Thursday, May 29, 2008

Tokyo! (part 8) - END

About time I concluded my Japan trip lol.

Headed out to Harajuku station for the 2nd time on Saturday morning, to show my sis around the place. Since it was still rather early, we decided to visit the Meiji-jingu shrine just behind the station! It took a good 15mins before we finally reached the shrine. Along the way we ran into a large group of elderly Japanese tourists who were excitedly making their way to the shrine. Quite an amusing sight =)

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The huge torii gates! The wood for the 2 pillars came from a tree on a mountain in Taiwan. The largest torii in Tokyo I think?

And... we were in luck! I counted at least 2 couples getting married in traditional ceremonies!

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The first couple!

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A pair of huge, beautiful trees connected by a rope.

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The actual shrine itself, built in memory of Emperor Meiji.

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The 2nd couple!

It was my first time seeing this so it was quite exciting for me, and for the other tourists that were busy snapping away. I suppose the bride and groom felt as if they were celebrities or something. And those kimonos! They looked so exquisite and elaborate! If I were a Japanese girl I'd probably want to wear one of those XD

After that we walked a short distance to take a picture of the Yoyogi National Stadium, where Ayumi Hamasaki always holds her finale and countdown concerts =) I could hear a street band performing in nearby Yoyogi Park but unfortunately we didn't have enough time to investigate.

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Shibuya AX is located behind the stadium, where the likes of YUI and AKFG have performed before ^^.

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Harajuku's Meiji-dori street. Not many of those gothic dressers walking around, probably because it was still early in the morning. I could spot several groups of normally dressed youths pulling luggages <- filled with their extravagant clothings!

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The crepes! This time I ate a simple one - vanilla and blueberry. Delicious! And cooling too, on a sunny day despite the time of the year.

We walked all the way to Shibuya from Harajuku , where we headed back to the hotel to get ready to visit my dad's old colleague and friend from Hitachi, Fujita-san!

We took a long train ride all the way to Mobara station in Chiba (about 2 hours, even on an express), where Fujita-san met us with his nephew-in-law, Yuichi-san. Really nice to see them again after 5 years, with that same wide smile. Unlike the last time we had some time to spare before dinner so they showed us around their quiet hometown.

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Fujita-san and us.

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Yuichi-san (don't you think he looks like the guy who acted in the Trick series?)

We followed them around Mobara park, where we walked to a Buddhist temple surrounded by cemeteries (contrary to the obvious it was quite tranquil instead of scary). Then they brought us to Fujita-san's sister's house/salon for a drink and some snacks. Small and cozy place! Exactly the same as I remembered 5 years ago. I didn't get a haircut though XD. Met a couple of high school boys getting their hair styled in the salon. Yuichi-san then brought us to the old Hitachi factory where my dad used to work at.

Once it was time we headed off to this cozy little Italian restaurant for dinner, where the entire extended family turned up!

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Everyone was quite delighted that we were there, including Fujita-san's daughter Aya-san and niece Soko-san who bombarded my sis and me with questions about life in Singapore and other random stuff. Quite amusing when trying to understand their English while at the same time phrasing the answers so that they'd understand. Tried my hand at speaking some Japanese (and failed, sadly) although Soko-san said I was very good XD. Then we had this lively discussion about kanji vs chinese characters and names. They were quite intrigued by our chinese names, and were very amused when we translated their Japanese names into (rather bad-sounding) Chinese ones. Too bad we had to leave relatively early to catch the last train going back to Tokyo.

The next morning on Sunday, me and my dad headed down to Akihabara to take a quick look around before we flew back to Singapore. It was drizzling slightly so there wasn't much activity outside the station (I missed the cosplayers and street performers! T.T).

It's really a geek heaven! Huge buildings filled to the brim with electronics, computers, consoles and games, anime, figurines and many other random (geeky) stuff. Too bad I didn't step into the famed Maid Cafes (I didn't know what to expect, especially with my dad around =x) and that 7 floor building filled with porn mentioned by depyon XD

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And the ultimate geek nostalgia:

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I haven't seen one of those in ages! Ever since I stopped playing my SEGA console I thought cartridge game consoles were dead (minus the Gameboy). Apparently someone resurrected the Nintendo 64 and its available for sale! If it wasn't for the high prices of the cartridges I'd have bought one for old time's sake =)

After that half-satisfactory visit to Akihabara we bade farewell to Japan, back to Singapore.

Somehow I get the feeling that I'll want to go back again. Someday, when I have the money XD

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

ROCKKKK!!!!

And so the day of reckoning finally arrived on Sunday, after weeks of practice and preparation.

We had a short run-thru before heading down to Suntec City, where all the action was. I was actually expecting the Cosplay and Jrock event to take up the entire atrium, so I was kinda disappointed when I saw the Sony exhibition area XD. Anyways, there was a crowd which grew slowly, including those in the upper levels, so it wasn't bad at all.

There were a few bands playing before us, one in particular obviously loved Shiina Ringo. Pretty impressive, especially since Tokyo Jihen songs aren't the easiest. Another had a female vocalist singing male vocals which was kinda weird. Couldn't make out the lyrics for most of Luna Sea's Rosier since the song was pretty low. LOTS of cosplayers walking around, decked out in maid costumes, frilly dresses, anime characters (I saw Naruto, Bleach, Ragnarok Online, Ryuk from Deathnote) and other fancy gothic outfits. I liked Ryuk the most heheh. Too bad he didn't have an apple on hand to much on.

Soon it was our turn to go onstage. A bit nervous while setting up, but after awhile during the sound check (Sweet child 'o mine, baby!) it sort of melted away. We started with Rewrite by Asian Kung-Fu Generation, then ALONES by Aqua Timez, Driver's High and Stay Away by Larc and finally Storm by Luna Sea. Quite hard to describe how I felt, it just felt so good to stand on stage and blast on my guitar. It was fun, despite dropping my pick and stepping on the wrong pedals ^^. A pity the audience wasn't that enthusiastic, although I could tell most of them enjoyed the more popular songs (ALONES, Driver's High and Storm). Somehow Luna Sea has a lot of fans in Singapore?

Some photos and videos, credits to Helixius from YL.com =)



ALONES
Driver's High

Really high after the whole thing. Hot and tired. Sweaty. Hungry. But satisfied.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

confetti



Manchester United: Champions of England, Champions of Europe!


update: the performance timing for tomorrow has been changed to 6.45 instead of 6.15!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Hot right?

That's global warming for you. Go on, keep that air-conditioner turned on.

I'll be waiting for the rains to fall.




In another note, I've not read a serious book in a loooong time. Kite runner was probably the last one I read (which was a few months ago). My brains are rottinggggg.

Monday, May 19, 2008

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If u on that day really zhuo bo, or just happen to be at Suntec checking out bargains at MNG, check us out!

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Friday, May 16, 2008

Tokyo! (part 7)

Early on Friday morning we went to the outlet mall in Makuhari located in the Chiba prefecture for some bargain shopping XD Took a loooong train ride which took us past Tokyo Disneyland. Really brought back memories of my first ever trip to Japan.

The whole Makuhari station area was surrounded by huge suburban malls, including the outlet mall which housed brands like Nike, Aasics, Adidas, Columbia, several girlish clothing brands, and strangely, Triumph and Wacoal lingerie stores.

Bought a new pair of sneakers at the Nike store for only 2999yen!! That's only about 40SGD!

I grew tired of shopping so I took a long walk through the town park and surprise!

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Unknowingly, I had walked all the way until I reached the beach! Great view of Tokyo Bay =)

After lunch I rushed back to Tokyo to meet depyon, a fellow Singaporean who had just started studying in Waseda University. He showed me around the Takadanobaba area before leading me to the SILS faculty of Waseda. Really diverse place! There were foreign students as well as Japanese who had studied overseas, and most of them could speak really good English! I was equally impressed by the modules they could take as part of the course - A wide range of languages, sports, music and even community service! Makes me wanna study at Waseda for a semester or 2 as an exchange programme XD

We met up with a few Singaporean Waseda students before heading off to Harajuku where we met another group from Todai.

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Harajuku Station.

We walked up and down Takeshita dori as well as Omotesando Hills.

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The entire Omotesando Hills shopping mall is built on a slope, which explains the unique sloping design of its floors!

Sadly I forgot to take any more photos as the company was simply too interesting XD Heard lots of stories and jokes about their experiences of living and studying in Japan, including dates, girls, drinking, keitais, weird characters and whatnot ^^. There was a mix of the newbies, the (relatively) old birds, the and the outsider - me. You might say I was slightly envious of them =) We had such a long chat even after a long and filling dinner of ramen that we went back to the Ma-cu-Do-nal-do at Harajuku for supper and more chatting. That was where I saw my first McPork (or Ma-cu-Po-ku). I can dare say McDonald's would close down if they ever introduced that here in Singapore.

Soon the curfew times for those staying in hostels beckoned and everyone took the train back, which was still packed like hell (it was already 11pm!).
The whole experience was kinda surreal - I never expected to speak Singlish so openly and with so many fellow Singaporeans my age in Japan, of all places! It was a refreshing way to relax and just talk loads of cock especially after a long and somewhat quiet tour.

I learnt a lot about university life in Japan that night! Not to mention the life of a Singaporean student in Japan... Will definitely consider going for an exchange program in Japan in the future!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Tokyo! (part 6)

First thing on Thursday morning we took the subway to Tsukiji Fish market. However we made a very big mistake - rush hour!!!

The Ikeuburo train station was packed! People were squeezing and pushing to get past the barriers, as well as into the trains. We were lucky to get into one, although the relief lasted only a second as people continued to pour into the carriages. I finally experienced how it felt to be a sardine squashed in a tiny can - wedged between 2 towering salarymen in black coats. To make matters worse there was an accident in the Oedo subway line, so our train was stuck for a good 10minutes.

When we finally reached Tsukiji at around 11, it started to drizzle. Since we arrived too late, we missed out on the actual fish market and decided to just take a walk among the narrow alleys filled with lots and lots of stalls selling fresh seafood!

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We had a hearty brunch of ramen and beef bowl!!

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My dad was feeling partically peckish so we started to hunt for this stall which sold freshly grilled shellfish -

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I saw lots of weird shellfish, including this box of "uni" or sea urchin. My parents absolutely loved it (I just don't get the idea of eating the meat of a spiky ball thingy)

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A visit to Tsukiji wasn't complete without a taste of its fresh sushi! So we entered this sushi shop, and I was rather surprised to see a female sushi chef! You don't see many of those around.

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A fishmonger slicing up a huge piece of tuna meat.

After that rather filling visit to Tsukiji we went to Kamakura, a few stops away from Yokohama, to visit the famous Daibutsu, or Giant Buddha.

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The bus ride from the station to the temple.

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Daibutsu! According to history a huge tsunami swept into Kamakura, killing lots of people and destroying nearly everything - everything except the Daibutsu. Even the temple that housed it was swept away.

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A cute map probably drawn by one of the locals, as we walked down the sloping and winding streets of Kamakura towards the beach. On the way I was lucky to see this

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A train crossing!

After a long walk we finally found Yuigahama beach! The song by AKFG Yuigahama Kite was probably named after this beach, considering their Yokohama roots.

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We took the small train in the above picture back to the station and to Yokohama! By the time we reached Yokohama the sky had already turned dark and the rain was super heavy! Not the best weather to go walking about in the streets but we did anyway. My shoes were soaked ><

After a 15min walk we reached our destination - Chinatown!

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Thanks to the weather there wasn't much activity in Chinatown, though most of the shops were still open and brightly lighted up. Saw a number of stalls selling GIANT BAOs. And those buns were really huge! Even bigger than the da bao you can get here in Singapore.

We went into this Chinese restaurant (there were plenty of those, they practically lined the streets) for some comfort food. Though the food tasted less salty than what I was used to, they were quite good! Ate supaiku (sweet sour pork), fried rice, fish and some dimsum. The staff could speak very good Mandarin, and the manager even spoke in Cantonese! Not sure if they were Japanese though =x

More coming in part 7!