Today (June 26) is Kubo Tite's birthday! If you don't recognize his name, he is the mastermind behind the amazingly incredible Bleach series. Of course, I immediately went on Twitter and wished him a great birthday. I searched his name on Twitter's search bar and found that Bleach fans from all over the world were wishing him the exact same thing. Quite a number of them also thanked him for creating the series while others told him how much happier they've been since they started reading / watching the series. I, without a doubt, agree with a majority of them. Not only has my life changed for the better, but Bleach has also gotten me through some pretty rough times within the last couple years. I might dedicate an entire blog post to my Bleach story (how I got into the series, what happened afterwords and how the series benefitted my life etc.) on another day but as for now, I wanna talk about what a fun day I had with my friends at Little Tokyo! :)
Little Tokyo is both a small shopping center and plaza located in downtown Los Angeles. I had never been there before so my friends suggested we go and check it out. My favorite store had to be Anime Jungle! It's a small store that sells anime merchandise and they do have an online store for those who don't live in the LA area:
http://www.animejungle.net/. I, of course, decided that I had to buy some Bleach products in commemoration of my first visit there:
![]() |
| A Bleach wristband designed around Kon's paw print and the main colors of the Bleach logo. |
![]() |
| An Ichigo cell phone strap. I've been trying to track this one down since forever! I had the Rukia version but I'd wanted this Ichigo one to go along with it! :) |
![]() |
| A keychain with the mod souls from the Bount anime arc. The blue bird is Lirin, the green turtle-like stuff animal is Noba, and the pink bunny-like stuff animal is Kurodo. |
We walked around for a couple of hours and we saw A TON of restaurants, markets, cafes - basically everywhere you look, there was bound to be a place that sold food. It is literally impossible to starve here! Anyway, there were also little shops and stores that sold a variety of things, most of which were Japan-inspired, meaning: books on learning how to speak and write Japanese; origami paper; kimonos; lolita clothing and accessories; Japanese films and music; Japan-inspired trinkets, deck furniture, water fountains, displays, etc; stuffed animals and other merchandise in the likeness of characters created in Japan such as Domo, Hello Kitty, etc.
![]() |
| Saw these at a bakery there and thought they were so cute! :D |
![]() |
| An origami fish ... made from a dollar bill ... and is currently being sold for A HUNDRED DOLLARS O.O |
![]() |
| More origami being sold for very high prices but you have to admit, they look pretty well made :) |
In addition to those Bleach items I bought, I also bought some nail polish. Yup, my friends and I were sucked into this pretty little makeup store and I was drawn to their amazing display of nail polishes in every color imaginable. I bought these to try out:
![]() |
| Frome left to right: Essie in Petal Pink; OPI in A-Rose At Dawn ... Broke By Noon; OPI in Do You Lilac It? and; OPI in Give Me The Moon! |
I have never purchased Essie or OPI nail polishes before because I've always thought they were expensive but I could not resist buying these today. The pink and purple polish I can completely justify because I did genuinely really want them. The magenta and silver color, on the other hand, had such unique and cool names that I had to get it. Yes, I am a terrible shopper but seriously, I've never heard of a nail polish called "A-Rose At Dawn ... Broke By Noon" before! I thought it was super creative and plus, the name "Give Me The Moon" sounded romantic when I'd read it. These polishes were my big splurge of the day and I could not be happier! :) After Little Tokyo, we finished the day off by dining at our local sushi restaurant. I hope the rest of my summer is filled with fun memories like this.
