[Photos] [Photos] [Photos] because THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT
Basically, the post that answers your questions, and random things that I have done in Japan.... uh. Yeah. I have too many on facebook, and I didn't update LJ fast enough, so I can't show you everything. :'D Anyway, questions first...?
bluerose83 asked: How are you adapting to the new environment? Are you in the city or in a rural area? How's the food?
YEP it's all good. It's beginning to turn cold (FINA-FUCKING-LLY) and the hornets are disappearing/have disappeared. Because before this during the summer, IT'S POSSIBLE TO GET STUNG. We have a sign in uni grounds in certain areas saying to be careful of the hornets. :'D
I'm in Tokyo, so I'm sure everyone knows Tokyo. :D Food's awesome. I'm Chinese, I EAT TONS OF RICE so Japan is way better in terms of food compared to the UK. And I won't even say sorry for saying that. HEH.
blurry19 ...said: Yes, I would like to know more about prepaid phones.
Yeah, we all know about how Japanese phones can't be used anywhere else except in Japan. And how their USIM cards can't work on other phones, even if they used SIM cards, and are of the same size. It's simply because their USIM cards are PHONE-BOUND. That means, if you get a USIM card from softbank, you can only use it on softbank phones, and not on other phones. :'D
Now, it's time to photo-spam you guys on a bit of food, and my campus area + ...other randomness. I dunno.
Welp, I realized I never took a picture of my campus, so here you go, I have a few. I'll take a picture of my room when...I'm going to uh, clean it. Not that it's really dirty it's just I have some things here and there. XD
Apparently, ICU is said to have the biggest campus in Japan. Well, the buildings aren't enormous or confusing like back in Leeds, but holy shit the forest. THE FOREST WE'RE LIVING IN A FUCKING FOREST THERE ARE HORNETS AND SPIDERS AND SHIT YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I HATE FORESTS AND BUGS AND HORNETS THOSE GODDAMN HORNETS but I kind of got used to it so, whatever. :'D
They're all taken on different days and uh occasions but whatever, this campus is just a forest anyway.
Beyond this path is where I live in. LOL FOREST. Not the obvious building on the right, but the one...yeah. You can't see it in this picture, but I live right in front, straight. :'D
ICUのキャンパスは最も大きいと言われています。私に住んでいるところは木の後ろにあります。（写真での右のビルじゃないです。）
And then if you turn around, you'll see this massive space of nothingness for people to walk, travel and for bicycles to pass through obviously. This area then leads to the main gate. :P
Now for some other pictures... :'D
This one above, btw, leads the way back to my dorm. It's all not too far from the bus stop.
WE HAVE BAMBOO HERE! 8D For the students, who all lack sleep.
バンブーはあります！。。。睡眠が足りないの学生のためです。みんなパンダですから。w
Then this is the bus stop (there's one more on the right, going to the closest station). Even mooooooore trees and shit. And oh, on campus we have a lot of stray cats. Ones like these.
こちはバス停、そして右はもう一つがあります。あとキャンパスで野良猫いっぱいあります。
...That will likely ignore you. xD;; OR LIKE JUDGING YOU. THIS ONE IS JUDGING ME.
まあ、無視しています。
Campus map here. It's a big campus in space, but in terms of the number of buildings etc, it's not as insanely big as it would be.
キャンパスの地図です。広いですね。
AND YEAH WELL campus stuffs only?! No way man, that's way too boring. What would this post be without some awesomeness? Like Shinjuku.
And the fact that I saw Sugitan. ufufufufu.
Just showing you pictures of Shinjuku, and a bit of Takashimaya Times Square, where I met Sugitan in the middle of some home appliances or something aisle at the Tokyu Hands section. Should go there on another Friday and try to see if I'll bump into him again wwwwww
They sell looooooots of things. Huge departmental store that has things like daily necessities etc, some luxury items, and I think it even includes furniture. Great place to go to if you need lots of shit. :P A bit expensive though, since it's Shinjuku.
新宿での高島屋タイムズスクエアは大きいデパートです。日用品や家具が売っています。少し高いですけど。w
Just opposite Takashimaya is a bunch of office buildings. BEYOND those office buildings is the Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku, and a popular hotel to stay at. The rooms are ridiculously tiny, but in terms of distance to station, accessibility to shops etc, it offers a great price so you can check it out. if not there's always toyoko inn xD
Here you go, my derpmates. My lovely derpmates. HAHA imma make 'em read this and all the shitty things I write about them. The one on the right is actually from the same uni and same course as I am. :'D It's always good to see familiar people in a foreign place. :D
The one on the left is too annoying to be described. So I will leave this blank.
Nah jk she's a good friend. And Canadian. GO CANADAAAAAAAA. No srsly she's awesome Imma put a shameless plug here and go disturb her on twitter, her handle is icelandick and yes she's an Iceland fan, go find her and talk to her she'll spazz with you.
友達です〜 右のは同じ大学からのイギリス人です。左のは初めてここで会いました。カナダ人です。二人は親切な人ですよ〜
Obviously I got bored. And after walking away from Sugitan (!!!!) we spotted them glasses. THIS LOOKS LIKE SA-CHAN'S. I had the wildest idea to go up to him and go, "Ara, Gin-san janai?" in Sa-chan's voice but OBVIOUSLY THAT WOULD BE TOO CREEPY so no.
こんなメガネ見つけた。実は杉田さんにさっちゃんさんの声で「あらっ 銀さんじゃない？」いいたかったんですよ。でもキモイかもしれないから、諦めた。w
Also, just saying this Mcdonald's is about 3 storeys high. And yeah, no we didn't eat there, we were just walking around looking for dinner our exploring Takashimaya Times Square. :D
The streets of Shinjuku are truly busy at night. One night when I went back to meet my mom again before she flew off like 2 days later, I got lost in the train station. And the worst thing was it was raining too. If it hadn't rained, I'd been fine. I went back to the hotel where my mom stayed at, all drenched and shit. :( Luckily I have a GREAT BODY yes I do so I didn't fall sick.
We found dinner, and uh...yeah. I forgot what the place name is called. BUT THIS ONE, EACH CUP FOR ¥100!!!! AMAZING. So much coke for ¥100. Good price in Japan!
これ！！！！一つは１００円でした〜 ;_;
Also forgot the name but it was DELICIOUS. I finished everything (except for the miso soup, ate too much)~ Except for the leek. :| I don't like leek.
And so next is just a few shots of what I bought at the Animate store at a station nearby. 'Cause I have money! .....yeah right, no. I don't, sadly. Didn't get the scholarship obviously, SPENDING POWER DECREASED. /weeps
.../SPENDS ANYWAY
Gin-chaaaaaaan. <33333 'Cause Gin-chan as sensei is awesome. I WISH HE WAS MY JAPANESE SENSEI. Then we get to learn dirty things every day. Mmmm dirty things.
銀八先生のキーホルダーを買いました。可愛いでしょう？！そして万事屋カップも買いました〜 アニメトに行くとすぐ金がなくなります。みなさん気をつけてください。（＞＿＜）
Then I bought a Yorozuya cup because THEY'RE AWESOME LIKE THIS. <3 It's the same cup, 'just that I turned it around since they have all the Yorozuya on it. :D
Yeah, I realized you can still see my keitai at the right side of all these pictures. xD;; There's already a Kin-chan hanging on the phone. gdi I can't quit Gin-chan. NO ONE CAN.
That's about it, I haven't bought anything else, and because I really don't have much money. But wait I actually did. Friends went down to Comic City Spark (which I couldn't go to since I was studying for my mid-term for Japanese, the 2 of them bought me a TaiBani doujinshi~ It's a really sweet BunnyKotetsu one. So happy they did~ lazy to take a picture of it sorry
So next is the maid cafe. tbh I'm impressed, and it was quite the experience overall, but I don't have terribly much to talk about so haha. Just uh, enjoy some of the kawaiiness in the next few pictures. xD;;
次はメイド喫茶ですね。いい経験でした。秋葉原の「＠home cafe」に行きました。死ぬほど可愛かったですよ。大学から秋葉原までは１時間ぐらいかかりました。そのカフェーはとても有名だと聞きました。だからそこへ行きました。
The one we went to was in Akihabara, so we took a relatively long train ride and got there and lined up at a maid cafe called "@home cafe". It's really quite famous, so you can try going there some day if you ever visit Japan. Personally, it was a great experience since most of the girls are cute. Note: maid cafe is cute, not pretty, so if you're like, "those gurlz ain't pretty!" then no, they're just cute. As in, high-pitched and cute all mixed together. Oh, and mainly short.
But anyway, just saying that once we left the station, this came up...
Yeah. So if you're a fan, go to the Harajuku one, and also this one. It just makes me wonder what was there before the AKB shop took over. O:
そうですね、ファンなら是非秋葉原に行ってください。
Anyway, we continued walking and got to the cafe, which wasn't too far from the station.
We lined up, and I think the entry fee was ¥300 or so per person, which wasn't too bad. It was also a weekday, so perhaps it was ¥100 cheaper or something. And right behind us was this American (??) guy, who brought his PARENTS with him. Amazing though, all of them spoke NO Japanese. (Things like "konnichiwa" don't count. :|) So that was amazing.
私たちは列に並んで、他の人と一緒に待っていました。入るなら無料じゃないですよ。￥３００払わなければならない。しかも平日だから多分普通より少し安いです。私たちの後ろは外国人（アメリカ？）３人いました。息子さんは親も連れて行きました。凄いと思います。＞＜そして、全然日本語がしゃべれないです。:|
We got led to our seats, the girls going "Okaerinasai ojousamatachi" or something, I believe. Just "Welcome back, our ladies". We got the menu and ordered drinks etc. It obviously was not cheap since just the food and entry fee, it cost me ¥1400, and I'll show you what costs what. xD;;
結局￥１４００になった。食べ物と入るの料金。
This above was ¥700 or so, but it was ¥300 discount since I ordered a desert as well. It's just a latte, pretty much, and the maid-san used...caramel? to write my name on it too. And she added a heart (on the side). :P
これは￥７００でした。けどデザートと一緒に注文しましたから、￥３００の割引がありました。これはカフェラテです。メイドさんは私の名前をカフェラテで書きました。しかもハート付きです。xD
Others ordered other drinks and deserts as well. You can't go in and not order anything at all. :P
And this cheesecake was also ¥700, and whoa it's actually good! So, in the end it cost ¥1100 in total for these two. Expensive huh. But at least I guess you get the experience?
チーズケーキも￥７００でした。高いけど美味しかったです。
This one was my friend's parfait and it's a "tsundere parfait" apparently LOL. It's funny and hilarious. xD
「ツンデレ」パフェです。多分甘いと酸っぱいの感じが一緒にしますから。
Yep, you can't take pictures of them, but you can take pictures of your friends! at least I think you can It's just the maids you can't take pictures of, I believe. You can, however, take a picture with them and pay them. :)
I don't really know what to say. Overall, it was a little odd since there was too much cute around us. And to make the dish they served become "awesome" they would ask the customers to say "moe moe KYUN" and I don't have to explain that, do I? :P But I totally see the attraction that maid cafes offer. There are quite a few in the vicinity, but it is said that @home cafe is at the top of the list, or something.
Just would like to mention that there's a common misconception that only otakus (young, male) enter maid cafes. No, that totally is not true. We did see a few otaku-looking bunch over there, but there are those who are either just curious, or just want to chill. (Mainly just curious, I believe.) We never asked questions, but before we left, there was a lady and a man sitting down in a corner, and they looked more like colleagues who had just finished work. And they were in their 40s. unless they were secretly otaku, but you always get a feeling when you meet one
And we're waiting for a time again when everyone's free to go and go to a butler cafe, finally. We already have one in mind, and hopefully that will be as good as the maid cafe, or if not, even better. :')
THAT CONCLUDES MY FUNNY REPORT. Or whatever the hell it is. I have actually so many more pictures that I cannot fit in this post simply 'cause it'll take too much time, but I managed to finalize my For Fruits Basket song with the better mic, and released it along with photos in Japan. So have a look at the photos too and while you're at it listen to my shitty singing again bwahahaha~
Um, holy shit that was insanely long. Anyway, just saying that if you want to ask questions, go ahead and shoot~
ETA: I ALSO FINISHED KOISHITE DADDY (YES THE WHOLE VOLUME) AND SHIRANU WA OMAE BAKARI (YES THE WHOLE VOLUME TOO). I'm only left with End Game, so please be patient! We're nearly there~ Thanks for sticking with me, and with Echochi Scans!
bluerose83 asked: How are you adapting to the new environment? Are you in the city or in a rural area? How's the food?
YEP it's all good. It's beginning to turn cold (FINA-FUCKING-LLY) and the hornets are disappearing/have disappeared. Because before this during the summer, IT'S POSSIBLE TO GET STUNG. We have a sign in uni grounds in certain areas saying to be careful of the hornets. :'D
I'm in Tokyo, so I'm sure everyone knows Tokyo. :D Food's awesome. I'm Chinese, I EAT TONS OF RICE so Japan is way better in terms of food compared to the UK. And I won't even say sorry for saying that. HEH.
blurry19 ...said: Yes, I would like to know more about prepaid phones.
Yeah, we all know about how Japanese phones can't be used anywhere else except in Japan. And how their USIM cards can't work on other phones, even if they used SIM cards, and are of the same size. It's simply because their USIM cards are PHONE-BOUND. That means, if you get a USIM card from softbank, you can only use it on softbank phones, and not on other phones. :'D
Now, it's time to photo-spam you guys on a bit of food, and my campus area + ...other randomness. I dunno.
Welp, I realized I never took a picture of my campus, so here you go, I have a few. I'll take a picture of my room when...I'm going to uh, clean it. Not that it's really dirty it's just I have some things here and there. XD
Apparently, ICU is said to have the biggest campus in Japan. Well, the buildings aren't enormous or confusing like back in Leeds, but holy shit the forest. THE FOREST WE'RE LIVING IN A FUCKING FOREST THERE ARE HORNETS AND SPIDERS AND SHIT YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I HATE FORESTS AND BUGS AND HORNETS THOSE GODDAMN HORNETS but I kind of got used to it so, whatever. :'D
They're all taken on different days and uh occasions but whatever, this campus is just a forest anyway.
Beyond this path is where I live in. LOL FOREST. Not the obvious building on the right, but the one...yeah. You can't see it in this picture, but I live right in front, straight. :'D
ICUのキャンパスは最も大きいと言われています。私に住んでいるところは木の後ろにあります。（写真での右のビルじゃないです。）
And then if you turn around, you'll see this massive space of nothingness for people to walk, travel and for bicycles to pass through obviously. This area then leads to the main gate. :P
Now for some other pictures... :'D
This one above, btw, leads the way back to my dorm. It's all not too far from the bus stop.
WE HAVE BAMBOO HERE! 8D For the students, who all lack sleep.
バンブーはあります！。。。睡眠が足りないの学生のためです。みんなパンダですから。w
Then this is the bus stop (there's one more on the right, going to the closest station). Even mooooooore trees and shit. And oh, on campus we have a lot of stray cats. Ones like these.
こちはバス停、そして右はもう一つがあります。あとキャンパスで野良猫いっぱいあります。
...That will likely ignore you. xD;; OR LIKE JUDGING YOU. THIS ONE IS JUDGING ME.
まあ、無視しています。
Campus map here. It's a big campus in space, but in terms of the number of buildings etc, it's not as insanely big as it would be.
キャンパスの地図です。広いですね。
AND YEAH WELL campus stuffs only?! No way man, that's way too boring. What would this post be without some awesomeness? Like Shinjuku.
And the fact that I saw Sugitan. ufufufufu.
Just showing you pictures of Shinjuku, and a bit of Takashimaya Times Square, where I met Sugitan in the middle of some home appliances or something aisle at the Tokyu Hands section. Should go there on another Friday and try to see if I'll bump into him again wwwwww
They sell looooooots of things. Huge departmental store that has things like daily necessities etc, some luxury items, and I think it even includes furniture. Great place to go to if you need lots of shit. :P A bit expensive though, since it's Shinjuku.
新宿での高島屋タイムズスクエアは大きいデパートです。日用品や家具が売っています。少し高いですけど。w
Just opposite Takashimaya is a bunch of office buildings. BEYOND those office buildings is the Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku, and a popular hotel to stay at. The rooms are ridiculously tiny, but in terms of distance to station, accessibility to shops etc, it offers a great price so you can check it out. if not there's always toyoko inn xD
Here you go, my derpmates. My lovely derpmates. HAHA imma make 'em read this and all the shitty things I write about them. The one on the right is actually from the same uni and same course as I am. :'D It's always good to see familiar people in a foreign place. :D
The one on the left is too annoying to be described. So I will leave this blank.
Nah jk she's a good friend. And Canadian. GO CANADAAAAAAAA. No srsly she's awesome Imma put a shameless plug here and go disturb her on twitter, her handle is icelandick and yes she's an Iceland fan, go find her and talk to her she'll spazz with you.
友達です〜 右のは同じ大学からのイギリス人です。左のは初めてここで会いました。カナダ人です。二人は親切な人ですよ〜
Obviously I got bored. And after walking away from Sugitan (!!!!) we spotted them glasses. THIS LOOKS LIKE SA-CHAN'S. I had the wildest idea to go up to him and go, "Ara, Gin-san janai?" in Sa-chan's voice but OBVIOUSLY THAT WOULD BE TOO CREEPY so no.
こんなメガネ見つけた。実は杉田さんにさっちゃんさんの声で「あらっ 銀さんじゃない？」いいたかったんですよ。でもキモイかもしれないから、諦めた。w
Also, just saying this Mcdonald's is about 3 storeys high. And yeah, no we didn't eat there, we were just walking around looking for dinner our exploring Takashimaya Times Square. :D
The streets of Shinjuku are truly busy at night. One night when I went back to meet my mom again before she flew off like 2 days later, I got lost in the train station. And the worst thing was it was raining too. If it hadn't rained, I'd been fine. I went back to the hotel where my mom stayed at, all drenched and shit. :( Luckily I have a GREAT BODY yes I do so I didn't fall sick.
We found dinner, and uh...yeah. I forgot what the place name is called. BUT THIS ONE, EACH CUP FOR ¥100!!!! AMAZING. So much coke for ¥100. Good price in Japan!
これ！！！！一つは１００円でした〜 ;_;
Also forgot the name but it was DELICIOUS. I finished everything (except for the miso soup, ate too much)~ Except for the leek. :| I don't like leek.
And so next is just a few shots of what I bought at the Animate store at a station nearby. 'Cause I have money! .....yeah right, no. I don't, sadly. Didn't get the scholarship obviously, SPENDING POWER DECREASED. /weeps
.../SPENDS ANYWAY
Gin-chaaaaaaan. <33333 'Cause Gin-chan as sensei is awesome. I WISH HE WAS MY JAPANESE SENSEI. Then we get to learn dirty things every day. Mmmm dirty things.
銀八先生のキーホルダーを買いました。可愛いでしょう？！そして万事屋カップも買いました〜 アニメトに行くとすぐ金がなくなります。みなさん気をつけてください。（＞＿＜）
Then I bought a Yorozuya cup because THEY'RE AWESOME LIKE THIS. <3 It's the same cup, 'just that I turned it around since they have all the Yorozuya on it. :D
Yeah, I realized you can still see my keitai at the right side of all these pictures. xD;; There's already a Kin-chan hanging on the phone. gdi I can't quit Gin-chan. NO ONE CAN.
That's about it, I haven't bought anything else, and because I really don't have much money. But wait I actually did. Friends went down to Comic City Spark (which I couldn't go to since I was studying for my mid-term for Japanese, the 2 of them bought me a TaiBani doujinshi~ It's a really sweet BunnyKotetsu one. So happy they did~ lazy to take a picture of it sorry
So next is the maid cafe. tbh I'm impressed, and it was quite the experience overall, but I don't have terribly much to talk about so haha. Just uh, enjoy some of the kawaiiness in the next few pictures. xD;;
次はメイド喫茶ですね。いい経験でした。秋葉原の「＠home cafe」に行きました。死ぬほど可愛かったですよ。大学から秋葉原までは１時間ぐらいかかりました。そのカフェーはとても有名だと聞きました。だからそこへ行きました。
The one we went to was in Akihabara, so we took a relatively long train ride and got there and lined up at a maid cafe called "@home cafe". It's really quite famous, so you can try going there some day if you ever visit Japan. Personally, it was a great experience since most of the girls are cute. Note: maid cafe is cute, not pretty, so if you're like, "those gurlz ain't pretty!" then no, they're just cute. As in, high-pitched and cute all mixed together. Oh, and mainly short.
But anyway, just saying that once we left the station, this came up...
Yeah. So if you're a fan, go to the Harajuku one, and also this one. It just makes me wonder what was there before the AKB shop took over. O:
そうですね、ファンなら是非秋葉原に行ってください。
Anyway, we continued walking and got to the cafe, which wasn't too far from the station.
We lined up, and I think the entry fee was ¥300 or so per person, which wasn't too bad. It was also a weekday, so perhaps it was ¥100 cheaper or something. And right behind us was this American (??) guy, who brought his PARENTS with him. Amazing though, all of them spoke NO Japanese. (Things like "konnichiwa" don't count. :|) So that was amazing.
私たちは列に並んで、他の人と一緒に待っていました。入るなら無料じゃないですよ。￥３００払わなければならない。しかも平日だから多分普通より少し安いです。私たちの後ろは外国人（アメリカ？）３人いました。息子さんは親も連れて行きました。凄いと思います。＞＜そして、全然日本語がしゃべれないです。:|
We got led to our seats, the girls going "Okaerinasai ojousamatachi" or something, I believe. Just "Welcome back, our ladies". We got the menu and ordered drinks etc. It obviously was not cheap since just the food and entry fee, it cost me ¥1400, and I'll show you what costs what. xD;;
結局￥１４００になった。食べ物と入るの料金。
This above was ¥700 or so, but it was ¥300 discount since I ordered a desert as well. It's just a latte, pretty much, and the maid-san used...caramel? to write my name on it too. And she added a heart (on the side). :P
これは￥７００でした。けどデザートと一緒に注文しましたから、￥３００の割引がありました。これはカフェラテです。メイドさんは私の名前をカフェラテで書きました。しかもハート付きです。xD
Others ordered other drinks and deserts as well. You can't go in and not order anything at all. :P
And this cheesecake was also ¥700, and whoa it's actually good! So, in the end it cost ¥1100 in total for these two. Expensive huh. But at least I guess you get the experience?
チーズケーキも￥７００でした。高いけど美味しかったです。
This one was my friend's parfait and it's a "tsundere parfait" apparently LOL. It's funny and hilarious. xD
「ツンデレ」パフェです。多分甘いと酸っぱいの感じが一緒にしますから。
Yep, you can't take pictures of them, but you can take pictures of your friends! at least I think you can It's just the maids you can't take pictures of, I believe. You can, however, take a picture with them and pay them. :)
I don't really know what to say. Overall, it was a little odd since there was too much cute around us. And to make the dish they served become "awesome" they would ask the customers to say "moe moe KYUN" and I don't have to explain that, do I? :P But I totally see the attraction that maid cafes offer. There are quite a few in the vicinity, but it is said that @home cafe is at the top of the list, or something.
Just would like to mention that there's a common misconception that only otakus (young, male) enter maid cafes. No, that totally is not true. We did see a few otaku-looking bunch over there, but there are those who are either just curious, or just want to chill. (Mainly just curious, I believe.) We never asked questions, but before we left, there was a lady and a man sitting down in a corner, and they looked more like colleagues who had just finished work. And they were in their 40s. unless they were secretly otaku, but you always get a feeling when you meet one
And we're waiting for a time again when everyone's free to go and go to a butler cafe, finally. We already have one in mind, and hopefully that will be as good as the maid cafe, or if not, even better. :')
THAT CONCLUDES MY FUNNY REPORT. Or whatever the hell it is. I have actually so many more pictures that I cannot fit in this post simply 'cause it'll take too much time, but I managed to finalize my For Fruits Basket song with the better mic, and released it along with photos in Japan. So have a look at the photos too and while you're at it listen to my shitty singing again bwahahaha~
Click to viewUm, holy shit that was insanely long. Anyway, just saying that if you want to ask questions, go ahead and shoot~
ETA: I ALSO FINISHED KOISHITE DADDY (YES THE WHOLE VOLUME) AND SHIRANU WA OMAE BAKARI (YES THE WHOLE VOLUME TOO). I'm only left with End Game, so please be patient! We're nearly there~ Thanks for sticking with me, and with Echochi Scans!