Kawaii in Manila

It's been a gloomy week here in the Philippines. A huge storm decided to make the country its temporary home and it has left so much destruction in its wake. These are trying times, but Filipinos are tough people, so we'll definitely persevere. If you'd like to help out, you can donate to the Philippine Red Cross here.

Lucky for us, the area where we live in was spared from the floods. I just spent the past few days cooped up at home, which was fine because I'm a homebody anyway lol. I also got to spend some much-need time with the dollies, yay! Having them around definitely made my days brighter.

Speaking of brightening things up, if you're in the Philippines and you're into all things ~*kawaii*~, do check out Kawaii in Manila! They are having a Kawaii Lifestyle Workshop this September 14, packed with the most sugoi activities that every Japanophile will love. For more details, visit their Facebook page or check out the poster below.

Those Creepy Dolls: BJDs in Music Videos

As some of you might know, I'm a huge Kpop fan. I usually only watch out for the few groups that I really love, but just this week, a relatively new Kpop act called Ladies' Code released a new music video and it immediately caught my attention. The reason? A BJD is featured prominently in the video and song cover art.

And judging by the song's cover art, you can already tell how the doll figures into the music video.

Yep, it's there to amp up the creepy factor. In the video, the girls are seen playing and destroying dolls (thankfully the BJD remained unscathed lol!) with vapid looks on their equally doll-like faces. Their doll-like quality gets more highlighted as they themselves become dolls as the video progresses. The "creepy doll" concept is nothing new in music videos though. BJDs have been used for the same purpose in other such videos. Below are some examples.

While I do like that BJDs are getting more exposure in pop culture and even though I have a thing for creepy, macabre concepts, I’m beginning to find it tiresome to see dolls portrayed as creepy things in media. They’re works of art, after all! How about featuring them in a different, possibly a more positive light? Like focusing on their beauty at the very least.

What do you guys think? Have you seen other artists use BJDs in their music videos?