justmythoughts

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Today's post is about....Japan!

I just came back from Nippon today, 2 hours ago. This post will be very long, so...brace yourselves!!

Day 1:

Boarded flight NH 112 bound for Narita Airport.

It was my first time sitting a ANA plane. I have to say, the Japanese air stewardesses are really really nice. Like all the Japanese in the service industry.

Pirates of the Carribean: DMC was playing as well as Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and some other movies, including Japanese ones. I watched about 2 movies then went to play some Chess.

I got thrashed by the computer. I suck at chess...I also got thrashed in the Reversi game.

Arrived at Narita at about 5pm and had to change to a domestic ANA flight to Osaka.

This is where the interesting stuff begins.

When I boarded the plane, I happily walked down the aisle in search of my seat. As I arrived at seat 16D (my seat), I realised how big the space around my seat was.

My parents arrived behind me as I got myself seated. My mum suddenly exclaimed, "WOW, we got upgraded to Business Class!".

No shit. The economy class seat became a business class seat. Too bad it was only a 1 hour flight from Tokyo to Osaka. But the business class seat was fantastic! There was so much space for my legs that someone could sit infront of me and give me a foot massage.

Ok. I shall stop this ramble about business class seats. You have to be patient with a country bumpkin like me, never sit in such a nice seat before.

By the time we reached Osaka, it was pretty late so we checked into the hotel and then we had to go find dinner. The tour guide gave us directions to where the nearby eateries were and off we went!

The shop in front is one of the restaurants.

The shops you see are mostly nightclubs and stuff. One had a huge thing saying "Caberet"...

That's my tempura prawns!!!!!!!...oishii!!

We had some communication problem with the waiter but the food was good! Their udon is damn nice!

Day 2:
Went to Osaka Castle in the morn.

As I walked from the Osaka Castle to the bus, many students (female) were running around the park there. There were 2 different groups from different schools. It's so cool to have such a nice park to run at even though it's their school which makes them run...

After Osaka Castle, we headed to...... Universal Studios!!!!!!!

WOOOO!

'Tis the season to be jolly...(in Universal Studios)

Hello Kitty!! C'mon, admit it, she's cute...(and popular)

Elmo at the entrance!

Oh. I spent some time whining when I went to Universal Studios.

The reason?

The HUGE groups of Japanese High School kids on school excursions to the amusement park.

They get trips to Universal Studios! grrr...

At night, we went to Shinsaibashi which is a shopping street. I didn't buy anything though...

Here's a shot!

Day 3:

We drove down to Kyoto today and visited the Kiyomizu temple which is at Nara Deer Park (the deers roam freely).

Shot of the temple

High school kids on a trip to the temple. According to the guide, school kids in Japan get educational trips to these places (and Universal Studios as well???)

Deer!!!!

That night, we had a 4 hour drive down to Toyohashi where we stayed in Nikko Hotel. There was a departmental store next door so everyone did some shopping there.

I did too of course.

I bought the Japan version of Newtype (an anime mag)

You must be asking why I bought a Japanese mag when I can't read Japanese.

I'll tell you why...

IT'S BECAUSE OF THE 100 PAGE HARUHI INSERT!

HARUHISM HAS TAKEN OVER!

yep.

Day 4:

First on the list was the Shinkansen ride (bullet train)!

When we entered the platform, an alarm kind of rang. Just for 3 seconds. Then suddenly, the bullet train WHOOSHED past! It was bypassing the station. IT WAS FAST.

I managed to get a shot when another passed by.

Here's the entrance! (That's my dad. He thinks he's going back to Singapore...)

After the ride which lasted only one station, we had a drive down to Mt Fuji which is at the Tokyo prefecture (if I'm not wrong). We couldn't just ride the Shinkansen straight to Tokyo because it would be costly (or at least that's what my mum reckons).

At first, we had news about too much ice on the road up to Mt Fuji, so the coach couldn't drive up but in the end, they opened the gate and we drove up to the forth level (that's about 2000m high).

Here's some shots!

That's Mt. Fuji over there. It looks small because we are quite close so it just peeks out over the trees.

Here's the post sign. 2020m high!

Far shot of Mt. Fuji. :)

That night, we stayed at Lake Kawaguchiko which is a Lake next to Mt. Fuji. The hotel we stayed at was a small onsen hotel where everyone was required to wear yukatas and there was an onsen to bathe in.

I couldn't try the onsen though. Had the monthly thingy. Suckass.

Here's some yukata shots!

That's me at the door

Here's the tatami room. I sleep at the far end.

Day 5:

This is the day where I finally get to walk around Tokyo.

In the morn, we left to Tokto City and went to Asakusa Temple where there is the Nakamise street with many shops (mainly for tourists).

Once again, I saw lots of school kids.

At Asakusa, I saw a Studio Ghibli shop and entered. Everything was so expensive so I left. Left sadly of course! The calendar looked really nice but it was so...takai!

We left after lunch to Ueno where there is a street with shops selling stuff at cheaper prices. Most sold shoes like Adidas, etc. so I just walked past them and down the street. I chanced upon an anime shop which sold mostly game stuff and nothing that I really wanted. However, I bought a KH2 merchandise for Tina. They sold official Square Enix merchandise. Once again, it was all expensive. The keychain was the cheapest (SGD$26).

After Ueno, it was to the famed Harajuku! Too bad it was a Friday, if not there would be more people dressing up in their gothic lotita stuff. I did see some dressed up teens though. Harajuku is simply full of clothing. From Zara to teen stuff.

In the more trendy teen street, there were shops selling autographed posters of artistes. There was even a shop selling clothes similar to that worn by the artistes! (I know this because there was a picture of Tomohisa Yamashita, actor who acted as Akira in Nobuta wo Produce, in front of a rack of clothes which had the same stuff as what he wore in the photo..)

Here's a shot of the street, full of people

On the way to Harajuku, as I left Ueno, I passed Akihabara and passed the Gamers shop there. To those who don't know, Gamers is a chain of shops selling anime stuff.
I couldn't go though, just passed buy in the coach.

Here's the poster of the shop

Here's a shot of the main shop. Yes, there is a banner of Kira and Athrun at the lamp post. It's an advert for the new Gundam SEED CD collection.

After Harajuku, we were brought to eat and then to the Prince Hotel and Shinagawa for the night.

Since we arrived at the hotel early and we had time to go out on my own, my mum suggested for us to take the train down to Shinjuku. I happily agreed since I have info that there is a Gamers shop at Shinjuku.

Here's a shot of Shinjuku at night:

We spent an hour walking around Shinjuku (which is HUGEEEEE) but we could not find the Gamers shop. We kept close to the train station to avoid getting lost and according to the map from the Gamers website, their shop was near the station. But we still could not find it. There were many many CD shops there though.

Another thing I have to comment on is how busy the Shinjuku station is. From the stuff I read online, they say its the busiest station in the world with 2 million people passing through everyday. I think they are not kidding. I got dizzy trying to dodge the people walking past in the opposite direction.

So we left Shinjuku empty handed. I am happy I went there though. Just to look around and soak up the atmosphere.

Day 6:

This whole day was spent in... TOKYO DISNEYLAND!!!!

Here are shots:

X'mas!

Stich in the parade!

I have to say, Disneyland is the land of queues. The queues are simply too damn long!

In the 9 hours I spent there, I only rode 4 rides.

Star Tours, Micro Adventure, Pooh's Hunny Hunt and Big Thunder Mountain.

For Pooh's Hunny Hunt and Big Thunder Mountain, I queued for 2 hours and 2.5 hours respectively. The Japanese sure are patient people. They wait without complaints!

As I waited for the Hunny Hunt ride, I spotted at least 5 people in the queue holding Nintendo DS consoles. Gosh. I felt really outdated with my Gameboy on my desk at home..

Here's a shot of the outside of the Hunny Hunt. It looks deceiving. There is a queue inside. From the point where I shot it, I already waited for 1.5 hours...

The red dot is the start of the queue for Big Thunder Mountain. From the point I shot this, I already waited for almost 2 hours and I was only halfway through the queue. -.-'''

Day 7:

This is today actually. Just went to the airport and boarded flight NH 111 to Singapore!

That's it...

From this trip, I've realised some stuff about Japan..

Here it is:

-They are really patient as seen from my experience in Disneyland.
-The people in the service industry are really really really polite. Always going "Kudasai!! (drag the "i" part)". I've lost count at the number of "Kudasai" I've heard.
-They love their boots. Everyone wears boots in the cold weather. It's a good weather to wear high boots and everyone wears them (the females lah).
-They like black coats with gold buttons (like the buttons on band uniforms). I saw at least 10 people wear the same jacket or similar from Osaka down to Tokyo.
-They are really really quiet when they are on the train. So quiet that I don't dare to talk. It's like a library.
-They love to smoke. But that's a worldly known fact. I have to say that I will never step into another Macs in Japan ever. Once, I stepped in and so many people were smoking inside! I was afraid of getting cancer so I turned and left. Second hand smoking is worse after all...
-Girls have no problems wearing short skirts in the cold weather. They just need either high socks or high boots.
-Kids have lots of money. They buy BAGS UPON BAGS of stuff from Universal Studios. The stuff there ain't cheap!
-Japanese are skinny people. I hardly saw any fat people. It's a good thing to be skinny in Japan. Their toilets are so tiny...
-The toilet bowl seat warmer rocks. The spray does too.
-They have very clean toilets. It reflects their high standard of living. Singapore has much to do...
-They are helpful (or at least one of them is!). This lady helped my mum and I with the ticketing machines at the Shinagawa train station.

...

That's all I can think of for now...

Rachel typed at 7:35 pm