today I finally shared a few lines from one of the many poems I’ve marked in one of many poetry books I’ve bought. I’ve been meaning to do that and I even made a whole blog for it but I just .-. haven’t. I don’t want to do much but I’m always doing shit I don’t want to be doing. so today I decided to say fuck my to-do list & I only did things I wanted to do (for the most part, anyways). and yeah, I needed it.

[on all of my poetry books] I’ve had to stay away from the ouchy ones cause they make me wanna die a little more sad. so they’re shelved for now & I’m sitting with a few that are more hopeful and positive cause lord knows I need more of that shit rn. (thank you @AprilGreen cause Bloom for Yourself has been lovely to read through)

//

I still feel like shit but at least they’re marked for when I’m ready to //feel// the happy / positive ones :}

Japan Travel Diary 🎌

Okay, here it is, a more or less thorough report of my Japan trip in January (which mostly consisted of doing Kalafina-related stuff so I thought it might be interesting for some of you XD). Sorry, this is like 5 million years overdue. @mello-chi‘s comment about looking forward to my upcoming Japan trip reports actually reminded me that I still had this post in my drafts so I thought I better finish this now before I have to write another one XD

Without further ado, let’s get to it 〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→

January 14 (Sunday) This was my first ever non-direct flight to Japan so I was not looking forward to it. I boarded my plane at around 10 am (Austrian time), I arrived in Paris at around noon and I landed at Narita Airport at around 9 am the next day (January 15 - Monday). Here’s a rare selfie of little me waiting to board the plance wearing my beloved Cakey bomber jacket by Lily Brown (it kept me warm during the flight ^_^). PS: Excuse the excessive use of filters in this pic. I was wearing no make-up.

You know what I find annoying, they have all these Japanese artists like LiSA and Nana Mizuki in the plane music library but absolutely NO Kalafina. Why?? And no, you don’t need to answer that, it was more of a rhetorical question anyways. I know of course that for some weird reason Kalafina aren’t as popular as those other artists….but still, so frustrating… I ended up watching a ton of movies :P I really envy people who can sleep during a flight.

January 15 (Monday) I didn’t do much that day tbh. I was too exhausted from my flight. I am glad they let me check in early at my hotel (which was in Kanda btw – very convenient location for tourists if you ask me) After I had freshened up a little at the hotel I did make a short trip to Akihabara to check if I could find any second hand Kala goods. That day I found a Blue Day wristband, a KNGNN postcard and a cheap Consolation Pamphlet (something I had always wanted but I never felt like paying the full price on CDJapan). Throughout my stay I managed to find quite a lot of stuff actually but more on that later. Here’s a sneak peek tho XD

January 16 (Tuesday) This day was dedicated to shopping. I think I spent almost an entire day in the Shinjuku/Harajuku/Shibuya area. I bought a bunch of Disney stuff and Pikachu merch for my sister and nephew respectively and then I searched through all the Kala-clothing stores trying to find some WaKei outfits. I am super happy because I got my hands on this cute patchwork skirt by Redyazel, the one that Keiko wore quite recently for the Songful Days promo video. I also bought a matching top because they had a special “buy 2 pieces and get 30% off” deal. I can never resist deals like that even though they actually make you spend even more money in the end XD (sadly, they didn’t have the turtleneck sweater that Keiko is wearing here)

After looking through each and every Lily Brown store in Tokyo I finally found this =>The long cardigan Keiko wore in Nikko (it’s so cute and warm!).

Aside from that, I didn’t really find anything else. I came across the Fig&Viper pullover Keiko recently wore but meh, that’s not really my style and it was still quite expensive. I also saw the Mila Owen dress that Wakana wore a while back but it just wasn’t worth the money (and now I regret not buying it T_T).

January 17 (Wednesday) In the morning I went to visit the lesser known Shinagawa Aquarium which – sorry Wakana – was VERY underwhelming and I can totally understand why it’s not as popular as the other one. The only cool thing was the free shuttle bus, it had a cute design. The aquarium itself looked quite run-down and it was much smaller than I expected. But hey, I met Shirowani-san and I got to touch a dolphin which was pretty epic. Of course I had to eat the parfait that Keiko ordered when she was at the aquarium together with Wakana back in the summer time. It was really yummy but it definitely wasn’t the best day to eat it because afterwards, I was freezing my butt off. Oh well, the things I do for Cakey XD

I really wanted to buy the cute shark backpack but it was just way too expensive T_T Forever sad...Now I regret not buying it. Then again, it’s not really my style.

In the afternoon I met up with my friend Pae and I finally received my goods from the Harmony events and the Acoustic Tour. BANZAI! As for the Harmony event merch, I got the black t-shirt, the blue parka and the keyholder. From the Acoustic Live goods, I got the pamphlet, the clearfile and the postcard set. (I love the black t-shirt SO MUCH! I have worn it a lot since I have gotten back)

Together Pae and I went on a quest to find more Kala-goodies and I got lucky once again. I found two old singles, a limited edition of Magia and a regular edition of Hikari no Senritsu (one of these days my singles collection will be complete XD But I have to be patient because I just don’t wanna pay full price for singles >_>). Aside from that I also bought the limited edition of the Seventh Heaven album which includes the live DVD. They also had a BEST Red Day cup for sale at Radio Kaikan (one of the many tokutens from back in the day) but meh, I didn’t feel like getting it. I wonder if any of you bought it? They also had a FOTW and 9+ONE pamphlet and a few other CDs (but I already own all of those so I ignored them). After my meet-up with Pae, I made a trip to Roppongi to eat at my first out of many Kalafina-restaurants/cafés. That’s when it started raining heavily (so annoying) but at least I found the place rather quickly (thanks to google maps!) I went to the very popular Tsurutontan where they serve huge bowls of udon!! I ordered Katsu Curry Udon (my favourite) and some yummy fried dumplings on the side (OMG, they were SO FREAKING GOOD!!)

The food was delicious but it was a little too much for me. XD Curry soup is much more filling than regular soup. And I underestimated the dumplings quite a bit, they were also super filling. I had intended to go to the Manon Mimie store afterwards but I wasn’t feeling like getting drenched in the rain so I headed back to my hotel. I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t end up going because I messaged the store that night and asked them if they still had the Cakey clothes in stock and turns out they don’t *forever sad* I should have tried to find a way to order it back then when the pretty skirt and sweater were still in stock.

January 18 (Thursday) The first half of this day was dedicated to visiting the Imperial Palace. If you arrive early enough you can make a same-day reservation for a tour so that’s what I did. It was an interesting tour for sure and the weather was amazing!!! After the tour was over I decided to walk to Budokan since I was already in the area. I wanted to check out the venue to make sure I wouldn’t get lost on the day of the concert. At that point I was getting quite tired (and super hungry) so it was time for yet another Kala-food-experience. I took the subway to the Akasaka area and paid a visit to the gorgeous café/restaurant/bar La Maison Kioi (the place where the girls had their special SPICE off-day interview). It was so fancy and pretty. I ordered a crazy expensive Afternoon Tea Set but it was totally worth the money, it was incredibly yummy!!! Once I had eaten each and every single piece of food on that tray, I made my way to Shibuya/Harajuku to do some more shopping. This time I came across this gorgeous red skirt that Wakana has been wearing quite frequently. I think I never actually made a post about this skirt o.O A fellow fan on twitter discovered it right before my trip to Japan and when I saw it in the store I obviously couldn’t resist. On my way home I made another stopover in Akihabara and I found the limited edition of the 5th Anniversary Live Selection album. Had to get it of course XD

January 19 (Friday) On Friday I bought my 3-Day-JR-Tokyo-Wide Pass to do some traveling outside of Tokyo. It was another gorgeous sunny day, perfect for touristy stuff ^_^ The first place on my list was Kamakura. There’s lots of nice stuff to see but I mainly wanted to go there because it was the destination of Keiko’s 60 km walk on New Year’s Day back in 2014 (OMG, has it already been four years!!??) One of these days I wanna do that kind of thing as well. I went to see the big buddha of course and I also checked out some of the surrounding shrines and temples. At first I wanted to go to Enoshima as well but then I decided against it, didn’t really feel like going there. Not a fan of beaches anyways. I took the train back to Tokyo but got off in Yokohama (the second place on my list) where I also did some sightseeing. But first I needed to restore my energy so I had some late lunch in Yokohama Chinatown at Jogenro (the restaurant where Wakana ate her shark fin course – she went to the place in Tokyo tho). I really wanted to try the shark fin lunch menu but they wouldn’t let me order it since it is meant for two people T_T Such a shame! The only downside to traveling alone, getting food is troublesome. Then again, if you have company it’s even more of a hassle because it’s hard to find something that everyone likes. Also, tbh, I probably wouldn’t have been a huge fan of the shark stuff anyways so maybe it was for the best. Either way, since I couldn’t have my shark lunch, I decided on one of their regular lunch menus. Wahhh! So tasty!! I love Chinese food! It was too much tho, so many different things to eat, I almost exploded towards the end but I really wanted to finish everything. I hate wasting good food. In dire need to walk off all the calories I had just put into my body, I explored the rest of Yokohama. I walked to Mirai Minato to check out the two Red Brick Warehouses. Back in 2011 and then once again in 2014 Kalafina performed their Christmas Lives at the Red Brick Warehouse. They have mentioned on multiple occasions that this is a very special place for them. Of course I also had to ring the bell of happiness. ^_^ I couldn’t leave Yokohama without riding the Ferris-wheel so I did that in the evening when the sun was setting. I had a great view of the city up there. Later on I managed to take some nice pictures of the colourful and sparkling Ferris-wheel at dusk. And that’s a wrap for my first day-trip outside of Tokyo.

January 20 (Saturday) On Saturday I took the train to Nikkō. One of the main reasons I purchased the JR Wide Pass was because I wanted to take the Shinkansen to Utsunomiya. It’s much more convenient than the other options. And then I got to ride the Nikkō Line which looks really cool. I think you all know why I traveled to Nikkō XD I wanted to see the venue of Kalafina’s World Heritage Special Live. During my last Japan trips I already got the chance to visit Nara and see Kōfuku-ji but I had never been to Nikkō before. And hey, even if Kalafina hadn’t performed there I still would have liked to see Tōshōgū, it’s absolutely gorgeous. And *weeee* I got to witness a traditional wedding. Everyone was all dressed up and the bride looked stunning!! Afterwards I explored the area for a while and walked around a lot. (I walked so much during my Japan trip) I was considering going to see the waterfalls as well but I thought it might not be the best season to experience it in all its beauty and glory. I’ll come back some day soon, I promise! In the afternoon I returned to Tokyo and I once again found myself in the Roppongi area to eat some Kala-food :P Literally the only reason I went to these fancy schmancy areas was to eat at Kalafina restaurants/cafés. This time I ate at “The Counter Roppongi”, the place where Keiko had her YOLO burger meal this winter. I wanted to order the same burger that she had gotten but turns out it had all kinds of weird ingredients (like mushrooms >_>) so I ended up ordering a chicken burger XD I think that might have been the best burger and some of the most delicious fries I have ever eaten. Really impressed! The only thing I could have lived without was the overly sweet brioche bun. It just doesn’t go well with savoury food. I don’t understand why you would use a brioche bun for a burger, doesn’t make sense to me at all o.O Is it a Japanese thing? Or maybe an American thing?

January 21 (Sunday) I took the special Holiday train to Kawaguchiko because I wanted to get a clear view of Mount Fuji. The mountain was still visible while I was on the train but slowly but surely clouds started gathering around it and by the time I had arrived at my destination, Mount Fuji was hidden completely T_T It’s a real shame. The sun was shining and the sky was blue, it was literally perfect weather but each and every cloud in the area had decided to cuddle up to Mount Fuji. I think I made the mistake of taking the later train. I should have taken the train at like 7am or something. Apparently chances of seeing Mount Fuji are highest before 9 am and I think that’s true, I am sure I would have gotten a good view if I had been there earlier. I was there at like 9:30-10:00 and that’s just too late. Oh well, we all learn from our mistakes. In two week’s time I will be closer to Mount Fuji than I have ever been XD I didn’t want my trip to be wasted so I still took the ferry across the lake and of course I took the Kachi Kachi Ropeway which ascends to an observation point near the summit of Mount Tenjo, from where Lake Kawaguchiko and Mount Fuji can be seen. Riding that cablecar was rather unpleasant because it was jam-packed. I wasn’t aware you could even squeeze that many people into a cablecar. I got some nice views despite there being no sign of Mount Fuji. Afterwards I bought a bunch of souvenirs for my coworkers and took the train back home again. I really love all the train designs! So cute! Since I still had my JR Pass I thought I’d use it for a few trips along the Yamanote Line. I was trying to avoid using my Suica as much as possible as long as I had the JR Pass XD One of my stops was Ikebukuro. I am not a huge fan of the area but I still wanted to see if I could find anything interesting. Bought some more Pikachu merch for my nephew at the Pokemon Center and then I did some window shopping. A girl-group was performing at Sunshine City while I was there but I didn’t stay long enough to figure out who they were. People were going crazy about them tho so I guess they might have been popular. Who knows. Either way, with all these people occupied the shops were pretty empty so that’s definitely a good thing (especially on a Sunday where it’s usually busy as hell). For dinner I had yummy Coco Curry (for once not Kalafina related :P).

January 22 (Monday) a.k.a. Crazy Snow Day This was the day of our tumblr fan meetup. Probably the worst day we could have chosen but hey, what can you do? And it’s not like any of us could have known that it would snow so heavily. It’s almost funny because I am always in Tokyo when crazy snow storms happen. I was there in 2014 as well. XD Thank God I am more or less used to snow (which is something that can’t be said about most of my fellow-fans that were at the meetup). I took things slowly that day since I was already stressing out about the meetup. I went to Akihabara again and this time I found a FOTW wristband in one of the second hand stores. BANZAI. Back in 2016 when I went to see the FOTW Special Finals I actually forgot to buy a wristband. This has annoyed me for the longest time but I didn’t feel like buying it online so yeah, this was definitely a lucky find. Yippie!! Then I went to Don Quijote to buy some more souvenirs (mostly chocolates). I’ll be eating all this stuff foe the next few weeks. :P So far my favourite purchase is Hokkaido Melon Kit Kat. The BEST Kit Kat I have ever had! It’s so DAMN amazing, I regret not buying more T_T When I got back to my hotel I had to figure out a way to squeeze all the chocolates into my luggage without everything getting crumbled on the flight back home. I think I managed pretty well. I had some sandwiches for late lunch and then I headed to Shinjuku to do some more (window) shopping and to wait for everyone to arrive at the Karaoke place. Sorry again @okeuphemia, we totally kept missing each other at Lumine Est. And sorry to everyone else who had a hard time finding Karaoke Kan. I know it must have been quite the hassle for some of you, especially in this horrible weather. But thankfully, almost everyone managed to get there (eventually). My apologies to Jimmy who didn’t make it! Maybe next time (if there ever is a next time :P) I hope you all had a good time at the meetup. There were way more people than I originally expected and we had some hardcore karaoke singers amongst us (you all rocked btw!!) so we weren’t really able to talk properly but I think it was still nice for most of you. Sorry if I seemed a bit awkward, I am just not very comfortable being among such a big crowd of people. I am glad a few of us decided to leave early and grab a cup of coffee, it gave me the chance to get to know some of you a little bit better. It’s really nice to finally know who is hiding behind those tumblr nicknames (shout out to @audiojapanstyle for just being a super nice and comforting presence!) And hey, such a funny coincidende, that day I found out that @theraspberrybushes  and I stayed at the same hotel. We ended up going back together in the heavy snow.Sorry for always rushing ahead. >_<

January 23 I pretty much covered the entire day in my live report but I haven’t talked about my after live activities yet so I guess I will do it here. Originally I had just planned to go back to the hotel to get some sleep. After all I was supposed to fly back home the next morning so I wanted to get some much needed rest. However, my friend Pae convinced me to go have dinner with a few Japanese Kala-fans. I am glad she did because it was actually very nice. But once again, there were way more people than expected (slightly overwhelming – even Hachimaki was there; it felt like I had been invited to an elite Kalafina fan meet-up XD). We went to a Chinese restaurant and had some yummy gyoza. Literally the entire place was filled with Kala-fans XD We didn’t stay there for long so thankfully I didn’t get home too late. Right before we left I managed to REALLY embarrass myself when one of the Japanese Kala-fans approached me. I wasn’t aware he wanted to talk to me, I thought he was trying to get past me or something so when he started talking I turned away from him. Pae had to literally drag me back to him and then I realised he had wanted to start a conversation. Major fail. That’s why I keep telling people that I suck at social interactions. Oh well, we ended up talking about Vienna, seems like he travels there quite frequently for work. Having dinner with all these fellow Kala-fans was a really nice end to an already amazing day. I even have a couple of pictures to remind me of that little meet-up.

Okay, this is officially the end of my travel report. Congratulations to everyone who read the whole thing. I hope it wasn’t too boring. I have lots of Kalafina activities planned for my next trip so I am super hyped ヾ（〃＾∇＾）ﾉ♪