I recently ran across this book ⚠️ ↗ at a Japanese bookstore. ( Who says geekdom doesn't pay off?) For a slightly larger version of the cover image and representative photos from the interior, check this ⚠️ ↗ out.

This is supposedly the first in a "Otome ( maidens ) travel picture-book series; though I can find no sign that Konohana Books has done a 乙女の旅絵本シリーズn°02. This volume 乙女のパリ ( Maidens of Paris ) is a delight. It reminds me of the mooks ( a Japanese magazine-book hybrids ) of yesteryear. However this time it turns the saccharine sentimentality, lace, ribbons and silk-roses by the bouquet over to the depiction of European lasses. This is a strictly goth-free zone.
I found the section at the end with Zoe, Myriam et al in kimonos like Japanese Schoolgirls at a traditional festival to be quite amusing. Do the Japanese have to go all the way to Paris to encounter girls in Kimonos?
Its hard to tell whether this is the cross-promotion of some Gallic boutique in Japan or what? Japanese product-placement can take some mystifying turns.
The faux-naive character Mimi*Sucre makes mercifully few appearances in the book. But I found her a massive distraction from the pastries, bisque dolls and other sentimental adornments.

Below is Konohana Books official Otome no Pari site. If your bandwidth is slow, be patient. Its graphics take a while to load and just when you think you've got it they disappear altogether before resurfacing. BTW, the Japanese girl in the Boutique section isn't found anywhere in the Otome no Pari volume. She's a little old to be playing dress-up this way. And the French girls do a better job of being French :)

( Dante shamefully turns in his union-card at Tomboy Lovers Local 865.)

Dante