This week I’m heading to Tokyo! YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE for me! I’m on a mission to find the most beautiful paper goodies that Tokyo has to offer. Oh, and to bring some back so you can all experience paper paradise too!

A little ritual of mine when traveling, is to visit a bookshop to buy a new book that will keep me entertained and occupied during the flight. I really don’t like flying but what I do like is the idea of being forced to just sit down and chill out for hours and hours and hours. Well yes, in a rather uncomfortable and cramped kind of way, but still chillin’ nevertheless. But this time there will be no trip to the bookshop for today I made a trip to the MCA Zine fair instead.

Ooooo and I picked up some beauties, I did! They will be my little companions on the flight and I can barely wait to start reading them. It was so nice talking to so many zine creators (is there a better name for them? Zeeners?) and to flick through hundreds of quirky, cute and creative zines. A true documentation of imaginations set free. I felt so inspired and so excited to be amongst it all.

I wasn’t planning to blog about this fair so I left my camera at home but then when i returned home I realised these zines were too good not to share. So I got snap happy and took these shots – the burgers (a little further down the page) in particular will come in handy if Jetstar’s food is not up to scratch!

Above is a zine by Riyo Kihara of Talk to the Wind and Sun. All the illustrations in this zine have been done with rubber stamps that Riyo has hand carved herself, amazing! 6 Japanese Words… Good to Know is so perfect for me as my grasp of the Japanese language is sadly very poor and so I’m counting on this very concise pocket translator to get me through my 2 weeks in Tokyo. Haha, yeah right! Well maybe paired up with the zine below. What do you think?

This Tokyo Guide is full of hidden gems normally only a local would know about. It also includes handy tips like language essentials, snacking suggestions (a must for me), maps and more.

It’s by Ebony Bizys, the gorgeous girl behind the gorgeous blog Hello Sandwich. Ebony has traveled to Tokyo eight times now and is very, very soon moving there to live! So sad you are leaving us lovely Ebony. Sydney will miss you, I’m sure.

Oh and remember these burger zines?? I blogged about them in March over here. They are made by Stephanie Anderson from Stephanie Makes and they look as good in real life as they do in these images.

They are teeny weeny at just 2.5cm wide which makes them even cuter. I keep on lifting each layer up to admire all the different textures and tiny details. Like the transparency of the onions, the splat of the tomato sauce and the hand painted sesames on the sesame seed buns.

And look at the awesome packaging it came in. Oooo, I’m such a sucker for blind embossing!

If you would like a burger zine too you can find more here.

Next comes Lee Tran Lam’s zine, all about Paris. In her own words the zine is “a loosely bundled set of thoughts, ideas and conversations – all with a French connection”.

It wasn’t until I got home and started flicking through this zine did I realise all the beautiful bits. I felt like I was flicking through somebody’s travel diary with photographs stuck in (with lovely washi paper tape), adorable illustrations, paper cut balloons and butterflies and more.

I can’t wait to start reading this zine. It’s full of all sorts of interesting experiences and memories and there’s interviews too with other Paris admirers who share their traveling tales of this land of baguettes and berets. But don’t worry, there are no such cliches in this zine. Just beautiful stories about a charming city I’m no doubt going to fall in love with all over again. Hmmm, how far is Paris from Tokyo? I can sense a slight detour on the horizon.

Lee Tran Lam runs a food blog called The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry, so if you’re into good food (and let’s face it, who isn’t?) or would like to get in touch with her then head over here.

Now you can see why I’m so excited to hop on that plane. I have lots of good reading to look forward to. I’m really not sure if I will get the chance to blog when I’m traveling. So much to do, so many people to see, but I will be taking lots of photos to share with you all at some stage. I think I may find some time to sneak in a few good shots here and there, so make sure to come and visit again soon.

またね Mata-ne (see you later) – Ooo, hope that’s right!
Justine xx