(vintage Guerlain Mitsouko cologne for ¥300- about two pounds – to which I have added three drops of highest quality bergamot oil ( perfect ) – temporarily placed on a bookshelf )
We cycled along the coast yesterday afternoon to one of D’s favourite junk/ recycle/ jumbledens in Zushi called Kurukuru, which translates both as round and round or over and over or bat crazy: and in fact this place is in such a state of shambolic disarray it is almost disgusting; hilarious; despite all the furniture, dolls, records, bric a brac, curious paraphernalia and used detritus that has an undeniable appeal, at times as you try to navigate this place it looks like the most slovenly place on earth ; batteries rotting in acid, a teddy bear left to rot in leaves
The photos don’t capture the chaos here ( D took them and couldn’t help aestheticizing everything : I wanted to show you the unbelievable MESS); a place you can rummage to your heart’s content if you like such things ( the only downside for me being they play The Beatles on loop which is never for me but you can’t have everything ).
a broken, stringless shamisen
We needed a new clock and got one, along with an antique wooden Japanese case filled with coral I liked; an armadillo (sprayed gold the moment we got home); some Pet Shop Boys 12”s; some almost indescribable items that D will use for a performance in January, and, naturally, some perfumes.
The woman there I have never seen before made things more expensive than they would be usually ( all prices are made on spec ); I could have had some No 19 eaux de toilette but decided they were past their best ); I was excited to see a big of Caleche parfum but there was no perfume inside (typically); instead for ¥200 I got a beautiful extrait of something I don’t know the identity of, but it smells like honey covered coral roses grown in a bottle of Malibu; a sexy cousin of Tresor or Poison in the Kenzo Kashaya mode; a glamorous perfume for a harem. I left the L’Air Du Temps but wondered if I should have got the Madame Rochas soap. Gabrielle, I didn’t get the Molyneux Vivre spray parfum but I will if you want ( any excuse to go back there) – I find the Aladdin’s cave aspect of Kurukuru very relaxing; the oddity of it – the humanity.
The Black Narcissus 
Sadly, that’s not an armadillo. It’s a pangolin, the most hunted creature that is nearly extinct. Like rhinos, they are hunted for their scales for use in bogus medicinal concoctions. Don’t keep that poor thing in your house. Douse the shelf with Mitsouko and leave a flower in its place.
Shit !
Duly noted.
That seems like such an interesting place. If there’s ever a chance of finding something fragrant, I don’t mind the hunt.
You must get the Vivre by Molyneux, absolute heaven I tell you. Simply glorious!!
Love the photos. You were able to catch a bit of the chaos.
We will take you to the place when you come
Yay!! Thank you.
“. . . the oddity of it – the humanity.” Loved this, N.
I can see you wanting to capture the junkiest-ness of it, but those pics of Duncan’s are a pleasure, they really are.
Noticed those No 19s straight away. For your sake I wish they’d been extraits. Your doctored Mitsouko sounds delicious and so does that rich rose. Damn, Caleche Parfum would have been a score. I wonder what was in that Patou box? Likely nothing, or you would have reported.
I’m glad you had that experience, and I wish there were more and more vintage beauties filling the shelves there these days, not fewer and fewer. My main source here is no more, and I miss the adrenalin rush of coming across a few coveted gems for peanuts. I’m glad I never, ever took it for granted. Don’t ever want to have to think the fragrance gods are being vindictive.
Now that is right up my street
Glad my interior decoration family finds its roots on eastern shores
Only on the acidic batteries I beg to differ
Have a good new year en Vogue!!!!
But keep a mean streak