Now, Discover your Strengths

/

Over the last few months I’ve had my share of doing personality tests and I've been reading quite a few books on how to discover and understand your own strengths. I think that you can definitely overdo it but I came across two materials that I consider valuable readings; one is Sally Hogshead’s How the World Sees You (which I wrote about before) and the other is called Now, Discover your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, which a lot of people might be familiar with. 

Both books’ main statement is that you should do more of what you are good at instead of trying to change yourself. While Sally Hogshead focuses more on how you can sell your strong points better after you understand how others view you (which makes sense because she comes from the marketing background) Now, Discover your Strengths manages to describe your strong points in more detail by focusing on five aspects of your skills and talents, while valuing the combination of aspects as well the weight of each aspect.

 

I like this book because I agree with how insufficiently societies around the world approach the topic “individual skills” in combination with education and occupation.

Buckingham and Clifton explain that most of our lives we are being told what we need to get better at, what we need to improve in. Even our language shows that we have more vocabulary for our deficiencies and what we lack in than for describing on a wider scale what we are good at. When we say, “she has people skills” what exactly does that mean? Is she good at approaching someone, or at holding a conversation, or at understanding the feelings of the other person? She might be able to do all of these points but she might also just be good at only one or two of them.

The test took some time (about 30 minutes) and was not that easy because of the time pressure but overall I believe that this book is worth the time and money, especially because it doesn’t only help you to understand yourself, it can also help you understand and encourage other people to find their strengths, which is especially valuable at work and when you run your own business or manage people. 

Here is a description from amazon.com: 

“Based on a Gallup study of over two million people who have excelled in their careers, NOW, DISCOVER YOUR STRENGTHS uses a revolutionary programme to help readers discover their distinct talents and strengths. The product of a twenty-five year, multi-million pound effort to identify the most prevalent human talents, the StrengthsFinder programme introduces thirty-four talents or “themes” and reveals how they can best be translated into personal and career success. Each copy of the CD contains a unique pin number that gives the reader access to the StrengthsFinder Profile, a Web-based interview that analyses people’s instinctive reactions and immediately presents them with their five most dominant strengths. Once listeners know which of the thirty-four talent themes dominates their personality, they can make practical applications at three levels: as an individual, as a manager and within an organisation. Readers learn what kind of environments will allow them to flourish; how managers can better cultivate their employers’ talents; and how almost all organisations inhibit the talents of their people and need to change.”

Locke

/

When I was a teenager one of my dream jobs was being a screenwriter. And although I never did much for this quiet dream of mine it will always stay a part of me. Occasionally some films have the power to wake it up and stir it a bit. Those are moments of sweet pain because I feel immensely excited when a film does that to me, while at the same time a part of my brain says "Why did you not come up with this idea??!!"

Locke is one of those movies.

What I find fascinating about it is that it manages to give you a round picture of someone’s life, a drastic situation and also - despite the fact you only hear their voices - an idea of who the people around the central character are, simply by one continuous scene that takes place in a car, and phone calls. No change of scenes or time lapses, and no facial expressions of supporting roles; just a segment of a man’s life, his story with different people, and the consequences of his actions.

Ivan Locke - played by Tom Hardy - is the name of the protagonist, who's driving in his car on the highway at night while talking separately to a set number of people on the phone. The fact that the whole long scene takes place in a narrow space makes all phone conversations and also the moments Locke is alone with his thoughts intense.

I love this movie for being able to capture power of the silence you can have with yourself in a car when you are driving, especially at night ... But I don’t want to give away too much.

Tom Hardy does a brilliant job. I don’t think that many actors can pull off a character like Locke's and under the circumstances the protagonist finds himself in.

Plus, as you can guess, I love Tom Hardy. I find him very charming. 

I’m sure that not everyone will find this movie as fascinating as I do but I hope you get a chance to watch it.

 

DIY with Kei

/

I’ve always loved craft work but I’m not the most patient person and things don’t always look the way I imagined them. That’s always been like that and I don’t think that’s going to change.

Especially with our new home I wished I could make things myself and add a more personal touch to it. I have so many ideas and unfortunately they often just stay ideas, simply because I don’t know HOW. 

And then, a few months ago, Kei happened.

I love hanging out with her - not only because I enjoy our conversations and love her mindset, her creativity, and her kind heart - but also because she shares my passion for DIY. You have no idea how hard it is to find someone like that in this corner of the world. Unlike me though she knows HOW and ideas do turn into real things with her. 

I still can’t believe my luck because in addition to having DIY in common with her, I also love her taste, and we seem to understand what works and doesn’t work for the other. 

What (mostly) Kei and I have made so far for my apartment are: 

- A tray for our coffee table in the living room with kimono fabric in it 

- A wooden box to hide cable clutter 

- A tumbler decorated with kimono fabric 

- A wooden board with wheels I put the microwave on, so that I don’t have to bend down so far when I use it. Plus, I can move the board when I need to vacuum the floor under the microwave

- We also decorated one part of the dining room wall with different sized frames 

All beautiful and functional items. 

In the next few weeks I’m hoping to finish our WIC and decorate one wall with yet another  vintage kimono fabric, and also to get some advice from Kei on how to arrange my own room. 

She really has an eye for things and currently she is playing with the thought of giving professional advice on interior solutions. If you are intrigued and want to know more about how Kei might help you, contact me and I'll pass your questions on to her. 

P.S. In the set of photos above you can see Kei ... from behind. :-) 

Obama and Biden

/

I'm sure you've come across these "conversations Biden has with Obama" on Facebook or other social media.

It's photos of Biden and Obama taken in the White House over a period of time and fictious conversations they have during the elections. 

I find them hilarious and brilliant. 

Here is one: 

For more click here. 

AP&AS

/

Recently I'm totally into DIY and so I was really thrilled to find this stylish website called a A Pair & A Spare that lists up DIY projects. 

I love the layout, the pictures, the variety of ideas, and the simplicity of the website and even though I haven't tried out any of the many DIY projects yet, I'm pretty sure I'll find something that I can introduce to my DIY group of friends. 

Check out A Pair & A Spare here. 

A Beautiful Mess

/

There are quite a lot of blogs out on the web that lift up your mood, let you dream and hope that you could do this too, make you desire a life like that, give you wonderful ideas, help you improve yourself and inspire you.

Some people find them easily and some stumble upon them once in a while by coincidence. I'm usually the type of person, whose friends know everything and gets things recommended. 

A Beautiful Mess was one of those recommendations. I instantly fell in love with the website for different reasons: 

  • I love the look and the contents 
  • What a cool name for a blog
  • I find their ideas creative
  • The fact that two loving sisters do this together is quite sweet
  • Their message is clear despite the many topics they cover
  • I love the "teamwork" and "enjoying my job and my life" vibe
  • Because it reminds me of my own Palm Me Up website idea I feel extra connected to A Beautiful Mess because it makes me think that I could really pull this off

Please see for yourself what I'm talking about by clicking on this link. 

Electra K. Vasileiadou

/

Photos for Palm Me Up 

My friend Electra (isn't that a cool name?), who is from Greece and has been living in Tokyo since 2011, is a photographer and travel writer.

For the ones, who have been following my blog posts since the beginning, you know that I have been working on a website that is about tropical prints. For THAT website called Palm Me Up I wanted to have personal photos, so I could use those to introduce myself to my future audience.

I’m very insecure in front of the camera and I knew that for the photo shoot I needed someone, who is not just skillful but also an understanding and trustworthy photographer. Although I had met Electra only once, my gut feeling said that she was the woman for the job. 

I was very happy to hear that she didn’t mind coming all the way from Tokyo to Osaka and the fact that she stayed over at our house was wonderful as it gave us both a chance to get to know each other more. I told her about my insecurities and how I think that my lack in self-esteem was a reason for my clumsiness in front of a lens. 

She listened and she heard me. 

 

Getting ready for the photo shoot 

But even before the photoshoot I was impressed by how well she communicated with me, guided me in things she needed to know. Things like: What is the mood and the goal of the website? What scenarios did I have in mind? How did I want to pose? What clothes did I want to wear? What make-up did I want to put on? etc. She asked me to give her as much information as possible, so she could get a round picture of what’s expected of her. When she summarized everything back to me, I knew that Electra understood what I wanted for my Palm Me Up. (I'm still working on Palm Me Up and haven't been able to update a lot.)

 

Strike a pose

On the day of the photoshoot I was very thankful for her ideas, her support (her goofiness to get me to relax and laugh), her patience (telling me stories to get me in the right mood for each shot), her flexibility (her spidermanlike physical efforts to get what we needed) and her talent to keep an eye on the time and to make sure she got a good bunch of various pictures in order to finish her job. 

At the end of the day we were both exhausted for different reasons but I couldn’t have had a better photographer and friend for that matter to do this for me. 

 

In EDITion 

A week later Electra presented me the selected and edited pictures and I was thrilled to have  so many photos I truly liked myself in and that I could not only show in Palm Me Up but also use for other promoting purposes. 

If you live in Japan (preferably in Tokyo or Osaka area) and you have always wanted to have some personal photos for yourself, then let me tell you that Electra K. Vasileiadou is your woman. If you're looking for someone, who is pragmatic, organized and skilled on the one hand, and sensible to your ideas (given you also share as much information as possible about that with her), a great bonder, and a good listener on the other hand, then she is definitely someone you should get in touch with. 

You can check her out on Instagram (electra_vk) and Facebook.

Me before You

/

This movie was a recommendation from my aunt, who is in the movie business and whose choice in books and movies I love. 

The story is about a small town girl, who takes up a new job, in which she has to take care of a wealthy recently-paralyzed man. 

To me there are parallels between Pretty Woman and Me Before You in the sense of rich, privileged man meets girl, who hasn't seen the world yet and could do more with herself. Then again it’s not done in the Hollywood style, and that's what's good about it. 

I was surprised to see two Game of Throne actors in it. Emilia Clarke is one of them. She is a sweetheart in this movie. You got to love her with her positive attitude, colorful outfits, and her cute eyebrows, who move like Tsunami waves. 

I also downloaded the soundtrack and have been listening to Jack Garrett’s Surprise Yourself, which holds elements of what the movie is about. 

Please enjoy.

 

Jo Malone - lifestyle in the form of scents

/

I use Emirates every time I visit home and on my last flight I came to listen to one of their interview series’, in which Jo Malone, the founder of two fragrance brands, talked a little bit about her story. 

I had played with the thought of buying her English Pear & Freesia fragrance for over two months and had lurked around a Jo Malone shop here in Osaka like a strained cat for quite a while but couldn’t bring myself to pay that much money for a 100 ml bottle. 

Each scent is connected to a story and you'll find that the name and scent truly resembles that story.

I love the elegant unisex bottles, the straightforwardness of each fragrance. There is no “wanna-be-cute or -sexy”. It's simply classic! 

Some of my friends loved the famous fragrances after I showed them some samples, other friends couldn’t really connect with them. To me Jo Malone fragrances are pure natural scents that make me feel like I was born with that scent rather than just wearing it on for that day. 

After listening to her story, I knew that I wanted to have one of her fragrances more than ever, just because I felt drawn to her story, in which she explains how having dyslexia made her teenage life very difficult, and how for that reason she came to find her talent for smells. Her nose became her strongest weapon, and now, at the age of 53, she is known for being the “niche fragrance pioneer” with her Jo Malone London and Jo Loves fragrance lines as being her two babies. What seems important to this incredible woman is how every person has a chance to redefine him/herself and her story is a wonderful example for that. 

Rachel Felder from Financial Review wrote an article about her, which - in case you want to read a little more about Jo Malone - I have included as a link here. In it she mentions the newly published autobiography Jo Malone: My Story by Simon & Schuster. 

By the way, I thought “screw it, I’m worth it!” and bought English Pear & Freesia in Dubai at the duty-free shop. It stays on me the whole day and makes me feel fresh and pretty. I don’t regret having spend that money one bit.

Little boy

/

This movie came to me as a surprise. I hadn't heard about it, hadn't seen any trailers and yet I can say that it is one of my top ten movies now. 

Little Boy from 2015 is a War Drama was directed and partly written by Alejandro Monteverde and has a wonderful cast. 

I loved the way the story was told, the way it brought up so many serious and important topics without lifting the index finger with the intention to teach and it uses so playful techniques to do that that you find yourself crying and laughing at the same time. 

It's definitely one of those movies that uses elements of storytelling mixed with an amazing cast that makes it into the collection of movies you can watch many times and fully enjoy each time. At least, that's how I feel about it.  

It was interesting to watch the part about how hard things were back then for Japanese people who had been living in the U.S. for generations, especially with a Japanese friend sitting next to me in the cinema. I loved how the movie worked that topic into the storyline. 

The boy, Jakob Salvati, did an amazing job and I'm sure we'll hear more from him in the years to come. 

Enjoy! 

Josh Franklin - Flying High

/

A couple of months ago I joined a mastermind group. For the ones who are not familiar with what kind of group that is: 

Napoleon Hill wrote about the mastermind group principle as: “The coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony.”

In my case it's a tiny group with two amazing women, whose websites I'm planning on posting about in the very near future. Don't miss it. 

What we do in our group is support each other on a regular basis working on and building our online businesses. (But that's another story.)

In one of our sessions we came to talk about one of the member's brother-in-law, who is a musician. She had asked him if she could use one of his songs for her website mfp - Mrs Franklin Presents (I love the name), which he kindly agreed to and that's how I found out about this very touching song. 

Have a go! :-) And then I'll let you know how the song made me feel the first time I listened to it. 

My husband doesn't speak much English and he's not the most expressive person but after I finished listening to the song, he commented on it from the other room and said that it sounded very special and beautiful! 

I thought so too. It almost moved me to tears because it reminded me of my personal struggles but instead of pulling me down it lift me up.  

First of all, the soothing voice calls for all your attention and your moved by so much honesty.

A beautiful sadness accompanies the music and the lyrics and at the same time there are so many positive elements that create a special mix between sensitive and strong. 

It's like all highs and lows of life are captured in these 3:08 minutes and I thought that it feels like as if the singer is working so hard on embracing life and its beauties. 

Somehow I feel like it suits the topics I always choose for Walk With Me. 

The singer's name is Josh Franklin and his newest album is called Spent. You can download it on iTunes. 

Josh Franklin! If you ever get to read this … I love your song!! 

Das Kind in dir muss eine Heimat finden

/

German psychotherapist Stefanie Stahl wrote Das Kind in dir muss Heimat finden (“The Child in You Must Find a Home”) and the reason why I share it with you is because I truly believe this book can have a positive impact on your life, IF you are ready to self-reflect and do the exercises. 

 

Like most psychologists she talks about how your subconscious has an impact on your behavior. Stefanie Stahl is great at keeping things simpler though by describing your subconscious as your inner child. Her book and therapy focuses on getting in touch with your “sun-“ and “shadow-child”.

This means becoming aware of all the principles you have learned as a child from your parents or close ones - principles like “I’m not good enough”, “I can’t leave you”, “I need to be a good girl/boy” - and giving mostly your shadow-child with all the negative feelings a voice.

By doing that you start realizing in what stressful or emotional moments in your life it’s more the shadow-child reacting on its learned principles.

Through realizing that you can start working on disempowering your personal principles, which have always limited you and have/had a negative impact on your life. 

Thanks to this book and the meditations that come with it I’m starting to realize how often my inner child interferes with my present life and causes me pain. The more I listen to it, the more the grown-up Seval has a chance to distinguish itself from it and tell it that nothing was its fault, that it IS good enough, that it IS being loved, and that it doesn’t have to adjust to others in order to create a sense of harmony.

 

To me this book feels like a relief. What it could be to you is up to you.

P.S. I thought this book is available in English as well but it turns out that it's not at this point. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How The World Sees You

/

I posted about Sally Hogshead before, in which I also mentioned her personality test. 

Have you had the time to do it?  :-) 

What makes Sally Hogshead’s personality test and book How The World Sees You different compared to tests like Myers Briggs is that it’s not showing you how you see the world but how others perceive you.

Sally Hogshead has created a matrix of seven archetypes, as she calls them, and every person is a combination of two archetypes - your primary and secondary advantage. These two define how you communicate with people around you and how the world sees you.

In her matrix I’m a combination of Passion and Trust and I’m called The Beloved.

The archetype Passion creates warm, emotional connections. Passion personalities are expressive, intuitive, and engaging, whereas the Trust archetype is known to build loyalty over time and stand for traits like stable, dependable, and familiar.

To a lot of people knowing what you’re good at and what your pitfalls are might be a given thing (although I doubt that everyone is honest to themselves about their pitfalls) but to me finding out all these things about myself was an eye opener.

What I love about this book and concept is that it tells you to be more of who you already are, rather than having to change and bend yourself.

The more efficiently you use your skills, know about your pitfalls and understand how people around you function, the more you’ll enjoy yourself and what you do in life. 

TELL Kansai Suicide Prevention Walks

/

I was on my way back home at Nagahoribashi subway station. It was around 9 pm and I was walking towards my platform when I saw some quick movement in the corner of my eye. The train just came in on the left side, while a man was jumping back. Then I heard a strange tone that sounded like a dog's yelp. It felt like it went on forever. Was it the train's sound?

It stopped and though all people froze on the platform, at first it seemed everyone was refusing to believe what had just happened in front of our eyes. But reality pushed itself forward and denial gave in: it was clear now that a person had thrown him/herself in front of the train. 

Japan is known for it's high suicide rate. Roughly 65 people take their own lives every day.

65!

That's just an unbelievable number.

Worldwide a person dies every 40 seconds.

Suicide claims around a million lives each year. 

Next week, I will be taking part in a Suicide Prevention Walk in Osaka (that's also taking place in Kobe, Kyoto and Tokyo), organised by TELL Japan. We want to raise awareness, create space for this topic and combat suicide in our communities. 

You might not live in Osaka but you can walk with us and effectively communicate about this topic and mental illness in other places in the world since September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day. 

This year's theme is "Connect, Communicate, Care". You can read more about this here on TELL website. 

Below I'll share a video with you of a man who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge and survived. He says that the moment he jumped off the bridge he regretted his decision. 

Nobody really wants to die!

If we were able to communicate with people who struggle and speak more openly about these topics then that's already a huge step! 

Let's be there for our loved ones, for friends and for our communities on September 10th by walking together. 

Please contact me for more information on the Kansai walks. Thank you. 

Interior Therapy with Jeff Lewis

/

Interior Therapy with Jeff Lewis is my 2nd favourite reality TV show. My favourite one is Real Girl's Kitchen, which I wrote about in the previous post. 

The concept of the show is Jeff Lewis and his assistant Jenni Pulos visiting the homes of clients and staying there for five days while a renovation takes place. Often the problem is not so much the space but the relationships the clients have with each other. Thus, "Interior THERAPY".

As Jeff states in his show, he is known for two things: for his great taste and his brutal honesty. He  is quite open about being an asshole. But sometimes, in order to achieve the changes you want and need, it takes a person who doesn't mince matters, especially if you have only got five days to not only renovate a home but also scratch on the surface of a complicated and problematic relationship and help people find a new start.

Again, what' s new to me / us here in Japan is already an old-timer to North American friends and readers but since there are so many reality shows out on the market, there might be a chance you've overseen this one and if you like interior design as much as I do, I'm sure you'll enjoy this show. By the way, my husband started watching it with me.

I find that the most fascinating aspects about Jeff are how he nails problems, knows what obstacles need to be put aside in order to reach the goal, and that he is not afraid to call a spade a spade. On top of all that he delivers a satisfying end-result. 

He is a perfectionist and strives for high-standard in everything he does. It's quite amazing how he walks into a space, detects the problems and coordinates things in his mind within seconds. At least that's how it appears on the show.  

I love Jenni, his assistant, not only for her "The Nanny/ Fran Drescher"-voice but also for knowing Jeff so well that she is able to tickle out his good side when his ego is about to explode. 

The one who steals the show though, is neither Jeff, nor Jenni, but his Mexican house maid Zoila Chavez. You'll see why. 

Check out Season 1 here ( I recommend to start with Episode 1).

interior-therapy-with-jeff-lewis.jpg

Real Girl's Kitchen

/

 

Recently, rather than watching TV series or movies, I'm hooked on reality TV type of shows. 

This one - Real Girl's Kitchen - swept me off my feet with its first episode, in which Haylie Duff, the star and producer of the show, is getting ready for a detox weekend with her friends at her Malibu Beach House. First, she makes a stopover at a herbal garden to get some fresh greens for her salad and smoothie ideas. Throughout the day she tests her friends' patience by pushing her healthy intentions on them until her sister shows up as the Detox Antichrist ...

I can't explain it in any other way … I've fallen for Real Girl's Kitchen because it touches my deepest inner dreams of a perfect lifestyle - great friendships, places and homes that feel like an everlasting holiday in Hawaii, fun activities, going on trips, hosting small get-togethers etc. 

I must say though; the show almost creates a high and dry feeling in me - I love watching it but as soon as it's over I feel like my trip to my version of dreamland is over and my flying carpet drops me off at my home and my "non existing Malibu Beach House"-Life. 

I love Haylie Duff! She comes across as very natural and simple, easygoing and fun, and speaks and does everything in her show with enthusiasm and passion. I've watched other reality TV shows in which people say nasty stuff and compete with each other all the time. Real Girl's Kitchen is quite the opposite - it has a friendly, positive and respectful tone without being boring (unless you are a guy, who takes pride in farting like a champion, I suppose).  

I also enjoy the show for its inspiring and tasteful table settings, the extra information you get on food, the insights on what's in in L.A., and - since I'm not a native English speaker - the new expressions I learn like "massaging a salad". (Makes me laugh every time.)  :-) 

Oh, and the recipes - the main topic of her show - are creative, diverse, and seem easy to make. I'll definitely try out her healthy chocolate cake. As healthy as a chocolate cake can be. 

About the star and producer of the show: Haylie Duff is an American actress, television presenter, author, singer, songwriter (I'm almost done …), producer, businesswoman (if you haven't guessed that by now), writer, and food blogger. She is the older sister of the former Lizzie McGuire actress Hilary Duff. 

One last thing before you might want to check out the website. For my friends and readers in the U.S. - this is probably outdated TV material for you guys. It takes ages for movies, fashion, in-food etc. to find their way to Japan, and so what's new to me/us here might be dusty memories for you. 

Check out Real Girl's Kitchen

ONZORO Bierrösterei

/

Onzoro Bierrösterrei is located in Oogimachi on a quiet, unremarkable street.

The entrance is a wooden porch embraced by some greenery, and once you walk up the porch on the left side you might get greeted by a Rottweiler, who sits in her spacious box. I’m not best friends with her (though that’s another story) but she is a darling to a lot of guests, who seem to have bult a relationship with her.  Her „dog home“ is quite a clever construction as it’s both half on the porch and half inside the restaurant.

The owners, a lovely young couple, have thought of this solution because they want their dog to be around them while they are at work. During their break they take her for a walk.

 

What I have noticed about Onzoro is that - although it's quite charming - it doesn’t „wow“ you right away. Instead, you find yourself bonding with the place a little bit more each time you go there. And each time you're there your eyes will catch some new detail the owners have installed, or put up, or hand made with love.

It’s the same with the young couple who runs it and their staff – they are ALL adorable, fun and hardworking people and they really know how to make you feel comfortable.

 

That’s why I love going there.

 

Onzoro was introduced to me by a dear friend of mine, who is there for lunch or dinner during or after work every second day. First time I met her there for lunch I was quite touched by the friendship she had built with everyone at the restaurant.

 

Since they sometimes have foreign customers, I was asked if I could give them English lessons and for some weeks now I’m there for group lessons 4 to 5 times a month and I’m loving it.

 

I’m usually there for lunch and though for the longest time I was addicted to their quiche set (with a huge amount of salad), just recently I switched to their „open sandwich“, which is made of homemade bread topped with sprouts and salmon. In the summer you get a tasty cold onion soup and a decent portion of salad with it. It’s heaven and it’s healthy.

One of their waitresses has learned her bread making skills in France and once you’ve tasted her whole grain dark bread that’s all you’ll ever want to eat.

 

The cook, who is also the owner, is quite creative with his dishes and always looks for new ideas. I love the balance he creates.

 

Not to forget, since that’s what the name „Bierrösterei“ stands for: They serve quite a range of foreign, mostly European, beer!

 

So, if you care for good Belgium or German beer, home made bread, dishes with a European taste and a warm atmosphere, as well as a creative and natural ambient, then don’t miss to go to Onzoro.

pour Mademoiselle

/

pour Mademoiselle is a … hm … ? It's actually hard to pinpoint.

It’s a cafe and a Chanel second hand bag shop, that also sells vintage home decor items that are mostly held in golden colors.

It’s located in the heart of Horie on the Orange Street in Osaka and is surrounded by other quite charming shops and cafes.

I can’t say it’s an outstanding cafe, and it’s surely not a place where I’d hang out for a longer time, as the space is small and you feel like you are being presented on a platter, but I like the ambient they have created, the effort they have put in the choice of colors – gold and black – and even the cute name for the shop they have picked. You'll feel that the whole shop is a tribute to Chanel and the elegance it spread(s). 

The price for a lot of the pieces they display are quite reasonable, so don’t be surprised when you walk out with a used Chanel bag or an vintage candle holder.