Japan Trip Day 5

1st June 2008 - Sunday

HURHURHUR the long delayed harajuku peektures. Sorry sorry, i was getting distracted by the jaw-dropping hotness that is zachary quinto (sylar) in heroes season2.

Just a tip for anybody with a japan trip on their cards; harajuku MUST be visited on a sunday. The best time to find the jrockers and lolitas is around 12-3pm in the afternoon at the bridge next to the harajuku station. Those on the side of the station usually enjoy the photogs whereas those on the other side usually do not relish a camera shoved in their noses. As a general rule, ASK before taking. Firstly coz its polite and secondly, so you can get good, posed shots. =)

Left the MANSION early in the morning to a stroll through a japanese park and to see midtown (hippest new mall in roppongi). Their gardens are gorgeousssssssnessssss <3



This building was featured in Times (ermm i think..) A musuem set up by some of the best designers and artists in japan. When we were there, i think issey miyaki was having an exhibition.


After rest and relaxation at the park, we hit the shopping malls big time! Ok not really larh i regretted not going into midtown for a look coz we got to ometesando-dori wayyyy too early for the shops to be open. No choice but to camp around first D:

Ometesando is lined with designer boutiques, where the crowd are well-heeled young people. Phoebe commented, a little awe-struck, that these people look like they can afford luxury goods every week. HOHOHO creditcarddebt much?





Ironically, amid the designer boutiques and high-street shopping malls, there sits a 7 storied mall catering to the young and young-at-heart xD KIDDYLAND!!!!!!!! Euphoria in a building hurhurhur.. Also the place where i did a lot of gift shopping ;p









And right outside of Kiddyland, was this cute publicity vehicle. They put two cute singers in a clear box while playing their newest song, while driving around town and stopping for ppl to take pics. They're called Vanilla Beans! I even got a brochure promoting their second single lol.



We barely walked a hundred metres before we saw another japanese "celebrity" filming an interview segment. No clue who the guy asking the questions was, but he looked like a caucasian.


Another must visit would be LaForet. The stuff they sell is soooo trendy, they named the mall "30 years into the future". That's how far ahead the japanese are with fashion xD we went in there and i bought a bunch of stuff and phoebs bought a bunch of stuff and we trooped off to find the jrock cosplayers while carrying a LOT of stuff. LOOK AT PHOEBE AFTER SHE LEFT THE BUILDING. Lol, the hat's all mine though!


Peektures at the cosplayers' bridge! xD And yes phoebs really did hug the free hugs guy HOHO~









And we saw a bunch of kawaii meidos!! The cutest thing is that out of the four of them, only one is a girl. Try and spot the cross-dressers xDxD


I have a couple of other photos with me and the cosplayers but i look damn retarded so i shall not post them hurhurhur~

Somewhere in between those photos, while we were waiting for more cosplayers to arrive, we visited the meiji-jingu shrine. We skipped the garden (which was supposed to be a highlight but we didnt want to pay to enter LOL) and went straight to the main shrine. I thought it was pretty boring actually. Compared to the asakusa shrine, this one seemed a little more movie-set-ish and commercial.

After we soaked up the ambience on the bridge, we went to takeshita-dori and found BODYLINE!! Which was having a sale. I forgot to take a photo of the shop opening lol but i can tell you i went crazy buying stuff in there. Prices were slashed by about half and even phoebs joined the frenzied buying xD now we have matching walolis that we can wear out together..

When we had our fill of shopping and eating (they have all the cute japanese food along the street like crepes, fruit pancakes, smoothies, soft serve ice cream and even bubble tea), we headed back to the mansion to put down our shopping before going for dinner.

We had reservations at another special theme cafe xD this time situated in ginza, which should give you a hint as to the price of the meal. Sadly though i think we didnt go into the heart of ginza, because the whole place didnt look as packed as i thought it would be. In fact, the street that the cafe sat on was pretty deserted.

WELCOME TO VAMPIRE CAFE!


Actually, i thought it was more like a restaurant than cafe. The whole feel of the place was very posh; victorian-era gothic-style castle draped with blood red velvet curtains, matching sofas, gold-lined cushions, black crystal chandeliers and wrought iron dining tables. Waitresses (dressed as maids) are summoned by a ring of a bell and the dining area is illuminated by a single candle.


I had squid ink seafood pasta, with blood red alcoholic drink; Phoebe had a tomato based pasta with a mocktail. Ok fine, lighting was bad so i couldn't really get decent photos >.> Plus the floor manager was super snooty when she found out that we couldnt speak japanese. In fact, her manner towards us was downright curt so phoebs and i felt somewhat intimidated by our surroundings. We ate, paid and left.




If you only have the moolah or time to visit just ONE theme cafe, id recommend Alcatraz+ER. The atmosphere is more relaxed, the food more creative and service wins HANDS DOWN. Lol ok fine, ive always been one for a chill-out place, where you can let your hair down and eat. Plus Alcatraz+ER was so entertaining xD

Disneyland pictures tomorrow. xDxDxD Must quickly post all the japan trip logs so that i can blog about the drinking outing at sirongs house.. CIAOXX

Japan Trip Day 4

31st May 2008 - Saturday.

Hurhurhur have been putting off blogging about this day because of the sheer amount of photos i have to upload. But lol if i dont do it, ill get stuck and never be able to blog about harajuku!!!!

First stop was Ueno. Ueno is a little like small town japan, a little bit more rural than the major shopping districts like shibuya and shinjuku.. And well the things come a little cheaper too. Face masks, fresh seafood, sports shoes, dried goods and yummy food are the order of the day.




Oh, i should probably mention that the temperature was 13degrees and that it was kinda rainy. Plus we skipped breakfast so that we could sample some of the local food. What better than steaming hot ramen and freshly cooked gyoza on a cold, rainy day =) The whole set was 800something yen and came with free flow iced water. It's called Ringer Hut and you'll find the bright advertisement once you walk down the main street from the Ueno station. And it tasted every bit as good as it looks..






And after that was done, we went into this cool shop called garakuta boeki. It sells the whackiest stuff, mostly imported. Great for quirky gifts and one of a kind bags.. After that, i found a pair of new design nike shoes for 80sing from abc mart and got a membership card. (right, like that will come in useful in my next trip 8 years from now.) Plus 1000yen sunglasses and 500yen japanese umbrellas, that about sums up my loot from Ueno.

Peektures from the famous ameyoko street. We even managed to find a wet market that the locals frequent (read: no english) and i was extremely saddened to see live turtles trapped in nets. And of course i wouldnt take photos of that.. That would be like "hey live turtles! lets exploit them further and take photos to post on the internet for the fun of other humans"





And apparently takoyakis arent sold in threes in Ueno. Instead, they go for 315yen for one BIG takoyaki. Seriously, it fills up the entire bottom of the box it sits in. Yes, it's that BIG. The skin is crisp and the inside is chock full of chewy sotong. I was so euphoric that i even allowed Phoebs to take a snap of me eating lol xD albeit a slightly blur one...



After that, we trekked to Ueno station to take a train to Asakusa. I was quite excited about Asakusa becoz of two things. Nakamise-dori (this long market street leading up the temple) and the temple itself. It's a damn pity that we didnt have time for Kyoto during this trip so the nearest we got to a cultural activity was the trip to Asakusa. It was every bit as lovely as the hype made it out to be.

Although we had to FIND the damn street first before even doing any food-shopping/sight-seeing. But no problems with that.. Once we exited the station, there was this very nice old man with a tag "english speaking volunteer" who gave us directions in pitch perfect english. We were so stunned larh.. Apparently there is a group of english speaking volunteers who help the tourists figure out their maps and point them in the right direction. Yeayyy now why dont they have such volunteers in every single train station?

This precious work of art is stored at the station and taken out during religious festivals. The idea is that they would be carried and paraded around the streets like an old-fashioned sedan chair. This photo does no justice to its regalness. It's really gorgeous.


AND OMG LOOK, a modern day japanese rickshaw puller! We chose the most handsome one to take a photo with.. Omgosh phoebs you look soooooooooo stars-in-your-eyes with that big grin.. And shamelessly doing endorsement for garakuta boeki somemore.. HAIYO xD



Peektures of the market street and of inside the temple. Firstly, it was so super packed it was like the great umbrella wars. Secondly, the temple itself doesnt have this overhyped and commercialised feel even when it was chock full of tourists. And urgh dont get me started on the tourists. Within the temple there is like a fountain meant for cleansing oneself before entering the temple. You are allowed to drink the water or rinse your mouth BUT you do so by pouring the water from the ladle onto your hands then transfering it to your mouth. YOU DO NOT JUST DRINK FROM THE DAMN LADLE YOU IGNORANT CHINESE TOURISTS -.- like sheesh talk about inconsiderate and unhygenic. The next thing you know the whole fountain would be dripping with lead poisoning.

Anyway, on with the peektures. Oooo i love the food there!!! (Delicious is a gross understatement)







Plusplusplus that night's dinner was a special plan. Theme cafes are big things in Japan, ranging from Alice in Wonderland to Ninjas to Christon Cafe. The one i had chosen was featured in a tvshow and was called Alcatraz+ER; a medical prison xD The idea is that you get to eat in a prison cell with doctors and nurses waiting upon your every need. Theres also a resident madman who escapes to terrorize customers at special times of the day and obviously we made the reservation at 5.30pm JUST to catch the last show time ;p





The place is super eerie looking, even the toilet looks bloody and decrepit. Once inside the main waiting area, theyll get you sign an "idemnity form" and give you a SHOCK (literally). Then Phoebe and i were handcuffed together and brought to this upstairs cell. I ordered an alcoholic apple drink; served in a small bottle with dentures in it. And Phoebs got a non-alcoholic drink ENTIRELY BY CHANCE XD Our main courses were really cute; phoebs got caged chicken while i got a severed dick giant sausage.




There were two other highlights of the evening that i didnt manage to take photos of. First would be the takoyaki roulette; 6 takoyaki balls, 5 filled with squid and 1 filled entirely with wasabi. The effect was that the meal changed from JUST a meal to a game and we were both geniunely nervous about getting the wasabi ball. (phoebs got it on her second try) Second was the escape of the prisoner. Hahahaha it was both hilarious and scary at the same time. The nurses would walk around firing guns while the prisoner ran from cell to cell yelling and banging on stuff. I thought at first he wouldnt come upstairs but phoebs and i both got a shock seeing him run up the stair, we were both screaming like idiots.

And after this already pretty packed day, we went to our last destination. Took a train from shibuya, then changed more trains to get to the station nearest to Tokyo Tower. At first we were abit apprehensive since we had no detailed map to get to the tower but i figured if it was so big then we can just walk in the general direction. Imagine both our shocks when we exited from the train station to see..... plain old buildings and roads. Phoebs probably panicked for a moment while i walked further out TO FIND THE TOWER HIDING BEHIND A BUILDING awwww xD Wow even from a distance, tokyo tower looks so majestic at night.






I iish lubbs architecture and lighting and colour <3333 And we conquered Tokyo Tower!!! GODZILLAS!!!!



And as a parting shot, here's an underexposed shot of camwhorage at Tokyo Tower =)