See this post for the introduction.
Continuing on from the Fushimi Inari Shrine visit, I went to meet up with sorrowmoon for a visit to Volk's Tenshi no Sato. Tenshi no Sato was a dedicated Super Dollfie museum and "den" for Dollfie owners, complete with a Japanese-style garden in back and had always been a must-see for doll owners (reservation required, passport needed for foreigners). I had previously visited the location before and took some of my first Dollfie photography there, but that was before I had completed Arcueid, so this would be Arc's first photoshoot there.
Arcueid posing outside of Tenshi no Sato
On my last trip, the Tenshi no Sato website had an English version (through which I was able to make a reservation) and their cafe was closed and undergoing renovation. Since then, they had redone the website and there was no longer any English version so sorrowmoon made the appointment via email. In addition, when we arrived, I was quite surprised and disappointed to learn that Volks had recently made the decision to change Tenshi no Sato to become Super Dollfie exclusive, meaning Dollfie Dreams were no longer welcome (this was actually written but not explained on their website, but I didn't notice). This SD-exclusiveness also turned out to be the case with Harajuku's Tenshi no Sumika, making me thing there was a wider shift in Volks' views/treatment of Dollfie Dreams vs Super Dollfies. My guess is that they wanted to separate out the two products as they tend to have very different target audiences (SDs appealing to the traditional BJD communities whereas DDs appealing to the otaku communities). Either way, I wasn't allowed to take out Arc while inside the building (they removed the photoshoot areas though so there wasn't much reason to anyway), so I didn't end up taking as many pictures as I had hoped to. Shikata ga nai~
Saga-Arashiyama JR station
If you go out the right exit, you'll immediately see a sign pointing to Tenshi no Sato. Just follow it.
You'll eventually come to this building, the main entrance gate of Tenshi no Sato
One of the cars outside was sporting an Asuka sun shade. I'm 99% sure it belonged to the owner of the Persona 4 Rise owner inside since the other SDs there were non-anime characters (but Rise's head mold looks Super Dollfie enough that the staff probably didn't notice).
Entrance doors
Bag check-in number card
Info pamphlets
Table of Super Dollfie owners. They were super strict with photography and there weren't any obvious photography spots so I didn't take any of the inside this time around. See my past post for a glimpse of how things look inside – it's mostly the same except the photography area, which was changed to just a simple table as shown here.
There wasn't much to do inside so I eventually went outside to take some pics of Arc
There was a nice Japanese garden in the back where I took a few more pics of Arc sitting on various things. Definitely not my best photos but I was happy to just have any photos at all.
After walking through the garden, sorrowmoon and I decided to go meet up with the rest of the group at Kyoto Station. Which had some pretty cool architecture, which I took some random photos of.
Got to get a pic of Arc there as well of course
Map of the floors
On the very top was a "Happy Terrace"
You can see the Kyoto Tower from the top through the (dirty) windows
The stairs down have LEDs on them that shine and show images or messages when viewed from the bottom looking up
We went inside and explored the deserts/omiyage market. Prepare for mouth-drooling sweets overload, Mami would be jealous xD
Mmm, jello beer~
Bought a box of these, they were delicious ;3
There was a nice bakery there, bought some cheesy bread cause we were hungry
Random supermarket at the very bottom, with tons of melons. Japanese sure love dem melons.
Floor guide of the shopping complex "The Cube" – we were exploring B1 and B2
Went up to B11 to check out the restaurants
Didn't look through too many before we got contacted by the rest of the group and had to meet up. While waiting in front of the station, took some clearer photos of the Kyoto Tower
There was also a random shop in front with a beautiful bride dress in the window. I would have loved to buy that for my (currently non-existent) future wife. Maybe one day~
And so ended the first day of travels in the Osaka/Kyoto area. Next up, Nipponbashi (otaku land) and Dotonbori (food land)!
~Keripo
Flickr (Tenshi no Sato): https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157647033975692/
Flickr (Kyoto Station): https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157647047099305/
MyFigureCollection: http://myfigurecollection.net/blog/16560
Figure.fm: http://www.figure.fm/en/post/54186/Japan+2014+Tenshi+no+Sato+Kyoto+Station.html
