About

Hello! My name is Ilene and this is my little corner on the internet for my interests. I don’t really like talking about myself but since I’m writing one, I think it’s great to be able to be myself and express who I am and what I enjoy. I don’t mind social media but felt nostalgic for online spaces catered to my nerdyness as a teen. I like to affectionately call myself an elder weeb, as my introduction to anime and manga was in the late 90s/early 2000s. In real life, I am a GS employee, married with 3 human children and 2 fur children (cats). I enjoy traveling and try to grab either a shot glass or a magnet from each state I’ve visited. I have lived in two different countries: South Korea and Japan and I also spent 5 months in Okinawa. I learned to sew at an early age and got back into sewing in 2016. In my spare time, I enjoy playing games and reading.

How did this get started?

When I was in elementary school, my older cousin introduced me to Sailor Moon from a VHS tape she bought from Toys R Us back in the early 90s. We became fans instantly and as it started airing on US television, I started collecting the dolls and toys my mom could find in stores. Back in the day with good old dial up, I came across a few different websites of anime collectors that cataloged what toys were around during that time. I never knew that other dolls existed nor did I know this was a cartoon from Japan. My mom wasn’t very enthusiastic about me wanting to collect since it meant searching online for out of state stores, Ebay, and of course spending money. I grew up in the Midwest in a not-small-but-not-large city, so you wouldn’t find Japan specialty stores and there was no Little Tokyo in bigger states like California. All I could do was look at the website and try to find what I could with my own money as I got older. At one point, I did manage to get a few of the Japanese figures, one of the European dolls and a couple of the role playing toys. I eventually stopped collecting right before I graduated high school and gave away what I had to my cousins. At that point I couldn’t really afford to buy what I wanted anymore and I wasn’t living on my own yet.

Fast forward many years later when Sailor Moon Crystal was about to air, more new merchandise was being introduced and I wanted to collect some things I could use such as pens and notepads. In 2015, I moved to Japan as part of my job for 4 years and the very first time I went to Akihabara I went to several stores with my friend and saw so much of the early 90s figurines of Sailor Moon and other shows I used to watch along with newer things that were released. This re-ignited my nostalgia! I missed it!! I was able to find the older dolls and toys in places I could either take the train to or grab online. I went to Nakano Broadway, Akihabara, different malls, recycle shops very similar to Goodwill and even being able to get things from online auctions. All I ever wanted was the same dolls and toys that were showcased on the same website I followed for years and I’d say I’ve managed to grab 95% of it. I don’t have a timeline on how long I plan on keeping my collection, but for now it makes me happy!