Tokyo Pirates

Hello ^^ My official operating hours are from 9am - 7pm.  However, my actual operating hours are usually from 9am - 11pm (until 1am during busy periods, or 24 hours during extremely busy periods - yes I die for a couple of days when this happens)

Answering emails depends on the day and what assignments I have. The morning will be admin (packaging orders, answering the most urgent emails, making phone calls to stores, etc.) Urgent in-store assignments mean I go in for store opening time. If there are no urgent assignments I will continue with most urgent emails until the afternoon (around 2pm), and then go out on any regular assignments or to the post office for bank transfers/urgent shipments.

I usually finish in-store assignments between 5-9pm depending on how many areas I need to go to. After that I continue answering emails/doing admin until 10pm - 1am depending on how many there are/how urgent they are. On days I have no in-store assignments I work until around 9pm.

Sorry that there’s no set hours for emails. >.< It really depends on how many there are. Yours is the last message I’m answering tonight, but I’ll be working until about 12am if anyone needs anything urgently. ^^

On another note, I’m hiring someone to help me shop soon as a beta test, so hopefully that means I can dedicate more time to answering emails and dealing with time-sensitive assignments. :)

Hello, it’s going well thanks. ^^ I hope your day is going well too! That’s weird, but you’re right about Holy Lantern. I haven’t seen it around much either. I seem to remember seeing an ivory one once a while back, but I can’t for the life of me remember where. I wonder where they’ve all gone. :/

Haha, some of the outfits have so many layers it feels like armour at times. ;) If I know it’s going to be bad though (e.g. CC), I go in the clothes that can take a beating. No point in risking my preciouses!

Ack, it’s really hard to say. I reckon sometimes it will change depending on what they expect the customer demand to be. However, at a guess, I’d say each store carries about 15 - 25 of one cut/colour at initial release. Usually, if you’re not in the top 20 you can pretty much kiss chances of getting the most popular item goodbye.

Online I have absolutely no idea.

Hope you have a lovely day too! :D

Haha, I found that really weird too when I first arrived here. xD You get used to it though. Japanese are polite in most situations. It’s all about social context. It’s so crowded in Tokyo (and being packed together is so common) that pushing and shoving becomes kind of normal and acceptable. People push past each other on the trains, in stations, in stores and queue relentlessly. It’s just what you gotta do if you want to get what you want and where you want.

That, and Japanese are freaking serious about sales. (O_O;) I’m surprised more people don’t get injured. If they did Black Friday here I think it would double Japan’s crime rate. xD The New Year sales are probably the closest equivalent, but thankfully most stores anticipate for it so everything is pretty well-organized to minimize the spilling of blood and the slaughter of tiny children. Smaller stores (such as Closet Child) are not so well-organized…and lolitas don’t care who they trample to get what they want. Survival of the fittest! (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ

You’ll find that everyone politely ignores each other whilst trampling though, much like you would ignore other people in a crowded elevator despite having their elbows shoved in your stomach and the ends of their hair tickling your face.

…In conclusion, people are weird, but as the Japanese say, “Shikata ga nai.” - “There’s no other way.”

CDC is short for Crystal Dream Carnival. :D

Hello, it was definitely one of the busier releases. I was there for about 4 and a half hours and I had a medium sort of number. I’ve no idea how long people with extremely high numbers had to wait. The queue of customers before opening was so long that I couldn’t see the end of it.

Yeah, everyone was going for navy first and it sold out so fast. I’m not sure how fast the navy sailor JSK sold out, but I reckon it was within the first 15 or 20 customers. It’s so sad they don’t stock more! (;_;) It was fun though and there were some lovely outfits. Next on the bloodbath list is CDC. ;)

Haha, I did just, thanks. :) It was pretty intense.

There’s only one person requesting it on their wishlist at the moment. Some others wanted to add it, but it’s already virtually impossible to get as it is. >.< Haha, I’m afraid the only way you’re likely to get it is via a very expensive auction, sorry! >.< Even in CC, they usually only come out at campaigns, and CC campaigns are the lolita version of battle royale. ;_;

No, I’m afraid not. If that were the case, you’d need to make a wishlist/request the long-term lookout service.

I keep all the items online and people can upload whatever they want me to search for. So, for example if you’re looking for a DDC JSK you can upload that. I check the wishlists regularly and memorize the items. Then I alert people when I spot those items in store and can even buy them immediately if the customer has good feedback. Of course there’s no guarantee of getting your item, especially rare ones, but it can increase chances. I also regularly check the CC blogs and browse auction sites.

I’m considering taking the service down indefinitely soon though since I have a lot to look out for right now. :)