My trip to Japan... [cries]
I recorded my first day of events but I never bothered afterwards because by the time I went back to each hotel I was exhausted and could barely move.
Day 1 - Arrival in Tokyo
GAH. It's shaking too much. Will record later.
Okay. Now I'm off the airplane. No more turbulence.
So I ended up sleeping for most of the ride. Not that I wanted to; the medicine I took never guaranteed no drowsiness at all, just less of an effect. Actually I'm still dazed from the plane ride... I'm not used to being on land again. I can't believe how fast everything went by... it feels like I had just been woken up, ready to take a three-hour drive to the airport. Of course, somehow I ended up waking in the middle of the night again--whatever the hell dream is doing this to me, show yourself coward!
The airplane food was yummy. Not at all what I had expected. And I got to sit next to the window-- it was so cool. Being at the same height as clouds... even going above it and looking down to see an ocean of fluffy white, it's so nice.
My window got splattered with snowflakes. It was my very first time seeing a real one up close. They were pretty. It took me a while to realize what they were though; they're so small!
So... while we were waiting at the airport, I played Clubhouse games on the DS with my brothers. It was... interesting. The chat feature was the best part.
Brother: "my pythons!"
Brother: "heavy!"
Me: "Your face?"
Brother 2: "Why are you both making such irrelevant comments?"
Brother: "yogayogayoga"
Brother: "hadouken!"
Me: "MAJINKEN!"
Brother 2: "Flawless victory!"
Brother: "What does that have anything to do with the topic at hand?"
Brother: "I defeat you all!"
Me: "You're weak!"
Brother 2: "Right on!"
There was a Japanese flight attendant that had really pretty hair. It was kind of like Saya's from Blood+ after episode 32. It was so pretty...
I'm proud to say now that I never once got sick on the plane! Whether because of the medicine or that I watched what I ate, or... that I kept falling asleep... the method works!
Finally after hours of endless torture (we never got a night time! It was always day!), we landed in... Narita, Tokyo! Truthfully I was expecting a little better... also the bathrooms here are way too advanced.
The first thing I did when I entered my hotel room was turn on the TV and flip through the mere 12 channels.
I found D.Gray-man playing! I was so happy. But... then I had to go eat dinner at 6:30 so I dunno if anymore anime came on after that [cries]. The green tea ice cream here is very bitter. And no, I couldn't find any sea-salt ice cream... damn it all!
I hate the bathrooms in this hotel. It's cramped as hell and I'm probably going to wake up with bruises on my legs tomorrow.
Mm... well. I think that's all I have to say.
By the way Esther, they played Transformers on the airplane ride. XD
Day 2 - Tokyo
Woke up at 6 AM or somewhere around that. Actually I woke up in the middle of the night again. Gah. Um...
Soooo. I met the rest of the tour group. Sadly I never learned the tour guide's name until like, the second to last day of the trip. XD Eddie. We took a bus around Tokyo and first went to... um... this famous shrine place with that giant lantern that's apparently like the symbol of Tokyo. That lantern really was huge though... and it had this cool dragon emblem under it [I took a picture of course]. And then we continued on to the shrine and there was so much incense smoke. @w@ It was hard to breath. Apparently by waving the smoke to specific parts of your body [twist that and you're off my friends list], you can increase your intelligence, health, etc. I mostly waved it over my head so I could be smarter. Doubt it worked though.
I also "purified" my hands with some of the holy water at the shrine. It tasted gewd too. XD
Afterwards... we went to this huge shopping mall. The buildings in Japan are huge. And I mean, HUGE. You can't look up at the sky without seeing buildings towering over you. And there are roads EVERYWHERE; roads on top of roads, dude. And the space between each buildings is like, only enough for people to walk through single-file.
Anyways, the mall was really big. I can't stress that word enough. We got to pick our own dinner for the night, probably because we had just arrived in Japan and there wasn't enough time to plan out a real dinner. While we were walking around outside the mall, I saw a guy playing his guitar and singing. He was just sitting there in his own area... it was soooooooo cool. It was one of those "You can't find that anywhere else" sort of things. I wanted to stay and listen to him but my family dragged me off... ugh...
By the way, the milk in Japan... no, Asia in general, is VERY YUMMY. MUCH better than the US crap. Actually I ended drinking a bit too much of the milk and got a really painful stomach-ache, which woke me up at like 5 AM in the morning. =A=;; But I was all better after getting some medicine. I won't let a little physical pain stop me from having a vacation in Japan!
Day 3 - Mt. Fuji and the Hot Springs
We took a long drive over to Mt. Fuji, the highest peak in Japan. It was... just... wow. To quote Eddie, "A picture of Mt. Fuji is worth 10 million dollars in US." XD Yeah, right. Well, it was still a really great sight. And apparently we were very lucky to see it today, because usually there was always a fog that covered the mountain. 50 - 55 days out of the entire year, there is a clear viewing of Mt. Fuji and today was one of those days!
While on the bus... I was talking about something to my brothers and we just happened upon Tales of Destiny. I was asking whether we'd ever finish it, and they said yes... and then I said I wanted to be Leon...
Brother 2: "You be Leon. She can be Philia."
Me: "WHAT?! I DON'T WANT TO BE PHILIA! GIVE ME LEON!"
Brother: "Apparently I'm Magnus now."
Me: "NO. I don't care whether you're leader or not, I called Leon!"
Brother 2: "I could easily use Leon myself since I'm leader."
Me: "I thought you didn't even like Leon cause he was a jerk."
Brother: "You be leader!"
Me: "Fine I will--wait no I can't I have a bad sense of direction I'D GET LOST"
Brother: "Hahaha, this is like some horrible ultimatum or something!"
The first place we went to was a short 15-minute cruise around Lake... what was it called? Crap, uh... oh, Lake Ashi. It was a really bad view of Mt. Fuji actually; we couldn't really see much. And we also passed by a Shinto shrine with a Torii gate in front of it. The ships here are so flamboyantly made. XD
On the way to Mt. Fuji, I saw... yes... it was that... it was... SNOW!!! SNOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!! SNOW PACKED ON THE STREETS!! EEEEEEEEEE. I WAS SO HAPPY.
We eventually stopped by a small shopping area and I saw some Japanese elders painting the pond in front of them. It was so cool I took a picture. XD I've always wanted to do something like that... er... so at the shopping area I saw a Hamtaro beanie and a frog beanie. I should have bought the Hamtaro one... would have kept my ears warm... and it would have looked so cute... gah. [dies]
So while everyone else was busy looking around the shops, I went over and played with the snow. My brother dared me to build a miniature snowman, so I did! I made one small ball of snow....... and... then another one... and I smashed it together. Then my other brother decided to make another one as a head; he used dirt to add eyes. It was really freaky looking but hey, it worked. XD I ALSO MADE A SNOW BUNNY THAT EVERYBODY THOUGHT WAS A SNOW RAT. IT HAD NO EYES BUT IT WAS CUTE.
THEN we went to the... Crystal Factory I think it was called? It was basically just a museum/store for displaying all the jewelry and stuff made using differently colored crystals. I took some pictures [more like sneaked some pictures]... but other than that it was pretty boring. I walked outside the building and played with the snow instead. XD This time I made a good snow bunny, with nice long ears.
And then... it was hot spring time!
We visited the Hot Spring Valley, which was like a mountain filled with hot springs everywhere. It smelled terrible. ;_; It was absolutely unbearable. But it was cool at the same time. The water felt SO good. I didn't actually go in it, it would be way too hot for that; I just stuck my hand in one of the little rivers that flowed down the mountain.
We also went to the nearby shop that sold these special eggs with black shells. Apparently if you eat one, you get 7 years added life. Two eggs, 13 years added. And three eggs, you live forever. If you eat four eggs, get ready to die. Four means "death" in Japanese. Actually it means death in Chinese too, hah. XD
I ate one. It was yummy. XD
This was the third hotel we went to, the one with the hot springs [the first one was the airport hotel, and then we moved on to the second one located within Tokyo]. It was probably the best one, because it had the best food. I got to wear a yukata for the first time too! There was even a karaoke room at the hotel... and then... um... I went to the hot springs.
The hot springs were indoors; it was made of like, marble and stuff. Not rocks or anything traditional. It was pretty small, to be honest. Seeing all those naked bodies was highly disturbing. But luckily the steam covered up most of the actual hot spring room. X__x;; It was SO RELAXING. Once I got in I didn't want to get out. But I think after like 6 minutes I couldn't take the heat any longer. XD;;; You're not supposed to stay in for longer than 10 - 15 minutes anyways.
They say hot springs are supposed to help improve your skin... but at the same time it can really dry out your body because it's so hot. SO WHICH IS IT?! WHY MUST IT BE SO CONFLICTING?! @A@ Actually my skin didn't really improve at all. But it didn't dry out, so that's good.
Day 4 - Shizuoka and Kyoto
I'm just going to say it now, Shizuoka is a crappy place to be. It smells bad, for one thing. And it looks crappy too. It was a very unpleasant place to be.
So we went to Shizuoka to check out these two waterfalls. One is labeled as a "woman waterfall", because it flows gently. The other is a "man waterfall" because it's more violent and rapid. Both were boring but I took pictures anyways. XD
After that, we took a 2-hour drive to Kyoto.
I don't really remember much about this place... I think we visited a shrine... and then it started to rain. Ugh. I've never hated rain as much as I did this day. We had to buy umbrellas at one of the underground shopping districts, and then we ended up losing my brother somehow because he kept stopping to take pictures of stuff.
When I was looking around I saw this man... and he was... his face... it was so scary. I'd never been so scared before in my life. It was like staring at the living dead. It looked like his skin was melting off, and his eyes were just... black. Empty. The same with his nose. I wanted to run away from the area immediately. It was so scary.
Eventually we went back to the entrance of the area and found my brother standing around with some other people that never bothered to follow the rest of the tour group. I should have stayed behind... it was a waste of time following them...
So it was raining heavily and the tour guide said we should try to find some geisha walking around in the Gion district. Ever read/watched Memoirs of a Geisha? You should know that place well then.
I saw like two geisha there. I never managed to see the first one's face. I was pissed off already by the time we had to leave the area. And then I spotted a geisha in a blue kimono across the street; she wasn't wearing a white mask for some reason. I couldn't get very good pictures of her, but my brother said he got a video of her close up. He still needs to show me that video, actually...
And then we just went to the hotel...
Day 5 - Osaka Pt. 1
Somehow I feel like I forgot something but I'm not really sure what. I'm probably skipping all the shrines we visited since those are always boring as hell.
So Osaka was probably my favourite place on the trip. I honestly loved the city-life feeling I got from being here. Being surrounded by all these tall buildings and roads everywhere... there was this HUGE ad for the Pirates of the Caribbean 3 movie hanging above a Starbucks. There was so many shopping areas... augh, I just loved it. And the bookstore... was amazing...
Day 6 - Osaka Pt. 2 and Nara
Today we visited a Sake Factory to replace the Kimono Fashion Show that was planned before [it closed because of the upcoming New Years]. It was boring; we only spent like 30 minutes there. We got to try the sake, not that I... tasted it. It smelled too heavily of alcohol. Instead I shopped a little.
Then we went to Osaka Castle, which was also closed, damn our luck. I found a stray cat there and it looked so poor... but I didn't have any food with me or drinks. It looked really cold. Ugh. I wish I could have helped it somehow. ;A; There was also this... time capsule at the Osaka Castle site. I was kind of freaked out by it. Jeez... won't open until 5000 years later? That's kind of scary to think about, that far ahead... I wonder what's inside the time capsule though... I'd like to see...
...oh my god. The Nara Deer Park was SO CUTE. There were literally deer EVERYWHERE, and they weren't restrained at all. They were just walking around as if it were normal for them. Which it probably was. I got to feed them crackers! And the baby deer were soooooo cute. I was kind of scared when two or three of the bigger deer started crowding around me though and wouldn't stop following me... I ran like hell away, so they stopped soon enough. XD
There was also a shrine at the park... there was this HUGE statue of a Buudha. It was ENORMOUS. You could like, SLEEP on that statue's palm. Seriously. There was also this tiny hole in one of the pillars... and it's said that if you can climb through it, then you're a very clever person. I tried. I got stuck. I was claustrophobic. It was a scary experience. I saw a full-grown man go through though; this really tall dude in my tour group tried but he could only get his head through. It was funny yet sad. XD;
We also went to another shrine which was really boring and I don't really remember anything about it. Except that there were three fountains at the shrine. If you drank from one, you'd be granted happiness. If you drank from a different one, intelligence would be granted. And then the last one, you'd find your soul mate. I didn't drink any of them because I was really feeling impatient and wanted to go shopping.
So I went... and... I BOUGHT A YUKATA!! YEAH THAT'S RIGHT. It's all black and it has different shades of pink cherry blossoms on it. I also bought a white obi with cherry blossom patterns on it; it was only a total of 2000 yen or so. It was so cheap! I also bought one of those white headbands with the red disc on it, and the kanji that reads "Ganbare!" or "Fight on!". It was just asking to be bought. Only 300 yen! XD
Oh yeah. My mom also bought me some Mitarashi dango while we were at the deer park. IT WAS DELICIOUS OH MY GOD. YUM. *w*
Final Day - Free For All in Osaka
Yesterday... which felt like today... it happened all so fast... sigh...
So today we were given permission by Eddie to visit any place in Osaka we wanted, or we could go to the outlet stores near the airport hotel we were staying at. My family decided to go back to the huge shopping district from two days ago in Osaka, along with two other families.
I found a lot of anime/manga stores there. Actually, this was the only place that I could find them. The first store we went to was one COMPLETELY dedicated to Gundams. I was like "WOAH." There was even this really big Gundam that was about my height. And on the second floor, they had a wall with a Gundam hand smashing in. It was kewl.
Then we continued on the same route and came across... oh my god a COSPLAY STORE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! THEY HAD SO MANY COSTUMES OMG IT WAS SO COOL. They had HARUHI, ASHE FROM FFXII, ALL SORTS OF GUNDAM ATTIRE... Sakura from pre-timeskip... D.Gray-man. I just... I just felt so... oh my god... when I saw the exorcist outfits I knew I could die happy here. They also had a ton of other merchandise and... OH MY GOD DUDES. I turned around and saw a small... ACTION FIGURE OF NATALIA!!!!!! GAAAAAAAAAAH. I SQUEALED SO LOUDLY. I was supposed to build it myself, and it looked kind of crappy... so I didn't buy it. But I took a picture anyways. XD I also took a picture of this really cute picture of Allen on a trading card, which got me in trouble since I was apparently not allowed to take pictures. SCREW YOU ALL, I'LL TAKE PICTURES IF I FEEL LIKE IT.
Then we moved on to a manga store that had like, all sorts of stuff. I SAW A LOT OF DOUJINSHI THERE. IT WAS AMAZING. I even saw a LukexAsch doujin and I was like... "Urgh... um..." But I still took a picture. Just cause... it was doujinshi. REAL doujinshi. Right in front of my eyes. XD Also they were playing "Starry Heavens" in the store. First opening theme song to Tales of Symphonia.
THEN we moved on to an electronics store. THEY HAD A BUMP OF CHICKEN CD!! I HAD TO BUY IT. And then... and then... oh god. Here comes the best part. I saw... on the PS2 shelves... the Tales of Destiny remake and Tales of Destiny 2...
...
I just stared. And stared. And stared. I WAS SO HAPPY. IT WAS SO COOL. GAAHHH. I HAD TO TAKE PICTURES OF IT. AUGH. THEY EVEN HAD TALES OF REBIRTH AND TALES OF SYMPHONIA FOR THE PS2. AND I FOUND THE JAPANESE BOX ART FOR TALES OF THE ABYSS.
Oh, and there was KH2 Final Mix. No Daniel, I did not buy it.
...
..............I also saw Tales of Innocence. Actually this was the second store that I saw it in. The first store was BiCamera. I was so. So. So happy. I just picked up the box and stared at it. And of course I took pictures. I was absolutely delighted.
Oh hey, I also saw this whole section dedicated to the Suzumiya Haruhi game for the PS2. I took a picture of it cause it was so cute. |D
After that, we went to this tall building with lots of manga. But all I saw was hentai. @____@ It was terrible. I just stayed at the front section of the store and found a Lucky Star book thing. It's called "Konata's Formula". It looks like basically a huge art-book with information on the anime and voice actors and stuff. I bought it of course. XD It was too cool to resist and I had to spend my money on something! I had like $30 still in my wallet!
Originally I had come to this place hoping to find a cosplay cafe, but in the end I grew too tired to walk around any further and couldn't find it.
Then I had to go back to the hotel... and finally, hurry over to Kansai Airport to come back to Crap Land USA.
Food Recommendations:
Soy sauce onigiri is very tasty. I took a picture of it so you all know what it looks like. It's sooo yummy.
I tried to eat takoyaki but when I saw the octopus tentacle I just... couldn't bring myself to eat the rest of it. @_@
Mitarashi dango I already mentioned. It is SOOOOOOOOOOO good. It tastes like rice cake but soft. And dipped in soy sauce.
You guys have to try the milk in Asia sometime. China had really yummy milk by the way, it was sweet. The milk in Japan tasted like cream; actually my brother compared the two tastes and said they were the same. XD
Roasted cheese is tasty.
Rice in general in Japan is very soft. Very good.
Tempura is just great.
ROSE ICE CREAM. THAT IS AMAZING. IT ACTUALLY TASTES LIKE A ROSE. IT WAS SO YUMMY.
The apple juice is sooooooooooo ripe. It's delicious.
There were a lot of vending machine drinks that I tried. All of which were really good. The cocoa is delicious, and so is the milk tea. I highly recommend those.
Finally... the best part. Yep. I tried Taiyaki. YES. TAIYAKI. "UGUUUUU~!" It was OBVIOUSLY WONDERFUL. Oh man... it was sooooooo good. I just FREAKED OUT when I saw it in the vending machine; I was like, "Can I have this?! CAN I HAVE THIS PLEASE?!"
Hopefully I'll get around to uploading all the 500 pictures I took while I was in Japan. XD I took a lot of the pictures thinking about all my friends and what they like, because I felt that the presents I got for all of you isn't efficient enough ._. So hopefully all the pictures will make up for that...? xD;
So... personally my experience in Japan was like "a home away from home". At one point in time, I felt that I could live the rest of my life in Japan, staying in a hotel for one day and visiting all sorts of cities and towns each day... I miss it so much. After being in a clean city with hardly any crime and 20-years-ahead-technology, the US just can't compare... the Japanese are so fashionable too. Everyone here in the US looks plain now.
At the end of the trip when we were all waiting for the airplane that had gotten delayed by like an hour... I talked with some of the other people in my tour group for the first time. They were like, two college students and then one guy who like... just turned 15. I was like, "Wait, he's younger than me?! I thought he was at least a junior!" I was so surprised cause he was taller than me and he looked so mature. XD;; And he's in his third year of Japanese class. He was pretty cute too. =w= It was so fun talking to these people. It's sad that I'll probably never get to see them again after the trip... they liked my Sakura keychain and the Hitsugaya keychain that I won from one of these ball-capsule-machines on my first try [I WAS SO HAPPY. My dad was like "Wow that's lucky!"]. Actually they even knew who they were. It made me smile a lot. It felt like the time when I first started talking to my onee-sama... I felt so comfortable with myself around them, it was the sort of feeling that I never have even around my closest friends.
I wonder which I'm more sad about... leaving Japan or missing new friends. Eh... who knows... it's 1:40 AM...
Well if you guys have any questions, feel free to ask.
Day 1 - Arrival in Tokyo
GAH. It's shaking too much. Will record later.
Okay. Now I'm off the airplane. No more turbulence.
So I ended up sleeping for most of the ride. Not that I wanted to; the medicine I took never guaranteed no drowsiness at all, just less of an effect. Actually I'm still dazed from the plane ride... I'm not used to being on land again. I can't believe how fast everything went by... it feels like I had just been woken up, ready to take a three-hour drive to the airport. Of course, somehow I ended up waking in the middle of the night again--whatever the hell dream is doing this to me, show yourself coward!
The airplane food was yummy. Not at all what I had expected. And I got to sit next to the window-- it was so cool. Being at the same height as clouds... even going above it and looking down to see an ocean of fluffy white, it's so nice.
My window got splattered with snowflakes. It was my very first time seeing a real one up close. They were pretty. It took me a while to realize what they were though; they're so small!
So... while we were waiting at the airport, I played Clubhouse games on the DS with my brothers. It was... interesting. The chat feature was the best part.
Brother: "my pythons!"
Brother: "heavy!"
Me: "Your face?"
Brother 2: "Why are you both making such irrelevant comments?"
Brother: "yogayogayoga"
Brother: "hadouken!"
Me: "MAJINKEN!"
Brother 2: "Flawless victory!"
Brother: "What does that have anything to do with the topic at hand?"
Brother: "I defeat you all!"
Me: "You're weak!"
Brother 2: "Right on!"
There was a Japanese flight attendant that had really pretty hair. It was kind of like Saya's from Blood+ after episode 32. It was so pretty...
I'm proud to say now that I never once got sick on the plane! Whether because of the medicine or that I watched what I ate, or... that I kept falling asleep... the method works!
Finally after hours of endless torture (we never got a night time! It was always day!), we landed in... Narita, Tokyo! Truthfully I was expecting a little better... also the bathrooms here are way too advanced.
The first thing I did when I entered my hotel room was turn on the TV and flip through the mere 12 channels.
I found D.Gray-man playing! I was so happy. But... then I had to go eat dinner at 6:30 so I dunno if anymore anime came on after that [cries]. The green tea ice cream here is very bitter. And no, I couldn't find any sea-salt ice cream... damn it all!
I hate the bathrooms in this hotel. It's cramped as hell and I'm probably going to wake up with bruises on my legs tomorrow.
Mm... well. I think that's all I have to say.
By the way Esther, they played Transformers on the airplane ride. XD
Day 2 - Tokyo
Woke up at 6 AM or somewhere around that. Actually I woke up in the middle of the night again. Gah. Um...
Soooo. I met the rest of the tour group. Sadly I never learned the tour guide's name until like, the second to last day of the trip. XD Eddie. We took a bus around Tokyo and first went to... um... this famous shrine place with that giant lantern that's apparently like the symbol of Tokyo. That lantern really was huge though... and it had this cool dragon emblem under it [I took a picture of course]. And then we continued on to the shrine and there was so much incense smoke. @w@ It was hard to breath. Apparently by waving the smoke to specific parts of your body [twist that and you're off my friends list], you can increase your intelligence, health, etc. I mostly waved it over my head so I could be smarter. Doubt it worked though.
I also "purified" my hands with some of the holy water at the shrine. It tasted gewd too. XD
Afterwards... we went to this huge shopping mall. The buildings in Japan are huge. And I mean, HUGE. You can't look up at the sky without seeing buildings towering over you. And there are roads EVERYWHERE; roads on top of roads, dude. And the space between each buildings is like, only enough for people to walk through single-file.
Anyways, the mall was really big. I can't stress that word enough. We got to pick our own dinner for the night, probably because we had just arrived in Japan and there wasn't enough time to plan out a real dinner. While we were walking around outside the mall, I saw a guy playing his guitar and singing. He was just sitting there in his own area... it was soooooooo cool. It was one of those "You can't find that anywhere else" sort of things. I wanted to stay and listen to him but my family dragged me off... ugh...
By the way, the milk in Japan... no, Asia in general, is VERY YUMMY. MUCH better than the US crap. Actually I ended drinking a bit too much of the milk and got a really painful stomach-ache, which woke me up at like 5 AM in the morning. =A=;; But I was all better after getting some medicine. I won't let a little physical pain stop me from having a vacation in Japan!
Day 3 - Mt. Fuji and the Hot Springs
We took a long drive over to Mt. Fuji, the highest peak in Japan. It was... just... wow. To quote Eddie, "A picture of Mt. Fuji is worth 10 million dollars in US." XD Yeah, right. Well, it was still a really great sight. And apparently we were very lucky to see it today, because usually there was always a fog that covered the mountain. 50 - 55 days out of the entire year, there is a clear viewing of Mt. Fuji and today was one of those days!
While on the bus... I was talking about something to my brothers and we just happened upon Tales of Destiny. I was asking whether we'd ever finish it, and they said yes... and then I said I wanted to be Leon...
Brother 2: "You be Leon. She can be Philia."
Me: "WHAT?! I DON'T WANT TO BE PHILIA! GIVE ME LEON!"
Brother: "Apparently I'm Magnus now."
Me: "NO. I don't care whether you're leader or not, I called Leon!"
Brother 2: "I could easily use Leon myself since I'm leader."
Me: "I thought you didn't even like Leon cause he was a jerk."
Brother: "You be leader!"
Me: "Fine I will--wait no I can't I have a bad sense of direction I'D GET LOST"
Brother: "Hahaha, this is like some horrible ultimatum or something!"
The first place we went to was a short 15-minute cruise around Lake... what was it called? Crap, uh... oh, Lake Ashi. It was a really bad view of Mt. Fuji actually; we couldn't really see much. And we also passed by a Shinto shrine with a Torii gate in front of it. The ships here are so flamboyantly made. XD
On the way to Mt. Fuji, I saw... yes... it was that... it was... SNOW!!! SNOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!! SNOW PACKED ON THE STREETS!! EEEEEEEEEE. I WAS SO HAPPY.
We eventually stopped by a small shopping area and I saw some Japanese elders painting the pond in front of them. It was so cool I took a picture. XD I've always wanted to do something like that... er... so at the shopping area I saw a Hamtaro beanie and a frog beanie. I should have bought the Hamtaro one... would have kept my ears warm... and it would have looked so cute... gah. [dies]
So while everyone else was busy looking around the shops, I went over and played with the snow. My brother dared me to build a miniature snowman, so I did! I made one small ball of snow....... and... then another one... and I smashed it together. Then my other brother decided to make another one as a head; he used dirt to add eyes. It was really freaky looking but hey, it worked. XD I ALSO MADE A SNOW BUNNY THAT EVERYBODY THOUGHT WAS A SNOW RAT. IT HAD NO EYES BUT IT WAS CUTE.
THEN we went to the... Crystal Factory I think it was called? It was basically just a museum/store for displaying all the jewelry and stuff made using differently colored crystals. I took some pictures [more like sneaked some pictures]... but other than that it was pretty boring. I walked outside the building and played with the snow instead. XD This time I made a good snow bunny, with nice long ears.
And then... it was hot spring time!
We visited the Hot Spring Valley, which was like a mountain filled with hot springs everywhere. It smelled terrible. ;_; It was absolutely unbearable. But it was cool at the same time. The water felt SO good. I didn't actually go in it, it would be way too hot for that; I just stuck my hand in one of the little rivers that flowed down the mountain.
We also went to the nearby shop that sold these special eggs with black shells. Apparently if you eat one, you get 7 years added life. Two eggs, 13 years added. And three eggs, you live forever. If you eat four eggs, get ready to die. Four means "death" in Japanese. Actually it means death in Chinese too, hah. XD
I ate one. It was yummy. XD
This was the third hotel we went to, the one with the hot springs [the first one was the airport hotel, and then we moved on to the second one located within Tokyo]. It was probably the best one, because it had the best food. I got to wear a yukata for the first time too! There was even a karaoke room at the hotel... and then... um... I went to the hot springs.
The hot springs were indoors; it was made of like, marble and stuff. Not rocks or anything traditional. It was pretty small, to be honest. Seeing all those naked bodies was highly disturbing. But luckily the steam covered up most of the actual hot spring room. X__x;; It was SO RELAXING. Once I got in I didn't want to get out. But I think after like 6 minutes I couldn't take the heat any longer. XD;;; You're not supposed to stay in for longer than 10 - 15 minutes anyways.
They say hot springs are supposed to help improve your skin... but at the same time it can really dry out your body because it's so hot. SO WHICH IS IT?! WHY MUST IT BE SO CONFLICTING?! @A@ Actually my skin didn't really improve at all. But it didn't dry out, so that's good.
Day 4 - Shizuoka and Kyoto
I'm just going to say it now, Shizuoka is a crappy place to be. It smells bad, for one thing. And it looks crappy too. It was a very unpleasant place to be.
So we went to Shizuoka to check out these two waterfalls. One is labeled as a "woman waterfall", because it flows gently. The other is a "man waterfall" because it's more violent and rapid. Both were boring but I took pictures anyways. XD
After that, we took a 2-hour drive to Kyoto.
I don't really remember much about this place... I think we visited a shrine... and then it started to rain. Ugh. I've never hated rain as much as I did this day. We had to buy umbrellas at one of the underground shopping districts, and then we ended up losing my brother somehow because he kept stopping to take pictures of stuff.
When I was looking around I saw this man... and he was... his face... it was so scary. I'd never been so scared before in my life. It was like staring at the living dead. It looked like his skin was melting off, and his eyes were just... black. Empty. The same with his nose. I wanted to run away from the area immediately. It was so scary.
Eventually we went back to the entrance of the area and found my brother standing around with some other people that never bothered to follow the rest of the tour group. I should have stayed behind... it was a waste of time following them...
So it was raining heavily and the tour guide said we should try to find some geisha walking around in the Gion district. Ever read/watched Memoirs of a Geisha? You should know that place well then.
I saw like two geisha there. I never managed to see the first one's face. I was pissed off already by the time we had to leave the area. And then I spotted a geisha in a blue kimono across the street; she wasn't wearing a white mask for some reason. I couldn't get very good pictures of her, but my brother said he got a video of her close up. He still needs to show me that video, actually...
And then we just went to the hotel...
Day 5 - Osaka Pt. 1
Somehow I feel like I forgot something but I'm not really sure what. I'm probably skipping all the shrines we visited since those are always boring as hell.
So Osaka was probably my favourite place on the trip. I honestly loved the city-life feeling I got from being here. Being surrounded by all these tall buildings and roads everywhere... there was this HUGE ad for the Pirates of the Caribbean 3 movie hanging above a Starbucks. There was so many shopping areas... augh, I just loved it. And the bookstore... was amazing...
Day 6 - Osaka Pt. 2 and Nara
Today we visited a Sake Factory to replace the Kimono Fashion Show that was planned before [it closed because of the upcoming New Years]. It was boring; we only spent like 30 minutes there. We got to try the sake, not that I... tasted it. It smelled too heavily of alcohol. Instead I shopped a little.
Then we went to Osaka Castle, which was also closed, damn our luck. I found a stray cat there and it looked so poor... but I didn't have any food with me or drinks. It looked really cold. Ugh. I wish I could have helped it somehow. ;A; There was also this... time capsule at the Osaka Castle site. I was kind of freaked out by it. Jeez... won't open until 5000 years later? That's kind of scary to think about, that far ahead... I wonder what's inside the time capsule though... I'd like to see...
...oh my god. The Nara Deer Park was SO CUTE. There were literally deer EVERYWHERE, and they weren't restrained at all. They were just walking around as if it were normal for them. Which it probably was. I got to feed them crackers! And the baby deer were soooooo cute. I was kind of scared when two or three of the bigger deer started crowding around me though and wouldn't stop following me... I ran like hell away, so they stopped soon enough. XD
There was also a shrine at the park... there was this HUGE statue of a Buudha. It was ENORMOUS. You could like, SLEEP on that statue's palm. Seriously. There was also this tiny hole in one of the pillars... and it's said that if you can climb through it, then you're a very clever person. I tried. I got stuck. I was claustrophobic. It was a scary experience. I saw a full-grown man go through though; this really tall dude in my tour group tried but he could only get his head through. It was funny yet sad. XD;
We also went to another shrine which was really boring and I don't really remember anything about it. Except that there were three fountains at the shrine. If you drank from one, you'd be granted happiness. If you drank from a different one, intelligence would be granted. And then the last one, you'd find your soul mate. I didn't drink any of them because I was really feeling impatient and wanted to go shopping.
So I went... and... I BOUGHT A YUKATA!! YEAH THAT'S RIGHT. It's all black and it has different shades of pink cherry blossoms on it. I also bought a white obi with cherry blossom patterns on it; it was only a total of 2000 yen or so. It was so cheap! I also bought one of those white headbands with the red disc on it, and the kanji that reads "Ganbare!" or "Fight on!". It was just asking to be bought. Only 300 yen! XD
Oh yeah. My mom also bought me some Mitarashi dango while we were at the deer park. IT WAS DELICIOUS OH MY GOD. YUM. *w*
Final Day - Free For All in Osaka
Yesterday... which felt like today... it happened all so fast... sigh...
So today we were given permission by Eddie to visit any place in Osaka we wanted, or we could go to the outlet stores near the airport hotel we were staying at. My family decided to go back to the huge shopping district from two days ago in Osaka, along with two other families.
I found a lot of anime/manga stores there. Actually, this was the only place that I could find them. The first store we went to was one COMPLETELY dedicated to Gundams. I was like "WOAH." There was even this really big Gundam that was about my height. And on the second floor, they had a wall with a Gundam hand smashing in. It was kewl.
Then we continued on the same route and came across... oh my god a COSPLAY STORE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! THEY HAD SO MANY COSTUMES OMG IT WAS SO COOL. They had HARUHI, ASHE FROM FFXII, ALL SORTS OF GUNDAM ATTIRE... Sakura from pre-timeskip... D.Gray-man. I just... I just felt so... oh my god... when I saw the exorcist outfits I knew I could die happy here. They also had a ton of other merchandise and... OH MY GOD DUDES. I turned around and saw a small... ACTION FIGURE OF NATALIA!!!!!! GAAAAAAAAAAH. I SQUEALED SO LOUDLY. I was supposed to build it myself, and it looked kind of crappy... so I didn't buy it. But I took a picture anyways. XD I also took a picture of this really cute picture of Allen on a trading card, which got me in trouble since I was apparently not allowed to take pictures. SCREW YOU ALL, I'LL TAKE PICTURES IF I FEEL LIKE IT.
Then we moved on to a manga store that had like, all sorts of stuff. I SAW A LOT OF DOUJINSHI THERE. IT WAS AMAZING. I even saw a LukexAsch doujin and I was like... "Urgh... um..." But I still took a picture. Just cause... it was doujinshi. REAL doujinshi. Right in front of my eyes. XD Also they were playing "Starry Heavens" in the store. First opening theme song to Tales of Symphonia.
THEN we moved on to an electronics store. THEY HAD A BUMP OF CHICKEN CD!! I HAD TO BUY IT. And then... and then... oh god. Here comes the best part. I saw... on the PS2 shelves... the Tales of Destiny remake and Tales of Destiny 2...
...
I just stared. And stared. And stared. I WAS SO HAPPY. IT WAS SO COOL. GAAHHH. I HAD TO TAKE PICTURES OF IT. AUGH. THEY EVEN HAD TALES OF REBIRTH AND TALES OF SYMPHONIA FOR THE PS2. AND I FOUND THE JAPANESE BOX ART FOR TALES OF THE ABYSS.
Oh, and there was KH2 Final Mix. No Daniel, I did not buy it.
...
..............I also saw Tales of Innocence. Actually this was the second store that I saw it in. The first store was BiCamera. I was so. So. So happy. I just picked up the box and stared at it. And of course I took pictures. I was absolutely delighted.
Oh hey, I also saw this whole section dedicated to the Suzumiya Haruhi game for the PS2. I took a picture of it cause it was so cute. |D
After that, we went to this tall building with lots of manga. But all I saw was hentai. @____@ It was terrible. I just stayed at the front section of the store and found a Lucky Star book thing. It's called "Konata's Formula". It looks like basically a huge art-book with information on the anime and voice actors and stuff. I bought it of course. XD It was too cool to resist and I had to spend my money on something! I had like $30 still in my wallet!
Originally I had come to this place hoping to find a cosplay cafe, but in the end I grew too tired to walk around any further and couldn't find it.
Then I had to go back to the hotel... and finally, hurry over to Kansai Airport to come back to Crap Land USA.
Food Recommendations:
Soy sauce onigiri is very tasty. I took a picture of it so you all know what it looks like. It's sooo yummy.
I tried to eat takoyaki but when I saw the octopus tentacle I just... couldn't bring myself to eat the rest of it. @_@
Mitarashi dango I already mentioned. It is SOOOOOOOOOOO good. It tastes like rice cake but soft. And dipped in soy sauce.
You guys have to try the milk in Asia sometime. China had really yummy milk by the way, it was sweet. The milk in Japan tasted like cream; actually my brother compared the two tastes and said they were the same. XD
Roasted cheese is tasty.
Rice in general in Japan is very soft. Very good.
Tempura is just great.
ROSE ICE CREAM. THAT IS AMAZING. IT ACTUALLY TASTES LIKE A ROSE. IT WAS SO YUMMY.
The apple juice is sooooooooooo ripe. It's delicious.
There were a lot of vending machine drinks that I tried. All of which were really good. The cocoa is delicious, and so is the milk tea. I highly recommend those.
Finally... the best part. Yep. I tried Taiyaki. YES. TAIYAKI. "UGUUUUU~!" It was OBVIOUSLY WONDERFUL. Oh man... it was sooooooo good. I just FREAKED OUT when I saw it in the vending machine; I was like, "Can I have this?! CAN I HAVE THIS PLEASE?!"
Hopefully I'll get around to uploading all the 500 pictures I took while I was in Japan. XD I took a lot of the pictures thinking about all my friends and what they like, because I felt that the presents I got for all of you isn't efficient enough ._. So hopefully all the pictures will make up for that...? xD;
So... personally my experience in Japan was like "a home away from home". At one point in time, I felt that I could live the rest of my life in Japan, staying in a hotel for one day and visiting all sorts of cities and towns each day... I miss it so much. After being in a clean city with hardly any crime and 20-years-ahead-technology, the US just can't compare... the Japanese are so fashionable too. Everyone here in the US looks plain now.
At the end of the trip when we were all waiting for the airplane that had gotten delayed by like an hour... I talked with some of the other people in my tour group for the first time. They were like, two college students and then one guy who like... just turned 15. I was like, "Wait, he's younger than me?! I thought he was at least a junior!" I was so surprised cause he was taller than me and he looked so mature. XD;; And he's in his third year of Japanese class. He was pretty cute too. =w= It was so fun talking to these people. It's sad that I'll probably never get to see them again after the trip... they liked my Sakura keychain and the Hitsugaya keychain that I won from one of these ball-capsule-machines on my first try [I WAS SO HAPPY. My dad was like "Wow that's lucky!"]. Actually they even knew who they were. It made me smile a lot. It felt like the time when I first started talking to my onee-sama... I felt so comfortable with myself around them, it was the sort of feeling that I never have even around my closest friends.
I wonder which I'm more sad about... leaving Japan or missing new friends. Eh... who knows... it's 1:40 AM...
Well if you guys have any questions, feel free to ask.