[Day 09] Departures
What do you know, we're down to the day I left Japan!
Got up at 5.45 to get ready for our 10AM flight (OMG the plane tickets aren't in my diary!! When did they fall off?!).
Goodbye paper window with sunlight of doom!
So we got out, ran to the station, ran following the signs to the Narita Express platform (this is what happens when you don't recce beforehand! Yeah a week in Japan and we never even tried) and came across...
TWO FLIGHTS OF STAIRS.
No lifts.
We actually spent a good 10 seconds staring and going WHAT THE EFF WE HAVE 20 KGS OF LUGGAGE EACH HERE before realizing the TRAIN was here and so we had no choice but to lug our bag up and pray the train doesn't roll off. Sure we got into the wrong cabin and we got disoriented and our bags started getting heavier, but at least we were on the train to Narita!
The train passed through Tokyo (TOKYO Tokyo) but it went underground and we were sleepy so we were out cold for most of the trip. So no pictures!
Besides, I passed the Aeon Jusco in the first post. It'd be like the first ride to Tokyo, but backwards.
When we reached the airport the first order of business was to return my phone and then Nads found this vending machine that sold grape juice cincau and she was so thrilled about it I decided to try one too only to discover the cincau much later gah. x__x
And now, breakfast!
Can you imagine I spent 6 days in Tokyo and never had a chance to eat omurice OR gyoza?! Blasphemy!
The guy working there had purple eyeshadow and wavy blonde hair, kinda like Yohji from Weiß Kreuz and we couldn't really tell if it was even a guy, but Nads said to just take in the pretty, so I watched "This Is It" showing on the TV in the cafe.
This reminds of the L spinoff movie where L stops a plane from crashing into Narita. It was the stupidest movie ever, but more movie L never killed anybody - why else would people buy a Movie L photobook?
Goodbye Japanese postbox!
Went to the duty-free shop and bought like 10k yen of junk for everyone - and IT WASN'T ENOUGH. Either I need to weed out my friends or I need to stop caring about souvenirs and just buy green tea for my dad. HOWEVER I got my Shiroi Koibito candy so all's well with the world. In the biggest tin I could get too! <3 Look I don't go to Japan every day stop looking at me funny!
I must mention Nadia's Big Burden™ in the airport - that is the tour pamphlet for Gazette's NLSB tour: it's about A2 size and it doesn't really fit on the trolley without risk of bending, creasing, or suddenly taking off like a frisbee and decapitating someone. With 6 bromides + 6 negative films of the band members IN A2 SIZE, wouldn't you want to take really good care of them too?
Now, Japanese airline security.
The Japanese take no chances - after you pass through the xray, there's another guard who'll put on a pair of white gloves to reopen the bag, remove everything, put your notebook and stuff through the Xray AGAIN, THEN give it back to you. Everything is double scanned, all coats must be removed and pockets emptied and put through the xray and THEN they leave you to put all your stuff back in their original place. My notebook case had this picture of Reita Nads gave me a while back, so when I was repacking the stuff, the security guard (a lady) picked up Reita's photo and handed it back WITH BOTH GLOVED HANDS IN THE MOST SRS BZNS FACE EVER.
Now you imagine the same thing happening with Nadia's huge pamphlet.
I'm thinking these guards have seen enough otaku stuff leave the country to be absolutely nonplussed by it.
Japanese souvenir stores have LOTS of handphone charms. Sure they cost at least 100 yen each and they come in all sorts of shapes (LOOK 500 YEN HELLO KITTY ONES IN A TIDBITS STORE), but it's worth getting if you have the cash. Also, the bookshop in the departure hall has GIRLIE MAGS. I'm sure it's perfectly fine to BUY the pr0n, but how anyone gets the pr0n through Malaysian Customs...
...I'll get to that bit.
Anyway! Goodbye Narita Airport!
Goodbye departure board in Narita Airport!
Goodbye soba! Goodbye sushi! Goodbye Ikebukuro station! Goodbye 7-floor Animate and crazy Akiba! Goodbye little inn with weird gaijin! Goodbye free-flowing FREE water at restaurants! Goodbye punctual trains and horribly polite people! Goodbye AWESOME EXPENSIVE subculture fashion! Goodbye Waseda! Goodbye Shin-Kiba! Goodbye Diru! Goodbye Gazette! Goodbye Japanese curry! Goodbye my rented phone which I barely used! Goodbye Hachiko! Goodbye CF Nihon-gumi! Goodbye everything about Tokyo!
Now I really have to go back during a cooler season. >_>
*****
So we were in the plane, and Nads' pamphlet of doom had trouble fitting into a loaded baggage compartment, so we had to open ANOTHER compartment JUST for the pamphlet. This wasn't good because there was a bespectacled Japanese man behind us who was shocked we had so much to put in (my carryon + nads' carryon + pamphlet + my anime swag) because someone ELSE hogged our compartment. In the end we had about 3 compartments total for everything which could've been avoided if every other compartment wasn't half full and then maybe the Japanese man could've put his stuff instead of cramming it with his wives' luggage.
Btw the man actually exclaimed, "you have so much luggage!" and Nadia apologized profusely for the inconvenience. He was going to Langkawi with his wife and daughter for a holiday, and now that I think about it, he really sorta looked like Hideo Kojima but then again 70% of Japanese men look like Hideo Kojima so I can never tell. In front of him was this college kid working on past year exams. @@
Lunch was chicken and cake and salad and something else I couldn't take pics of because I was too busy watching Date Night while eating - the tray had a little heating pad on it so the food was actually warm! *o* I then spent the rest of the trip listening to Cecille Corbel's Arrietty Image Album. I had to loop it 3 times because I kept falling asleep (until the pain in my spine jolts me up) and even THEN I couldn't listen to the whole thing! I had to come HOME and download the damn CD to finally listen to the whole thing! It's a good CD, get it if you can.
The most shocking thing was hearing the pilot's message:
"We will be landing in Kuala Lumpur shortly. The temperature is twenty-seven degrees celsius."
That's a full TEN DEGREES COLDER THAN TOKYO. FML.
Around this time I also realised it was a prayer day and I was supposed to be vegetarian in the MORNING. Remember the gyoza? The omurice? Yeah. >_>;;
Then we had to grab our stuff. Nadia pulled down the compartment to get our things and I saw the Japanese man next to her suddenly going "ITATATATATAAAA" and I was wondering what was he in pain about until I saw his hand getting CLAMPED by OUR compartment door.
Me: Nadia, the guy's hand! The door is clamping his hand!
Nadia: Oh, sumimasen!
Man: *GLARES*
Nadia takes a step back with her luggage about to ram into *smiling* HIDEO KOJIMA MAN RIGHT behind her!
Me: Nads! The guy behind you!
Nadia stops in time!
Me: I can't take you anywhere! @@
And thus our trip comes full circle.
Grabbed our stuff (which I then realised I forgot to lock my suitcase but THANK GOD nobody opened it), ran through customs and...
...they didn't check our stuff.
Seriously, the No Declaration lane was EMPTY.
I could've been hauling drugs and assuming I got past Japanese customs I'd be utterly home free! It's like the Singapore-Malaysia border all over again! If I knew this would've happened I REALLY would've gotten one of the pr0n mags. :(
Met up with my dad (who was on the other side of KLIA because I lost Nads and her rocket-powered baggage cart and she bumped into my dad instead), loaded bags into KLIA Express train, chatted with an Australian man about cigarettes and price comparison, saw Malaysian greenery (it is a dark dirty green unlike Japan's light ferny green), had dinner at Kenny Rogers (and was reminded I was in Malaysia when the waitress forgot my dad's order) and then went home to show my swag off to mum.
Me: Here's this gorgeous blouse from Algonquins-
Mum: OMG SKULLS. WHY DO YOU BUY CRAP LIKE THIS.
Me: ...
She's starting to appreciate the blouse more though!
I suppose I should take pics of the clothes I bought, but it doesn't seem right wearing them without a photoshoot.
But that's just me.
*****
And that's it for my Japan trip! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! m(_ _)m
If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section and I'll reply!
(FINALLY I can get back to posting nonsense on my LJ mwahahaha)
Got up at 5.45 to get ready for our 10AM flight (OMG the plane tickets aren't in my diary!! When did they fall off?!).
Goodbye paper window with sunlight of doom!
So we got out, ran to the station, ran following the signs to the Narita Express platform (this is what happens when you don't recce beforehand! Yeah a week in Japan and we never even tried) and came across...
TWO FLIGHTS OF STAIRS.
No lifts.
We actually spent a good 10 seconds staring and going WHAT THE EFF WE HAVE 20 KGS OF LUGGAGE EACH HERE before realizing the TRAIN was here and so we had no choice but to lug our bag up and pray the train doesn't roll off. Sure we got into the wrong cabin and we got disoriented and our bags started getting heavier, but at least we were on the train to Narita!
The train passed through Tokyo (TOKYO Tokyo) but it went underground and we were sleepy so we were out cold for most of the trip. So no pictures!
Besides, I passed the Aeon Jusco in the first post. It'd be like the first ride to Tokyo, but backwards.
When we reached the airport the first order of business was to return my phone and then Nads found this vending machine that sold grape juice cincau and she was so thrilled about it I decided to try one too only to discover the cincau much later gah. x__x
And now, breakfast!
Can you imagine I spent 6 days in Tokyo and never had a chance to eat omurice OR gyoza?! Blasphemy!
The guy working there had purple eyeshadow and wavy blonde hair, kinda like Yohji from Weiß Kreuz and we couldn't really tell if it was even a guy, but Nads said to just take in the pretty, so I watched "This Is It" showing on the TV in the cafe.
This reminds of the L spinoff movie where L stops a plane from crashing into Narita. It was the stupidest movie ever, but more movie L never killed anybody - why else would people buy a Movie L photobook?
Goodbye Japanese postbox!
Went to the duty-free shop and bought like 10k yen of junk for everyone - and IT WASN'T ENOUGH. Either I need to weed out my friends or I need to stop caring about souvenirs and just buy green tea for my dad. HOWEVER I got my Shiroi Koibito candy so all's well with the world. In the biggest tin I could get too! <3 Look I don't go to Japan every day stop looking at me funny!
I must mention Nadia's Big Burden™ in the airport - that is the tour pamphlet for Gazette's NLSB tour: it's about A2 size and it doesn't really fit on the trolley without risk of bending, creasing, or suddenly taking off like a frisbee and decapitating someone. With 6 bromides + 6 negative films of the band members IN A2 SIZE, wouldn't you want to take really good care of them too?
Now, Japanese airline security.
The Japanese take no chances - after you pass through the xray, there's another guard who'll put on a pair of white gloves to reopen the bag, remove everything, put your notebook and stuff through the Xray AGAIN, THEN give it back to you. Everything is double scanned, all coats must be removed and pockets emptied and put through the xray and THEN they leave you to put all your stuff back in their original place. My notebook case had this picture of Reita Nads gave me a while back, so when I was repacking the stuff, the security guard (a lady) picked up Reita's photo and handed it back WITH BOTH GLOVED HANDS IN THE MOST SRS BZNS FACE EVER.
Now you imagine the same thing happening with Nadia's huge pamphlet.
I'm thinking these guards have seen enough otaku stuff leave the country to be absolutely nonplussed by it.
Japanese souvenir stores have LOTS of handphone charms. Sure they cost at least 100 yen each and they come in all sorts of shapes (LOOK 500 YEN HELLO KITTY ONES IN A TIDBITS STORE), but it's worth getting if you have the cash. Also, the bookshop in the departure hall has GIRLIE MAGS. I'm sure it's perfectly fine to BUY the pr0n, but how anyone gets the pr0n through Malaysian Customs...
...I'll get to that bit.
Anyway! Goodbye Narita Airport!
Goodbye departure board in Narita Airport!
Goodbye soba! Goodbye sushi! Goodbye Ikebukuro station! Goodbye 7-floor Animate and crazy Akiba! Goodbye little inn with weird gaijin! Goodbye free-flowing FREE water at restaurants! Goodbye punctual trains and horribly polite people! Goodbye AWESOME EXPENSIVE subculture fashion! Goodbye Waseda! Goodbye Shin-Kiba! Goodbye Diru! Goodbye Gazette! Goodbye Japanese curry! Goodbye my rented phone which I barely used! Goodbye Hachiko! Goodbye CF Nihon-gumi! Goodbye everything about Tokyo!
Now I really have to go back during a cooler season. >_>
*****
So we were in the plane, and Nads' pamphlet of doom had trouble fitting into a loaded baggage compartment, so we had to open ANOTHER compartment JUST for the pamphlet. This wasn't good because there was a bespectacled Japanese man behind us who was shocked we had so much to put in (my carryon + nads' carryon + pamphlet + my anime swag) because someone ELSE hogged our compartment. In the end we had about 3 compartments total for everything which could've been avoided if every other compartment wasn't half full and then maybe the Japanese man could've put his stuff instead of cramming it with his wives' luggage.
Btw the man actually exclaimed, "you have so much luggage!" and Nadia apologized profusely for the inconvenience. He was going to Langkawi with his wife and daughter for a holiday, and now that I think about it, he really sorta looked like Hideo Kojima but then again 70% of Japanese men look like Hideo Kojima so I can never tell. In front of him was this college kid working on past year exams. @@
Lunch was chicken and cake and salad and something else I couldn't take pics of because I was too busy watching Date Night while eating - the tray had a little heating pad on it so the food was actually warm! *o* I then spent the rest of the trip listening to Cecille Corbel's Arrietty Image Album. I had to loop it 3 times because I kept falling asleep (until the pain in my spine jolts me up) and even THEN I couldn't listen to the whole thing! I had to come HOME and download the damn CD to finally listen to the whole thing! It's a good CD, get it if you can.
The most shocking thing was hearing the pilot's message:
"We will be landing in Kuala Lumpur shortly. The temperature is twenty-seven degrees celsius."
That's a full TEN DEGREES COLDER THAN TOKYO. FML.
Around this time I also realised it was a prayer day and I was supposed to be vegetarian in the MORNING. Remember the gyoza? The omurice? Yeah. >_>;;
Then we had to grab our stuff. Nadia pulled down the compartment to get our things and I saw the Japanese man next to her suddenly going "ITATATATATAAAA" and I was wondering what was he in pain about until I saw his hand getting CLAMPED by OUR compartment door.
Me: Nadia, the guy's hand! The door is clamping his hand!
Nadia: Oh, sumimasen!
Man: *GLARES*
Nadia takes a step back with her luggage about to ram into *smiling* HIDEO KOJIMA MAN RIGHT behind her!
Me: Nads! The guy behind you!
Nadia stops in time!
Me: I can't take you anywhere! @@
And thus our trip comes full circle.
Grabbed our stuff (which I then realised I forgot to lock my suitcase but THANK GOD nobody opened it), ran through customs and...
...they didn't check our stuff.
Seriously, the No Declaration lane was EMPTY.
I could've been hauling drugs and assuming I got past Japanese customs I'd be utterly home free! It's like the Singapore-Malaysia border all over again! If I knew this would've happened I REALLY would've gotten one of the pr0n mags. :(
Met up with my dad (who was on the other side of KLIA because I lost Nads and her rocket-powered baggage cart and she bumped into my dad instead), loaded bags into KLIA Express train, chatted with an Australian man about cigarettes and price comparison, saw Malaysian greenery (it is a dark dirty green unlike Japan's light ferny green), had dinner at Kenny Rogers (and was reminded I was in Malaysia when the waitress forgot my dad's order) and then went home to show my swag off to mum.
Me: Here's this gorgeous blouse from Algonquins-
Mum: OMG SKULLS. WHY DO YOU BUY CRAP LIKE THIS.
Me: ...
She's starting to appreciate the blouse more though!
I suppose I should take pics of the clothes I bought, but it doesn't seem right wearing them without a photoshoot.
But that's just me.
*****
And that's it for my Japan trip! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! m(_ _)m
If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section and I'll reply!
(FINALLY I can get back to posting nonsense on my LJ mwahahaha)