The long lost post about Japan (Tokyo-hen)
So, I decided to update my livejournal today and realized that I never said ANYTHING about my Japan trip that happened approximately 3 months ago.
WARNING: This will be long (I'll shorten it just a little bit to highlights) and will contain some pictures.
Starting off on a solemn note, I didn't get to finish my trip. Of the 19 days we were supposed to stay in the country, we really only completed 8 and spent 2 days traveling, for a total of 10 days abroad. But as the Japanese say, しょうがない (It can't be helped).
Our trip started at the Baltimore International Airport. We arrived 2 hours before our flight, so when we arrived, my dad and I kind of loitered around the terminal until we were allowed to board the plane to Boston. When we finally sat down and took flight to Boston, it was horrible. The last time I was on a plane was when I was 7 going to Florida. Needless to say, I don't remember it that well. There was so much turbulence on the 1 and a half hour flight, I felt sick. I had no idea how the hell I was going to last 14 hours.
When we arrived in Boston, we had some time to kill right before the terminal. Being THE MOST inexperienced travelers EVER, we decided to get a meal right there. On the plane ride to Japan, the airline actually gave us two meals. I was busting at the gut. It was loud as fuck, it was hot. I just wasn't a happy camper, but I was happy about the fact that the movie choices were great. I got to watch the second Ooku movie and I was so pleased with it as well as Kyou wa Koi wo hajimemasu, which was just meh. Once I finished watching those, I skipped through Le Miserables searching for songs that I wanted to listen to. They also had an audio thing on the plane where you can listen to audio recording or programs or even like a featured artist. Amazingly enough, they had Arashi's Breathless on one of the lists so guess what I listened to several times over. Also, the plane had a JCB CM with Nino in it, imagine my happiness and I wasn't even in Japan yet, lol. I did discover a new band though and their music helped put me to sleep on the plane (I still listen to the CD, cause it's so good, but it just doesn't have the same relaxing feeling since I listen to it so much, lol).
We arrived in Japan half a day later and just as we were landing, I started to have a conversation with the person sitting next to me and my dad. Turned out she helped to create those really cool nekomimi that you see all the time at anime cons and the like. The brain wave nekomimi, lol.
We weaved our way through Narita, exchanging money and searching for train tickets for both the Shinkansen to Hiroshima and to get to our hostel in Asakusa, Tokyo. I wanted to stop at an international ATM in Narita, and we did find one, but it wasn't working with my card, which made me think that our already emotional trip just got much more emotional. Having given up, we navigated to our hostel in Asakusa, dropped our bags off and took a walk to find food. By the time we did all of this it must have been about 8 pm. But being in Asakusa, we got a nice little treat:
SKYTREE! Lol, for some reason, I will always associate the SkyTree with Aiba-chan. Also, I had the best ramen in a little family owned hole-in-the-wall shop. Soooo good after a 16+ hour trip around the world.
The next day, jet-lagged like crazy, my dad and I took a walk through Asakusa, going all the way to the SkyTree and back in a 3 hour walk because we got lost and ended up on the other side of the city. After all that, I met up with a friend I had been introduced to by emodiva almost a year earlier. He works in Asakusa and was able to show us all around. He took us to the Sensouji Temple in town and then showed me what I was most interested in seeing: OTOME ROAD. Over in Ikebukuro, he led us through Owl City, Sunshine City (where I had the best tasting Sweet Potato cheese cake ♥) and then Otome Road. My dad and friend waited outside while I walked into the small, busy shops lined with everything a fujoushi could think of. I did walk into a store with a lot of Arashi's con/waku waku gakkou good among other things. The same store also contained a lot of Tenimyu and Burimyu things, which shocked me. I found a store that sold BL manga and doujinshi and thought it would be good to search for something that's rather difficult to find online and brought my friend into the shop filled to the brim with women. (Thank you for being so helpful, Shunsuke!) We lost my dad after that and Shun would always say "Where did Papa go?!" Turns out, he snuck into a bike shop close by. Thinking that it would be a good way to top off my total fujoushi/otaku side, Shun showed me the Animate building in Ikebukuro..... O.M.G. is all I'm going to say. He accompanied me inside that one too as I searched for BL manga, lol. The only guy in the store. (AGAIN, I'M REALLY SORRY!! ♥). I walked out happily, with new manga in hand and from there we parted for the day.
I have to say though, everyday, we walked right into 7/11 which was literally feet away from our hostel and had breakfast and sometimes dinner there. Japan's 7/11's are GOD SENT! I kid you not. Melon pan, curry, ocha, Chu-hi.... GOD SENT.
Day two in Tokyo, we met with my dad's friend from 35 years ago. When my dad was 15 living in NY, his friend's dad moved to America and the two would always play ping-pong together. Two years after moving to America they moved back to Japan. Just recently did they reconnect and when we went to Japan, I took the advantage of getting them to meet again. And what a great reunion it was:
Takashi-san showed us around Shinjuku, Shibuya, Roppongi, and Harajuku. Takashi-san took us to this building Shinjuku and we took an elevator to the 45th floor where you could look out and see almost all Tokyo in the immediate area. I was able to see Tokyo Tower from here and it was too cloudy, but had it been clearer, Fuji-san can be seen. But the cake topper:
Kokuritsu Kyougijou ♥
I did find the Harajuku Johnny's Shop. What a terrifying experience that was, being the only foreigner in the small underground area. I completely missed the paper to get shop photos, so I basically wandered around the shop, avoiding teenage girls and looking like a fool. I couldn't really get out either, so I waited in line, bored cause I had no internet on my not-working international Iphone only to escape back to Takashi-san and my dad.
Since we were in Shibuya at one point, I made it a point to find the Hachiko statue and cross the largest cross walk in the world. And I did. Twice. Bazinga.
That day we ate soba for lunch and then found a Hokkaido specialty restaurant on the 8th floor of a department building for dinner. After dinner, we wandered Harajuku and I found a cosplayer, who I promptly took a photo with. But what drew my attention was a maid advertising for her cafe. I asked to take a picture with her but she flat out rejected me, lol.
For our last full day in the Tokyo region, we met with my friend Wataru in Kamakura. He showed us the Daibutsu which I promptly tried to hold up:
I did go to Yokohama's equivalent of China Town and had the best chinese food I've ever eaten in my life and discovered Shichimi (7 Spice).
Also, just an fyi, freshly made senbei = おいしい♥
After we trekked back to Yokohama and went inside this place (which can be seen in the FamiGe ending!!!! O.O!!):
Wataru informed me that our mutual friend Aki was going to meet us for dinner. My dad, jet lagged, lost in translation and grumpy, decided to head back to our hostel. Turns out he got lost on his way back and stopped for dinner somewhere he was recommended to in Asakuda where he was served the best beer and sashimi he ever had, lol. Me? I went for Omurice with my friends:
(my camera messed up...)
After parting with them, I was all on my own in getting back to Asakusa. Aki and Wataru gave me instructions but it involved transfers that I wasn't too keen on. After changing trains and getting lost, an older man asked me in very good English where I was going and helped me out a little. I did get lost again and being jet lagged and late at night in Japan, I gave up Japanese and just started asking in English. I made it back just fine and the next morning, we made our way down to Hiroshima via Shinkansen.
Hiroshima Part
WARNING: This will be long (I'll shorten it just a little bit to highlights) and will contain some pictures.
Starting off on a solemn note, I didn't get to finish my trip. Of the 19 days we were supposed to stay in the country, we really only completed 8 and spent 2 days traveling, for a total of 10 days abroad. But as the Japanese say, しょうがない (It can't be helped).
Our trip started at the Baltimore International Airport. We arrived 2 hours before our flight, so when we arrived, my dad and I kind of loitered around the terminal until we were allowed to board the plane to Boston. When we finally sat down and took flight to Boston, it was horrible. The last time I was on a plane was when I was 7 going to Florida. Needless to say, I don't remember it that well. There was so much turbulence on the 1 and a half hour flight, I felt sick. I had no idea how the hell I was going to last 14 hours.
When we arrived in Boston, we had some time to kill right before the terminal. Being THE MOST inexperienced travelers EVER, we decided to get a meal right there. On the plane ride to Japan, the airline actually gave us two meals. I was busting at the gut. It was loud as fuck, it was hot. I just wasn't a happy camper, but I was happy about the fact that the movie choices were great. I got to watch the second Ooku movie and I was so pleased with it as well as Kyou wa Koi wo hajimemasu, which was just meh. Once I finished watching those, I skipped through Le Miserables searching for songs that I wanted to listen to. They also had an audio thing on the plane where you can listen to audio recording or programs or even like a featured artist. Amazingly enough, they had Arashi's Breathless on one of the lists so guess what I listened to several times over. Also, the plane had a JCB CM with Nino in it, imagine my happiness and I wasn't even in Japan yet, lol. I did discover a new band though and their music helped put me to sleep on the plane (I still listen to the CD, cause it's so good, but it just doesn't have the same relaxing feeling since I listen to it so much, lol).
We arrived in Japan half a day later and just as we were landing, I started to have a conversation with the person sitting next to me and my dad. Turned out she helped to create those really cool nekomimi that you see all the time at anime cons and the like. The brain wave nekomimi, lol.
We weaved our way through Narita, exchanging money and searching for train tickets for both the Shinkansen to Hiroshima and to get to our hostel in Asakusa, Tokyo. I wanted to stop at an international ATM in Narita, and we did find one, but it wasn't working with my card, which made me think that our already emotional trip just got much more emotional. Having given up, we navigated to our hostel in Asakusa, dropped our bags off and took a walk to find food. By the time we did all of this it must have been about 8 pm. But being in Asakusa, we got a nice little treat:
SKYTREE! Lol, for some reason, I will always associate the SkyTree with Aiba-chan. Also, I had the best ramen in a little family owned hole-in-the-wall shop. Soooo good after a 16+ hour trip around the world.
The next day, jet-lagged like crazy, my dad and I took a walk through Asakusa, going all the way to the SkyTree and back in a 3 hour walk because we got lost and ended up on the other side of the city. After all that, I met up with a friend I had been introduced to by emodiva almost a year earlier. He works in Asakusa and was able to show us all around. He took us to the Sensouji Temple in town and then showed me what I was most interested in seeing: OTOME ROAD. Over in Ikebukuro, he led us through Owl City, Sunshine City (where I had the best tasting Sweet Potato cheese cake ♥) and then Otome Road. My dad and friend waited outside while I walked into the small, busy shops lined with everything a fujoushi could think of. I did walk into a store with a lot of Arashi's con/waku waku gakkou good among other things. The same store also contained a lot of Tenimyu and Burimyu things, which shocked me. I found a store that sold BL manga and doujinshi and thought it would be good to search for something that's rather difficult to find online and brought my friend into the shop filled to the brim with women. (Thank you for being so helpful, Shunsuke!) We lost my dad after that and Shun would always say "Where did Papa go?!" Turns out, he snuck into a bike shop close by. Thinking that it would be a good way to top off my total fujoushi/otaku side, Shun showed me the Animate building in Ikebukuro..... O.M.G. is all I'm going to say. He accompanied me inside that one too as I searched for BL manga, lol. The only guy in the store. (AGAIN, I'M REALLY SORRY!! ♥). I walked out happily, with new manga in hand and from there we parted for the day.
I have to say though, everyday, we walked right into 7/11 which was literally feet away from our hostel and had breakfast and sometimes dinner there. Japan's 7/11's are GOD SENT! I kid you not. Melon pan, curry, ocha, Chu-hi.... GOD SENT.
Day two in Tokyo, we met with my dad's friend from 35 years ago. When my dad was 15 living in NY, his friend's dad moved to America and the two would always play ping-pong together. Two years after moving to America they moved back to Japan. Just recently did they reconnect and when we went to Japan, I took the advantage of getting them to meet again. And what a great reunion it was:
Takashi-san showed us around Shinjuku, Shibuya, Roppongi, and Harajuku. Takashi-san took us to this building Shinjuku and we took an elevator to the 45th floor where you could look out and see almost all Tokyo in the immediate area. I was able to see Tokyo Tower from here and it was too cloudy, but had it been clearer, Fuji-san can be seen. But the cake topper:
Kokuritsu Kyougijou ♥
I did find the Harajuku Johnny's Shop. What a terrifying experience that was, being the only foreigner in the small underground area. I completely missed the paper to get shop photos, so I basically wandered around the shop, avoiding teenage girls and looking like a fool. I couldn't really get out either, so I waited in line, bored cause I had no internet on my not-working international Iphone only to escape back to Takashi-san and my dad.
Since we were in Shibuya at one point, I made it a point to find the Hachiko statue and cross the largest cross walk in the world. And I did. Twice. Bazinga.
That day we ate soba for lunch and then found a Hokkaido specialty restaurant on the 8th floor of a department building for dinner. After dinner, we wandered Harajuku and I found a cosplayer, who I promptly took a photo with. But what drew my attention was a maid advertising for her cafe. I asked to take a picture with her but she flat out rejected me, lol.
For our last full day in the Tokyo region, we met with my friend Wataru in Kamakura. He showed us the Daibutsu which I promptly tried to hold up:
I did go to Yokohama's equivalent of China Town and had the best chinese food I've ever eaten in my life and discovered Shichimi (7 Spice).
Also, just an fyi, freshly made senbei = おいしい♥
After we trekked back to Yokohama and went inside this place (which can be seen in the FamiGe ending!!!! O.O!!):
Wataru informed me that our mutual friend Aki was going to meet us for dinner. My dad, jet lagged, lost in translation and grumpy, decided to head back to our hostel. Turns out he got lost on his way back and stopped for dinner somewhere he was recommended to in Asakuda where he was served the best beer and sashimi he ever had, lol. Me? I went for Omurice with my friends:
(my camera messed up...)
After parting with them, I was all on my own in getting back to Asakusa. Aki and Wataru gave me instructions but it involved transfers that I wasn't too keen on. After changing trains and getting lost, an older man asked me in very good English where I was going and helped me out a little. I did get lost again and being jet lagged and late at night in Japan, I gave up Japanese and just started asking in English. I made it back just fine and the next morning, we made our way down to Hiroshima via Shinkansen.
Hiroshima Part