Disney on Sea

LOL so i actually got told to do this blog. Yeh well if you've been reading and got depressed cuz i haven't written anything, i'm sorry but late nights and early starts = no blogging. aha way too tired!

ANYWAY right the next day from melting from hot weather at Disneyland we decided to try its non-identical twin brother park, DisneySea! We headed out with a few clouds in the sky but it was a 8am start so the weather might warm up right? WRONG. As soon as we stepped off Maihama Station it began to get really windy and we could hear the pitter-patter of raindrops. A far cry from yesterdays scorching sun we had cloudy skies, rain and a freaken gale wind!!! D= Apparently a typhoon was approaching Tokyo and the next few days would have the same cold weather. Talk abot a 360 turn...the magic of DisneySea perhaps?
Actually to get to DisneySea you have the take the Monorail from the Station, which takes about 5 minutes, but as you walk in the entrance looks like this.

The worlds here are more water based then Disneyland, like Mermaid Lagoon and Arabian Coast. It also had a HUGE replica of the Titanic and in the middle, a giant Volcano, which spouted fire every once in awhile. The rides here also much more adult: while Disneylands rides are less extreme to cater for young kids, DisneySea has higher height restrictions on thrill rides. IF you go theres one u absolutely have to try, its called ''20,000 Leagues Under the Sea''. I won't spoil it, but its scary, got awesome views and the right mix of rollercoaster thrills. The best ride in both parks hands down. Other really good rides were the 'Raging Sprits' rollercoaster, (which was good except i got pelted by rain the whole time) and the 'Tower of Terror' which included an awesome tower in an old mansion.



And you know what? Despite the fact that it was typhoon weather, there were still heaps of people there. I had to buy a plastic poncho/sheet to wear over my shorts and thin t-shirt =SS Needless to say i was absolutely freezing. and seriously Jap people somehow repelled water because every single one of them looked DRY. Even the girls still had their fantastic lolitta curly hair still intact. I was disappointed cuz i wanted to see some pretty girls get soaked and rained on ehe.

I didnt get to take many photos cuz it was poring and i spent half the time running from place to place to escape the rain. Although overall it was a shit day, DisneySea would have been amazing and very fun if it were sunnier weather, and i enjoyed the rides here more than Disneyland.
We didnt stay here as long, and went home at around 6pm. Since it was bad weather i have no idea whether it has a parade or not, though its probably likely.


ANyway since it was so cold today we went to All You Can Eat Shabu Shabu in Roppongi!! Perfect food for a cold rainy day =(( And boy this place was pretty posh and had nice meat and veggies, but super expensive. It cost around $80 per person (small children eat for free). We were given a copper bowl for the hot pot and two sauce bowls to dip the boiled food. Presentation and waulity were top notch, but for the amount we paid i expected much more however. The meat was bland the variety of vegetables standard. Also there were little to no noodles. Maybe im just not a big fan of shabu shabu but not one of my favourite meals. Looked nice tho!



Meat spam! =D

til next time~~

Disney on Land

So where is the 'Happiest Place on Earth...?' Why, its at Disneyland of course!!
eheheh. After all these years i'm still such a kid. I mean i've already been to Disneyland in France and America - How different could Tokyo be anyway? But still i cant resist the rides - almost no ride scares me now - and also, they always make Disneyland so PRETTY. whoawhoa and who doesn't like visiting Agrabah or Mickeys castle??

Tokyo has two worlds: Disneyland and DisneySea. They aren't too much different from each other but i suppose DisneySea has more worlds that are based on water and has more adult rides than Disneyland. To get there you need to take a train to Maihama Station, and from there they are both quite close.

So the first day was Disneyland. The thing about it is that in Tokyo, it is always always very very crowded. We went on a Wednesday which supposedly has the least number of people going but it was still pretty bad.

When we walked in we could already see the huge crowds at the front gate. And gosh it had to be the the HOTTEST day in Tokyo since we've been there - which means lots of melting in the hot sun D= We eventually decided to take on each part of Disneyland in a systematic way and visit each world.
As soon as i walked in i saw the castle!

Anyway so the places are divided into different worlds which are standard with all Disneylands if you haven't been to one. Basically most of the rides aren't straight rollercoasters but they all have a story to it or really nice scenery inside them (which is why i LOVE Disneyland!!) But as for thrill rides/rollercoasters, the only ones that are worth waiting ages for are Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain. And those were at least an 80 minute wait in long queues.


However in Tokyo Disneyland they have an option to use 'fast track' tickets, which don't cost any more money and are open to all visitors. Basically some rides have fast track machines which allows you to skip the queue for one ride at a certain time. It was kind of confusing but we got the hang of it and it helps with cutting the big lines really well. Its a good system cuz everyone in the park gets a turn to skip queues if they wish to.

Also they have a midday and nighttime parade of Disney Characters for everyone to watch. It goes for about 15 minutes or so. This time of year, the theme is Halloween so everything was decorated with pumpkins and spiders and whatnot, and the parade was no different. They had this really CATCHY song about Halloween, kinda like 'Its a Small World'.

I LOVE the Disney characters! Even like Cinderella and stuff were done by non-asians, they went to alot of trouble to get people that looked like their characters! However when they came up for photos they never stayed there for very long =(

Also another thing about Tokyo Disneyland, is that wearing Minnie mouse ears or Disney accessories is VERY popular!! So if u want to buy that gigantic Minnie bow, do it here and wear it all day, it wont be weird, it's trendy!! =)) (so i got my own in the end ^^)

But yes we stayed until about 8.30 for the night parade and fireworks, which was short but very nice end to a long and exciting day. Disneyland closes at 10pm, so we headed home to beat the rush. Anyway did i mention Disneyland is really pretty, even at night? All the fairylights turn on and (if there wasnt such a crowd) its feels magical. =) i love it..fairytales and all!

So Away from the City...

Its been a few days since i've updated this but...since i skipped a day yesterday due to tiredness (i feel behind on my travels again) i better do the last few days quickly aha.

Anyway as the title suggests, today we took a break from the crazy hustle and bustle of city life and travelled a bit farther to see the older part of Japan. So the planned itinerary today is to head to Kamakura, a small coastal city about an hour or so away from Tokyo. but i was so tired today that i pretty much slept through most of the ride - i find that sitting on pub transport does that to me now ._. Anyway it was a pretty hot day and there was gonna be alot of walking so i stocked up on water and wore my hair up =)


The first thing we did upon reaching Kamakura was find a place to eat. There was a Macdonalds surprisingly but we found a pretty good small place which offered delicious sashimi and other dishes at reasonable prices. We've been eating pretty expensive food lately so it was good to have some cheaper food!!



Anyway so after lunch we decided to wake down the old cobbled streets - inevitably to explore and do more shopping, but these streets were very different and the shops sold more souvenir type stuff as well as local food and drinks. It had a very lively village feel to it and was a nice break from all the excessiveness of the city. It was pretty crowded as well - i didnt expect it to be such a popular place since we were so far away.



yeh these streets really made me feel like putting on a ninja/samurai costume and run around slashing people aha. Some of the houses and buildings were old and built in the traditional Japanese way - and personally i find them fascinating and interesting and i'd love to stay in a Ryokan one day (*sniff why aren't i going to Kyoto?) Well anyway here are some of the buildings i took snaps of:


Love love love! Okay so i know you see these everywhere in Tokyo but i really do love them and wish i could do cosplays here - in Australia we just don't have some of the same beautiful scenery.

Anyway so when we explored to our hearts on content we quickly hopped on the bus to see some Shrines and the Giant Buddha. We stopped at the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine which is Kamakura's most important shrine. In front was a 'Torii' a kind of gateway that is commonly found in front of Shinto Shrines.
There were also little vendors which sold sweet and fruits. There was this AWESOME lady who sold sliced pineapple, and every time u bought one u play 'Janken' (rock,scissors paper) with her and if u won, u get a free slice =)! I won twice ^^

AND other stuff they sold were toffee apple and toffee grape. GOSH the toffee grape is a MUST try! they are really like little grape lollipops and are so nice. Unfortunately i haven't seen it anywhere else!



Anyway in the right picture u can see the shrine at the top. Luckily as we climbed up there i we were able to witness a traditional wedding taking place there! It was very very formal, with only a handful of guests and no speaking (well i didn't hear any) only the sound of the band playing some high pitched instrument. For me it seemed very graceful and meaningful - but as a foreigner it also seemed very exotic and strange.



At the top of the Shrine there were Miko selling lucky charms and fortunes for ¥100. I did my fortune and got 'Sue-kichi', which apparently means good luck but on the lower end of the scale! So to counteract that i tied it the the tree and hoped it wouldn't come true...>< There was also a museum and other parts to this temple but we did not have time to explore it all so we turned back after getting our fortunes.

Next was the bus ride to the giant Buddha!
Not much to say about it really.. but the interesting thing about these shrines was that we had to wash our hands before entering. It was kind of a ritual where you scoop up some spring water and run your hands under them. I suppose it was something to wash bad spirits or luck away and to purify the soul =)



And the giant Buddha was pretty giant =) But mostly me and sisters forgot the sightseeing and decided to photowhore at the temple instead! (is that like sacrilegious??) hope not =='



yup so there he is.
IF you come here there are very beautiful gardens and shrines but that's about it. Anyway so we headed back to rest up for the day, because next up is: TOKYO DISNEYLAND!

til next time~

Tokyo Game Show 2010!!

SO if you don't know what the Tokyo game Show is, this is it:


Basically its a gigantic annual video game expo/ convention held in Japan's Makuhari Messe in Chiba and goes for 4 days - 2 days specially for press and media and 2 days for the public. This year it was held on the 16th-19th September.
If u thought the picture of the convention was big, think this, plus 2 more rooms!! I was blown away as soon as i walked inside the door - i'd never been to a gaming convention before so i didn't know what to expect. The ride there from Roppongi took awhile, it took two trains one being over half an hour, to get there. The day was also very hot and there people flocking there from every direction.

I was very afraid it would be sold out before we got there cuz we only got there an hour after the convention officially opened and the line was very long. However it only cost ¥1200 ($15AUD) to get in which was a pretty cheap price for all the games that were available for testing. We were able to skip the huge line and go into the foreigners gate, which had no line at all =)



So the layout of the place basically went as follows: One room is divided into at least four major game developers and publishers, notable companies included NAMCO BANDAI, Capcom, Sony, Microsoft.Co, Square Enix, Sega and Konami. So each company made their section basically into a different gaming world, decorated with their own logo, game titles and gigantic screens featuring the lastest games to be released. To try any game there is usually quite a long wait, at least half an hour and even an hour for some of the more popular games. And did i mention how many people there were! It was packed and the hot, humid weather did not help one bit, but for game lovers and otakus out there, it was absolute paradise.

And for those who aren't completely with it in the game world, there were other things too wow at such as the famous japanese cosplay girls, which dress up in skimpy (and cute) costumes promoting games to the adoring male public. There was also a special event which saw skilled street fighter players battle it out.


(Which one was the cutest? =3)

And last but not least there was a special section for game cosplayers, the majority of which were from final fantasy (well that i saw anyway). i was surprised because i dunno why but i thought Japanese cosplayers were legendary, but some of them were pretty normal. However of course there were awesome ones included. Another thing is when they show some leg skin they almost always wear stockings...but yeh they weren't pretty compared to game cosplay girls lol!
anyway here's some i liked:

Someone did Warrior of Light yay =D So it was a pretty good day in all, my only regret was not trying the new Dissidia 012 (duodecim) and the new Kingdom Hearts, Birth by Sleep...square Enix was at the end of the hall and the tickets sold out when we got there =(( sigh noooo. so ruined an awesome day but anyway for gamers, definitely a must go. ^^

Cant wait for so many games now!! just wish some of them came out in English..especially those 'host games' ahah ^^ time to learn jap @___@

Shopping so far..

Anyway like i said, here's what i bought so far. I made a list before i left of all the things i wanted to get when i was in Japan and...i think ive gotten only one or two, and the other things we're jsut on a whim and because it was there. Gotten so side tracked! but anyway first off:

1. Kicks!

They were so colourful and bright, i just had to get a pair. I've wanted some for awhile now, but in Melbourne they were quite expensive and didn't have any styles i liked. I got this for ¥5400 (about $66AUD). The brand is COCO LULU which specializes in ''mixed-casual American Street POP style with a tinge of street funk.''

2. Discount store

Roppongi has a fabulous discount store! It is about 5 mins away from my apartment and has five floors of anything and everything you could want! Like first off is a HUGE cosmetics, hair products, and accessories section, food, furniture, everything!!! sooo hard not to go nuts >Anyway so i bought these there, and it totalled about $30AUD or so. and for fake eyelash enthusiasts, there are TONS and TONS in every shape and size.

3. Yoku Moku


The heavenly biscuit i mentioned in my last post. Thin buttery biscuit on the outside, chocolate-that-melts-in-your-mouth on the inside. Cost about ¥1200 ($15AUD) a box. Best gift!

4. Washi Paper and Geta

I havent written this in my blog yet but i visited old Tokyo, and travelled to a town called Kamakura. Anyway they had heaps of little japanese shops selling souvenir type goods. I bought handmade washi paper. The big packet cost about ¥300 ($3.70AUD) and the smaller ones about ¥200 ($2.50AUD) which is really cheap! In Melb these would cost anywhere up from $10 a packet! i also bought a pair of geta, sandles made of wood which are worn with yukata. They were on sale and cost me ¥1000 ($12.30AUD) which was awesome so i bought a few. There were more expensive ones in town though ^^ Anyway both nice presents from old Tokyo ^^

Stay tuned for more shopping!!~

Shinjuku Dori and Yoku Moku!

**on an unrelated note~**
okay im actually a few days behind on these posts...so i say today but it really happened a few days ago. Its really hard keeping up when there so much to do and whatnot but i will try..

So i visited Shinjuku, which is a district in Tokyo that is known for being really busy. It was much nicer than some of the places we had visited already and it felt much cleaner - well compared to Roppongi aha.

The first thing we did was have lunch there after walking around a bit, My aunty had booked and prepared this lunch before we had even left to japan, so i was pretty impressed with her organizational skills.
It was an underground Yakitori restaurant. I love it how the restaurants here are so hard to see from outside but they make use of basements and its very furnished and beautiful inside. So you never know what ur gonna find in there, but in Japan you can be sure that everything will look nice and well presented.

The yakitori was beautifully made *drool. Didnt want the stick of meat to end =<
I thought he (or she) did it really well =) as soon as i got a camera in his general direction he posed automatically, in half a second! pretty pro ! if only i were that good at cosplay D=

So we decided to shop at a department store today, a well-known one in Shinjuku called 'Isetan' It had about 8 floors and 2 basement floors and resembled something like Myer In Melbourne City. However everything here is much more expensive or at least the same as Australian prices, so here wasn't much in the way of clothes and shoes that i wanted to buy =(
So instead i want to the 6th floor for toys and stationary =) The stationary was pretty cheap and i bought a few things for drawing manga (which hopefully i can get back into!)

Next we went down to the first level and visited the food department floor. i knew it was probably a mistake but i couldnt resist!


i absolutely LOVE these floors because is just a gigantic room chockers full of sweets and cakes just like these and they look so perfect and nice you just want to buy absolutely everything!! <3 style="font-weight: bold;">Yoku Moku'. Its basically a thin butter biscuit with white chocolate or milk chocolate inside. It was to DIE FOR. and here, in Isetan, i found it!!! tee hee ^^ i was so happy that i bought 2 boxes, costing me about ¥20oo yen (About $25) which was a bit dear for a boxes of biscuits but they're worth it, trust me!! ^ ^
I havent opened it yet but im still deciding whether to give one as a gift ehe ^^

We stayed to looked at some electronic stores until dinner time where we headed back to Roppongi for steak grill. We had to take our shoes off and sit on the floor, on cushion chairs, and we were each given paper aprons/bibs to wear XD I have to say it was one of the nicest meals we;ve had so far, as the beef was beautifully marinated.


It cost quite a bit for such small serves of meat, but for a special meal it was worth a try. =) Also its fun to cook your own food ohoh. XD

so that was the end of the day...i'm glad we ended it with a nice dinner ^^~ i'll make a post of what i have bought so far soon~ til then!