Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep ...

So far I`ve discovered three goth clothing shops in Hiroshima. Unfortunately, most of the clothes are ridiculously expensive, ranging from $150-$400 and the quality of the garments is not that spifferiffic. Most staggering of all are the Little Bo Peep dress shops. Daintily decorated shops in cream and pink wallpapers are lined with row upon row of lacey, frilly, puffy dresses fit for the most glamorous shepherdess. There are frilly bags to match and cameo-style chokers and pretty gloves and stripey socks. Most dresses start at $250 and transform Japanese girls into rather unsettling, delicate, walking living doll-lls.

Speaking of Living Dolls, I have found a figurine shop that sells doll parts so one can make one`s own doll. Crazy clothes and different-coloured hair can be purchased for the dolls. Also, many of the female dolls have different-sized breasts, ranging from `petite` to `extreme`, which is all very disturbing.

Today amid the tiny alleys of faded neon and overhead wires, racing along on my little red racy bike, I espied a genteel pearly-haired woman cycling afore me and most amazingly dressed. She donned a stunning black dress that sported long, rectangular draped sleeves embroidered with white peacock feathers. The sleeves flapped about in elegant chaos behind her and she looked most witchy shuttling along on her bike in a storm of wayward clothes and feathers. Whenever the sleeves were about to snag in the back wheel, the wind would bear them up again like a convenient spell. Or maybe I`ve just been reading too much Harry Potter ...