I have a dedicated shelf in my closet just for my regular-use sweaters & sweatshirts. I rotate through these items weekly. If you were to ask me, I would say that I prefer sweatshirts over sweaters, but that’s only because sweatshirts are easy to throw in to the washing machine, whereas sweaters need to be specialty hand washed or dry cleaned. I’m not a particularly messy or sloppy person, buuuttt…I can be rough & careless at times when I do things, & that can create irreversible messes on my clothes. So, casual sweatshirts are the way to go! They keep me warm, hides my body image issues, & can withstand my day-to-day activities.
So there you have it. I’m a sweatshirt & jeans kind of lady. I don’t have to take too much time in the mornings to choose an outfit. I can grab & go, & with a little child that takes for-ev-er to get ready in the mornings, it’s always easiest to have something simple to throw on & not have to think too much about it. Of course, I wouldn’t be my usual OCD self if I didn’t add on that my everyday clothing must be clean & wrinkle-free. I may be a basic dresser, but I will never compromise on cleanliness & neatness/tidiness. That is all. Cheers.
Today’s song of the day:
Whenever I visit Japan, I usually go in the Summer or Winter. (Maybe I like to torture myself with the crazy weather.) Each time I come home, I always bring back a new & interesting cultural experience, or reminisce about my favorite ones that I wish we could observe here in The States. I don’t think I’ll be visiting Nippon again for a long time, so here I’ve compiled a short list of the things I miss about being in Japan.
- No matter how late you go to bed, you will always wake up at the butt-crack of dawn (around 6am-ish). I’ve tried the sleep-in thing, & it doesn’t work, even if you don’t have jet lag.
- Their TV commercials are so much cooler & funnier compared to ours. We may not quite understand most them, but they are still highly amusing.
- When you walk into a shop or a restaurant, you will be greeted by the entire staff no less than FIVE times. Even if they’ve already seen you, they will greet you again (& again, & again).
- If you wake up & head out early enough, you can catch a glimpse of shop workers getting ready for the day’s work by reciting cheerful chants & receiving a rousing pep talk from the store manager. (Watching this in person really amazed & pumped me up as well.)
- The breakfast sets (served until 9:30am) are so delicious & divine. The portions are ample & the prices are very reasonable.
- Beware of walking around Harajuku too early in the morning, you might be looked upon as a spy, or a crazy person for waking up so darn early.
- Obviously, being in the land of sushi, you’ll find sushi restaurants everywhere, ranging from basic kaiten to gourmet Michelin star rated. So far, I haven’t encountered a sushi joint I didn’t like. Pretty much all sushi you’ll find is delicious no matter if it’s a hole-in-the-wall joint (which are the most fun to explore) or an expensive 1-month advanced reservation restaurant.
- The street vendor food (especially ones at Kaminari-mon at Asakusa street) are so fresh, delicious & tastes just as good as eating at a dine-in restaurant. Don’t forget to try the cola flavored shave ice! (I also miss the fresh-off-the-grill senbei from Kamakura.)
- I really miss those 1am karaoke sessions that last into the wee hours of the morning… Big Echo is one of the best places for karaoke. They have the most up-to-date song selection I’ve ever seen…& the kitchen is open 24hrs. Booze + karaoke + tambourines with friends = Pure Bliss.
- I’m not into teen flash fashion, but I really miss shopping in Shibuya on the weekends. That’s when they block off the streets to cars so people can walk on the streets. This is the same in Ginza on the weekends…but I can barely afford the cookies at the patisserie, let alone shop at Mitsukoshi or Matsuzakaya…
- Harajuku (especially Takeshita street) is wall-to-wall packed on the weekends, but I love the high energy feeling & the bustling atmosphere. Omotesando street is the best place to sit, slow-sip your coffee & just people watch. Especially with the trees lining the street, it really gives off a serene feeling even though you are in the middle of a popular shopping district.
- I love it when, regardless how small or large the shop is, the store clerks always pay careful attention to even the smallest detail in wrapping/packing your purchases. Don’t think of it as excess rubbish. Think about how much care & warm feeling was put into packing your goods. Not only do the store clerks want your packages to look good, but they want them to be taken care of, especially if you’ll be shopping for long hours…they’ll even put ice packs in your bags, so your delicate food items won’t spoil.
- I love how on rainy days, all shops will tape plastic slipcovers over all your shopping bags, so that they don’t get wet from the rain. It’s small things like these that really touch you & make you feel warm & appreciative.
- I take public transportation to work everyday, & it’s right then where you encounter a lot of really rude & arrogant passengers: people who cram their bikes or strollers on packed train cars, or place their bags & such on the seat next to them even if seating is crowded. It’s so refreshing to see people in Japan exercise restraint & politeness on their public transportation systems. Everyone puts their cell phones on quiet mode, so that the phone won’t ring loudly & disturb others. Passengers also refrain from making phone calls while on the train. Most of the younger generation are well aware of loud music echoing from their headphones & keep the noise down out of courtesy…& this is just scratching the surface. I miss the Japanese public transportation system in general.
- Most, if not all, people who drive cars use their turn signals & strictly abide by all traffic laws (especially the No Drinking & Driving law). This is much more than I can say compared to China. Just kidding. No, really. I’m serious.
- Getting stuffed on homemade foods & sloshed on booze with your close friends & family is so relaxing & enjoyable… It’s a warm feeling that cannot be properly described.
- I enjoy watching fat dudes with awesome top-knots & giant ceremonial “thongs” push each other around on a tight stage in a centuries old sport.
- I also love watching dudes dress up as women & playact one line every 5 minutes in a 6 hour performance that could rival any Broadway show in New York.
- I love how even the smallest of items can be practical & make sense. No matter if it’s as large as a sofa or as small as a paper clip, Japanese people will find a use & a purpose for the item.
- I really miss late-nite snack runs to the local conbini, or 3am ramen munchies…Those things really hit the spot sometimes. In terms of late-nite ramen runs, I’d suggest trying Ichiran at least once. The raw garlic add-on alone will blow your mind.
- Even weirdoes get some love. Whether it’s the Rockabillies twisting in Yoyogi park, or the cosplayers acting emo on the Harajuku bridge, or the OL’s & Ri-man’s boozing it up & talking loudly over a rousing after-work meal, or the misunderstood pervy Otaku in Akiba who lust for the LovePlus+/Mirai-chan body pillow & a Gundam garage kit…everyone gets some lovin’ & acceptance.
- Where else in the world can you sit down at a restaurant & they serve you beer BEFORE they serve you a glass of water. I’ve been to a few Izakaya restaurants where they immediately serve you a glass of ice cold beer (at $3 US bucks a pop) & you have to request a glass of water.
- I also miss the cakes & the afternoon sweets hour that comes right after lunch & just before the shop prepares for dinner. High tea is a tradition that dates back centuries in many countries around the world, & I wish we could adapt something like this in the U.S. Trust me, it would really reduce a lot of our stress.
Rabbits & Foxes 
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