Happy Lunar New Year!

Happy Lunar New Year! This year is...Monkey!

Have you heard of Chinese animal zodiac for the year? There are 12 of them. Year 2016 is the Monkey year. I heard that American super bowl on last Sunday mentioned about it. Last year was Sheep, so sheep is my daughter's zodiac.  My personal zodiac is Dragon which is the only unrealistic "animal". But maybe it's real but no one has seen one, who knows? lol.

Anyway, thank you for being my blogger friends last year. May you and your family have a great Monkey year! May your good wishes come true! May you feel happier and healthier! May your life is full of joy and love!

A little scene for the new year:

Didee wants the perfect bonsai for the new year. o((>ω< ))o

In fact, I've never tried bonsai in real life. Have you tried one?

The New Ikea Huset Dollhouse

Re-ment Washitsu Display & Doll Festival

The following information is from Wikipedia. Click the sub-title to see more.

Washitsu

meaning "Japanese-style room", is a Japanese term used as an antonym for the term yōshitsu, meaning "Western-style room".

A distinguishing feature of washitsu is their tatami flooring. Washitsu also usually has sliding doors (fusuma), rather than hinged doors between rooms.

In the past, almost all Japanese rooms were washitsu, and Japanese people slept on futons laid on the tatami and sat directly on the tatami or on zabutons set on the tatami. Nowadays, many Japanese houses have only one washitsu, which is sometimes used for entertaining guests, and most rooms are Western-style. Many new construction Japanese apartments do not have washitsu at all, instead using linoleum or hardwood floors.

Hinamatsuri 

also called Doll's Day or Girls' Day, is a special day in Japan. Hinamatsuri is celebrated each year on March 3.Platforms covered with a red carpet are used to display a set of ornamental dolls representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress of the Heian period.

The custom of displaying dolls began during the Heian period. Formerly, people believed the dolls possessed the power to contain bad spirits. Hinamatsuri traces its origins to an ancient Japanese custom called hina-nagashi, in which straw hina dolls are set afloat on a boat and sent down a river to the sea, supposedly taking troubles or bad spirits with them. Families generally start to display the dolls in February and take them down immediately after the festival. Superstition says that leaving the dolls past March 4 will result in a late marriage for the daughter.

Washitsu may not look exactly like the display I have set up using Re-ment miniature but I tried the best. I always love collecting miniatures relating to Asian culture (Japan, China, Tai...) and use them for Asian-style diorama. Although I was born in late 80's when my hometown was already pretty modern and westernized, I still always had feelings for traditional Asian sundries. Whenever I found an Asian-style thing in people's yard sale here, especially if it was made in Japan, I would be so happy to get it. 

Thank you for reading this post and the previous one introducing Re-ment Retro Home Appliance. I hope it's a fun Asian traditional room tour for you. =)

Click here to see details of Re-ment Hinamatsuri Set.

Re-ment Vintage Home Appliances 7-10 + SP (2st Part)

Last week I posted the first part of this wonderful Re-ment retro home appliance set. I posted the photos here and also on other social media where I share my miniature hobby. Lots of friends left positive feedbacks to this set and some of them had experience of owning the real things relate to the miniature toys in the photos in the past. I personally have little memory of using the real things in my life because I was little when we possibly had the retro-style water bottle or that TV. But I still like them so much. Vintage things make me feel peaceful and dependable.

Click here to see Re-ment Vintage Home Appliances 1-6.

Now let's go on enjoying the rest of the retro home tour.

7. Sewing Machine + Sewing Storing Box

Comparison of the sewing machine in this set and the one in Re-ment French Sundries.

8. Iron + Board

9. Heater + "Hot Water Bag"

10. Pay Phone

My friend said she saw a real one looking exactly like this when she traveled to Japan.

SP. Rice Cooker + Rice Barrel

You may not see a real rice barrel like this in life. But we did have one when I was little. The buttons you saw on it were used for regulating the rice outpouring.

The SP rice cooker is a different color version. It's the same style as the white one in this set.

Thanks for reading. ｡:.ﾟヽ(｡◕‿◕｡)ﾉﾟ.:｡+ﾟ
Now you saw all the things in this set. How do you feel? I hope you enjoy the photos and have a wonderful weekend. 

Re-ment Vintage Home Appliances 1-6 (1st Part)

Re-ment Vintage Home Appliances is my all-time favorite Re-ment set. It was released in October 2006 and soon became popular among Re-ment collectors. Today the price of this set gets really high because it’s very rare to find a complete set in the market. Good news is that many later Re-ment sets have produced similar miniatures as in this one such as the rice cooker and the TV set.

There are too many things to introduce so in this post I'll finish half of the set (box 1-6). There are 11 boxes in this big set because I also have the secret box.

1. Rice Cooker + Water Bottle

Comparison of 3 rice cookers:

Comparison of 3 water bottles:

The things in this photo are from Re-ment Retro Girls' Treasures:

2. Toaster + Blender

3. TV Set

4. Radio + Vintage CD Recorder

5. Telephone Set

6. Fan + Weighing-machine + Hair Dryer

Let me introduce my first Dal doll. I wasn’t into Dal dolls at first until I was attracted by Jane’s post introducing (http://jane-cherie.blogspot.com/)about them. Jane posted great dal photos and gradually I started liking Dal dolls. My first Dal was a used nude doll when I found her on Jauce. I thought her makeup was rare among Dal dolls so I bought her. Her original hair was removed so I ordered a new wig on eBay. I always want a doll with pink hair so now she looks good to me. I named her Susan. 

Thanks for reading.  ｡:.ﾟヽ(｡◕‿◕｡)ﾉﾟ.:｡+ﾟ

What's your favorite so far?

The second part will be posted soon (may be next week).