Tokyo: Day 7-9
Tadaima!!!!!!
I should be sad that my dreamland of Japan is over though, right? Oh well, next time. My next aim is Hokkaido!
Anyways, I got back home at around 2am. Started on catching up with life starting with friends page. And chatting on MSN. Bought back 5 dozen of Krispy Kreme donuts! So need to distribute them to my friends tomorrow as it can't be kept for long. And need to set up my selling post ASAP too to quickly get back the money and pay my mum back. Concert tickets ain't cheap, ya know. And of course update my Tokyo posts with pictures! Should I f-lock some posts with JE related pictures to protect myself or just not post them at all. It's nothing scandalous like concert pics or fancams or anything though.
Anyway, here's a quick update of the last 3 days of my Tokyo trip. Defintely will add more details when I update them with photos later.
Day 7: 2nd Jan 2009
I was supposed to go Disneyland with Aishah on this day but in the end, she went for Uchi's concert in Osaka and I didn't want to go Disneyland with my mum only as she wouldn't sit all those rides so kind of a waste of money. I'll go another time, for sure. So we had no plans on this day until my mum remembered that today was the only other day the public people can see the emperor of Japan in the Imperial Palace. So we went there, squeezed with everyone for 1 hour and caught a glimpse of his face for like 2 mins. He gave a super short speech and someone shouted 'Banzai' after that and everyone followed suit while waving the flag of Japan. We didn't really care how he looks like or anything but since it was a rare opportunity, my mum wanted to participate so I fulfilled what she wanted since she let me go for concerts and queued like crazy for the goods too.
We then went to Shibuya. Nothing much for me as I'm not that into shopping. Took a photo of the famous dog statue, Hachiko, in front of Shibuya station at the Hachiko exit. What's so famous about it? Anyone wondered why rocker Nana gave the other Nana the nick name Hachi? I read about it when I read up more about Nana and came across this trivia about the Hachiko statue. The story of this dog statue is that this dog named Hachiko belongs to a university professor who teaches at what is today's Tokyo University. Everyday, it would accompany it's master to the Shibuya train station in the morning and in the afternoons wait for it there to go home together. But one day, the professor died at the university and never came home. But Hachiko everyday went to the station and waited for it's master for 10 years until it died. So in memory of the dog's faithfulness, they built a statue in the spot that it waits. How it relates to Nana is that rocker Nana thinks that the other Nana tends to follow people around like a dog. Plus 'hachi' means 8 in Japanese which is after 'nana' which means 7. Took photos of billboards too. I saw Massu's Rescue boards quite a few times all over Tokyo, Maki and the L guy's Docomo billboards EVERYWHERE and many more.
We went back to the hotel quite early as was really tired. And when I turned on the TV, the only interesting programme at that time was Kame on this eating show special. Basically they each ordered whatever they wanted to eat and everything is very delicious and expensive. They then have to guess the cost of that dish. After finishing, the person with the biggest difference between the total cost of what they ordered and a set budget (I think) would have to pick up the tab for everyone. Guess what? Kame lost!!! XDD He had to pay in total about 300,000 yen +. That is a shit load of money!
Day 8: 3rd Jan 2009
I was meeting my relative (actually uncle but he's only 1 year older than me) and his fiancee,Shuko, today. We were only meeting at 2pm so I went shopping at the Tokyo Dome mall and the other malls near Tokyo Dome. I bought a top from some shop at a discounted price as it's still sale time.
I found a bookshop beside Tokyo Dome called Yamashita Bookstore and it sells lots of backdated magazines as well as unofficial photobooks. They had a few months old usual JE magazines and other rarer magazines too like Songs and Act+. Don't expect to unearth really old magazines though. I didn't see any ones older than 2008 magazines. I bought a Yamapi and Aiba photobook for myself too even though they aren't very recent. Had ramen for lunch then headed back to the hotel.
My relative met us at our hotel and brought us to Akihabara as he needed to get a new phone as his was spoiled. Asked him about cellphones here in Japan. After that, we headed to Asakusa and I was blown away by it! It's so different from the usual Tokyo I've been seeing for the past few days. It feels so much like Chinatown. Traditional shop houses and architecture and the shrine which had lots of people too. The streets were soooooooo busy!
I bought a yukata for myself here! Paid in total 4500 yen for the yukata and a plain red obi belt. I LOVE MY YUKATA! It's black with pheonix (I think), flowers and sakura flowers and petals in pink tones. When I take a photo of myself wearing it, I'll post it here! I wonder when will I have the occassion to wear it.
Oh! And we were merrily walking the streets of Asakusa when I suddenly spotted a mini uchiwa of Yamapi! Shuko told me that the sign beside the uchiwa says that Yamapi ever said on TV before that he likes this particular senbei. I wanted to buy a pack home just for fun but my relative had already bought a pack for me as a gift. Haven't tried it yet though but it must be good if Yamapi likes it! XD
We then headed to Ginza as we've never been there too and I had requested to eat sukiyaki. The streets were practically empty as it was the weekend and people were still on holiday. Sadly, the sukiyaki store they wanted to bring us to was closed. But also, as we had quite a lot of snacks at Asakusa, we were all too full to eat dinner. So I MUST fine a nice and reasonably priced store in Singapore that has sukiyaki. Anyone can recommend me a place or two?
After sitting down for a cup of expensive coffee and tea, we went our own ways and we headed back to the hotel.
Day 9: 4th Jan 2009
We had to catch the limousine bus at Tokyo Dome Hotel at 12.45pm so we didn't do much today. We checked out very early and had breakfast at the hotel as we wanted to buy Krispy Kreme donuts from the store in Shinjuku and it opens at 7am. But in the end, we only reached there around 8.30am but there was no queue! So go in the morning I suppose if you don't want to queue for ages. Bought 5 dozen of donuts in total as Singapore has no KK donuts. *boo* Tomorrow, or rather today, is distribution day as it's not good to keep them for ages.
After buying donuts, we sat down there and I had 2 donuts with coffee while we waited for Tokyu Hands to open at 10am. The night before, Aishah showed me the stuff she had bought and one of the things was an onigiri mould! I had forgotten I wanted that! Just scoop rice into it, add whatever ingredients you want in the middle, cover with more rice and press down and you get perfectly shapped onirigi without having to squeeze it for ages. Bought a couple other stuff too. Seriously, Tokyu Hands rocks! 8 levels of everything you can find under the sun!
Headed home after buying what I wanted and sat at Tokyo Dome hotel, waiting for the bus. Had a late lunch at the airport. I ate omurice with crab croquettes which are heavenly! Bought this black sesame egg dessert thing which isn't a real egg btw. Protected my uchiwas and posters which I had handcarried and finally touched down!
That's about it! Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll update all entries with pictures. Oyasuminasai!
P.S.: I totally forgot some small details from the 1st Jan concert. Massu's pants slipped really low during the encore Weeeek performance! He started jumping and his belt gave way. XDDD Also, Yamapi near the end I think when they say their goodbyes did the Daigo 'wish' pose. The one Tegoshi did in the Happy Birthday PV. And during Snow Express, Shige for some reason put his jacket's hood up. They were wearing white pants and black tees I think and a white puffy winter jacket with hoods that had thick fur lining the hood.
I should be sad that my dreamland of Japan is over though, right? Oh well, next time. My next aim is Hokkaido!
Anyways, I got back home at around 2am. Started on catching up with life starting with friends page. And chatting on MSN. Bought back 5 dozen of Krispy Kreme donuts! So need to distribute them to my friends tomorrow as it can't be kept for long. And need to set up my selling post ASAP too to quickly get back the money and pay my mum back. Concert tickets ain't cheap, ya know. And of course update my Tokyo posts with pictures! Should I f-lock some posts with JE related pictures to protect myself or just not post them at all. It's nothing scandalous like concert pics or fancams or anything though.
Anyway, here's a quick update of the last 3 days of my Tokyo trip. Defintely will add more details when I update them with photos later.
Day 7: 2nd Jan 2009
I was supposed to go Disneyland with Aishah on this day but in the end, she went for Uchi's concert in Osaka and I didn't want to go Disneyland with my mum only as she wouldn't sit all those rides so kind of a waste of money. I'll go another time, for sure. So we had no plans on this day until my mum remembered that today was the only other day the public people can see the emperor of Japan in the Imperial Palace. So we went there, squeezed with everyone for 1 hour and caught a glimpse of his face for like 2 mins. He gave a super short speech and someone shouted 'Banzai' after that and everyone followed suit while waving the flag of Japan. We didn't really care how he looks like or anything but since it was a rare opportunity, my mum wanted to participate so I fulfilled what she wanted since she let me go for concerts and queued like crazy for the goods too.
We then went to Shibuya. Nothing much for me as I'm not that into shopping. Took a photo of the famous dog statue, Hachiko, in front of Shibuya station at the Hachiko exit. What's so famous about it? Anyone wondered why rocker Nana gave the other Nana the nick name Hachi? I read about it when I read up more about Nana and came across this trivia about the Hachiko statue. The story of this dog statue is that this dog named Hachiko belongs to a university professor who teaches at what is today's Tokyo University. Everyday, it would accompany it's master to the Shibuya train station in the morning and in the afternoons wait for it there to go home together. But one day, the professor died at the university and never came home. But Hachiko everyday went to the station and waited for it's master for 10 years until it died. So in memory of the dog's faithfulness, they built a statue in the spot that it waits. How it relates to Nana is that rocker Nana thinks that the other Nana tends to follow people around like a dog. Plus 'hachi' means 8 in Japanese which is after 'nana' which means 7. Took photos of billboards too. I saw Massu's Rescue boards quite a few times all over Tokyo, Maki and the L guy's Docomo billboards EVERYWHERE and many more.
We went back to the hotel quite early as was really tired. And when I turned on the TV, the only interesting programme at that time was Kame on this eating show special. Basically they each ordered whatever they wanted to eat and everything is very delicious and expensive. They then have to guess the cost of that dish. After finishing, the person with the biggest difference between the total cost of what they ordered and a set budget (I think) would have to pick up the tab for everyone. Guess what? Kame lost!!! XDD He had to pay in total about 300,000 yen +. That is a shit load of money!
Day 8: 3rd Jan 2009
I was meeting my relative (actually uncle but he's only 1 year older than me) and his fiancee,Shuko, today. We were only meeting at 2pm so I went shopping at the Tokyo Dome mall and the other malls near Tokyo Dome. I bought a top from some shop at a discounted price as it's still sale time.
I found a bookshop beside Tokyo Dome called Yamashita Bookstore and it sells lots of backdated magazines as well as unofficial photobooks. They had a few months old usual JE magazines and other rarer magazines too like Songs and Act+. Don't expect to unearth really old magazines though. I didn't see any ones older than 2008 magazines. I bought a Yamapi and Aiba photobook for myself too even though they aren't very recent. Had ramen for lunch then headed back to the hotel.
My relative met us at our hotel and brought us to Akihabara as he needed to get a new phone as his was spoiled. Asked him about cellphones here in Japan. After that, we headed to Asakusa and I was blown away by it! It's so different from the usual Tokyo I've been seeing for the past few days. It feels so much like Chinatown. Traditional shop houses and architecture and the shrine which had lots of people too. The streets were soooooooo busy!
I bought a yukata for myself here! Paid in total 4500 yen for the yukata and a plain red obi belt. I LOVE MY YUKATA! It's black with pheonix (I think), flowers and sakura flowers and petals in pink tones. When I take a photo of myself wearing it, I'll post it here! I wonder when will I have the occassion to wear it.
Oh! And we were merrily walking the streets of Asakusa when I suddenly spotted a mini uchiwa of Yamapi! Shuko told me that the sign beside the uchiwa says that Yamapi ever said on TV before that he likes this particular senbei. I wanted to buy a pack home just for fun but my relative had already bought a pack for me as a gift. Haven't tried it yet though but it must be good if Yamapi likes it! XD
We then headed to Ginza as we've never been there too and I had requested to eat sukiyaki. The streets were practically empty as it was the weekend and people were still on holiday. Sadly, the sukiyaki store they wanted to bring us to was closed. But also, as we had quite a lot of snacks at Asakusa, we were all too full to eat dinner. So I MUST fine a nice and reasonably priced store in Singapore that has sukiyaki. Anyone can recommend me a place or two?
After sitting down for a cup of expensive coffee and tea, we went our own ways and we headed back to the hotel.
Day 9: 4th Jan 2009
We had to catch the limousine bus at Tokyo Dome Hotel at 12.45pm so we didn't do much today. We checked out very early and had breakfast at the hotel as we wanted to buy Krispy Kreme donuts from the store in Shinjuku and it opens at 7am. But in the end, we only reached there around 8.30am but there was no queue! So go in the morning I suppose if you don't want to queue for ages. Bought 5 dozen of donuts in total as Singapore has no KK donuts. *boo* Tomorrow, or rather today, is distribution day as it's not good to keep them for ages.
After buying donuts, we sat down there and I had 2 donuts with coffee while we waited for Tokyu Hands to open at 10am. The night before, Aishah showed me the stuff she had bought and one of the things was an onigiri mould! I had forgotten I wanted that! Just scoop rice into it, add whatever ingredients you want in the middle, cover with more rice and press down and you get perfectly shapped onirigi without having to squeeze it for ages. Bought a couple other stuff too. Seriously, Tokyu Hands rocks! 8 levels of everything you can find under the sun!
Headed home after buying what I wanted and sat at Tokyo Dome hotel, waiting for the bus. Had a late lunch at the airport. I ate omurice with crab croquettes which are heavenly! Bought this black sesame egg dessert thing which isn't a real egg btw. Protected my uchiwas and posters which I had handcarried and finally touched down!
That's about it! Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll update all entries with pictures. Oyasuminasai!
P.S.: I totally forgot some small details from the 1st Jan concert. Massu's pants slipped really low during the encore Weeeek performance! He started jumping and his belt gave way. XDDD Also, Yamapi near the end I think when they say their goodbyes did the Daigo 'wish' pose. The one Tegoshi did in the Happy Birthday PV. And during Snow Express, Shige for some reason put his jacket's hood up. They were wearing white pants and black tees I think and a white puffy winter jacket with hoods that had thick fur lining the hood.