(no subject)
It was fun, but tiring. Lots of people around. There was a line for everything - the train to get to the site, the food, the pavilions, the train to get back. The women who went with me have been there a lot, so they knew all the little secrets. For example, if you need to get omiyage, do it early because around 5pm, the lines for the cashier are so long that you'll be waiting an hour. They even have it roped off so the line snakes in front of the store. The only bad thing is, I was carrying the souvenirs I got for my nephews and niece around the entire day.
They got reservations for us for two pavilions - the Earth Tower, which is a giant kaleidoscope, and the Global Pavilion. In the Global Pavilion, we watched a movie shown with Sony's new technology which is amazingly clear. The screen is huge though, bigger than IMAX I think. Last year, a mammoth's head was found in Russia by Japanese scientists, and they had it on display. It was extremely well-preserved. We went to countries' pavilions that didn't have long lines. I forget the country, but one of them had extremely aggressive salespeople. They put the jewelry on you before telling you the price. Very few people bought the stuff though because it was expensive!
Also, supposedly, the Emperor was there, and a lot of people tried to see him when he left the China Pavilion. I didn't bother with the crowds though. I actually kinda wanted to see China and US pavilions, just so I could see what they thought were representative of the countries. Especially I wanted to see what US foods they had, but we didn't head there.
Most of the people were Japanese, though I did hear quite a bit of Chinese, some English, and some other languages that I don't know. Most of the food were things you'd be able to find in a decent-sized US city, but we didn't go everywhere, so maybe there were some hidden treasures.
The mascots are Morizo and Kiccoro (the fluffy green things). The women who took me told me that Morizo (the big dark green one) was a forest fairy and that Kiccoro (the small one) was food. I don't know why my brain processed that as "Kiccoro is Morizo's food".... According to the website, Kiccoro is a child, and Morizo's the grandfather.
It's weird that they tell you cannot bring in PET bottles, but you can buy drinks inside. You might think they would mark up the drinks, but they were 150yen, like most vending machines/stores around here. The rule is for security reasons, but I can think of a bunch of things I can store in a thermos (allowed) that I can't put in a PET bottle.... The theme is sustainable development.... maybe Morizo and Kiccoro needs to make a visit to Bush and beat the message into him.
Looked more carefully through the magazines I had bought. While flipping the page, I saw a picture and thought "hey, that looks like JURI!" Well, dumbass, see the English letters there? What does that say? JURI. This was in the Talk-Off section of Top Stage (I think?)
Then I looked up and saw Leader's name. Then Tuti, Eiji-san, and Wasshi. Then next to Wasshi, Wada (with pic), then Shio, and Aoki. The others I don't recognize. It's sad that I got so excited from seeing just their names.
Also realized that one of the magazines had a small articles on Souta and his role in Ultraman Max. again, can't remember which mag (one of the last two volumes of Top Stage or Look At Star!), but it makes me realize I don't look carefully enough at things when I first get them.