Tenshi no Sato visit
Finally we were able to fulfil our dream and visit Japan.
Also somewhat unplanned we were able to visit Tenshi no Sato in Kyoto.
The reason for the visit was to check for some YoSD parts not available in other stores and also to ask some FCs-related questions.
Full blog entry here: http://linuxhacker.ru/d/?q=node/72
Visits are by reservation only and only on weekends and holiays, but we were lucky, I guess, there still were enough free spots (up to 100 visitors per day are allowed) on Apr 18th when we decided to visit.
While there we saw (and took pictures of some) a lot of beautiful dolls and their owners ;)
The store is indeed better stocked than Tokyo stores we were to (but only in dolls-related merchandise, no figures or robots unlike e.g. Akihabara).
Another downside is they did not yet implemented a duty-free system in Tenshi no Sato, so you better make your significant purchases in e.g. VOLKS Akihabara store unless you really wish to pay 5% more to Japanese government.
They also have an English translator in the store which is real useful since most of the staff speaks very-very little English (one of the store clerks actually read me out something like 'please wait while English speaking person arrives' from a piece of paper. But the store employees are still super-helpful.
Overall I found it's much harder to find English speaking store/restaurant clerks compared to Tokyo. Even at Kyoto station and around.
Our question about "how come Full Choice" system does not allow us to have any choice aside from pre-determined sets of things, no custom wigs, hairstyles, faces, not even clothes?
The answer came out as "that would be too expensive", and a more extended "We have very limited number of employees who does this work. If we extend the system the orders would take years instead of current wait time of several months". I guess that makes sense if they are striving for quality and as such are not willing to hire just about anyone from a street.
They also have a beautiful garden and contrary to some info we have seen, it is allowed to take pictures not only in the garden, but on the first floor and in the observation hall on the 3rd floor. So only the shop in the basement and the museum on the 2nd did not allow any photography. Also we were asked not to take any pictures of the one-off models on the 3rd floor display.
This is my wife near the Tenshi no Sato sign outside.
Right after the lobby, one of the photo spots.
Doll-carts for your dolls are available for your convinience on the first floor.
Some of the customers are actually as interesting as are the dolls.
The lighting on the first floor was ... complicated I should say. Just plain too dark in this spot.
Probably one of the best advices for pictures there is to go outside immediately. Even near the windows the light is mixed. Tungsten inside and daylight outside, so the resulting white-balance is, well, interesting.
Took these two pictures for the owner, so that she does not end up with completely washed out pictures due to puilt-in flash firing on her small p&s camera.
Best doll of the day. Anybody knows who is she?
gorgeous doll that this picture does not do any good actually.
In the cafe you can eat together with your doll if you want.
One of the akes we had. Each cake had a signature plate with Tenshi no Sato written on it.
How come cakes in Japan (everywhere, not just there) are so expensive. This one is 680 yen. You can have a large ramen bowl for this much!
Basically I don't think we have seen any cakes for less than 500 yen.
A neko girl in the observation hall.
DD Mashiro.
Tried to have a discussion with the owner about separating a doll from background by moving the sofa away from the wall (as pictured).
Seems Japanese like the word "muzukashii" (complicated) a lot when they attempt to speak (or understand) English.
Moved outside for more pictures.
People were very accommodating in allowing us to take pictures of their dolls in all kind of settings and poses.
Who said only people were supposed to take pictures?
A lot of boys were present. That surprised me.
Three reincarnations of the same doll on the left. Just different clothes.
Another boy.
Zero no Louise in disguise on the right? ;)
Doll baskets were also available and were wildly popular. I am amazed at how many dolls a lot of people had.
Singing Neko again! She also has a guitar (but we have no pictures of that).
Mashiro again.
Owner of the singing neko girl. He said he has 4 dolls, his friends had 7 an 10 each.
Said they enjoy customizing and making up hairs for the dolls (later turned out the customizing is strictly by using stock parts. Also no changing hairstyling either).
I said that it must be expensive hobby to have, and they said to me that a monthly salary is about 40% of the one doll price (I hope they used salary remaining after all of the necessary expenses!)
Sigh, only 30 pictures allowed per post, so see the rest in my blog.
very nice photo :D
Thanks!
Wonderful! I love to go there myself one of these days!
How do you plan to chose who of your daughters to take with you? ;)
Or do you plan to take all of them? ;)
want to go there...
Himechan very CUTE !!!!
I see washuu-san went too.
seems fun (･∀･) !
Looks interesting...hope i could go there one day :)
Lovely SD13 Elena!
cute how all their heads are canted to one side.
Wow, so many different dolls and clothing styles. And they all look so good ^^
It would be awesome to visit here!
Sooo cool! I never been there before and I feel a little intimidated by what little information I came across but these are fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing!
You are welcome. Definitely visit there if you have a chance. Esp. since it's free (once you get around there anyway).
I hope to go there someday XD. Thank you for sharing!
You are welcome.
I am sure if you'd really like to go there, you'd be there one day.
Such a cute little girl! MDDs for the win!
I love a man who's secure enough in his masculinity to love dolliez.
It would be so cool if Tenshi no Sumika LA could expand and become more like this place. This is like Disneyland for Dollfies!
Well, we plan to see if the upcoming Doll's party in NY would be anything like that ;)
That place really looks more like a hangout then anything else.. Very cool
I'd definately like to go there.
Nice photos!
I need to make a trip there at some point, but other expensive events like the next Tokyo Dolpa keep getting in my way, and I didn't have the time or money to go when I was in Kyoto for other reasons.
I have a FCS boy. I think people really only go for that if there's a specific FCS head mold that they like, rather than for the custom parts side of things (although I got a wig I really wanted out of it as well) because it's easy to get hold of nice wigs, eyes and clothes later. I know they do a 'dream FCS' in very limited numbers at events which lets you choose any of their molds including limiteds in any of their resin colours but it costs something like $5000!
I've seen her in YJA ! Heard she was very very expensive.
I noticed there's this 1 YJA seller that often sells this doll (there's several of them actually), they seem to be custom DDH01 made by that seller.
I'd love to go there as well!
Ugh, wish I could go, was in Kyoto last year during the summer but couldn't fit it in my schedule. >.< I shall go one day!
So LUCKY!! Glad you got to ecperience this, must have been exciting! Great pics, glad you could share them with us :D
all the dolls are so beautiful, and I LOVE that custom MDD X3
Thanks!
It was pretty cool indeed, perhaps we'll need to visit there again someday and with our dolls too. ;)