Today we took a little trip to a famous secondhand shop near our place, 2nd Street. It's everywhere in Japan, even in Hiroshima where I used to live, which was a reallyyy rural area.

The 2nd Street near our place is quite a large one - 2-storey warehouse. It's huge!

Thank God it's near 'cause we can just hop on the train and the ride took less than 20 minutes. It's near the train station too so if we ended up making large purchases (lol) it wouldn't be such a hassle to lug the stuff back home.

Going to this shop brought back so many memories. I just realised how much I used to love shopping IN JAPAN - the experience is so so different from Malaysia I don't know why. Maybe it's the currency? The vibe? I have no idea.

But today I was the 20-year old me. Gahhh how much I've missed this😌

The lower level is mostly the household items - they have everything from pots and pans and electrical items to kids' toys, guitars and keyboards. Making a mental note that if I'm ever going back to playing guitar (like I used to back in Hiroshima, albeit being so bad at it) I will pay the store a visit. So many guitars to choose from! And speakers and keyboards and ukulele! My 20-year old me would go crazy.

Then the upper level is for the bags and clothes, for both men and women. Went a little bit crazy here looking at the price tags, other places could never put a better offer. But the thing I love the most about shops like this is that, you will never know what gems you could find. They have all the it brands; Gucci, Chanel, Prada, Chloe, Zara, Ralph Lauren, The North Face, etc omg so many.

And..guess what I found?

Alexander Wang rockie bag in rose gold hardware, and nude leather.

Something like this.

I swear as soon as I saw it, I took it and put it in my basket haha.

But yeah the 35-year old me, would never. I had to inspect it closer and saw the leather is already so used it torn a bit, and scratches on the surface that hurt me just to look at them.

So sadly I put it back on the shelf...

All the while thinking oh where can I ever find a gem like this again 😔

Oh well. Adulting is a whole new era.

But today I found the missing piece of myself again. Made me wonder how much of the pieces are still missing, and will I ever get them all back? No idea.

But slowly, and surely.

Best thing is, I have a lot of time to figure that out.

I still can't believe I found that bag. I used to wander around Amsterdam back in 2012 when I was on a job attachment, looking for the Alexander Wang bag, and finally found another bag that I loved and had to let the AW bag go..and now finding it back 10 years later here.

Life sure is funny.

Now looking for a place that can restore leather bags to its original condition. If you have any idea, do let me know. #helpasisterhere