Tokyo Weekend filler #512?
Alright, this has got to be the strangest set of commercials I've seen since the old Georgia ones. Be careful, that tune gets stuck in your head rather quickly. Anywaaay . .
For nearly a year, I've been keeping my ultimate school project top secret so as not to jinx it. But now that the plan has gone as far as it'll probably go, let's unwrap it, shall we?
In Japan, the most famous boy band goes by the name of SMAP: their variety shows and dramas are rating champs, and nowadays they only release one single a year because just that one song makes them so much money, why release more? Though this year's "Tomodachi he" kinda bombed, but eh, I liked it.
Anyway, my favorite member of the band is Shingo Kattori, mainly because he does this show called "SmaStation" where he has a segment that uses and promotes *good English*. He is the only Japanese celeb I know that does this, and I can't thank him enough. But doesn't hurt to try. ;)
So last year, as part of the fanmail unit, I got the 3nensei to write a letter to Shingo, asking him to come to Hirono since he makes several field trips for the show from time to time. About 40 of the 80 students wrote (many non-believers ^^), and I also included a photo collage, an official town pencil, and a gift card for the JR train. I thought this would be enough to make the dream happen . . but I was too ambitious. No response whatsoever. Then again, the timing was bad too . . when I finally sent out the envelope, that same week Shingo announced that his show was going on a two month break. >< I didn't know SmaStation had season finales! ARG!!
A year later, and I still felt bad that I promised something I couldn't deliver. So I started thinking more realistically. This year, I only asked for TV Asahi to send a picture or letter to our school to confirm that Shingo or one of his staff had read them. And this time, I got the elementary students to write letters because how can you not resist reading letters written in crayon, sparkling cat drawings and stuff like "I like bog!"? Plus, we got over 200 LETTERS WRITTEN!! No matter what happens, it was a really good lesson for English and penmanship. I decided to hand deliver them to make sure that the staff knew what this was about and there was no chance it would get lost or passed over.
Sooo . . .
. . . with the help of kimd for Japanese and moral support, we invaded TV Asahi just a few hours before SmaStation air time and met one of the writers for the show, Mr. Ogawa. Nice guy, shook hands with him, and I'm now one degree of separation away from Shingo. ;) I think there's a good chance some of the letters will be read by *someone* . . not so sure if Shingo will or if anything will be sent back, but my promise to the children was that these letters would be personally delivered to TV Asahi and I'd bring back a picture as proof, and in that case . .
MISSION COMPLETE.
Big thanks to kimd for coming all the way to Roppongi to help out, and luxvesperis for translating the "cover letter" enclosed. I owe both of you big time . . and bigger time if there *is* a response. ^^
Some pics of the Roppongi Hills area . .
Mohri Garden looking greener and mohrier than usual . .
New BMW's . . . I don't follow car news at all, but the video screen was advertising them as the 5th generation or something like that . .
Many bears were on display near the station. They were all the same statue ("SPIRIT BOMB!" . . sorry), but each one was painted differently by artists from around the world . . nearly every country took part in this project
Here's Canada's!
Guess where this one's from
This one from Austria was really freaky
I found the placement of the "Nature" arrow kinda interesting
And now to explain the "meeting Sailor Moon" part. Miyuu Sawai, the actress who portrays Sailor Moon in the recent live-action series, was doing a signing of her new DVD in Akihabara at 6. I didn't like her show much, but there's several students who do, so I thought it'd be cool if I got a picture with her and showed it off. ;) Plus, I love celebrity hunting. ^^b Unfortunately, I got on the train from Roppongi at 5:30 and ended up three minutes too late. >< At least I did get to hear her say "Konbanwa" behind locked doors before returning back to the elevator in disappointment. ;_;
MISSION FAILED.
I stayed overnight at Green Hotel, which was only five minutes away from my beloved Tokyo Dome City, but at half the price of Tokyo Dome Hotel. ^^b The lobby looks four star, but the room turned out to be kinda tiny, but eh, gets the job done.
I had dinner at this really nice Tokyo Dome Italian restaurant called Mangia Mangia. I dunno if this is an Italian tradition, but the waitress actually wrote her name "Minami" on the table cloth. She left her crayon there, and I was tempted to scribble "is cute" under "Minami" cuz, well, she was. ;) The service was great, food was awesome though more expensive than expected . . you know you're eating at a classy restaurant in Japan when they charge tip. ^^;
And just like last year, I found myself among Tokyo Dome cosplayers again. I swear I'm not an otaku anymore, and had no idea the Cosplay Festa was being held so early this year. ^^; Anyway, it was pretty late, but a few cosplayers were still hanging out in the area. It felt really, really strange eating dessert at Baskin Robbins beside three Risa Hawkeye's. oO
A night shot of the fountains near the restaurant . .
On Sunday, I went back to Tokyo Dome for an early lunch, and what do you know, the cosplayers were back again. ^^;
Lunchtime at Cosplay Central
I don't watch as much anime as I used to, so if anyone wants to help identify some of the characters . .^^
?
Gundam, I think? There wasn't any overwhelmingly popular cosplay this year, though Gundam characters were the closest
I *should* recognize everyone from my favorite anime, but I have no idea who that guy on the right with the ski goggles is . .
Cool One Piece group, though I think only the Shanks guy looks like his character ;)
Quite a few CCS-ers with the recent NHK rebroadcast
?
When I asked for their pic, the leader kept saying "But Fuji's disappeared!! Fuji Fuji! AHH!" "Fuji" finally returned 15 minutes later. ^^; I also asked why all the PoT cosplayers were wearing such big platform shoes and they told me that the characters are all about 170 cm tall. ^^; By the way, lelola, I finally watched an episode of the show, and it's like DBZ with tennis rackets. I even showed it to the tennis coach, and she agreed, "That ain't tennis!" ;)
Yu-Gi-Oh and ??
Pretty Cure still pretty popular this year
Probably my favorite group: the Anpanman gang. I never knew Baikinman had a sexy side ;)
Bleach? And the Pon De Ring Lion?
Don't know who they're suppose to be, but this one took the longest because EVERY member gave me their camera when I requested their picture. ^^;
? I think she said something about Gingerman . .
NO MORE CRY~!
By far the most impressive costumes that day. I still don't know how the Blade guy managed to make something so authentic looking . .
Assorted Final Fantasy?
The girl on the left looked really familiar, and it wasn't till I got home that I realized she was that Chun Li girl who almost beat me up last year ^^; I'm guessing these two were from the same series? ;)
Village of the Damned?
Do you like CATS?
This trio were the friendliest cosplayers that day, they even let me pet their cute eyeball in a bowl. ^^ They said their anime is really, really old, so I'm not sure if anyone out there recognizes them.
Sailor MAN also returned this year with new shades AND a new friend who I can best describe as Alice in WonderMAN . . but as I was going to take this classic picture, I was stopped by event staff. >< I forgot that I was in front of Geopolis, which is the place with the most staff. Even though Sailor MAN was tried to convince the guy to let me take one shot, he just kept saying "Dame, dame!" Even my "I don't understand Japanese" baka-gaijin routine didn't work. ZANNEN!!
Well overall, I think last year's cosplays were a little better than this year's. Still there were some really impressive ones, though they were always eating when I spotted them. And if there's one thing I've learned from this, it's NEVER bug cosplayers for pics when they're eating!! ;)
Thought I'd put my camera's shutter speed to the test and see if I could take a pic of a descending rollercoaster from a distance. Could be better, but not bad really.
A HUUUGE crowd surrounded this stunt busker! I wish I stayed for his repeat show because this guy was AMAZING. His last trick was balancing on a tall unicycle while juggling a sword, a sickle, and an apple which he ate in between. Just crazy! People were fighting to put money in his hat afterwards. I was thinking, if he makes about 1man for every 30 min show, and works only weekdays, he could make 80man+/month. That's twice as much as the average JET with a quarter of the work hours! I wish I knew some tricks. ><
Here he is using a long net to get donations from the people watching from the 2nd floor. One of the ladies screamed and ran away. ^^;
I got my "caricature" picture drawn by this lady in the nearby mall. She was nice enough not to pick on any of my outstanding facial features as much as I thought she would. I mean, some of her works on display had rather large chins and teeth. ;)
Before I left for Hirono, I caught the Sentai show that Tokyo Dome has every weekend. If you're interested, that's a whole other post over here. :)
And what kinda jerk would I be if I didn't find some Engrish for you guys? ;)
For nearly a year, I've been keeping my ultimate school project top secret so as not to jinx it. But now that the plan has gone as far as it'll probably go, let's unwrap it, shall we?
In Japan, the most famous boy band goes by the name of SMAP: their variety shows and dramas are rating champs, and nowadays they only release one single a year because just that one song makes them so much money, why release more? Though this year's "Tomodachi he" kinda bombed, but eh, I liked it.
Anyway, my favorite member of the band is Shingo Kattori, mainly because he does this show called "SmaStation" where he has a segment that uses and promotes *good English*. He is the only Japanese celeb I know that does this, and I can't thank him enough. But doesn't hurt to try. ;)
So last year, as part of the fanmail unit, I got the 3nensei to write a letter to Shingo, asking him to come to Hirono since he makes several field trips for the show from time to time. About 40 of the 80 students wrote (many non-believers ^^), and I also included a photo collage, an official town pencil, and a gift card for the JR train. I thought this would be enough to make the dream happen . . but I was too ambitious. No response whatsoever. Then again, the timing was bad too . . when I finally sent out the envelope, that same week Shingo announced that his show was going on a two month break. >< I didn't know SmaStation had season finales! ARG!!
A year later, and I still felt bad that I promised something I couldn't deliver. So I started thinking more realistically. This year, I only asked for TV Asahi to send a picture or letter to our school to confirm that Shingo or one of his staff had read them. And this time, I got the elementary students to write letters because how can you not resist reading letters written in crayon, sparkling cat drawings and stuff like "I like bog!"? Plus, we got over 200 LETTERS WRITTEN!! No matter what happens, it was a really good lesson for English and penmanship. I decided to hand deliver them to make sure that the staff knew what this was about and there was no chance it would get lost or passed over.
Sooo . . .
. . . with the help of kimd for Japanese and moral support, we invaded TV Asahi just a few hours before SmaStation air time and met one of the writers for the show, Mr. Ogawa. Nice guy, shook hands with him, and I'm now one degree of separation away from Shingo. ;) I think there's a good chance some of the letters will be read by *someone* . . not so sure if Shingo will or if anything will be sent back, but my promise to the children was that these letters would be personally delivered to TV Asahi and I'd bring back a picture as proof, and in that case . .
MISSION COMPLETE.
Big thanks to kimd for coming all the way to Roppongi to help out, and luxvesperis for translating the "cover letter" enclosed. I owe both of you big time . . and bigger time if there *is* a response. ^^
Some pics of the Roppongi Hills area . .
Mohri Garden looking greener and mohrier than usual . .
New BMW's . . . I don't follow car news at all, but the video screen was advertising them as the 5th generation or something like that . .
Many bears were on display near the station. They were all the same statue ("SPIRIT BOMB!" . . sorry), but each one was painted differently by artists from around the world . . nearly every country took part in this project
Here's Canada's!
Guess where this one's from
This one from Austria was really freaky
I found the placement of the "Nature" arrow kinda interesting
And now to explain the "meeting Sailor Moon" part. Miyuu Sawai, the actress who portrays Sailor Moon in the recent live-action series, was doing a signing of her new DVD in Akihabara at 6. I didn't like her show much, but there's several students who do, so I thought it'd be cool if I got a picture with her and showed it off. ;) Plus, I love celebrity hunting. ^^b Unfortunately, I got on the train from Roppongi at 5:30 and ended up three minutes too late. >< At least I did get to hear her say "Konbanwa" behind locked doors before returning back to the elevator in disappointment. ;_;
MISSION FAILED.
I stayed overnight at Green Hotel, which was only five minutes away from my beloved Tokyo Dome City, but at half the price of Tokyo Dome Hotel. ^^b The lobby looks four star, but the room turned out to be kinda tiny, but eh, gets the job done.
I had dinner at this really nice Tokyo Dome Italian restaurant called Mangia Mangia. I dunno if this is an Italian tradition, but the waitress actually wrote her name "Minami" on the table cloth. She left her crayon there, and I was tempted to scribble "is cute" under "Minami" cuz, well, she was. ;) The service was great, food was awesome though more expensive than expected . . you know you're eating at a classy restaurant in Japan when they charge tip. ^^;
And just like last year, I found myself among Tokyo Dome cosplayers again. I swear I'm not an otaku anymore, and had no idea the Cosplay Festa was being held so early this year. ^^; Anyway, it was pretty late, but a few cosplayers were still hanging out in the area. It felt really, really strange eating dessert at Baskin Robbins beside three Risa Hawkeye's. oO
A night shot of the fountains near the restaurant . .
On Sunday, I went back to Tokyo Dome for an early lunch, and what do you know, the cosplayers were back again. ^^;
Lunchtime at Cosplay Central
I don't watch as much anime as I used to, so if anyone wants to help identify some of the characters . .^^
?
Gundam, I think? There wasn't any overwhelmingly popular cosplay this year, though Gundam characters were the closest
I *should* recognize everyone from my favorite anime, but I have no idea who that guy on the right with the ski goggles is . .
Cool One Piece group, though I think only the Shanks guy looks like his character ;)
Quite a few CCS-ers with the recent NHK rebroadcast
?
When I asked for their pic, the leader kept saying "But Fuji's disappeared!! Fuji Fuji! AHH!" "Fuji" finally returned 15 minutes later. ^^; I also asked why all the PoT cosplayers were wearing such big platform shoes and they told me that the characters are all about 170 cm tall. ^^; By the way, lelola, I finally watched an episode of the show, and it's like DBZ with tennis rackets. I even showed it to the tennis coach, and she agreed, "That ain't tennis!" ;)
Yu-Gi-Oh and ??
Pretty Cure still pretty popular this year
Probably my favorite group: the Anpanman gang. I never knew Baikinman had a sexy side ;)
Bleach? And the Pon De Ring Lion?
Don't know who they're suppose to be, but this one took the longest because EVERY member gave me their camera when I requested their picture. ^^;
? I think she said something about Gingerman . .
NO MORE CRY~!
By far the most impressive costumes that day. I still don't know how the Blade guy managed to make something so authentic looking . .
Assorted Final Fantasy?
The girl on the left looked really familiar, and it wasn't till I got home that I realized she was that Chun Li girl who almost beat me up last year ^^; I'm guessing these two were from the same series? ;)
Village of the Damned?
Do you like CATS?
This trio were the friendliest cosplayers that day, they even let me pet their cute eyeball in a bowl. ^^ They said their anime is really, really old, so I'm not sure if anyone out there recognizes them.
Sailor MAN also returned this year with new shades AND a new friend who I can best describe as Alice in WonderMAN . . but as I was going to take this classic picture, I was stopped by event staff. >< I forgot that I was in front of Geopolis, which is the place with the most staff. Even though Sailor MAN was tried to convince the guy to let me take one shot, he just kept saying "Dame, dame!" Even my "I don't understand Japanese" baka-gaijin routine didn't work. ZANNEN!!
Well overall, I think last year's cosplays were a little better than this year's. Still there were some really impressive ones, though they were always eating when I spotted them. And if there's one thing I've learned from this, it's NEVER bug cosplayers for pics when they're eating!! ;)
Thought I'd put my camera's shutter speed to the test and see if I could take a pic of a descending rollercoaster from a distance. Could be better, but not bad really.
A HUUUGE crowd surrounded this stunt busker! I wish I stayed for his repeat show because this guy was AMAZING. His last trick was balancing on a tall unicycle while juggling a sword, a sickle, and an apple which he ate in between. Just crazy! People were fighting to put money in his hat afterwards. I was thinking, if he makes about 1man for every 30 min show, and works only weekdays, he could make 80man+/month. That's twice as much as the average JET with a quarter of the work hours! I wish I knew some tricks. ><
Here he is using a long net to get donations from the people watching from the 2nd floor. One of the ladies screamed and ran away. ^^;
I got my "caricature" picture drawn by this lady in the nearby mall. She was nice enough not to pick on any of my outstanding facial features as much as I thought she would. I mean, some of her works on display had rather large chins and teeth. ;)
Before I left for Hirono, I caught the Sentai show that Tokyo Dome has every weekend. If you're interested, that's a whole other post over here. :)
And what kinda jerk would I be if I didn't find some Engrish for you guys? ;)