My last two Japan-entries~
October 11, 2008
Today we went to Tokyo downtown for the first time. But first, we had to find Aya's house starting from the station. It was a bit tiring, but we made it in time.
Had some ramen that were made by Aya's mother and couldn't leave the house before 2:30pm. You wouldn't believe it how long some people take just to put on some make up! If you compare it to me, it takes me 5 minutes to put on eye make up and that's been it. And only on days when I feel like it. XD
This strange guy from Hungary came with us. At first I thought he was a girl, but he was too slim for a girl and the body proportions just didn't fit. His way of talking is very strange, like he's changing his voice on purpose, I don't know. He speaks Japanese veeeery fast and not clearly. And I thought Aya's mom would talk fast. XD But by now she got how fast or slow she has to talk to me for me to understand.
First we went to Akihabara Electric Town. But not to buy some electric goods, nooooo. We went to a メイド喫茶 instead. ^^; It just shouldn't be, me and a new DS Lite. Thanh Thao and me had a ice cocoa in the café, the others had different things I don't remember. This Sakura-san yes, he's calling himself by a female Japanese first name! had nothing because his money wasn't enough apparently. Thanh Thao and Aya changed into costumes in the store, which you could rent for ￥1000.
Afterwards, we went by train to Yurakuchô (有楽町), which is the closest JR station to Ginza (銀座). There we did some 銀ぶら, which means going on a stroll around Ginza. We saw all these high brand name stores, Pucci next to Gucci (lol) and Bulgari and stuff. Of course we took lots of pictures. First, all five of us wanted to go to this restaurant, but they were booked out and didn't have places for us to sit, so we used the half an hour left and made some sightseeing. Bought two CDs (BarEeeeeeeeeen and KOH+) and we were in one of the two new H&M branch stores in Japan. I have to mention that these are the first two stores in the whole of Japan, so people were actually standing in line in front of the shop! Unbelievable! O.o
After this half an hour (which passed surprinsingly fast) we returned to the restaurant. Apparently, there are ordinary restaurants on Ginza where you don't pay a fortune for food. We had Kamameshi (I had Gomoku Kamameshi, 五目釜めし), a kind of Don in an old-fashioned pot. Veeery tasty!
On our way from the station to Bic Camera (where I didn't found my DS after all... It shouldn't be, I just know it!) Sakura-san said he had to return home. Later, Aya's mom told me that this guy is actually afraid of walking in the dark from his station to his students accomodation. He's a guy, isn't he? But he has to catch the bus because he's afraid of walking these five minutes. 怖がり, really! He's just too weak, with his appearance being like a woman and all...
We arrived safely at "home" in Kawaguchi after a brief stop at the supermarket. It's the supermarket near the station and it even has my precious sparkling water from Germany, Gerolsteiner! I was so happy to drink ordinary water. XDD Perhaps I'll stay in Tokyo after all. Most guys here are even tall enough! XD
October 15, 2008
Only two more days. Today was Johnny's day. Actually, we planned to stand up early, get to the Jimu (or where we expected it to be) and visit the JE shop after. That was the plan. We couldn't hold on to it in the end, because we stood up too late (8AM instead of 7AM), so we decided not to go to the Jimu after all. So the JE shop was left.
But do you know what? Arriving at the JE shop, we should have taken a ticket, because people were already lining up very fast. Some even had their 10AM ticket from the day before. Very confusing and irritating. In the end, I decided not to go, we went for a walk around Yoyogi Koen which is near Harajuku station. In the end I took one of these tickets after all, which was for 3:30PM.
Soon after, Yuka arrived, one of Thanh Thaos many friends in Tokyo. She skipped classes for us so she could show us around Harajuku a bit more. We went for Starbucks first, then shopping in Takeshita Dori. Taking lots of PuriKura. Found sere-chan's scarf by accident. XD
Time passes really fast when you're in Japan, I tell you. Soon it was about 3PM and I could enter the JE shop. Thanh Thao didn't want to and after I passed the threshold into the store, I knew why. People were lining up in about 5 lines, all waiting to be serviced by the two staff people at the cashier. @_____@ That's why you have to bring so many time to enter the Tokyo JE shop! Unbelievable. They had about six people for security, but only two people really servicing the customers. If you want to go into a JE shop, please choose Osaka or Nagoya instead. They may not have all the things you want, but basically, they are all the same. Moreover, I didn't have to choose a time frame for entering the store in Osaka, it's much more relaxing to go then!
Well, after I got my pictures and uchiwa (about 10 min looking at the pictures and another 1h10min queuing), we were ready to get to Koyamama's ramen-ya. I'm still grinning from the memory! Everybody at the store is so nice! We arrived at about 6PM, so we decided to go back to the station (which is only about 4min away) and buy a note pad so I could write a fan letter to Koyama. I mean, when do you have the opportunity to hand in a fan letter so directly?! I was sooo nervous while writing, especially because of the time pressure. XD And in the store, there was everything like they wrote it. The card of Japan (I thought it was a world card before...) with all the cell straps, lots of Koyama posters from his butai and really recent promotional posters, like the Happy Birthday one, a RUSS-K autumn line commercial (which I own, too) and a Summer Time promo. She must have been pretty proud of her son, because the Loss Time Life hung twice, dorama and butai version. xD
But really, it's only an ordinary ramen-ya for everyone else. When we waited, two older men came and asked us where we came from etc. One of them was a regular costumer and knew Koyamama really well, he said. But he was a bit drunk already, so everything a bit awkward.
So, entering the store, it was crowded pretty fast. The ramen were so tasty! Japanese ramen are really much much better then the German version I knew up until now. We were serviced by a guy who really looked like Koyama and after a while, we noticed that he not only has the same voice, but also the same laughter. So I guess it was his brother. The mother also came about 20 minutes into the opening, so we were really lucky.
After we ate (I don't know why, but our dinner arrived last from all the people we came from), I wanted to hand them my fan letter, but I asked Yuka first if she could ask the guy to take a picture with us. We ended up taking a picture only of me and the guy. He was pretty shocked that we wanted a pic with him, like "えっ！俺と？マジで？！" The mother isn't allowed to take pictures of, she has a contract with the Jimusho to not have her picture taken. O.O But she looked veeeery, very young. I guess she's about the age of my mother. But with Japanese people you'll never know, ne?
Well, that's been it for today. My Johnny's day ends here. XDD
PS: sere-chan informed me that Kei-chan doesn't have a brother. So it might've been his cousin or something. But definitely related somehow!
By now, I'm safely back home and totally off. My sleep rhythm is off (that's why I'm awake in the middle of the night...) and university has me back. :( もう戻りたーい～
The thing that keeps me up these days is the weekend when grayrace and sere-chan come over. But until then there's still so much to do...