Start of Japan Trip...
I was totally tempted to buy a netbook from LA before coming on this trip... I ended up bringing the one that I have from PTP class, and my friend from work before installed Windows and uninstalled the LINUX that was on it.
Unfortunately, it can't read or write Japanese font... meaning I can't write back to Negi-sama. D= Unless I email her from my rental cell phone.
By the way! I figured out how to link my computer to Yoshi's LAN connection without his help this time. XD Last time I brought my regular laptop, it took us a while to figure out how.. OTL;
If I'm really tempted, I might just check out the netbooks in Akiba or something.. >_>;
---
My trip thus far.. has been quite the eventful one.
8/13 (Thurs)
I arrived near 5pm on Thursday, went through customs and immigration just fine, picked up my rental phone only realize that I didn't have gem2niki's rental number or mail on me... so I had to go to the internet access station to use the internet for a few minutes. I also used that opportunity to tell my mom that I was safe in Japan.
Got on the Narita Express and took it to Shinjuku, and then took the next train to Yoshi's station. Apparently kurot called me while I was rolling my luggage with booth arms full. ^^; And so began the loooooong night.
She and MB were supposed to come and pick up some books from Yoshi's apartment, but I only found out then after when I call Yoshi because I couldn't find the box that it hadn't been delivered and was on hold with the post office until 8/14 (the NEXT DAY). So, I found the slip after some searching, rode his bike to the station first (because I wasn't sure what time Kanae was supposed to come - I couldn't reach her... - and then rode to the central area post office that has a 24HR pickup window (THANK GOODNESS!). Got the box (really heavy), and hailed a taxi to take me, it, and the foldable bike back to the apartment.
Got a call at 12am-ish that they would be coming to pick up the stuff, but ended up waiting by the station for an hour... OTL; I couldn't leave the bike either because I don't have the key to the chain lock.
They finally arrived, with Kanae in tow, and I walked them to the apartment. They got the books in a roller and then headed off. By that time it was about 2am. Kanae showered, then I showered and got ready for Day 1 of Comiket...
8/14 (Fri)
Only to wake up about 2-2.5 hours later so that we could get ready quickly and head off to the weekly mansion where most people were staying so that we could go to Comiket together.
I felt like such a tour guide leader. XD; We had a big group of people. But we got there, and the circle people went to get inside before the circle entry deadline. I've never felt so proud that I knew enough to get by in Japanese as I have on Day 1! XD Especially for entry and then for figuring out where everything was. Also, I stayed at the table the whole day, didn't leave it once! (Maiki did my shopping for me; just Nobi-Nobita for Digimon and Nijuuboshi for Hikago. THANK YOU!) I was able to communicate to the customers the prices correctly, and say how much things were and if the gave the exact amount or how much was owned to them. The whole deal. Plus, I did some translating on the side when some Japanese circle people came to visit Ku. =P
At the very start, during setup, I apologized in advance to the two neighboring circles that we were intruding on their space, and that we would try to keep within our space as much as possible. Luckily, they only had one person each at the table, so it was okay with all our 3 behind the table. I also offered them food, and Ku gave her illust book.
All in all, a really eventful, non-stop kind of day (and a HUMID one at that), one bad thing for me was that I cut two of my fingers (middle and ring fingers of my right hand while holding the scissors to open boxes, so much sharper than I expecting them to be!).. and it didn't end until much later. OTL Because we still had to pack up the books, get them shipped off (which the line for shipping off took FOREVER, and had Ku's brother and his friend in line with me (I was to be dealing with any Japanese that might be necessary), and we had box trouble with the books. Oh man. But it worked out, and they got sent off, and that was that!
Sweaty and tired, and still running only on adrenaline and liquid (hadn't consumed any food since 4-5am.. we finally got to head back at 7-8pm. I went with everyone back to the weekly mansion, they cleaned up a bit, and we went to dinner at Sunshine City.
I was so not hungry because of the fatigue buildup and adrenaline settling, that the only thing I could down was an avocado salad. OTL I did take one piece of Ku's meat though; I wasn't sure if my stomach could handle it. ^^;
I took a taxi home after that because I didn't think I could make it back on the train..
I showered and got stuff ready for Day 2, and went to sleep. Got 5 hours, yay!
8/15 (Sat)
Had arranged to meet up with Feria and Maiki to line up for West Hall at 6:30am, only to realize as I was on the way that I had looked at a weekday schedule.. and it was Saturday. Crap. Tried messaging Maiki, but found that it didn't work. Luckily she texted me and I was able to reply back to that about my situation. Still ended up getting there around the right time, so it was okay. We stood outside for about 2.5-3 hours (I realize I got a little bit pink now.. light sunburn OTL) before getting in. West Hall wasn't very crowded inside (will mention why later...), so I was able to get all the books I was trying to there. Got KH books from Negi-sama*, Roc-On, and Syphon(?). And there was NO line for Aotsukitei, though she was a wall circle for Tales of Vesperia. Lucky! I got her new Natsume book that she also sold at her table. Got ALL of kasumi_blue's books. [Your books killed my left shoulder, by the way! XD;;;] Then...
... the line from West Hall to East Hall DID NOT MOVE! It was sardines and sauna, and smelly guys. I only held out until we got to the outer portion, and then I had the idea to go towards the exit and re-enter through the main entrance. >_>; I'm sure that's considered line-skipping but it wasn't so bad up top. Even so, once inside, the line to East Hall still took about an hour, and more smells and heat and SO NOT WANTING TO DO THAT AGAIN.
The reason(s)? So many people were lining up for Hetalia and TOUHOU PROJECT in Hall 1-2-3! More for the latter. Abnormally larger amount of guys on Day 2 were there, instead of Day 3 which is guys' day.
Eventually, I got into East 4-5-6 (the non-Touhou hall), and hit up a table for Ai's friend, a circle for Golden Days, another Natsume one (she's Chinese XD; I could tell by her accent, apart from knowing that she updates her Pixiv account in Chinese), and then tried to find the Hourou Musuko circle. No luck with that part, because after asking their neighbor, I found out that they had left early. But their neighbor had Aoi Hana books, so I went with that. I also found some Emma and Maria Holic in the same section. I'm sure the guys behind the tables were wondering why I was there... OTL
Called it quits in time to go outside and meet up with Feria, Maiki, and Maiki's friend from school and rest up a bit.
Feria and I went to Shinjuku to try to catch the 3pm showing of the new Pokemon movie, but after finally figuring out how to get there, we found it was full. So we tried our luck at Ikebukuro, and got lucky! Like 6 minutes lucky.
It was quite an epic movie, and it tied in the last two movies (4th trilogy of movies) a lot. AND! More wet hair Ash/Satoshi fan service, considering that they got the 3 in swimming suits to enjoy playing around in the river. XD
After the movie, they had a little clip that said that there'd be another movie next summer. For the new gold and silver. It was Lugia and Honou clashing. (Guess I can expect the Pocket Monster SPECIAL manga to keep going for a while! XD)
Following movie, went to dinner with Ai at a kaiten sushi place. And then arcade 1 and arcade 2. I finally learned how to drift on Intial D 5. STEP ON THE BRAKES. Spent a few hours playing games (including some Pop'n Music 17).
Somehow, now my throat is really agitated, probably due to many factors: waking up early, being in places where people smoked, and talking a lot. It's a bit swollen, but not really. Not how it would if it were Strep throat (have had that before, so I know how that felt). Hoping some sleep and water will sooth it. But still have to shower before I call it quits for the day.
Luckily, I can sleep in tomorrow!
Am planning to go do some or most of my manga shopping in Ikebu (using Maiki's Animate card) and then meeting with Ayli to go to Edelstein Cafe for lunch and then Tamagawa Daishi for some non-touristy exploration.
* = I also gave Negi-sama a UCLA long-sleeve shirt, but forgot to include a note (I was really out of it..). She gave me a colored drawing of Riku and Sora as she promised in exchange for the glasses I gave her before, but here I was thinking that it was just going to be on paper or something... but NO! It was put onto a little mini FAN. Which said "To Jen". OMG. And also with a little crown that had chocolate covered almonds, a note, and the bag they were all in had a KEY (XD) to tie it up. LOL, so much thought put into it. I really need to make that Roxas lamp and make it good. XD; My gift of just clothing from my school seems so unthoughtful in comparison. Agh, without Japanese font, I can't write back (well, she can't read my Gmail emails for some reason anyways, so I had to make JPGs of my emails so she could see them...). I will figure out how to write to her tomorrow. Otherwise, will email her via cell phone mail again.
Unfortunately, it can't read or write Japanese font... meaning I can't write back to Negi-sama. D= Unless I email her from my rental cell phone.
By the way! I figured out how to link my computer to Yoshi's LAN connection without his help this time. XD Last time I brought my regular laptop, it took us a while to figure out how.. OTL;
If I'm really tempted, I might just check out the netbooks in Akiba or something.. >_>;
---
My trip thus far.. has been quite the eventful one.
8/13 (Thurs)
I arrived near 5pm on Thursday, went through customs and immigration just fine, picked up my rental phone only realize that I didn't have gem2niki's rental number or mail on me... so I had to go to the internet access station to use the internet for a few minutes. I also used that opportunity to tell my mom that I was safe in Japan.
Got on the Narita Express and took it to Shinjuku, and then took the next train to Yoshi's station. Apparently kurot called me while I was rolling my luggage with booth arms full. ^^; And so began the loooooong night.
She and MB were supposed to come and pick up some books from Yoshi's apartment, but I only found out then after when I call Yoshi because I couldn't find the box that it hadn't been delivered and was on hold with the post office until 8/14 (the NEXT DAY). So, I found the slip after some searching, rode his bike to the station first (because I wasn't sure what time Kanae was supposed to come - I couldn't reach her... - and then rode to the central area post office that has a 24HR pickup window (THANK GOODNESS!). Got the box (really heavy), and hailed a taxi to take me, it, and the foldable bike back to the apartment.
Got a call at 12am-ish that they would be coming to pick up the stuff, but ended up waiting by the station for an hour... OTL; I couldn't leave the bike either because I don't have the key to the chain lock.
They finally arrived, with Kanae in tow, and I walked them to the apartment. They got the books in a roller and then headed off. By that time it was about 2am. Kanae showered, then I showered and got ready for Day 1 of Comiket...
8/14 (Fri)
Only to wake up about 2-2.5 hours later so that we could get ready quickly and head off to the weekly mansion where most people were staying so that we could go to Comiket together.
I felt like such a tour guide leader. XD; We had a big group of people. But we got there, and the circle people went to get inside before the circle entry deadline. I've never felt so proud that I knew enough to get by in Japanese as I have on Day 1! XD Especially for entry and then for figuring out where everything was. Also, I stayed at the table the whole day, didn't leave it once! (Maiki did my shopping for me; just Nobi-Nobita for Digimon and Nijuuboshi for Hikago. THANK YOU!) I was able to communicate to the customers the prices correctly, and say how much things were and if the gave the exact amount or how much was owned to them. The whole deal. Plus, I did some translating on the side when some Japanese circle people came to visit Ku. =P
At the very start, during setup, I apologized in advance to the two neighboring circles that we were intruding on their space, and that we would try to keep within our space as much as possible. Luckily, they only had one person each at the table, so it was okay with all our 3 behind the table. I also offered them food, and Ku gave her illust book.
All in all, a really eventful, non-stop kind of day (and a HUMID one at that), one bad thing for me was that I cut two of my fingers (middle and ring fingers of my right hand while holding the scissors to open boxes, so much sharper than I expecting them to be!).. and it didn't end until much later. OTL Because we still had to pack up the books, get them shipped off (which the line for shipping off took FOREVER, and had Ku's brother and his friend in line with me (I was to be dealing with any Japanese that might be necessary), and we had box trouble with the books. Oh man. But it worked out, and they got sent off, and that was that!
Sweaty and tired, and still running only on adrenaline and liquid (hadn't consumed any food since 4-5am.. we finally got to head back at 7-8pm. I went with everyone back to the weekly mansion, they cleaned up a bit, and we went to dinner at Sunshine City.
I was so not hungry because of the fatigue buildup and adrenaline settling, that the only thing I could down was an avocado salad. OTL I did take one piece of Ku's meat though; I wasn't sure if my stomach could handle it. ^^;
I took a taxi home after that because I didn't think I could make it back on the train..
I showered and got stuff ready for Day 2, and went to sleep. Got 5 hours, yay!
8/15 (Sat)
Had arranged to meet up with Feria and Maiki to line up for West Hall at 6:30am, only to realize as I was on the way that I had looked at a weekday schedule.. and it was Saturday. Crap. Tried messaging Maiki, but found that it didn't work. Luckily she texted me and I was able to reply back to that about my situation. Still ended up getting there around the right time, so it was okay. We stood outside for about 2.5-3 hours (I realize I got a little bit pink now.. light sunburn OTL) before getting in. West Hall wasn't very crowded inside (will mention why later...), so I was able to get all the books I was trying to there. Got KH books from Negi-sama*, Roc-On, and Syphon(?). And there was NO line for Aotsukitei, though she was a wall circle for Tales of Vesperia. Lucky! I got her new Natsume book that she also sold at her table. Got ALL of kasumi_blue's books. [Your books killed my left shoulder, by the way! XD;;;] Then...
... the line from West Hall to East Hall DID NOT MOVE! It was sardines and sauna, and smelly guys. I only held out until we got to the outer portion, and then I had the idea to go towards the exit and re-enter through the main entrance. >_>; I'm sure that's considered line-skipping but it wasn't so bad up top. Even so, once inside, the line to East Hall still took about an hour, and more smells and heat and SO NOT WANTING TO DO THAT AGAIN.
The reason(s)? So many people were lining up for Hetalia and TOUHOU PROJECT in Hall 1-2-3! More for the latter. Abnormally larger amount of guys on Day 2 were there, instead of Day 3 which is guys' day.
Eventually, I got into East 4-5-6 (the non-Touhou hall), and hit up a table for Ai's friend, a circle for Golden Days, another Natsume one (she's Chinese XD; I could tell by her accent, apart from knowing that she updates her Pixiv account in Chinese), and then tried to find the Hourou Musuko circle. No luck with that part, because after asking their neighbor, I found out that they had left early. But their neighbor had Aoi Hana books, so I went with that. I also found some Emma and Maria Holic in the same section. I'm sure the guys behind the tables were wondering why I was there... OTL
Called it quits in time to go outside and meet up with Feria, Maiki, and Maiki's friend from school and rest up a bit.
Feria and I went to Shinjuku to try to catch the 3pm showing of the new Pokemon movie, but after finally figuring out how to get there, we found it was full. So we tried our luck at Ikebukuro, and got lucky! Like 6 minutes lucky.
It was quite an epic movie, and it tied in the last two movies (4th trilogy of movies) a lot. AND! More wet hair Ash/Satoshi fan service, considering that they got the 3 in swimming suits to enjoy playing around in the river. XD
After the movie, they had a little clip that said that there'd be another movie next summer. For the new gold and silver. It was Lugia and Honou clashing. (Guess I can expect the Pocket Monster SPECIAL manga to keep going for a while! XD)
Following movie, went to dinner with Ai at a kaiten sushi place. And then arcade 1 and arcade 2. I finally learned how to drift on Intial D 5. STEP ON THE BRAKES. Spent a few hours playing games (including some Pop'n Music 17).
Somehow, now my throat is really agitated, probably due to many factors: waking up early, being in places where people smoked, and talking a lot. It's a bit swollen, but not really. Not how it would if it were Strep throat (have had that before, so I know how that felt). Hoping some sleep and water will sooth it. But still have to shower before I call it quits for the day.
Luckily, I can sleep in tomorrow!
Am planning to go do some or most of my manga shopping in Ikebu (using Maiki's Animate card) and then meeting with Ayli to go to Edelstein Cafe for lunch and then Tamagawa Daishi for some non-touristy exploration.
* = I also gave Negi-sama a UCLA long-sleeve shirt, but forgot to include a note (I was really out of it..). She gave me a colored drawing of Riku and Sora as she promised in exchange for the glasses I gave her before, but here I was thinking that it was just going to be on paper or something... but NO! It was put onto a little mini FAN. Which said "To Jen". OMG. And also with a little crown that had chocolate covered almonds, a note, and the bag they were all in had a KEY (XD) to tie it up. LOL, so much thought put into it. I really need to make that Roxas lamp and make it good. XD; My gift of just clothing from my school seems so unthoughtful in comparison. Agh, without Japanese font, I can't write back (well, she can't read my Gmail emails for some reason anyways, so I had to make JPGs of my emails so she could see them...). I will figure out how to write to her tomorrow. Otherwise, will email her via cell phone mail again.