July 13th

 

July 13th, 2019, Moi-même-Moitié held an Official Online salon event with Mana in Tokyo. Mana wore the new yukata and was accompanied by Moi dix Mois guitarist Ryux. There was a question & answer session and bingo game where fans won prizes. 

July 4th

 

July 4th, 2004, Mana appeared at Japan Expo 6 in Paris, France. Mana did a panel and autograph session to promote Nocturnal Opera's release on the French label Mabell. There were also Moi-même-Moitié photos taken for GLB and Mana's book "Magnifique". 

April 22nd

 

April 22nd, 2020, Chef Mana-sama treated us to Elegant Gothic Cooking and ~Nostalgic Memories of Paris~! Mana joined the pantheon of cooking maestros with this video on Moi-même-Moitié's YouTube Channel. You can watch it here

February 28th

 

February 28th, 2021, Mana with Moi-même-Moitié held the first ever online Secret Meeting. "~ Immortal love reflected in the mirror and the imprisoned holy time ~"was exclusively for Mana Blue Rose House Salon members who were chosen by lottery. 

December 19th

 

December 19th, 1994, MALICE MIZER performed at Nagano J as part of the Cher de memoire II One Man Tour. 

On this day in 2002, Moi dix Mois performed at the KYOTO MUSE Hall while on their ~ Tour2002 - 2003 forbidden ~

December 19th, 2022, the first Moi-même-Moitié Official Tea Party in Japan ~The forbidden daydream of holy girls invited to a fantastic garden~ was held. Lead by Mana, the special guests including YURA-SAMA and AYA of Psycho Le Cemu and Sena and Boogie of Jiluka.  

December 15th

 

December 15th, 2010, Mana released the Moi dix Mois album D+SECT. 2004 was their "Disinferno Vol. Ⅲ ~ LASTYEAR PARTY ~". 

In 1999, Moi-meme-Moitie MaruiOne Shinjuku Special Shop opened with Mana acting as DAY 1 day manager holding a signing and handshake meeting

December 11th

 

December 11th, 2001, The members announced that MALICE MIZER would cease to be active as of the end of the year.

December 11, 2021, Mana's Blue Rose House Salon members had a special treat with ~ Mana-sama's Splendid Fashion Communication ~ live stream. Not only did everyone enjoy seeing new Moi-même-Moitié items, but it is always fun to see what outfit Mana dreams up.

November 29th

 

November 29th, 2020, the second part of Mana's conversation with Kenichi Ogasawara of Knueklid Romance was released in the Blue Rose Mansion Salon. Stories were told about people they both knew and worked with, especially Kami.  

There have been amazing talks recorded in the Salon. Anyone who joins now can read all of them. 

November 26th

 

November 26th, 2020, Mana was hard at work creating fun videos for all of us to enjoy online. Including Mana's first time packaging up Moi-même-Moitié Cross Candelabra Ribbon Combs with signed photo cards for lucky winners.  

November 25th

 

November 25th, 2021, Mana entered the Gothic Labyrinth for a conversation with musician and once Moi-même-Moitié employee Kai of VAMQUET. They shared various memories with their interview published in Mana's Blue Rose Mansion Salon.  

November 24th

 

November 24th, 2012, the 13th Anniversary Moi-même-Moitié "Temptation of the Rose Secret Meeting with Mana" at Shinjuku Marui One was held. Also this day in 2007 at Christon Cafe, the 8th Secret Meeting, "Mana escorts to the enchanted world" was held.   

November 2nd

 

November 2nd, 2008, Moi-même-Moitié held their 9th Anniversary Secret Meeting at Christon Cafe in Shinjuku~ Mana escorts to the secret world ～

October 25th

 

October 25th, 2004, Moi-même-Moitié presented the release of the photo book "Magnifique". Mana was photographed in France visiting many beautiful historical sites while wearing Moitié elegant gothic outfits.

Just a note as to these posts. Because of the instability of social media sites right now, I decided to post my long running "otd" series to my blog.

Interview with Alice Kobayashi, KERA Magazine 26, November 2000

 

Since there has been recent interest in fashion designer Alice Kobayashi, I thought I would translate this interview with her. It is from KERA Magazine issue 26, from November 2000. 

＋＋＋

"When I was 17, 18 years old... I already specialized in design when I was in junior high school."

Since she had decided to go to school, she had no worries. She went to clubs and she encountered a lot of fashion and music. She was thinking about what she needed to do to become a designer. While working a part-time job selling clothes, she studied for the National Examination, and also attended a dressmaker's office and an English school.

Career: Dropped out of high school → Sales at NICE CLAP (NICE CLAUP) for a year and a half (in addition, selling children's clothing, part-time job at a flower shop, etc.) → After passing the exam, she entered Vantan Design Institute. While she was still in school, she made costumes for Koitsukihime dolls. → Joined Midi:Nette after graduation. She was involved from the launch of Moi-même-Moitié.

(Koitsukihimi dolls were known to Mana and featured in the MALICE MIZER Gardenia video and cover of their CD single)

 

How you got into your current job: Since I was 10 years old, I wanted to be a designer, but I couldn't think of it. For me, making clothes is the only way to express myself, and I am a clumsy person who can only do that...

If you hadn't been on this job: I can't imagine.

Job Description: All designs and patterns from clothes to accessories for Moitié's EGL department. When they first launched the brand, I started by buying irons and sewing machines, and really did anything. I used to walk around Shibuya with a lot of luggage.

What would you say to someone who wants to get this job? And, whether it's music, painting, or fashion, pursue whatever you like. As you do so, you can clearly see what you can do and what you should express. If you want to be a designer, playing is also important. Meet a lot of people and things, come into contact with a variety of ideas and sensibilities, and improve yourself. If you do that, you will be able to carve out a future and a dream with the friends you meet and your own efforts and energy!

Future goals: I hope to be able to do a show in the near future. I want to improve my skills and sensibilities, and create products that will make people even happier. I want to keep making them until I die.

＋＋＋

・Company structure of Midi:Nette Co., Ltd.

Including Producer Mana-sama, there are 2 Designers & Patterners, 1 Production Control & Patterner, 1 Small Product Production Control, and 5 shop staff, for a total of 10 people. We each have our own responsibilities, but when we are short of hands, we work together to make up for each other.

eta: I thought I would add a little information about Alice's career. She joined Moitié after graduating so it was her first job designing clothes for people. Moi-même-Moitié launched in 1999 but did not have a full line-up of items. In 2003, Alice began Fairywish, her own fashion company. So her time with Moitié was only a few years.

Something about Ｍana-sama in Yukata Enjoying Somen Noodles During Hot Summer in Japan

Summer is over and there may not be a lot that we have to look back on, in a friendly way, but there was one thing we were able to enjoy and share in. That was enjoying the Mana in Yukata making negashi somen video. And while most of us do not have a somen noodle slide, it was still possible to make and enjoy cold somen during the hot summer days.

 

Chilled somen is not difficult to make, and Mana showed how to make excellent eggs to go with it. So what I am going to share in this blog is a little information about the dipping sauce tsuyu or mentsuyu.

There are a lot of recipes on the internet, with various ingredients and amounts of how much to put in. So I will share a little bit about the ingredients that can be used. Since they are basic staples for Japanese cooking, it is worth trying to find them. The first staple is sake. You could use regular sake, but it is nice to have a bottle of cooking sake on hand. Cooking sake tends to have less alcohol but also have salt which regular sake does not have. 

Something that works in place of sugar or with it is the second staple, mirin. While sugar could be substituted, I find mirin has a nice distinctive flavor that is found in so much Japanese food. It is also a rice wine like sake, but with a higher sugar content. Like all of the ingredients, there are many good brands, but I prefer a glass bottle because the top closes better.

The third staple is soy sauce or shoyu. So many varieties out there! What I have right now in this photo left to right is a special shoyu from Hokkaido, tamari, usukuchi light color shoyu, and less salt shoyu. 

I use the Hokkaido shoyu for sashimi and sushi dipping and other dishes where shoyu is a stand-alone ingredient. While somen isn't a gluten free dish unless gluten free noodles are used., tamari can still be used to make gluten free sauces. Usukuchi is sometimes used in some Japanese dishes. I find less salt or reduced sodium shoyu is good not just for health reasons, but also for taste. It is up to each person as to what they want to use. I do think it is worth it to try different shoyu, because there can be differences in flavor. 

The fourth staple of Japanese cooking is dashi. Again, there are a lot of recipes online and just as many varieties of dashi. Basic dashi consists of three things. Water, konbu and katsuobushi. Konbu is a dried seaweed. It is thick and for cooking you can buy it in large pieces and cut off as much as you need. Konbu is used in various ways so it's worth searching for it to have in the kitchen. You can even use it in non-Japanese cooking. Add to a broth or sauce or rice for additional umami. Finely shredded konbu can be used as a topping for okonomiyaki and rice.

As for katsuobushi, that also comes in various forms. Katsuobushi is dried smoked bonita, a skipjack tuna. In Japan, some cooks have it in blocks which they shave with a katsuobushi kezuriki. While it helps to use larger pieces for making dashi, outside of Japan it's the smaller shavings that are usually in stores. These also work, just a little harder to remove from the dashi broth.

While dashi does take time and effort to make, it is definitely worth having. An easier way is to find instant dashi. Which also comes in a lot of varieties. If you want basic dashi stock, there is instant dashi for that. There is also dashi that can be used for making ramen, like the anchovy iroko dashi. Another instant dashi that I like is the Shimaya tennen dashi. As you can see, it also has shiitake mushrooms and anchovies in it. I use these and also make dashi, depending on the dish.

Of course, there is another way to have tsuyu. You can buy it premade. I do think it's fun to make dishes from scratch, but sometimes it's not possible to find all the ingredients or there isn't enough time cook it. So nothing wrong with using good premade items.

I hope you enjoyed my blog post. Here is the Moi-même-Moitié video of gothic elegant Chef Mana making somen noodles.

It's Mana's 『Elegant Gothic Fruit Paradise』 Sangria!

One of the fun things in the Moi-même-Moitié Salon is that Mana gives hints as to what the next cooking video will be. So it was perfect timing for the 『Elegant Gothic Fruit Paradise』 sangria. Because I had just bought a pineapple.

The first step in making Mana's sangria is to find as many different types of fruit that is out there. I was able to find everything that Mana used, except chunks of aloe vera. For the record, there was pineapple, lime, lemon, apple, kiwi, watermelon, melon, and two types of cherries. I went with Bing and Rainier cherries.

I was looking forward to making this sangria, because it reminded me of one I enjoyed at the Portland restaurant Ataula. So to honor that sangria, I added something extra. Pomegranate seeds. Because Pomegranate sangria is delicious.

I would guess that most people are familiar with red sangria. But white wine works very well with fruit. The above stated pomegranate sangria is a white wine sangria. As for what white wine, I think something a little sweet and less acid works well with Mana's sangria. As for me, I went with the Charles Shaw chardonnay. It was a good choice.

I will say, this is a labor intensive drink to make. First up I cut the pineapple. Not fancy like the video. Although I do think pineapple is pretty just as it is.

Something different, a yellow watermelon! Because of the pandemic, it's a little difficult to shop here. The store I went to did not have regular watermelon, but they did have these cute little yellow watermelon. So I went with this. And yes I gave into cutting out the pieces in hearts and flowers.

It's a simple recipe. All the fruit goes into a pitcher or container. After that, pour in as much honey that you want. It's a totally subjective measurement. 

I mixed the honey into the fruit and then poured in the wine. Then mixed some more.

I think serving it with ice is refreshing. The chilled liquid keeps the fruit fresh. 

Just one more photo of this fun festive Elegant Gothic Fruit Paradise. And for the record, I did make more pineapple version to go with Mana's pork curry. That was really good too!

That was a lot of fruit. I enjoyed eating some of it separately, with a little more honey and brown sugar. I also added a few blueberries.

Here is Mana's video for the sangria. You can watch it and all of the other Mana cooking videos at the Moi-même-Moitié YouTube Channel here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp24JyPNmvF0jPJoLLX-r2w

Something about Shipping from Japan

Like a lot of people, I've been buying from companies in Japan for years. And because of the Coronavirus, a lot has changed. When I returned from Japan I decided to get a few things that I wanted, because I didn't know how shipping would be in the future, or how companies would be. I knew the lack of commercial flights might impact shipping. What I didn't expect was Japan Post to stop sending packages out of the country.

 The first thing I got after I returned from Japan was a music box. The MALICE MIZER "merveilles" box set. The seller first sent it via Japan Post, but after a month, they decided to request it to be returned to them. They let me know they would be sending it by Fed Ex.

That was really great that the seller did that. The shipping by Fed Ex went smoothly and I was really happy to get this amazing item. Besides the CDs and music box, it also came with DVDs of MALICE MIZER performances. So I can say that Fed Ex took a few days to get here and there was tracking, and that this is a wonderful MALICE MIZER set to go with my other music box.

For over a year I translated and posted online the Moi-même-Moitié features in Gothic Lolita Bible. Early April I decided to get a few more issues that I didn't have. The seller was about to mail the magazines when Japan Post stopped accepting packages to be mailed overseas. The seller told me no problem, and mailed the magazines by DHL.

I had also purchased a few things through a shopping service at that time. The shopping service wasn't going to mail them, but when I got back to them a couple weeks ago, they said they could send by DHL. The cost was more but I had been waiting over a month. So I went ahead and had my Moi dix Mois cds, book and flag from Midi:Nette mailed. DHL is the fastest service, but they are expensive. 

I've also ordered a few things from Moi-même-Moitié. They, like the shopping service, offer to hold the items till Japan Post ships again. Given that I still have two packages sitting in Japanese post offices for over a month, I opted for the other shipping method that Moitié offers. I will say one Japan Post EMS package finally arrived today, but the other two, who knows when they will finally leave Japan. (Updating this to say my other EMS package did finally arrive. The registered mail package from an eBay seller has not)

The other shipping option is Yamato Transport. The cost is more than Japan Post, but for purchases over 50,000 yen, it is possible the cost will be covered by the free shipping that Moitié/WunderWelt offers. So it's either purchasing that amount, or perhaps combining purchases with someone you know to reach that amount. In the US, Yamato hands off the packages to UPS. I like the online truck tracker that UPS now has. I can tell where the truck is and see when it's near my home.

I just wanted to mention the new Bat Collar Shirts. They are made with a special paisley fabric because Mana loves paisley prints. And they are gorgeous! The fabric is like a brocade and the way the light reflects off of the fabric is beautiful. The blue color is amazing, this is now my favorite Moi-même-Moitié shirt. I happened to find a sticker I got at Sakura Con, so I couldn't resist using it in the photo. 

The other items in the photos are the Cross Arch Arm Covers, which I really like this style. It stays up well and looks nice. And the new Coffin Lace Chokers, which are really long and can be used in various ways beside worn as a neck choker.

 I also got another shirt and the Blue Jewel Mask Case. My Face Mask is still at a Saitama post office. And the Bat Cloak, which I had wanted since it came out. It's a comfort item, for these stay home times. And possibly a late night stroll when the moon is full.

So it is best to check the shipping services sellers offer before purchasing. While Japan Post has resumed accepting EMS packages to some countries, it can take time to receive what you purchased. You can check Japan Post news updates here to see the status of shipping to your country https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/information/index_en.html

Somewhere in Shinjuku

March 27th and the weather was gloomy. I started my day with a MR.waffle. I don't remember what flavor this was, but it was good. 

Back on the Fukotoshin Line. Definitely less riders and look, everyone had no problem social distancing. Actually, I'm sure everyone was glad to have a little extra space.

I stopped at KERA SHOP in Shinjuku and then walked a longer route around Shinjuku Station.

I wanted to visit Pure Sound. I made it there but didn't find anything I wanted.

I decided it would be good to rest a bit, so back to my hotel. Not the best photo of the setting sun but it was nice to see it reflected like this.

My treat for the day was this little strawberry cake from 7-Eleven.

They really don't have sweets like this at the 7-Elevens here. Nor the really fresh good food selection.

Even something simple like this they still made it look nice.

As for what I bought at KERA SHOP, the Moi-même-Moitié Candelabra Embroidery Shirt in black. Along with something else. Since my flight had not been cancelled again, I decided it would be okay to spend a little money. I really like the asymmetrical cuffs and the candelabra buttons. I have a couple little vintage Moitié ties so I thought this would be fun to wear like this.