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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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Japan Log Day 13

Day Thirteen of Japan - YOLO

Today will be the last log I write for my adventures. Unless something incredible happens on my flight back. Even then, it might be a normal post. I'm calling today YOLO because we definitely used that term a lot today in a non life-threatening way.

We went to Tokyo Tower today. Neither of us slept too well, unfortunately for whatever reasons were lurking in our subconsciousness. But, we still got up at a reasonable time and got ready slowly. I wasn't feeling great, so Lilia dug up her peppermints for me and we munched on the rest of the bread. Deciding to eat a real meal at the Tower, we headed off.

Neither of us were really paying attention when we got on the line, and missed our stop. Well shoot. Luckily we only missed it by one station and it was easily remedied. We walked towards the tower, which we could easily see once we got out of the subway entrance and pretty much followed the crowd until we got to a surprise shrine! It was beautiful as usual, with lots of sakura trees blowing in the wind. We quickly realized that we couldn't get to the tower through here and deviated to the side where there was a pathway through.

Well, mostly. We came across a bunch of guardians specific to children's health, miscarried, or stillborn babies. Along with them came a huge gust that blew approximately a thousand sakura petals off their trees. Again, anime does not lie about the sakura trees and the petals, holy crap. After snapping a few pictures, selfies included, we moved along and found a pathway that led out of the shrine proper and towards the tower.

While we made our way towards the tower entrance, we saw a bunch of lines with koi shaped wind socks, along with some even larger ones on the flagpole. We headed to the ticket counter where we saw that the admission prices were 2,100Y and not 900Y???? Oh, wait. That's for the One Piece Tower. Phew. We quickly paid the 900Y for a ticket up and slid onto the elevators.

The unfortunate thing about doing the Skytree first, was that the Tower was a little unimpressive. Luckily, the elevator didn't rocket up to the stratosphere, so that wasn't much of a shock. Unluckily, it showed a view of the street as we rose. Once the barf inducing ride was over, we snapped a couple photos of the decorations and made our way around the observatory. At the end of the round was a gift shop. We both picked up a handful of things, and moved on.

We headed to the first floor as we were dumped out on the second, and made our way around that one too. We stopped at the cafe to get some food and both got a ham and cheese sandwich, I got a ginger ale as my stomach still felt weird, and Lilia a coke. We both also got a parfet, mine being a caramel and Lilia's chocolate. There was some sort of custard, or tofu at the bottom that wasn't bad. We decided to head down, and were dropped into another souvenir store.

Tempted, we wandered the store where Lilia FINALLY found Persona 5 merchandise. The first we've really seen since we've gotten here. Lilia got a couple things and we headed down a level where we were dumped into a small market looking area. This is where YOLO came into effect. We bought a lot of small trinkets that we both loved and wanted to buy. Hey, who knows when we'll be back here? Might as well buy now and regret later!

After we left the tower, we headed to a district to pick up a gift for Lilia's friend. Luckily, it wasn't too far away, and there were no weird surprises or "F you's". We took a JR line back to the Kawasaki station and it definitely felt faster and smoother than the other trains we've ridden. Luckily, it wasn't packed either.

I was craving McDonalds, so we decided to slip into the one near our hotel and have dinner there. Now, we're back at the hotel packing for our flight tomorrow, slowly realizing that we may have YOLO'ed a little too hard with our trip. Good thing we have a back-up plan if not everything fits.

Overall, I do definitely have a handful of gripes about Japan. While it may be 'polite' here, it's certainly not polite in the states. No one says excuse me, so you don't know if someone's sliding past you until you bump into them. This is especially true on the train. People will just cut you off completely while walking, and not even blink an eye. It's a weird mix of everyone mingling and taking the quickest route FOR THEM.

However, Tokyo is definitely a BEAUTIFUL city, and quite possibly a great time to visit mid to early spring where all the sakura trees are blooming and the petals falling. I'd say 95% of the people here are very kind and polite when they interact with you. Not knowing a lot of the language wasn't as terrible as I thought it'd be, but before we return, I'd definitely like to learn more.

My advise for first time visitors; it's not as scary as you think it'd be. For the most part, Japan will have Japanese, and then English for transit. Google Maps IS your friend, so if your plan doesn't allow international data like ours did, get a SIM card at the airport. Google Maps will help you with the train and bus system, even telling you what platform to go to. Getting Google Translate is super helpful too in figuring out food, or souvenirs. We used it plenty of times.

Also, get a Pasmo. It's available at the airports, and it's only a 500Y deposit which you can get back if you get a non-registered Pasmo, so if you lose it, it's gone. But, so worth it. For those of you who live in Western Washington, it's just like the Orca card, but you can use it on vending machines and some stores. The transit system isn't that expensive. Lilia and I put roughly $100 on our cards, and that got us through two weeks. To be fair, we mostly did stay in Tokyo and Yokohama, but our most expensive trip from Kawasaki to north Tokyo was roughly $9.

While Japan has been fun, we are both definitely ready to go home, sleep in our own beds, and love our respective pets. We'll be back, Japan!

#Japan Trip #Japan Log #Day 13

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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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Japan Log Day 12

Day Twelve of Japan - The Hunt

The day started off earlier than our other days with exception of the first three. We weren't sure how long our mission was going to take, so we decided to start earlier in the day. Once we got to Shinagawa, we got off and wandered the train station for a while, trying to find a certain store. Said store was behind the JR ticket line, and also, not open. It seems to have been in remodel or something like that.

No onigiri for us.

Resigned, we headed to the JR platform we needed to go to and then Lilia got on the car right as the doors began to close. Separated. Awesome. Luckily the next train was only 6 minutes behind. We reconvened at the destination station which wasn't too far down the way, and continued on our way to get Lilia's thing. We went to the shop and asked for the specific item. The worker led us to another store down the hallway that was full of various kinds of product. I'm being vague here to not tip off the person it's for. (Tumblr Edit: It was a cuban cigar)

The lady there led us into a glass room full of the kind of product Lilia wanted. The smell, to me, was a little overpowering. I did my mantra of breathe in, breathe out, don't puke, breathe in, breathe out .... Probably didn't help that we hadn't eaten yet either. Lilia purchased her thing, and got a gift from the saleswoman ( which seems to happen frequently ngl, We've both gotten small things from stores ). The lady wrapped up the purchase in a small box and tied it with a beautiful bow.

After lots of thanking and bowing, we left the store and ducked into a ramen store right next door. The gentleman standing at the front knew a little bit of English, and asked if he could help. We readily agreed, and he helped us out with our orders. Lilia and I got the same bowl that had green onions, pork slices, seaweed, and a poached egg on top of a bunch of buckwheat noodles and broth. Pretty good stuff. As we waited for the crosswalk back to the station, Lilia pulled out some mints and offered one to me, saying something about not wanting to have seaweed breath the entire day. Wimp.

We headed back to Akihabara to finalize gifts that we wanted to get people since it's our second to last day. ( I'm not counting the day we're leaving because ... we're leaving? ) We hit up Yobodashi again and Lilia and I both got little skelemans. Lilia's gets to sit on a paper piano, and mine have different plans. I got a adorable little owl plushie, and Lilia a tiny black cat. They're super cute! We left Yobodashi and headed back towards Akiba Zone. We both picked up some figurines for friends. I got caught up in keychains and tiny figurines and spent probably too much. Oh well. At least I haven't spent ALL of my vacation fund yet.

Since the time was getting close to rush hour, we decided to call it a day, and headed back a little early, not wanting to get squished up against the train doors again. As we left the JR station in Kawasaki, I happened to look over and - ONIGIRI! 10 minutes away from our hotel. Lilia and I both got one, since they were massive, and went on our way. We swung into the bakery again for dinner, where Lilia got a little pamphlet, We both thought it was because bread makes you fat, stupid, don't eat so much! But no, it was telling us how healthy their bread is with an active lifestyle.

The onigiri was great, the bread was, as always, great. We settled down and watched some Netflix and youtube. I finished my cross-stitch that's about 18 months overdue. Ripping into the one I bought at Tokyu Hands, I realized my mistake. Everything was in Japanese. The colors, the amount of threads, everything else ... at least the patterns seem to be universal for the most part. There's so much floss in this pattern, guys. So much. At least it wants me to use 6 strands at a time ... go big or go home, I guess?

#Japan Trip #Japan Log #Day 12

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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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Japan Log Day 11

Day Eleven of Japan - Another Garden

Today was a pretty calm day. Our goal today was to hit up Rikugien Garden, and then a small store in Iibadashi. Deciding to eat once we got to the district, we noticed a Mos Burger. It's a "fast" food chain that originated in Japan, so no, we didn't have American food again. The burgers were great. The cheese was a mild white, and definitely not your normal american or cheddar cheese. Maybe swiss or havarti? Lilia got a topeki burger that looked pretty much like teriyaki. I got a normal cheese burger since I wasn't feeling adventurous.

We headed to the garden, which was a nice walk through a small neighborhood. We passed by a playground for kids, who were very loud and excited. Good to know kids playing loudly is universal. We entered the garden at the end of the block and made our way around. It was smaller than the Sankeien garden we visited a couple days ago, but still worth it. There were a lot of different trees, and the pamphlet proudly boasted maple trees and a weeping sakura tree. There was also supposed to be an azalea patch, but those definitely weren't blooming yet.

As we walked over one of the bridges, we saw a MASSIVE gold and white koi. It bullied all the other smaller koi for imaginary food that Lilia and I weren't throwing into the water. We left the koi behind to see a small flock of black and white ducks with striking golden eyes. As cute as they were, we went on our way pretty quickly. The pathway eventually led us to another bridge that opened up into an island with shrubs and trees growing. Unfortunately, the gate to get onto the bridge was closed.

We stopped into a small teahouse that also had souvenirs. We both picked up some things and meandered on. There were some workers digging up patches of grass in one small area. Possibly to dig out weeds. Or plant flowers. We didn't watch long enough to decipher. The weeping sakura tree had already bloomed and probably blew off most the petals, so it wasn't at it's full glory. Although there were posts to hold up the tree's limbs.

As we said goodbye to the garden, we decided to forgo Iibadashi as the small store that I wanted to go to was no longer relevant. Instead, we walked to the nearest station and headed back to our hotel. Once we got home, we had salads for dinner ... except, we ate our salads with chopsticks. Honestly, not as terrible as it sounds. We munched on bread and candy for pretty much the rest of the night.

A nice relaxing day to make way for a potentially stressful day tomorrow. We're hitting up a few districts that we've been to prior to finalize souvenirs for us, and gifts for friends. All before rush hour so we don't get squished on the train back? I'm hopeful.

#Japan Trip #Japan Log #Day 11

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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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Japan Log Day 10

Day Ten of Japan - Bluh

It rained again today. Since today's plan was Tokyo Tower, we decided to forgo that little adventure as visibility would probably be shite. We swapped our plans around that way we still get to see everything, and now we're going to the Tower on Friday. Today turned into our second screw off day, and we played Mario Kart and I finally watched Stranger Things. We binge watched the entire season. Go us.

Tomorrow is Iibadashi and the Rikugien Gardens, weather permitting. Forecast is still holding cloudy or sunny, so here's hoping!

#Japan Log #Day 10 #Japan Trip

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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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Sorry for the log spam, I realized that I haven’t been up-keeping this blog with my facebook and since I had extra time tonight ....

#I love this gif

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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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Japan Log Day 9

Day Nine of Japan - Akihabara

We did it. We went to the Electric City of nerds and maid cafe's. Our first stop was a soba noodle cafe, where Lilia got curry, and I got something called "Kitsune Udon". It wasn't quite for me, but still pretty good. We left on a mission for ... something. Not quite sure what we were looking for, we headed to Yobodashi Camera that has two nerd toy floors.

Apparently toys in Japan mean figurines. So. Many. Figurines. We wandered the two floors in awe of how much was there, but we hadn't seen anything really yet. We both picked up a few things, souvenirs, and some fun paper building sculptures. There was a large Gypsy Danger figurine from Pacific Rim that we both pined after, but since it was $80, we decided it was best to leave it. We left the giant store and headed towards Mandarake. Unfortunately, it was a lot of not what we were expecting or interested in. Lots of figurines that were way to expensive. It was a bit of a bust.

As we left Mandarake ( which had stairs on the outside of the building, enclosed in a mesh. Probably so people wouldn't commit suicide by jumping off ), Lilia spotted a store she was interested in called Akiba Zone. We put that on our To-Do list as we walked to the Kanda Myojin shrine. It's your basic Shinto shrine - beautiful. They hold ceremonies where they bless you and your computer tower if you bring it.

Yes, you read that right.

Luckily, they had some different Omamori from the Meiji shrine, and I was able to pick up a couple for friends. I was also able to see a Shinto priest along with some more priestesses. I wanted to snap some photos, but I was in a no-photo zone. We left Kanda Myojin and headed to the Akiba Zone. This is where things got a little insane.

Figurines of varying sizes and prices, keychains, patches, and gatcha machines were packed into the building's floors, making small isles that were starting to fill up with people. We wandered the isles, picking up a figurine here or there. It started off for friends, then Lilia saw them. Evangelion figurines. I shamelessly goaded her to buy one, and the dam broke. We both ended up buying figurines, for ourselves and our friends. We left Akiba Zone, hitting up a couple gatcha machines on the way out.

From there, we went back to a cafe that we saw before. Square Enix themed cafe. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a table, but we were able to browse the product for purchase. And did we purchase. We left the cafe and looked up some places to browse some more figurines to try and find some for friends. We decided to go to another shop that sells them and headed on our way.

On our way, we passed a gatcha shop, and lots of maids. We saw one maid that had a real life owl on her arm, and she was dressed up like Harry Potter. I was able to pet the sweet barn owl. So soft!!! She gave us a coupon for an owl cafe! <3 We're heavily considering going there before we leave. We made it to a different store than the one we were heading to, but Lilia scored a sweet Eva figurine for cheap since the box was ~slightly damaged~. Collecting is a huge thing in Japan. If the box is slightly damaged - DISCOUNT! In a different shop, Lilia got two more Eva figurines that were less than $8 each because the boxes were slightly worn around the edges!

We left the first shop and made it to our final destination. We wandered Liberty #8 in hopes of finding the Tales figurines that an article hinted at. Instead, we found other fun figurines for friends and us. Tired, we left Liberty #8 and stopped at a gatcha shop. We ... I decided to blow some yen on the machines, and Lilia got an adorable banana split bird, and I saw a Neko Atsume machine ( Neko Atsume is a phone game where you take photos of cute kitties and feed them ). I noticed that there was one keychain that had a kitty named Ramses the Great and another named Tubbs on there. In the game, he eats all your food and will leave you money based on how much there was left. The whole fandom pretty much hates Tubbs. I love Ramses. Guess who I got? Tubbs. According to Lilia, the look on my face was absolutely hilarious and did an "Office" look.

Our day winded down to an end with a very full train ride back, but not as terrible as our first experience. We stopped at our local bakery and picked up dinner. Hell yeah pastries for dinner .... almost every night this vacation. Whoops. At least it's delicious and fairly cheap.

Tomorrow's plan is to hit up Tokyo Tower. While the observatory isn't as tall as Skytree, it'll still be fun!

#Japan Log #Day 9 #Japan Trip

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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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Japan Log Day 8

Day Eight of Japan - The Mud Day

It rained today. Lilia took a shower this morning and straightened her hair for approximately 45 minutes before we left. Not that it mattered. Her hair is back to it's glorious curly and floofy self because of the rain. At least it wasn't terrible.

Today's mission was to see Koi. We were heading the Hasedera Temple. However, there are two? One in Yokohama ( South of where we're staying ) and one in Nara ( super East of us and way too long of a ride ). Since I wasn't quite sure which one had the Koi pond, I quickly found a public garden that had Koi. Sankeien Garden. It was in south Yokohama, and much closer than the previous temple. Also, not a temple, so no awkward "we're just here for the Koi" conversation.

We managed to figure out the bus system, which that was confusing for a little bit, and got halfway to our destination. Hungry, we looked around for a bite to eat and saw a Dennys. Having had mixed reviews about whether or not we should eat there, we decided to try! We both got a hamburger steak curry. It was awesome. The restaurant also boasted strawberry deserts. Lilia got a shortbread that had shortbread, strawberry cream, shortbread, pistachio cream, shortbread, whip cream, strawberries. I got a parfait, with about the same ingredients except with vanilla ice cream and raspberry sorbet at the top <3 Definitely not your normal Denny's that you end up at at 3AM ordering cheesy fries.

Full and happy, we walked through a neighborhood where we saw a kitty! Pretty kitty ran away from us, even with our coaxing. We made it to the garden, where we realized that the pathways were ... packed dirt. Dirt + Rain = .... mud. Welp. Neither of us were wearing great shoes, not exactly aware that we were going here, but we tried to make the best of it.

The garden was absolutely beautiful. The sakura trees were in full bloom, petals already starting to cover the surface of the pond where mallard ducks were gathered. It was fun watching the ducks race across the pond where they saw humans throw pieces of bread in the water for the Koi. We snapped a couple pictures of the scenery and colorful fish, threw up our hoods and carefully picked our way around the mud puddles in the garden. As we walked over a bridge there was a small river that was covered completely with sakura petals.

We moved on to climb a hill to a three-story pagoda. It was beautiful, even in the rain. There were spotlights on either side of the pagoda to light it up when it got dark. Past the pagoda was an observatory where we could see the nearby highway and factory area. The factory proudly uses hydraulics instead of coal, so the smoke you see coming off the factory is steam, and therefor isn't harmful to the environment. We watched for a little while and left, since the clouds made it hard to see far in the distance. Still no Mt. Fuji sighting. We tried walking down a back pathway, but it was too muddy and we kept slipping.

Afterwards, we wandered down and gazed at the other buildings in the main garden. All beautiful with the sakura trees blooming over them, small shrines tucked in corners, and the nice contrast of dark wood trim, and lighter wood walls. Soaked and muddy, we made our way to the inner garden, which looks like a small village on the map. As we passed through a gate, a kitty was sitting off to the side. We offered our hands to the cat to sniff, but they pulled away. We didn't pet the kitty.

We walked up to the muddy main road that split and both of us thought of Fatal Frame. Where's our twin, ghostly apparitions that we have to take photos of to defeat, and abandoned town? Well, we have the abandoned town, at least. Again, the buildings were gorgeous. Most of them had been moved from the original locations to the garden for safe-keeping and history. Some were built by Tokugawa ( a Shogun (ruler) during the Edo period ), or at least was built for him. There was one building built at the edge of a river, and absolutely beautiful. Lilia and I took a lot of photos. When I get home, I'll try to remember to photo-dump. Still need to do that for Yellowstone. Oops.

Did I mention it was muddy? Lilia cursed the pathway approximately 20 times while we were in the garden.

We left the garden and since we'd both gotten requests from friends to pick something up from our third Pokemon Center, we decided to go to the one in Yokohama. It wasn't too terribly far away, and one 30 minute bus ride later, we got to the shopping mall after it finished raining ... thanks weather. The mall had a curved escalator. My life is pretty boring to get excited over a curved escalator. (It was pretty cool)

We made our way to the Yokohama Pokemon center and ... it had a better layout, wider range of product, and felt nicer than the mega store, which was a little sad. Definitely preferred the Yokohama and Skytree Pokemon store over the one in Ikebukuro. Especially since we found a plush of one of Lilia's absolute favorite Pokemon.

As we left, we found a bubble tea shop and picked up a small drink on the way. Normally, we use the Keikyu line for in and out of Kawasaki. This time, we took the JR Line. Which dropped us off at a completely different station. Confused and not sure where to go, we floundered our way around the station until Lilia saw the name of a shop that was near our normal station. We headed in that direction, and I realized that there was a Daiso nearby. Fun! As we went to leave the station we saw it. Krispy Kreme. Guess what we had for dinner.

Laden with doughnuts and pokemon product, we exited the station and got our bearings. We walked past a karaoke shingding where a lady was singing, and a bunch of people were in a half circle in front of her, dancing their lives away. It was pretty fun. We walked into what we call "Crazy Street". It's more of a tunnel that has neon lights blaring and noises everywhere. It's also bigger than a street. We made our way through the streets, spotting a KFC, and managed to end up stepping out onto the pathway towards our hotel after a handful of blocks.

Tomorrow's plan is Akihabara! It's about darn time we go to the electric city!

P.S. The doughnuts were delicious and adorable

#Japan Log #Day 8 #Japan Trip

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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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Japan Log Day 7

Day Seven of Japan - The F* Off Day

No, seriously. We just relaxed. We had Japanese Burger King which was good. We did laundry (Not only did we figure out our first laundromat, we figured out a FOREIGN laundromat. Go us), and cleaned up the hotel room a bit. Not that we're overly messy, we just organized things a little more. I packed away my current souvenirs into my extra bag, and Lilia did her thing.

I managed to read an entire book and a half in one day, whoops.

Also I bought $20 worth of candy .... I'm an adult. I do what I want.

#Japan Log #Day 7 #Japan Trip

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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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Japan Log Day 6

Day Six of Japan - The Hunt for Tomagatchi

It doesn't exist. The Tomagatchi store closed late February of this year. Talk about disappointing.

The day started off like the other days. Later, more towards noon than anything. We left to Harajuku where the Tomagatchi store used to be, and the Meiji shrine literally on the other side of the tracks. We visited Meiji again, and since it was cloudy, there were less tourists. To me, the walk was nicer and more pleasant. On our way out, we took a different pathway and stumbled on a souvenir store. There were lucky cats and some beautiful traditional pottery. And candy. Lots of candy. I've bought way too much candy. Anyways. We both picked up a few things and headed on.

We went to the main street in Harajuku which was ... A LOT of people. It was almost as crowded as the evening train back to our place. All the shops boasted adorable figurines and plushies, make-up, purses, adorable clothing, ect. The cute capital of Japan. We did a loop around the street, and didn't see the Tomagatchi shop. Hungry and sad - at least I was - we hit up the Japan McDonalds which had a "Sakura float". We got a simple burger and sat down, while I researched the store being closed. Sad face. The burgers were great, and the sakura float tasted like cherry, but subtle, like most of the flavored things here in Japan. It was pretty awesome.

We left Harajuku to go to the MEGA Tokyo Pokemon Store in Ikebukuro. Honestly, after seeing the one in Skytree, it was a little disappointing. I was expecting the centers to be different and offer varying stock, but no such luck. There was even a Skytree Pikachu plushie in the main store which seems odd because .... exclusive? Well, there was a little more product here versus Skytree, but not too much different. We left, disappointed that the mega store wasn't something more, but it was still fun. We met a German couple who was their last day in Japan, and they'd had a blast, so it was fun listening to them.

We made our way back to Kawasaki, and headed to the Don Quijote that was nearby. (We passed one up in Ikebukuro by accident, forgetting that it was there. We were just focused on getting back to Kawasaki before rush hour). The walk took about 25-30 minutes from the station, and we walked down a pathway with trees hanging over the top. Cherry blossom (sakura) trees were blooming, and petals already starting to fall. It was almost enchanting. I wanted to stay on the path longer, but we had to deviate.

Don Quijote is ... insane. It's like Daiso at our local mall except MUCH more. Also, we passed a Daiso back in Harajuku. Isles upon isles, jam packed with stock, clothes, food, luggage, ect. We found Lilia a blanket she's been wanting since we got here, finally! The first place that we've run into that sells blankets. Lilia picked up a good sized blanket for only $10, where it would have been at least $30 here. As we left, we swung by the food area and picked up some water. I wanted to get a large thing, for almost the same price, but I didn't want to carry the jug back to the hotel.

We went back the way we came, and ran across a tabby. It was too skittish to let us pet them. What a cutie! We deviated from our pathway to the hotel and walked towards the 7-11. As we passed a lady walking her two kicker dogs, one kept pulling towards us. I knelt down and let it sniff my hand real quick but it kept walking. I think she giggled, but I didn't understand what she said. You know ... visiting a foreign country and not learning their language first like a JERK!

We bought dinner at the 7-11 because their food isn't horrible, and then two large containers of apple juice (don't judge, it's cheap) and one of water so we're not entirely unhealthy. By the time we made it back to our hotel, it was dark, and we were exhausted.

I have learned one thing though. If there's a chance of rain in the weather, all the nationals carry around umbrellas. And, I really want to rent out bikes because man, walking that distance made me jealous of people who had them.

Today is a relax day. We're giving our bodies time to rest from the past 6 days of ongoing travel and experience to just chill. Trust me, if you plan a vacation, give yourself at least one day in the middle to just take it easy. Your body will thank you.

#Japan Log #Day 6 #Japan Trip

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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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Japan Log Day 5

Day Five of Japan - Aqua Park

Today was a really chill day. We started our trip to the aqua park rather late, after relaxing for a while. We decided that we wanted to hit up a ramen shop once we got to the district. After passing a Denny's (???) we found a small shop up a flight of stairs and ordered. The delicious broth had some sort of dairy added into it, but not as heavy as some cream broth gets. There were plenty of noodles, and Lilia had a few pork slices, while I got dumplings. Neither of us could finish the bowls, though I definitely did my best to drink all of the amazing broth.

Bellies full, we headed over to the aqua park, walking through a long train depot that I'd expect to see in Harry Potter. Google took us through a hotel that had a bowling alley featuring Sonic. GOTTA GO FAST! We saw the aqua park on a directory and promptly headed up a couple escalators. Once reaching the aqua park, we paid a small fee to get in for the show. Sakura Aquarium. I didn't think it was a full aquarium at first.

We walked under a tunnel of pretty lights and what looked like paper flowers linked together. There was a small pathway that boasted touch screens where we could interact with various sea creatures, telling us where they lived and presumably, facts about them. Unfortunately, it was all in Japanese, and there was no English option. We moved past the screens to see little tanks with small fish inside them. Between the tanks were squares of flowers, and a sort of pink light show going on above them.

The next room was more of a lounge. The tables were more aquariums, with a handful of fish each. On the wall was a very large tank, holding some beautiful tropical fish. There was on fish that was vibrant purple that Lilia took a liking to as it matches part of her hair. I personally love the fact that there are neon tetras everywhere. This is where the Sakura Aquarium ended.

We walked around a corner and got on a very long escalator. I was reminded of Super Mario 64 with the endless staircase. When we reached the top, we were in a circular building with A LOT of people. Some sort of show had just ended, and now there were a bunch of kids everywhere. It made looking in the next few tanks hard. One massive tank had a walk-able tunnel where giant manta rays swum overhead and nurse sharks took naps on the floor. Another tank had two huge turtles, a giant eel, and some beautiful lion fish, and other larger critters.

Along one wall was a fascinating display of fish that had passed on, dyed in various colors to show off their bone structures. There were some exoskeleton sea life there too, like a shrimp and muscles. Absolutely fascinated, Lilia took a handful of photos.

This aquarium also had penguins, although there were three different kinds. I only knew of the emperor penguins. There were also two otters!!! a fur seal, and a lion seal. Absolutely adorable! There was a small show going on with a small seal out on the terrace. Passing it up, Lilia and I headed into the rainforest section, where we could see more tropical fish. They also had a couple poison dart frogs. But, it was minimalistic compared to the Woodland Park Zoo.

Also. Capybaras! I'd never seen one in person, and they were SO CUTE! They offered petting them with a ticket purchase, but sadly I had no idea. We left the rainforest area and headed to the gift shop. We picked up a couple souvenirs, and saw that they were selling some of the dyed fish! We both got a tiny jar of probably what was a tetra before it died.

It was just before 4, when another show was going to happen. We headed back to the circle and got our seats high up as there looked like to be a splash zone. Shortly after, a dolphin show went underway. In the middle was a ring of water that streamed down in various patterns, and colors. The trainer who dove in worked fantastically with her dolphin and did some fantastic tricks together, including the dolphin launching her into the air.

Lilia got a video of the whole thing. My phone informed me that hey, it only had 5% after the first two minutes and I probably shouldn't.

We left the aqua park, laughing about the fact that we'd seen two different, and unique aquariums in two days. When we visit Tokyo Tower, guess what they have? Bingo, another aquarium! Fish are gr8! But, that's for Tuesday. We headed back home after our quick excursion and passed into a bakery in the same district as our hotel. We picked up some delicious bread, and hit up the 7-11 where we found juice boxes. YES!

Tomorrow holds a shopping excursion. We have a Mega Don Quijote nearby, which is an odd shop of everything, the Tomagatchi store that we missed in Shibuya, and the MEGA Pokemon center in Ikebukuro. Should be fun ;)

#Japan Log #Day 5 #Japan Trip

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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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Japan Log Day 4

Day Four of Japan - Tokyo Skytree

Today was a fantastic day. It was long transit wise, but well worth the hour commute both ways. We started today off a little late, as we usually do, and got on the train headed to the tower. An hour later, we arrived as Oshiage station. We headed up a few flights of escalators, passed under a high pitched ringing area, and into a mall. We passed by stores, one with Rodeo in the name that was so painfully American that I felt ashamed. There was another one called Lowrey Farms ... as if that's not cringe-worthy to read, just think about the kind of clothes that they sell there.

We made it past all the stores and found our way into a food court. It was basically a box, with the shops on the outer ring, seating on the inner ring, and then the middle cut out so you could see the food store below. Which cut out a lot of potential seating. My luck for beating rush hour seems to not work here in Japan, so the food court was very busy. We circled it twice before deciding to go to a shop that sold hamburger steaks with some sort of sauce on it. We also got a bowl of rice, and a soup that was ... interesting. Definitely different than what Lilia and I are used to.

After we were done, we headed up to where we purchase Skytree passes. There was a lot of people, and since we wanted to see Tokyo at night, and that was four plus hours away, we decided to see the aquarium first. The aquarium in the western portion of Skytree town is two floors, and chock full of sea life. There was a giant tank full of nothing but neon tetras (GOALS!) and lots of jellyfish! There were nautilus' and some eels I've never seen in person before. Lilia described them perfectly as "Little Mermaid evil eels". We moved on to see a two story tall GIANT tank with manta rays, a small shark, and loads of large, random fish. It was stunning.

We moved on to the other side and there we saw some fun mixed aquariums. One had huge fish in, with one of the fish looking like a former LSHS teacher that had an unfortunate bulbous forehead. Some of my HS buddies on here may remember Mr. Unkles. (Pst, guys, it was bigger than the one we named at Bridges pets!) Then, we saw the tank behind that. It had so many eels in it, I almost wanted to start singing poor unfortunate souls as they were literally the little eels that stick out of the ground. Now all we needed was an octopus lady locked up somewhere.

Behind us, the lights dimmed and we walked over to the penguin exhibit that had a beautiful light show. We watched the penguins play for a while after the show ended and went on our way. Down the pathway were some seals. As Lilia walked past them to see the penguins more, I stayed behind to get some photos. I witnessed two seals have a small bitch-fest before one jumped off the rock they were both on. I made my way towards Lilia and the first floor of the aquarium.

To say that the aquarium had a lot of goldfish was an understatement. I almost feel like I was visiting Ginny with her love of goldfish. There were so many colors and styles. There was one small tank that had some goldfish with bulbous eyes that reminded me of Ginny's fish McNugget. There were ones that were white with black spots, or more of a red than a gold. Sadly, no koi. I want to see koi! I say and then immediately look up where ti find a public koi pond.

We finished up our visit to the aquarium with the standard gift shop. We both picked up a couple keepsakes and moved on back to the food court as we were both kind of munchy feeling. And there was a crepe place. I got a chocolate banana crepe and a four berry parfet, Lilia got a strawberry parfet and a melon soda float. All was wonderful. From there, we decided to finally hit up the Pokemon Center in Skytree Solamachi.

When the website says it offers 300 stores, I honestly believe it. SO MANY LITTLE STORES! Lilia got sidetracked by a jewelry store, and boy was it worth it. She found two rings that she loved, and I found two necklaces that are both silver, so I can wear them! One needs a longer chain, as right now it's more of a choker than a necklace. Or, rather, if I swallow too hard, it's going to ping off my neck like Hulk flexes and vaporizes his clothes. The other is short, but fits well enough.

Happy, we wandered a little bit, turned a corner and was ASSAULTED by Pokemon. BOOM, the center was right there! We spent a good 30 minutes to an hour inside the store, probably more deer in headlights than we meant to be. There were so many things, that it's hard to recall them all. Of course, the obvious plushies lined the walls, and they had a small Ditto line that was absolutely adorable, although limited. There was cookware??? and stationary. Socks, shirts, mystery balls that offered a stamp, a tissue box cover, candies, glassware, and probably more I can't think of right now.

Lilia and I both spent probably too much at the center .... but at least we both got gifts for people that weren't us.

As we left the Pokemon Center, we saw what I've been wanting to see since we got to Japan. Amezaiku. Old Japanese candy crafting. We were lucky and got to see the artisan work. He grabbed a shapeless blob of heated candy, and sculpted it into a frog. It was an absolute delight to watch him work. He was very polite and sweet to talk to, and luckily knew enough English that we could get our point across. We both bought a couple things from the shop and went on our way to the Skytree proper. But no, seriously watch this video, he's amazing; https://www.youtube.com/watch…

We walked past the weird carnival that they were holding on the Skytree deck where kids could be in a hamster ball on water, or a small rowing boat. There was also one where they were on bungie cords and could jump as high as they wanted. Luckily, the crowds had died down, and instead of using the fast lane for tourists only and paid double, the nice lady said that the wait in the normal line was only about 10 minutes and we could do that instead. It didn't feel like 10 minutes, honestly.

We finally got our tickets, and headed up. We got into a beautiful, large elevator that had gold around the top and cherry blossom (sakura) flowers inside. Their "Spring" elevator. Now, the observation deck is called floor 350. That's because it's 350 meters, or 1148 feet, off the ground. Way too high. The elevator also went the speed of the trains, so we rocketed up to the observation deck. Lilia's ears were popping like popcorn, and I got a nice case of vertigo.

We wandered the first deck for a biit and moved down to the slightly lower deck, 345 to check out the store, and avoid the cafe on the other side. Deciding to get some juice from the cafe on 350, we went back and wasted some time there. That's where Lilia got her beautiful shot of the cups on the neat light-up table. We both grabbed some souvenirs from the Skytree Shop on the floor below as it was already getting dark, snagged tickets to go up to floor 450 (you guessed it, 450m off the ground, so 1476 feet) and went on our way.

The elevator ride took 30 seconds, so ... it was fast. The cool thing was that the elevator glowed blue on the way up (One Japanese guy exclaimed "Sugoi!" (Amazing) and immediately got red). The not cool part was that while the first elevator was enclosed and you couldn't see outside, this one was the opposite. I looked to my left, saw that I could see the city as we ascended, and promptly said "oh God no".

After the incredibly smooth ride, we got off. The pathway curved upwards, and we walked up the pathway and stood at the top, watching the city for a while. We eventually made our way to the elevators down and sat on floor 340 to watch the city move underneath us. And also to get past the rush hour that happened while we were up in no man's land. Seriously, Way too high up.

We left Skytree, and wandered through the rest of the shops that we missed on the way up, and left. We got to the platform fine, where while waiting 10 minutes for our train, we saw a couple get off and stare and point at the Keikyu line map. They looked very confused, so we approached them to try and help. Since Google hasn't led us astray yet - only we have by being confused on where to go and being shuffled along with the crowds - we fired up their destination and steered them on the correct path. Hopefully they made it.

A handful of minutes later, we were approached by an elderly Japanese man, who knew just enough English to ask us where we were going and if we knew what train. We showed him the maps, and he saw our destination was an hour away and made a face of "woah, that far?" He wandered off, and came back about a minute later, confirming that yes, that was indeed the train we wanted to take, We thanked him and his generosity, and continued to wait.

The ride home was pretty peaceful, and the train slowly got more packed. Luckily we had gotten on early enough that we were able to get seats. Now, this is one thing I will always really appreciate from the locals. If you're in the middle of the car, but it's your stop, if you politely say excuse me - even in English - they will get out of your way to the best of their ability so you can get off to not miss your stop.

The walk home was nice in the night air. We swung into a drug store where Lilia finally got cotton strips instead of cotton balls because those don't apparently exist in Japan. She helped me find Ibuprofen and the Japanese version of Icy/Hot for my ankle as there were a couple times today where it definitely wasn't doing too hot. We both picked up some candy to try out, and they're both different in texture, or what we expected, but not bad!

We got the rest of our vacation planned out finally, and tomorrow we're hitting up the Aqua Park in Shinagawa for a show called Sakura Aquarium (by Naked ..... hopefully there won't actually be naked people. They actually decorated the Skytree while we were there today, so it should be super pretty!). Should be fun! We found a ramen restaurant near us that we're trying tomorrow as we're going to take tomorrow easy.

We also found a Burger King on the map while looking for ramen restaurant. It's 5 minutes away. Guess what we're getting Friday? :9

#Japan Log #Day 4 #Japan Trip

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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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Japan Log Day 3

Alright, so. I'm writing this earlier than I would just because today was so ... nuts. Lilia and I managed to get the FULL Tokyo experience. For those of you who have watched anime, it has not lied to you with how many PEOPLE there are in certain areas, and on the trains. Especially on the trains, holy shit. I could barely move @_@ BUT more on that later, I say as I'm still slightly rocking from remembrance of the moving train.

Day three of Japan - Shibuya

Today started off with Lilia needing some cash. Our journey began with us going to Haneda Airport around 11AM. Lilia got some mons, and we decided to poke around for brunch. While wandering we found a cute little shop and picked up a couple souvenirs each. We found a small cafe out of the way called Pronto that served different kinds of spaghetti. Lilia got a salmon or cod buttered spaghetti and I got a plain jane meat sauce spaghetti. Both were absolutely fantastic. At this point in time, Lilia has asked me approximately 10 times what we had for lunch as she keeps forgetting. I don't blame her, it's been a DAY.

From there, we got on the train to Shibuya. We had to do a quick train hop between lines, but it was easy enough. We finally arrived in Shibuya around 1PM, and started our long walk towards the Meiji Shrine. Right off the train was a mall type area, and an interpretative painting of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs. Exiting the small mall, we found ourselves right next to Shibuya Crossing. Which, is everything photos and clips have depicted. All the traffic is stopped, and everyone just walks through the intersection any way they want. It was fascinating to watch. We walked through Shibuya towards the shrine, looking at all the neon lights and stores.

On our way to our destination, we were accosted by a man wearing a robe. He stopped us and handed us a small thing for "peace" and managed to swindle both of us out of a good amount of money ... at least we both got wooden prayer bead bracelets.

Once we got near the shrine, I realized we could have gotten off at the next stop for Harajuku ... whoops. In my defense, I wasn't including the shrine in our original plans until I noticed it on Google Maps. The shrine was nothing short of beautiful. At the beginning of the pathway was a HUGE Torii gate. I noticed a few people bowing towards it before going through. The pathway was gravel with two stone strips on either side, and trees growing over the way that provided some wonderful shade. We stopped at a giant row of sake on one side, and wine on the other. Not quite sure of why they're there, but it was pretty fun to look at!

We passed under another massive Torii gate and noticed a small pathway off to the side for some sort of garden. Since there was a charge, we walked past, debating on whether or not we should. We got to the actual shrine and passed under a third Torii gate where officials were measuring the fence around the leg of the gate for whatever reason. To our left was what looked like a prayer area. We didn't investigate it. To our right, priestesses were selling Omamori - shrine charms for various purposes. Lilia and I both bought a handful of different ones for souvenirs. The temple itself was beautiful with a green roof and dark wood walls and pillars. There were two trees next to each other with a Shimenawa connecting them.

Lilia and I wandered around the temple for a little bit, but as it was under construction to repair the roof, we couldn't do much. We left the temple proper and headed back. On the way, we both decided why not look at the inner garden. It was pretty cheap to get in, and we saw an old tea house that was absolutely beautiful. And gave us both flashbacks from Fatal Frame 2. We moved on, past azalea bushes that weren't in bloom yet and to the fishing spot. There was a teenager there trying to get a bird to land on his hand. He was successful, to which he had the biggest smile on his face.

We left the fishing spot soon after and headed towards Kiyomasa's well. On the way, we encountered a Bower that had a low stick roof that I nearly impaled my eye on before I realized how low it was. ( A Bower - called Azumaya is a traditional pavilion in gardens ... and are incredibly short. Lilia fit under them at least ). We got a couple pictures and walked towards the Iris garden. Which was not whatsoever in bloom. Sad face. We walked past the sprouting iris's towards the well.

The well was a small pond with what looked like a ring of wood, which was the actual well. But it was all under water. According to the little phamplet that was given to us, the water from the well irrigates the iris garden, and stays at a cool 15c (59f) and was used in tea ceremonies until recently. However long recently is. Having seen pretty much everything the garden had to offer, we walked up the pathway that had insanely tall steps, and left the shrine.

We headed to a store department called Tokyu Hands. It's 7 floors of shopping, with each floor having it's own department. Sounds cool, right? Even cooler was that the store had three little sections on each floor. There was a floor dedicated to one thing (1A), a half flight up to another dedicated section (1B) and then ANOTHER half flight to a third area dedicated to a third thing (1C). Lilia picked up an essential and I picked up a couple souvenirs.

By the time we were done, we were hungry and tired. Not really up to putting effort into trying to figure out a Japanese restaurant, we went to the nearby TGI Fridays. The host spoke the most perfect English we've heard since we've come to Japan. We sat at our table and Lilia ordered a peach margarita, and I a creamsicle. Delicious. He also brought us water to which we both sucked down like a camel. We ordered our food, and here's where a cultural difference comes into play. In Japan, once someone's food is ready, they serve it. My food - weirdly since it was soup and Lilia's was a salad - came first, and after a little bit of waiting, decided that I needed to visit the bathroom.

All toilets in Japan having bidets confirmed. At least, we're very good at finding places that have bidets on their toilets.

Once I got back, Lilia had her dinner so we ate together, and talked about plans, ect. After, we both got the same drink where they poured the alcohol onto a good sized fluff of cotton candy. One of the most sugary drinks I've had in a long time. For desert, Lilia got a classic NY Cheesecake, and I got an Island Breeze Sundae. Which, was a huge platter of fried wontons, with diced pineapple, mango and strawberries, topped with three scoops of vanilla ice cream and whip cream, all pulled together with a caramel drizzle.

Um. Have I mentioned how good the food is in Japan yet?

By this time, it was getting dark, so we left. We got to see Shibuya all lit up in the night sky, and it was fascinating. The crossing had an even bigger crowd, and I got a quick video of the insanity of it all. Luckily since I wasn't that much of an idiot tourist, I wasn't bumped into as I stood off to the side. Unlike another unlucky tourist. Ha-ha. We managed to fight our way to the trains ... during rush hour. And promptly got on the wrong direction. In my defense, the train does loop around eventually.

We got off for Lilia to use the bathroom and quickly got on the train going the correct way. A little packed, but not bad. We hopped off on where we needed to switch trains and that's where the insanity began. It ended with Lilia and I pinned against to the other side of the train. She got off light sliding her way into a corner. I was wedged between five different people, and barely being able to move. But, still able to step on some feet by accident when the train jolted.

While it seems unsafe that so many people are in the cars, it has to have been approved by whatever transportation safety there is. It certainly didn't seem like the car would take the capacity. But, then again, 98% of the Japanese people I've seen are tiny little things, so maybe we can throw 50 of them in a car and have it only weigh 300 lbs. Ok, not really.

We got off at our stop, and what a relief that was. We could BREATHE. The walk back to our hotel felt great in the night. At least, for me. I'm not sure about Lilia, but I know we were both relived to be away from the crazy of the sardine train.

While we wind down, our plans for tomorrow is to visit the Skytree. There's plenty to do in the little city around the structure, and it'll definitely be fun!

#Japan Log #Day 3 #Japan Trip

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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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Japan Log Day 2

Day two of Japan - The Relaxing Day

After crashing right before 7PM, Lilia and I awoke around 9AM, after both having a solid 12+ hours of sleep. Still groggy and not wanting to do much due to jet lag and general tiredness, we both hung out in the small hotel room, talking about plans and other nonsense until around 11. At that time, Lilia went to the shower and managed to figure out how to use it. When she came back up, she informed me that it's actually fairly simple, and that even she, the short goblin that she is, had to duck to get under the water stream. So, naturally, I being the tall beast that I am, will likely have problems. I did.

We both got ready, and at around 1PM, as my computer was off by an hour, we left the hotel room to find a bank so that I could withdraw some mons. After accidentally walking 10 minutes to and wandering around a small area that had no physical bank, we located another one. That was another 10 minutes away. We walked through a small strip that was fairly exciting, lots of stores and people, and found the bank. Upstairs was the "foreign exchange". Unfortunately for us, the teller barely spoke English, to which she was apologizing for even though WE'RE the foreigners, and couldn't use my card to withdraw. We thanked her for her time and headed back downstairs.

Hungry, tired, and wanting sushi, we decided to go to Sushiro. We walked to the small restaurant, which was over the carport and managed with Google Translate to get a ticket to sit down. Once we got at our table, we stared blankly at the conveyor belt, wondering what to grab before realizing that we could order specifically from the screen! I ordered a Cola, and she ordered a Melon soda. The melon soda tasted more like bubblegum, and was absolutely delicious, and the cola sweeter than ours, but not in a "my teeth ache" kind of way. I already miss root beer.

After getting our drinks, we became a little more curious about the belt. Lilia pulled off an octopus nigiri, and that was definitely interesting. We each took a salmon nigiri plate, and some sort of mint? nigiri. It was good, but interesting. Then, we grabbed what looked like a long omelette on a bed of rice and yo .... that was BOMB! It was almost a maple sweetened egg over sushi rice and omg, I wanted more but we were getting full. We both ordered a desert. She took a crepe cheesecake, and I a raspberry melba. And let me tell you, it was CHEAP. All the plates were 100Y, and the sodas and deserts 180Y. Overall 1,700 roughly so LESS than $17. What is this nonsense?! At Blue C it would have been WAY more! Happy and full, we left to try and get me some cash.

We went to the 7-11, er, wait. The 7 and I .... It's 7-11. It's got the coloring and everything, just no weird hot dogs rolling and overcooking, or slurpee machine. But they do have hot dogs available to buy. (Our hotel offers hot dogs for breakfast??) Good news, MY CARD WORKED! I forget that the day and months are backwards, so we could have just hit up an ATM around 11 and ... not bothered anyone. Whoops. I was able to withdraw a good amount of Yen, and the money is so diverse and fun! And the bills are way bigger than the American dollar. Maybe I'll do a comparison shot later. Lilia tried withdrawing cash, but since her card doesn't have a chip, the chip specific machines wouldn't take her card. SO we decided to hit up the international ATM at the airport the next day. We bought a sandwich each for our dinner later, and two drinks. I got some sort of gelatinous desert that looked good.

When we got back, I decided that I should probably work the shower and soak my ankle and back as both were pretty sore. The shower wasn't terrible. Got misty quick though. What was more exciting was the large tub! There were controls on the side which once turning it on, assaulted me with bubbles and lights. I quickly turned off the bubbles, and enjoyed the tub rotating the colors of the rainbow for a good while. The tub, while taking forever to fill, drained faster than a hooker taking your money. We relaxed on the bed, put on one of our favorite YouTube shows and ate our sandwiches. She got an egg and ham, and I a tomato and something. I can't entirely remember. I translated the jello cup and it turned out to be raspberry tofu. Which. Was. Great. Starting to see a pattern here? FOOD'S GOOD! We went to bed fairly early again, around 8PM.

The plan today is to hit up Shibuya. It'll definitely be an experience.

We also know where a McDonalds is.

#Japan Log #Day 2 #Japan Trip

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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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Japan Log Day 1

I kind of want to create a log of my time in Japan. I think it’d be fun, and from what I’ve heard, I’d be able to remember my trip better! There may be a day delay for me, at least for day one because that was all flying and lemme tell you, after a 13 hour flight, a 3 hour flight felt like NOTHING, haha. I felt like I played on my DS for a half hour and it was over. So, I don’t know when entirely I’ll post these, or if anyone cares, but I don’t. Because it’ll be fun for me to look back on and remember ;)

Day one - The day of insane travel

Our journey began as most other journeys do, of sitting at home, counting away the hours and having panicked thoughts of what you still need to do and what’s been done. My way of coping was to blast music - sorry Tegan - and stare blankly at a wall. Not productive when packing was half done. Luckily, I got everything ready about an hour before my friend came to pick me up. About ten minutes before, I began to stress clean. I guess that’s exciting? Lilia’s parents graciously took us to Vancouver In'tl Airport (YVR)- Canada. The car ride felt short. Shorter than I thought it was to get to the border. Right before we hit, we got to see the tiny little peace arch. Cool! Going in, the border guard is looking over our passports, doing the routine questions.

Then, he leans in and goes “Alauna?” and I sheepishly correct him as he clearly wasn’t quite sure how to pronounce my name. He informs me that I need to sign my passport and I need to do that before I check in at the airport otherwise they may not let me fly. OOPS! Luckily Lil’s dad had a pen that I could use otherwise I’d have to hunt for somewhere to sell a pen at the airport at MIDNIGHT! Getting into the country, I receive a text from my mobile provider. CONGRATS! T-Mobile works in Canada text/data free, call 20c/min. Neat!

After a pretty good wait in line - China Eastern is apparently a very popular company - and chatting with the nice lady in front of us we reach the airline official. Neither of our passports scanned into the computer. Probably because Lilia’s is 9 years old, mine’s 1 month. He was very kind, making sure that we knew our layover was between two different airports in Shanghai (more on that later, ugh) and asked us if we had any illegal items to which we both said no. He smiled and said “I trust you two, you both look very trustworthy”. He then noticed that we were seated at least 10 rows away from each other. With our permission he changed our seats to be together. Once he got our tickets, he pointed out what information we needed to know. Lilia got seat C, he was going to be in seat B, I in A …. wait. There is no seat B! :P With a very heartfelt thank you, we asked where the gates were and said our farewell.

Getting up to security, was a very small line with a long wait. It looked like the officer’s battery had died on his scanner and had to get a new one. Oh well. After that, it took about 2 seconds to make sure our tickets were valid - phew! and go onto phase two with the bag screening. They instructed us to put laptops in a separate tray. Confusedly, I ask the man why. He mentioned because laptops could be bombs. Which, I never thought about and by the look on my face, he must have understood and had a small smile as we thanked him. Lilia got through security fine. The metal detector beeped for me. Contrats, I’m wearing a bra, because that was literally why the detector beeped for me. Past that, we walked through a small mall with a bunch of stores, and very glittery flooring. Our gate was easy to find, and had a subway near us. We just got chips and ginger ale as we both weren’t feeling fantastic.

There’s not much meant to be said for the flight. Although, as it took off, Lilia looked at me and said; “I regret every jet I crashed in GTA 5”

It was nearly 13 hours and insane. Neither of us slept much, which sucked. But, at least it was quiet as pretty much everyone else did sleep. Except for one guy in the row beside us whose entertainment screen wouldn’t turn off and he was trying to sleep so he had his jacket backwards to cover his face LOL. I did kind of feel bad for him since it was legitimately malfunctioning. Their movie selection was pretty bomb. Lilia and I synced up our screens so we watched Furious 7 together. The airline provided us dinner. I accidentally got shrimp noodles, which thank you that my medicine works, and Lilia got some sort of beef patty and rice. There was also some sort of custard that was similar to cheesecake, but not entirely. It was delicious. We both tried to sleep for a while. Gave up. We got breakfast which was two adorable hash-brown patties, an omelette, and a very undercooked, disease sausage link which neither of us touched. At that point, Lilia started up Day After Tomorrow, and I started Secret Life of Pets … which got interrupted a total of a billion times. I managed to finish SLoP right before they cut off entertainment for landing purposes.

The drive after landing and getting to our gate was probably half the time of our flight. We get another text from T-Mobile. Welcome to China! Your phone has free texting, call 20c/min, and 2g unlimited data! AWESOME!

Immigration was easy, whom also informed us that our connecting flight was in a separate airport, security was easy (they have thermal screening, so that was definitely interesting!), and getting our luggage was SUPER easy. Customs, we had nothing to declare so went through that line no prob, and exited the airport into a throng of people all shouting ‘taxi!’. One guy dogged us for a long time and we eventually rolled with him as the bus to take us to Honquaio was in another hour and we only had four before our other flight. Driving in Shanghai is terrifying. Our driver nearly creamed 2 people on mopeds, and almost hit countless other cars. I never want to drive in Shanghai. As nice as the city was, there was no telltale building style, and all the buildings were insane colors. I saw an apartment complex that was hot pink. OK. We arrive at the airport, to where the cabby swindled us out of a little more money than what we agreed on, but both of us were tired and didn’t care at that point. The line in this airport was about two times longer than YVR, but went quickly enough. Again, getting to our gate was super easy, and we had about an hour of downtime before boarding.

Second flight felt way too short, and they provided us with spaghetti and another of those delicious cluster squares! Hell yeah. I think I played my DS for the entire time, but it was hard to tell since the flight felt super short.

Getting into Japan, immigration was NUTS. The line was insanely long, although it went quickly. Got fingerprinted so if I crime in Japan, they’ll know it was me. Shucks. Too bad I wasn’t planning on anything anyways. We both had our first experience with a Japanese western toilet which I’m now convinced they all have bidets since our hotel toilet has one too. FYI, the seats are very warm when you sit on them, and the one in the airport played gentle music to mask the fact that I had the best racehorse pee in the universe. Sorry, TMI? We get ANOTHER text from T-mobile. HOORAY! Your phone works! Free text, 20c/min call, 2g unlimited data! WHAT?! I wasted $40 on SIM cards before we left, and now we don’t need them! Oh well, lol.

Hitting up the international ATM, my card was declined. WHAT!? I had called my bank, so they should know I’m here! I managed to get the attention of an airport lady who graciously tried helping, but it declined for her too. Lilia was able to get out some cash. What the heck?! We asked the airport lady where the Keikyu line was and if Pasmo was over there, and she instructed us what to do. We thanked her for her time and assistance. Meanwhile, there was another American having the same problem as I. I noticed his card had a chip. Lilia’s didn’t. Ding ding, it’s the chip. We got sodas and some Japanese candy and a fruit cup, got Pasmo’s and went to the station towards Kawasaki - after a little help as we didn’t see our stop.

The train wasn’t too terribly crowded. But, went approximately the speed of a fighter jet. My shoulder and back is still sore for hanging on for dear life while making sure my luggage didn’t go anywhere. There was a lady I kept bumping into and I kept apologizing whenever I did though she just smiled and told me it was OK. There was also a nice man there who watched us to make sure we were OK and whenever another train passed us, make a slight thunking noise, probably had a great internal laugh at my face whenever I had a slight panic about it.

Getting off the station and heading down some steps, there are apparently designated sides which you move. We went down halfway the wrong way, realized, and moved over with our luggage. Sorry! Walking here is definitely interesting. There’s people crossing the streets, not even really looking. I think we saw 1 personal car on our walk to the hotel.

Getting into Noanoa was easy. Manager was SUPER nice, got our luggage taken to the room, and let us stay in the spa room while we waited the last hour before the official check-in time. While there, Lilia opened up her fruit cup, which has jello instead of juice, and I had my candies which were DELICIOUS, and apparently limited time, so guess what I’m buying more of once I get cash? Because Japan is a very cash-heavy type of country.

Our hotel room is a little small, but nothing we can’t handle. I’m sure Lilia feels weird actually being on par or taller than most the people we’ve passed walking to the hotel. We spent half the day exploring the tiny room, seeing what was on TV and being very confused over a child’s show before turning it off. We figured out google translate, and have translated pretty much everything in our room. We still need to figure out the unit on the wall, but we at least know lighting, what the controls are on the bidet, and how to work the mechanical nightmare that is the shower. We put on a Youtube show that we both like, and I crashed just before 7PM after roughly 24 hours of travel and not sleeping. Lilia poked me awake and we officially went to bed around 7PM.

We have not eaten since at least noon on the flight, and it’s going on 14 hours. Yeesh.

Our plans today, as I’m finishing this up around 2PM, is to visit an actual bank so I can hopefully withdraw cash, find somewhere to eat, and hit up a couple parks and museums. There’s also the Keihin Fushimi Inari shine that we’ll probably explore. Today is slotted to be a low-key day as we’re both pretty tired even after sleeping for a solid 12+ hours.

Note: Edited for easier reading

#Japan Log #Day 1 #Japan Trip #This blog is a day behind just fyi

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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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my oc creation process has two settings:

you’re going to be everything i wish i was

you’re going to be everything i hate about myself

#Trufax

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greatplanettahoe · 7 years

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So, fun story;

I loved the powerpuff girls when I was young. It was my favorite cartoon, quite possibly second to Pokemon. I always loved Blossom. She was my favorite. Pretty, mature, always knowing what to do. Buttercup was my second favorite because she kicked ass, was the tomboy, and was sure of herself. I hated Bubbles. She annoyed me, always crying with her higher pitched voice, never seemingly knowing anything really.

I really wanted to be like Blossom.

When I was in elementary, I was a part of a very toxic friend group. The Bitch had her little minions in it, and she probably ended up staging fights just to see people’s reactions and enjoyed it. There were probably fights every week. I can’t remember any times where our group wasn’t at odds. But weirdly enough, never with me. The Bitch never started a fight with me, and no one else in the group did. I thought it was because I was above that kind of stuff. That none of them could get to me, especially since I was being bullied anyways.

Until The Bitch told me I was Bubbles. Suddenly everyone in the group was calling me Bubbles. Because I always wanted my friends to be friends. Because I was annoying. Because I was the one who tagged along behind everyone and never had much direction myself. Because I always did what I was told. I was Teacher’s Pet.

Honestly, I resented Bubbles and PPG after that. I don’t think I’ve watched it since, except in little clips I’ve watched online. But never the actual show. I’d get frustrated and cry when they’d call me Bubbles, and not by my real name. Which only made them jeer at me more ... It finally stopped when their attention span diverted to something else. Kids.

It’s taken me a long time to really get over my internal struggle to not immediately hate PPG or Bubbles specifically. I know I’ve grown so much, but that was the one thing I’d still resent hearing. “You’re like Bubbles!”

But you know what?

Damn right I’m like Bubbles.

I want the world to be safe. I want world peace. I want my friends to be friends, and for everyone to get along. It pains me when it doesn’t happen, but I know that not everything can be like how I want it to be. I cry. I’m not afraid of admitting that. I’ve cried over spilling my chocolate milk because I was frustrated that day and that was the final straw. I cried over Carrie Fisher and Robin Williams. I still cry when I think about Clover.

But that doesn’t make me weak. I’ve realized growing up, we need people like Bubbles. The peace-makers. The people who just want everyone else to get along, to be happy with themselves and each other. The people who want others to stop fighting over religion, race, or whatever it is this week. Maybe we could all take a lesson, take a step back, and realize that crying, or wanting peace isn’t a weakness. It’s a vital part to humanity.

So now, fifteen years later;

I love Bubbles.

#Don't worry guys I'll stop rambling random nights when I'm tired and actually finish something #That being said something's been finished for months now #Just trying to do the NSFW version first before I post it ahaha #whoops

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