Hello everyone! How was your year 2021? It seems like we are still living in the midst of the pandemic this year, but I hope you had a great year! As this will be my last article of the year, I would like to share with you about how my year has been.

First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your support! As you know, I have been sharing info about Lolita fasihon in "Misako Aoki's Travel Diary from the World of Lolita" for years and those articles are also available in various languages! It makes me happy knowing my stories are shared to all Lolitas around the world! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to join overseas events again this year due to the pandemic. But I'm glad I was able to try out different things, such as collaborating with "PINK HOUSE", "Maison de FLEUR", "Melody BasKet" to produce trending fashion, and designing glasses specially for Lolita fashion. I was also fortunate enough to be invited to do some modelling for Lolita fashion brands, so it was a meaningful year for me.

I'm pleased to announce that I was awarded the "LINE BLOG OF THE YEAR 2021" recently! Though I'm not a skilled writer, I'm very thankful for having the opportunity to write blogs and "Misako Aoki's Travel Diary from the World of Lolita"!

Even though the world is moving forward and we are starting to embrace diversity, there are still people out there who views Lolita fashion from a biased perspective. As I have mentioned a couple of times when writing in this columns, I should dress whatever makes me happy than to worry about "dressing appropriately for my age". A lot of people think that Lolita fashion is meant for young girls as there are a lot ribbons and lace in the fashion and you might also hear comments like "Up to what age are you going to dress up as Lolita?" I have heard people asked me out of curiosity for a fair amount of times during interview. But if I had dress "normally", I probably wouldn't be asked such comments...

My answer to these questions would always be "I'm dressing like this forever". I want to wear what makes me happy regardless of age. Yes, there are times where I lose my confidence and even feel insecure and left out, but I'd rather live as who I am than to become someone I am not. "Stop worrying about peer pressure, and live your best life in 2022", is the positivity I want to spread to each and every one of you. Hopefully next year, I will be able to travel overseas for the events.

Once again, I would like to thank all of you for your support, and I hope to see you again next year!