I-Doll Osaka and Japan Trip Recap
Last month, I went on a vacation I’d postponed for five years: I went to Japan! My Japan trip felt like something that kept getting pushed back and moved around since there wasn’t really a reason to go, so what helped me finally solidify my travel plans was picking an event to plan around, I-Doll Osaka, which was on September 20, 2025.
Here’s Raspberry getting ready for the trip! She’s my little travel buddy on my solo trips.
I had such a lovely experience there. Everyone was so kind, and even though my Japanese is super limited, everyone was really pleased with the little Japanese I did speak! I strongly suggest making at least a minimal effort to learn some Japanese—knowing pleasantries and key phrases for shopping and dining alone will make a world of difference during your trip.
Honestly, the only downside of my trip is that I picked up an unwelcome souvenir (bronchitis), which is why this blog post is so delayed! Thankfully, I didn’t start feeling sick until the day I was scheduled to fly back out, so it didn’t impact my actual vacation.
Raspberry enjoyed the view!
I spent two weeks in Japan, with the first week in Tokyo, then Osaka, Kurashiki, Kyoto, and finally back to Tokyo. I’ll skip over most of the non-doll parts of my trip since this is a doll blog at the end of the day, but there are some things I’d like to share!
ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧
My first day was in Ginza, and sadly my dolls can’t use Shiseido or Chanel, so there was nothing for them. ( ≧ᗜ≦)
I did stop by Sanrio World Ginza, though, which was super cute!
Housekeeping left this adorable teddy bear keychain for me, which was the perfect size for Raspberry!
My second day had a lot more doll stuff! I visited Ikebukuro, which I loved so much that I went back on my last day as well. It was super fun—like a girly Akihabara. I visited Sunshine City, Animate, LUMINE, Mandarake LaLaLa, Dollyteria, and Azone.
One big culture-shock moment was realizing how many stores in Japan either only allowed photos in certain areas or didn’t allow photos at all. In the U.S., I feel like many stores are practically begging you to take photos and post them on social media (I’ve seen so many dressing-room mirrors that encourage you to take selfies and tag the store), so seeing the opposite was such a surprise! Unfortunately, I don’t have as many photos as I would normally take because of that, but I was able to take some.
So much cuteness in Sunshine City! Don’t forget to check the Bandai Cross store, which has a HUGE gashapon selection. It’s perfect for doll-sized goodies!
The super tempting doll selection at Mandarake LaLaLa.
I actually need to pause here and share a story about Mandarake LaLaLa. The staff here is amazing.
There was a doll I saw on the Mandarake site. The site showed that the doll was in stock in two locations, with one being the LaLaLa store. I couldn’t find the doll in the display, so I asked the employees for help. Three different employees stepped in to help find the doll since it wasn’t anywhere it was supposed to be, and they didn’t stop until they found it. It took around 15 minutes, but they kept checking in with me and letting me know they were still looking for it. ( ;´ - `;) It would have been so easy for them to just say something like, “Well, if it’s not out there, I guess we don’t have it in stock after all,” but they went the extra mile for me instead. I’m so grateful to them! I was able to get a doll I’d missed out on previously thanks to their help.
The doll that took three employees to find!
I’ll release her from box jail once I’m feeling a little better! (ᵕ—ᴗ—)
I actually found the Azone store by accident! I was just walking around, looked up, and saw this sign. The Ikebukuro location had so many accessories and books. I also picked up the new Dollybird while I was there. They were pretty strict about not taking photos of the merchandise, but thankfully, taking photos of the display dolls was allowed!
I also brought one of my Azone Lil’ Fairy dolls with me and dressed her up in this cute outfit I picked up at Dollyteria!
Dollyteria was, hands down, the strictest store when it came to photography. No photos, period! You’ll just have to take my word: Every Dollyteria is worth visiting. I left with something from each location I visited!
Another note: While Mandarake’s online selection is pretty much exactly what they have in-store, I noticed that Dollyteria had a way better selection in their stores than what’s online.
Shibuya and Harajuku
Shibuya and Harajuku are actually super close to each other, so try to plan to visit them on the same day.
Shibuya109 has a fashion-focused gashapon selection on the top floor, where I bought lots of cute accessories for my dolls, like tiny versions of real handbags!
I also visited Shibuya PARCO, which had this adorable Sylvanian Families store, along with lots of other shops. There is something so magical about a mall that has both a Gucci store and a Sylvanian Families store—that was a targeted attack on my wallet! ꉂ(˵˃ᗜ˂˵)
In Harajuku, I visited Kiddyland and Junie Moon. I believe this is the flagship Kiddyland location, so it’s totally worth visiting! There were so many goodies like Re-Ment (available by the box or by the set), Pullip, Licca, and Blythe.
Speaking of Blythe, there’s also a Junie Moon store in Harajuku! It has this awesome life-size Blythe in the store, and you get a super cute shopping bag with your purchase. Honestly, I think I might frame mine—I really like the design!
Harajuku also has a Volks store, but unfortunately, it was closed the day I visited. I was going to another one anyway and was just purchasing clothing for my dolls, so no biggie—but it’s something to keep in mind, especially if you’re looking to purchase a doll.
Akihabara was my next stop. Major time-saving tip: The Radio Kaikan building houses Azone, Volks Doll Point, Dollyteria Doll Up, and DOLK. You can just work your way up the floors. There are also lots of non-doll stores here you might be interested in, like AmiAmi.
This Azone didn’t have as many display dolls to take photos of and was quite a bit smaller than the other Azone stores I visited, but I think it’s still worth visiting since the stock between each Azone store varied.
Volks was awesome. They had so many beautiful dolls on display, and there was a huge selection of clothing, wigs, and accessories! They also had some items from the latest DolPa there! I’ll share my haul later in this post.
If you’re planning a trip to Akihabara, consider also visiting Mandarake Akihabara, Doll Studio SEN (ドールスタジオSEN 秋葉原店), and Kaka Planet. There’s also a doll cafe that I didn’t get to visit called MarionnetteAmis.
The second part of my trip took place in Kansai. We took the shinkansen directly to Shin-Osaka Station. Look how cute Raspberry looks on the train! I booked a premium seat with reserved baggage space on the green car, and the price was super reasonable. I wish we could get something like this to connect Dallas and Houston!
The next day was I-Doll! It was incredibly cool to see how similar and different doll events are in the U.S. and Japan.
The biggest difference was the photography ban. Essentially, you could not take photos anywhere in the event except at the designated photo areas, which is why I have so few photos despite being at the event from start to finish. (╥﹏╥) There were so many cute tables I wanted to photograph, but you can still view a lot of them by going through the I-Doll Osaka hashtag on Twitter. Again, huge difference from how it is in the U.S., where photos are not just allowed but encouraged. I feel like, as sellers, we’re always asking people to please take photos with the table and tag us, but it was the total opposite in Japan! I learned that the reason for this is concerns with both reselling and designs being copied, which aren’t really issues we have in the U.S. side of the hobby.
Another major difference was the scale of the event. This isn’t even the big I-Doll—that’s the Tokyo event! Still, it was hands down the largest doll event I’ve ever been to. I believe there were 600 vendors, so this event has more vendors than the largest BJD event in the U.S. has attendees! It was also incredibly organized, especially given the size. Staff were uniformed, there were single-file lines for the popular tables, and signs with rules were clear and presented in multiple languages. It was so professional!
One thing to note is that I-Doll is a shopping-focused event, so don’t expect the usual convention features like panels and meetups. I knew this going in (and honestly, I do not know enough Japanese to participate in a social event), but I can see how it might be disappointing if you showed up expecting something like Resin Rose and got Extreme Doll Shopping instead. (≧ᗜ≦) Biggest tip here: bring cash. I think I saw fewer than a dozen tables accepting cards. Out of 600. Yeah.
It was really cool seeing what dolls are popular in Japan! It seemed that Mini Dollfie Dream was the doll to have. Here in the U.S., I think it’s definitely Minifee or Minifee-size dolls. I didn’t see too many resin dolls in the photo area, although there were some at vendor tables. They can be pretty heavy to travel with, so that made sense. Blythe, bmb Cherry, Picco Neemo, and Obitsu 11 were also super popular sizes. My Asella girls actually fit into a surprising amount of MDD clothing because their bust and hip sizes are similar to MDD, so I was able to buy a lot of cute things. Plus, I have a few 1/6 and 1/12 dolls, so they got some new goodies too.
A super cool and super random thing happened while I was there: I met the owner of Yuiri-chan!
I love following her travels, and her owner was super sweet! He even gave me these adorable postcards with Yuiri-chan’s travel photos on them.
I thought her outfit fit with the outside of the venue being so grassy!
I wanted to visit the Kaka Planet Osaka location while I was in town since I didn’t get to visit the Kaka Planet in Akihabara. Akihabara is definitely a two-day activity if you’re into anime and dolls.
I got my obligatory Osaka takoyaki (delicious!) and visited the Louis Vuitton Osaka Espace location before my doll adventure, as their current exhibit features one of my favorite artists, Yayoi Kusama. It’s a free experience, and the Louis Vuitton staff is incredibly kind and helpful at this location, so please stop by and enjoy the artwork if you’re able to!
This is probably the right place! (๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑)
WIGS!
Kaka Planet was wonderful. I came for wigs and left with wigs, shoes, stands, and clothing. They also carry consignment items from artists like Melody.C, so that was really cool to see! They specialize in Chinese imports, so there were also lots of blind box dolls, TinyFox goodies, and many, many, many items from Chinese artists and companies.
I figured I might as well visit Den-Den Town while I’m out and about!
If you’re unfamiliar with Den-Den Town, it’s very similar to Akihabara, except it’s located in Osaka, not Tokyo. It’s also significantly calmer than Akihabara.
There was also an Azone store in Osaka! This one was surprisingly huge and had items the other stores didn’t have, like this Pookie BonBons outfit I had been on the hunt for! I’m so glad I finally found it. My 1/6 girls got so spoiled from this trip.
I didn’t really do anything doll-related in Kyoto, but I was able to take some photos in my hotel rooms! My first Kyoto hotel had a private garden, which was so perfect for the outfit I put Raspberry in!
Enjoying some almond cake in our second Kyoto hotel!
The rest of my trip was focused on just me, so that’s it for doll photos! (ㅅ´ ˘ `) But don’t worry, I still have my haul photos to share!
If you’d like to read more about adventuring with dolls in Osaka and Kyoto, Vega has posted a wonderful two part blog about her trip. Part one focuses on I-Doll Osaka, and part two focuses on Volks Tenshi-no-Sato in Kyoto.
My Baby Kumako in her new wig and outfit!
She’s currently off getting her faceup done (finally!), so she won’t be blank for long!
My Asella girls with their new goodies!
And that’s my trip! I hope you enjoyed my super, super long blog post!
⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡
