In which yesterday was apparently Ali encapsulated.
Ali and I have had many good days since her arrival to Japan, but I think yesterday was the most, um, "heartful", to steal a term I see on a lot of Japanese brochures and gifts. It was such a wonderful day that even though I was feeling irritated almost constantly (I'm a little bit below manic right now, and also it's ladytiem, so it wasn't actually cranky at anything in general) it didn't actually bother me the majority of the time because of the feelings of joy and joyness. The external stimuli overrided anything internal by a longshot.
Pretty much the only way this day could have been better, and the only regret about it I have, was that Pillow was not around to share it with me.
Anyway. It started off fairly mundane, with me waking up super early due to going to sleep around 6 PM last night. I took a shower, then felt inspired to clean the bathroom (including scrubbing the toilet, ooo) before Ali got up, then chillaxed while dicking around on the computer, waiting for the grocery store to open. Once it did, I got my shopping done, then came back to the apartment and got ready for our journey to Tokyo...
...destination: GUNDAM.
Well, no, really our first stop was Shibuya, because I wanted to show Ali the bigass crosswalk. I forgot to show her the statue of Hachiko but that's probably for the best at the time because we had places to find first. We had a vague idea where the COSPA shop was, but I was kind of doubtful we would find it, so we stared off towards Love Hotel Hill because I wanted to give her a tour of that craziness. Turns out, the location we had an address for was RIGHT THERE. Seriously, what a coincidence! So after I showed her the wonder of things like Hotel Claire, Hotel Zero, and Hotel For You, we went to the store... which turned out to be the Cospatio shop, not the COSPA shop (there are two locations listed in the brochure but only one is on the website... go fig.) However, the shopkeep was nice enough to not only give us directions to the other store, but she printed out a map and drew on it to show us where to go! So awesome.
We followed the directions easily enough... even if I originally read them wrong, it was a quick fix. On the way to COSPA, we went into this hip hop shop because Ali wanted to some shutter shades (she's wanted some for a long time, so I have no idea why it took until now to get a pair) and the two dudes inside were really nice and not at all like, "What the hell are you doing in here?" One of them helped Ali with the shades while the other chatted with me and showed me where the air conditioning was best (because it was hottt outside). They gave us directions to a store that sold the hats that justinridden wants, but almost as soon as we walked out the door, we forgot. Also it seemed like we'd heard two different sets of directions... whoops. So after a bit of fruitless searching, we sat down and ate some ramen at our favorite chain. However, even though I was hungry, I just couldn't eat most of it, which was a shame. I also felt really sloooowwwww...
We searched again after eating, again coming up empty handed, but we did find a craaaazy Disney store! It honestly didn't have that much as far as merchandise in it, or at least that's how I felt. But, I did buy Ali a little Sleeping Beauty music box because she wanted it badly and is running low on funds, due to somebody not paying her back yet. After that, we left Shibuya and headed for Odaiba -- which meant, for real, destination: GUNDAM!
The trip to Odaiba was one of complete and utter guesswork. It was a lucky break that the Rinkai Line (which goes to the island) has a connection from Shibuya (one of the lines there turns into it later on... yeah, I don't know how that works either!) but I had no idea what stop to get off at, so I chose at random. We got off at Tokyo Teleport and as it turns out, it wasn't too bad a guess. We got onto the Yurikamome line, which is a fully automated monorail and is actually pretty awesome! The views were quite nice, which is, apparently, what it's famous for. And sure enough, you could see the Gundam sticking up through the trees as you approach the Daiba station! Ali and I (along with a train full of Japanese passengers) went "oooooh!" as soon as we saw it.
Arriving at the park, my fears of it being lame were put to rest: it was so... so cool. I'd heard that the Gundam looked small, but I didn't really have any problems with that being an issue -- maybe it's because I'm a tiny girl as opposed to a big dude blogger? Hahaa. It was a sight to see, and there were so many people there to see it! We stood in line to get up and actually touch it and take pictures up close, and that was pretty neat. The warning labels and stuff on it are a really nice touch.
We spent quite a few hours there, just taking pictures and buying souvenirs. And when the sun finally set, the music that plays in the opening for Encounters in Space came on over the speakers and the Gundam's eyes lit up, the head moved, and then steam poured out of the vents and verniers. It sounds cheesy (or at least I thought so), but when I actually saw it... okay, I'll admit, I got a serious case of misty eyes. A girl standing nearby was like, "Eeeehhh! Amurooo~ Ikimasu~" and that just kind of added to it for me, for some reason.
One of the souvenir stands had these little hand towels that were individually wrapped and partially frozen, which I thought was pretty clever since, as I mentioned before, it had been hot all day (thought was pretty nice by the time we got there.) They had five designs on them (a Gundam, a Zaku, Char's Zaku, a Dom, and a Gouf) and it was random which one you got. When I went over there, I originally bought three, since they were 200 yen each and I actually straight up needed a hand towel for my purse. The girls at the booth were stunned and impressed when I said some things in Japanese, which never fails to get old, for some reason. That turned into amusement when I immediately went back to buy somemore towels, lol. And in fact, I kept going back to get more of these hand towels because I wanted a whole set. After a handful of tries, I told them I was looking for Char's Zaku, and they decided to try to help me find one! They stood there and kept pulling wrapped up towels out of the cooler, holding them up to the light, trying to figure out if it was the one I wanted.
I was quite touched by this, but it only got even more delightfully surprising: There was one dude working in the tent and he left it quietly and stood beside it, then kind of motioned to me, so I went over. He started walking away so I followed, then once we'd reached a "safe" distance, he discretely put a Char's Zaku towel in my hand and said "...secret" and walked back quickly.
I just about died. HOW SWEET!! T____T
However, I promptly went back again to get the last piece missing (the Gouf) and, sure enough, the last towel I bought was a Char's Zaku. Whomp whommmmmp. However, there was a lady who was watching the booth girls try to help me with the towels (and they'd told her what was going on and she was all "なんで？！" ahaha) and she and her young son cheered for me when they saw I finally got the Char's Zaku I'd been looking for. I told them that I didn't have a Gouf yet, and she said they didn't have the Gundam itself, which I had two of. So we traded! We ended up having a mini-conversation about how much I love Gundam, and it seemed like her son was pretty impressed (especially when I said 08th MS Team.)
Another thing of note: Ali and I met a Golden Retriever at the park. He wore a sky blue bandana and ate a tiny melon pan from his owner's hand, but only when his owner said, "yosh!" And his name was Luke Skywalker.
We left once it seemed like it was getting rather late, and we were both amazingly sore and pretty tired. The trip back to Yokosuka wasn't anything special, but the fact that we managed to get an off-base/on-base cab was truly amazing, because I have never seen one at the cab stand outside Yokosuka-Chūō, ever. We were both amazingly grateful for it because our legs were KILLING us.
Once we got back to the apartment, I promptly fell asleep... only to be woken up around 1 AM by a blaring nose and Ali at my door saying, "Sarah, um, there's a fire alarm going off in your building. Should we leave?" The answer: "Let me put on some pants." And at that point we shuffled outside, hoping it wasn't really a fire, because Ali'd left things like her passport and laptop inside, and as for me, I straight up did not even grab my glasses, so I'd be blind and homeless.
It's a good thing that happened after the day had come to a close, because it didn't put a damper on my awesome, awesome day. Here are PHOTOS!!!!
Love and Peace,
NTG
PS: I gotta say, it was kind of cool to see the Gundam on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. :3
Pretty much the only way this day could have been better, and the only regret about it I have, was that Pillow was not around to share it with me.
Anyway. It started off fairly mundane, with me waking up super early due to going to sleep around 6 PM last night. I took a shower, then felt inspired to clean the bathroom (including scrubbing the toilet, ooo) before Ali got up, then chillaxed while dicking around on the computer, waiting for the grocery store to open. Once it did, I got my shopping done, then came back to the apartment and got ready for our journey to Tokyo...
...destination: GUNDAM.
Well, no, really our first stop was Shibuya, because I wanted to show Ali the bigass crosswalk. I forgot to show her the statue of Hachiko but that's probably for the best at the time because we had places to find first. We had a vague idea where the COSPA shop was, but I was kind of doubtful we would find it, so we stared off towards Love Hotel Hill because I wanted to give her a tour of that craziness. Turns out, the location we had an address for was RIGHT THERE. Seriously, what a coincidence! So after I showed her the wonder of things like Hotel Claire, Hotel Zero, and Hotel For You, we went to the store... which turned out to be the Cospatio shop, not the COSPA shop (there are two locations listed in the brochure but only one is on the website... go fig.) However, the shopkeep was nice enough to not only give us directions to the other store, but she printed out a map and drew on it to show us where to go! So awesome.
We followed the directions easily enough... even if I originally read them wrong, it was a quick fix. On the way to COSPA, we went into this hip hop shop because Ali wanted to some shutter shades (she's wanted some for a long time, so I have no idea why it took until now to get a pair) and the two dudes inside were really nice and not at all like, "What the hell are you doing in here?" One of them helped Ali with the shades while the other chatted with me and showed me where the air conditioning was best (because it was hottt outside). They gave us directions to a store that sold the hats that justinridden wants, but almost as soon as we walked out the door, we forgot. Also it seemed like we'd heard two different sets of directions... whoops. So after a bit of fruitless searching, we sat down and ate some ramen at our favorite chain. However, even though I was hungry, I just couldn't eat most of it, which was a shame. I also felt really sloooowwwww...
We searched again after eating, again coming up empty handed, but we did find a craaaazy Disney store! It honestly didn't have that much as far as merchandise in it, or at least that's how I felt. But, I did buy Ali a little Sleeping Beauty music box because she wanted it badly and is running low on funds, due to somebody not paying her back yet. After that, we left Shibuya and headed for Odaiba -- which meant, for real, destination: GUNDAM!
The trip to Odaiba was one of complete and utter guesswork. It was a lucky break that the Rinkai Line (which goes to the island) has a connection from Shibuya (one of the lines there turns into it later on... yeah, I don't know how that works either!) but I had no idea what stop to get off at, so I chose at random. We got off at Tokyo Teleport and as it turns out, it wasn't too bad a guess. We got onto the Yurikamome line, which is a fully automated monorail and is actually pretty awesome! The views were quite nice, which is, apparently, what it's famous for. And sure enough, you could see the Gundam sticking up through the trees as you approach the Daiba station! Ali and I (along with a train full of Japanese passengers) went "oooooh!" as soon as we saw it.
Arriving at the park, my fears of it being lame were put to rest: it was so... so cool. I'd heard that the Gundam looked small, but I didn't really have any problems with that being an issue -- maybe it's because I'm a tiny girl as opposed to a big dude blogger? Hahaa. It was a sight to see, and there were so many people there to see it! We stood in line to get up and actually touch it and take pictures up close, and that was pretty neat. The warning labels and stuff on it are a really nice touch.
We spent quite a few hours there, just taking pictures and buying souvenirs. And when the sun finally set, the music that plays in the opening for Encounters in Space came on over the speakers and the Gundam's eyes lit up, the head moved, and then steam poured out of the vents and verniers. It sounds cheesy (or at least I thought so), but when I actually saw it... okay, I'll admit, I got a serious case of misty eyes. A girl standing nearby was like, "Eeeehhh! Amurooo~ Ikimasu~" and that just kind of added to it for me, for some reason.
One of the souvenir stands had these little hand towels that were individually wrapped and partially frozen, which I thought was pretty clever since, as I mentioned before, it had been hot all day (thought was pretty nice by the time we got there.) They had five designs on them (a Gundam, a Zaku, Char's Zaku, a Dom, and a Gouf) and it was random which one you got. When I went over there, I originally bought three, since they were 200 yen each and I actually straight up needed a hand towel for my purse. The girls at the booth were stunned and impressed when I said some things in Japanese, which never fails to get old, for some reason. That turned into amusement when I immediately went back to buy somemore towels, lol. And in fact, I kept going back to get more of these hand towels because I wanted a whole set. After a handful of tries, I told them I was looking for Char's Zaku, and they decided to try to help me find one! They stood there and kept pulling wrapped up towels out of the cooler, holding them up to the light, trying to figure out if it was the one I wanted.
I was quite touched by this, but it only got even more delightfully surprising: There was one dude working in the tent and he left it quietly and stood beside it, then kind of motioned to me, so I went over. He started walking away so I followed, then once we'd reached a "safe" distance, he discretely put a Char's Zaku towel in my hand and said "...secret" and walked back quickly.
I just about died. HOW SWEET!! T____T
However, I promptly went back again to get the last piece missing (the Gouf) and, sure enough, the last towel I bought was a Char's Zaku. Whomp whommmmmp. However, there was a lady who was watching the booth girls try to help me with the towels (and they'd told her what was going on and she was all "なんで？！" ahaha) and she and her young son cheered for me when they saw I finally got the Char's Zaku I'd been looking for. I told them that I didn't have a Gouf yet, and she said they didn't have the Gundam itself, which I had two of. So we traded! We ended up having a mini-conversation about how much I love Gundam, and it seemed like her son was pretty impressed (especially when I said 08th MS Team.)
Another thing of note: Ali and I met a Golden Retriever at the park. He wore a sky blue bandana and ate a tiny melon pan from his owner's hand, but only when his owner said, "yosh!" And his name was Luke Skywalker.
We left once it seemed like it was getting rather late, and we were both amazingly sore and pretty tired. The trip back to Yokosuka wasn't anything special, but the fact that we managed to get an off-base/on-base cab was truly amazing, because I have never seen one at the cab stand outside Yokosuka-Chūō, ever. We were both amazingly grateful for it because our legs were KILLING us.
Once we got back to the apartment, I promptly fell asleep... only to be woken up around 1 AM by a blaring nose and Ali at my door saying, "Sarah, um, there's a fire alarm going off in your building. Should we leave?" The answer: "Let me put on some pants." And at that point we shuffled outside, hoping it wasn't really a fire, because Ali'd left things like her passport and laptop inside, and as for me, I straight up did not even grab my glasses, so I'd be blind and homeless.
It's a good thing that happened after the day had come to a close, because it didn't put a damper on my awesome, awesome day. Here are PHOTOS!!!!
Love and Peace,
NTG
PS: I gotta say, it was kind of cool to see the Gundam on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. :3