Do's & Dont's

Reflecting on my Japan trip, I have made a list of Do's and Don'ts for myself for the upcoming year.

Do's:
- More Karaoke
- More Arcade- visiting
- Definitely more Onsen-visits, preferably natural ones in Hakone.
- If shop for clothing, buy more long-sleeves since Holland is much more colder than Japan.
- VISIT A FRIGGIN LIVEHOUSE GODDAMNIT
- More Concerts
- Baseball-game was fun
- Batting Center was fun
- Prior to departure, make a investigation of good places to go out for the night.
- Prior to departure, make reservations of guesthouses in other cities than Tokyo.
- I want to visit the mountain in Hakone which is close to Mt.Fuji. More easy to get to than Fuji-san.
- During flight, refresh my memory on Japanese grammar, because my Japanese just sucked this year. XD
- GO TO NIJIMA! Reserve a guesthouse there!
- Plan the Railpass-week out. Not only the place where I want to go, but also what kind of things I want to do and see in that place.
- Wear a coat when going to Nikko.

Don'ts:
- NO MORE TEMPLES, yadayada~kyou wo zenzen kyoumi naishi! (Only three things were worth visiting, the one in Nikko (a must-see, preferably in a rainy day, very mystical feeling), Fushimi-nari in kyoto and the huge temple on a mountain also in Kyoto (forgot name).
- Don't make the railpass-week a Temple-visit trip anymore. Only Kyoto is allowed.
- Never fly with Finnair, no matter how cheap it is.
- Sleep in a room with (almost) non-existing airconditioning. The gap between the weather in Holland and the weather in Japan was too huge. Difficult to adapt to.
- Buy useless stuff anymore just because it looked cute. >.<;;
- Buy too many Manga, too heavy!

Show your moves!

Originally we wanted to go to the Yoyogi park so we could see some live performances of bands. But since it was raining and we got a bit lost, we discovered that there was competition going on. It was quite interesting, check it out!



Love this picture btw.

Yes! Photo's recovered!

Since my camera got broken during the returnflight, my SD card also got busted. But thanks to [commercial] CardRecovery [/commercial] I got my last days in Japan worth of pictures back!!

Check it out folks!

Kyoto Photoshoot

Here are some photo's of the "photoshoot" I had in Kyoto. Thanks AXT-SAMA!!!

Back in Holland.. =(

Been back in Holland for a few days now, and I tell you, I miss Japan sooooo much! Anyways, here as promised my last report of the last few days I had spend in Nihon.

On thursday we went to Ikebukuro, because there was a Mandarake specialised only in Yaoi manga. I dislike Ikebukuro, it's too busy and there aren't many cool shops. First we went to the Mandarake, but since I had already sended out my package I couldn't buy any more manga. XD So I only bought a few Gurren Lagann doujinshi. Amber went crazy on the Ookiku doujinshi. =D After this we went to a Visual Kei shop where I bought a single for Colin-sama. Next to this shop were a few Anime shops, I went a bit crazy over there. I bought some Gurren Lagann goodies, Phoenix Wright Figure, a cell of Super Pig (awesome) and the DVD Box of Soul Eater with Soul's Headband and a keychain. <3 After this we went to chill a bit at Sunshine City where I bought some presents for my sistah and his BF. We decided to go back to the guesthouse early so Amber could pack her luggage and me going further on packing mine.

On Friday we planned our Last Minute Shopping. We went to Akihabara so Amber could buy her last gifts for everybody. After that we went to Shibuya where I bought another Bape Shirt and the Teriyaki Source Cap for myself. Next was Harajuku where I bought a Lacoste shirt for my dad. At first I wanted to buy the new Nikes I saw a few days ago. But since the smallest size was US 8.5, I wasn't able to buy them. Suddenly we saw another store where they sold the Mid-High Bapesta's which I wanted to buy. So I bought those instead of the Nikes. I was in seventh heaven. XD I also bought a new shoulderbag. Ronald asked me if I could buy a wallet for his sis, but I couldn't find the sort of wallet she wanted, I did found some, but they were all mega-awesome-expensive. So I failed at his request. >.<;; After Harajuku we went back to the guesthouse so we could go to Yamashiroya later the evening. I had a tremendous headache that evening, but decided to go to Yamashiroya since I didn't wanted to waste my last few days because of a stupid headache. But since it was raining madness that evening, we didn't stay long in Ueno.

On the last day I was depressed like hell. We went to Ueno first because Amber wanted to buy a pair of Nikes. Too bad they haven't got her size. So we went to Harajuku so Amber could buy her cap (I forgot the name of the brand). After that we went to Odaiba because I wanted to go the the Arcade where you can ride a Robot Panda. But we couldn't find the Arcade. :'( We did found a mall fully decorated in China style, which was awesome. After that we ate at te foodcourt in Aqua City (our last Japanese meal...) and went to the Onsen after. WOW, the Onsen was MADLY busy, so many people. So we went to bathe for an half an hour or so and went out quickly. Onsen = relaxing. Because we wanted to buy a gift for Mayumi and Youko-san we decided to go to Ueno where we bought some cakes for them. They were very happy when we gave them the cakes!

Mayumi-san is so nice, she said that she thought of us (me and Amber) as her two daughters. She told us that she'll be lonely after we left like 10 times or so. She also gave us her card so we could e-mail her. She woke up at 6.30 am so she could help us with the luggage to the open road and to call a taxi for us. She hugged us so tightly before we got on the cab. I felt a bit more depressed when I got into the cab. >.<;;

BUT NOW.. the GOOD part... our journey home.. is HELL.

But that I'll save for later. :P

YOSSHHH~!

In about a few hours I'm gonna fly back to Holland. >.<;;; So do not want to go back to ol' boring Dutch border. Anyways, will blog my last few days in Nihon when I'm back home again.

C U kiddies!

Too lazy to blog XD

I haven't blogged for 6 days now, because I was too lazy haha. XD Anyways, saturday me, AXT and Ronald went to Osaka once again because we wanted to visit the Kaiyukan (huge aquarium where 2 sharkwhales lives). After a 3 hour travel with the Shinkansen we discovered that it was NOT a good idea to visit some main attraction on the weekends. The Kaiyukan on that day was comparable as a Japanese train at around 6PM, TOO MANY FUCKING PEOPLE!!! If there wasn't that many people, the Kaiyukan would've been more enjoyable. But since I couldn't even see the fishes, the Kaiyukan was a disaster. I did see the Sharkwhales though and they were awesome!!

After the Kaiyukan we went to Ame(ri)-mura to shop, but there wasn't really a variety on clothingstores, so we didn't buy much. After that we went to Namba to have some Yakiniku.

Sunday.. was my birthday!! But most of the peeps forgot my b-day at first.. only Ronald congratulated me at 12 o'clock. >.<;; But they got reminded of my birthday so the congratulated me in the morning. XD It was a nice birthday, I shopped 'till I dropped in Harajuku. We went to the BAPE CAFE, I went crazy. XD Afterwards we went to Shibuya to eat at the Outback Steakhouse. There I got my gofts from everbody (yay!!!!) and 6 very handsome waiters (it was dark and I was happy so they are automatically handsome to me XD) came to our table with a birthday cake and they sang Happy Birthday to me along with the rest of the Restaurant. THAT WAS MEGA AWESOME!!!! Thanks guys (especially Harmen) for doing this!!!

Sjoerd etc. went back to Holland on Monday, so me, Amber and Ronald went to Shibuya to have a new haircut at the hairdresser on the 8th floor of the 109. I had my hair cut and dyed, the (cute and funny, I had a really funny conversation with him XD) hairdresser washed my hair like 5 times or so. I'm satisfied with my new hairstyle, no, I LOVE IT. I was tired though after a 5 hour sit there. After that we went to Sega Center to do some purikura (that's a must if you have a new haircut XD). After that we went to grab a bite at the Denny's (like Wendy's) and went shopping in the LOFT and HMV.

On tuesday we went to Akiba because it was AXT's last day in Japan so he wanted to do some last minute shopping. After that we went back to the guesthouse so AXT en Ronald could post their package at the postoffice. After that me, Amber and AXT went to Shinjuku to shop at Tokyu Hands where I bought gifts for my mum and my aunties. After that we went back to Shibuya to eat at the Outback once again because it was AXT and Ronald's last day. After that we went to do some Purikura and I went wild on the 100 yen drummania.

Wednesday Ronald and AXT left to Narita early. After that me and Amber went to Aoyama because I wanted to shop at the BAPE EXCLUSIVE STORE. They had many cool stuff. I bought an AWESOME Bape Jacket and a Bape shirt for Boy. After that we went shopping in Harajuku! There I saw some MEGA-AWESOME Nike sneakers, I'm thinking about it buying it. (shopping has too many awesomeness in Japan, that's why the overrated use of AWESOME). We went back to the guesthouse early because I wanted to pack my suitcase and prepare my package to be send tomorrow.

Today.. I sended my package (bought too many Manga, so it was expensive.... damn manga XD) and after typing this post we'll be going to Ikebukuro!

Pictures will be uploaded when I'm back in Holland again!

Osaka, Kyoto & Nikko!

Since we had a restday on tuesday we went to Tokyo Dome in the evening to hit some balls again in the batting center. After that we went back to Ueno to eat at the ripp-off restaurant Za-Watami. The food was ok, but the table-charge not. And there was a Goukon going on at the table next to us, it was too damn noisy.

We went to Osaka on Wednesday. I liked it. First we visited a shrine which reminded us of the Bellsprout-Temple. But then we heard music not far from the temple, like a festival was going on. I wanted to check it out (because I heard a song from The Band Apart), but the rest wanted to visit some shrine again. But when I heard a song of Anna Tsuchiya I went crazy and ran to the music. When I got there there was indeed a festival going on, but it was organised by the Osaka University Students. So the songs I heard were all from coverbands. I loved it. First there was a band who covered Anna Tsuchiya songs. After that came a band which performed Western songs like Lost Prophets, Linkin Park, System of a Down etc.

Amber etc. went to a shrine after that but me, Ronald and AXT stayed a bit longer. I think I'll try my best to get a collegeship to Osaka University next year. XD

After the festival we went to Ameri-mura (America-town) to wait for the others. After an half an hour wait and no show-up we decided to call them. AXT took his phone out and then he noticed that he got 2 new messages from Amber. They got a delay of 1 hour and a half. We didn't had much time to see Ameri-mura, we only went to the Adidas Store and the Nike Store, where I saw an awesome coat but didn't buy it because I wanted to save my money for the Bape store in Aoyama. XD

On thursday we went to Kyoto once again, because there were still some shrines Amber etc. wanted to see and I wanted to visit the Fushimi Inari Shrine, the famous fox-shrine with 4 km worth of Tori's (the red gates). Because I wanted to have some nice pictures I asked AXT if he could take some pictures of me in my Yukata with his professional camera. I think the outcome is very nice, I haven't seen the pictures yet though. Here is 1 picture I got from him and 1 picture taken from my own camera.



After the Fushimi shrine we went to another shrine which was also very nice. I forgot the name of the shrine though. XD

Today we went to Nikko, a very traditional town in the mountains. It was soooo cold when we got there and it also rained a lot. But the shrine we went to was very nice, too bad I couldn't really enjoy it because I was almost freezing in my T-shirt and short pants. XD

We'll go to a matsuri in Hibiya this evening, so I'm gonna change in my yukata once again. XD

I hope to upload some pics soon!

Nagoya... >.<;;

Nagoya was a bit of a disappointment, the flee market was a let down and we didn't went into the Imperial Palace because it's a ripp-off according to Amber since everything was renovated. There was a science museum though in Nagoya. I really really wanted to go there but since everyone else disagreed we decided to go to the Robot Museum... which was destroyed. XD So we'll never be going back to Nagoya again. XD

In the evening we went to do some karaoke again with EVERYONE! It was fun, but too bad that the group who were travelling with the railpass this week (me included) was tired out from the journey.

We were supposed to go to Nikko today, but we decided to do that on friday because everyone of us were deadtired and Amber wasn't feeling 100% with a lot of pain in her knee.

Kyoto!

Pokemon Center wasn't as big as I had expected, it didn't have any other stuff than what the Yokohama Pokemon center had. But me being a Pokemon-fan still bought some stuff though. XD In the evening me, Ronald and AXT went to Shibuya to eat at a rolating sushibar. I had the yummiest Tuna Sushi ever. Too bad they always stick some wasabi underneath the sushi, I dislike wasabi. After that we went to the 109 and waited for the rest. Our plan was to go to the live house called Shibuya O-Nest. But when we got there, the party was already starting (almost ending even). After searching for another live house which brought no luck (all the parties started at 17 o'clock and we got there at 21 or so XD), we went back to Uguisudani where we (me, AXT and Ronald) chilled a bit at the 50 yen Arcade Center.

On sunday we went to Kyoto! Kyoto is cool, so very traditional. We visited a lot of shrines, Ronald bought 8 Omikuji because he wanted bad luck haha. I visited many shrines, my religion teacher van der Veere would be proud of me. XD Too bad we had to leave early because the last Shinkansen leaves early. Ohh the the way back was too awful, the Shinkansen was sooo full that we had to stand... for a friggin hour before we could actually sit.

Today we'll begoing to Nagoya, where we'll visit a Flee Market, an aquarium etc.!

Kamakura, Comiket & ...Sympathy?

So we went to Kamakura on thursday, a very nice traditional town not far from Tokyo. It has a beach, a lot of shrines and the "Big" Buddha. We went to the "Big" Buddha first, which wasn't big at all. XD But it delivered some nice photoshots though. After that we went to visit a few shrines, where I bought some omikuji and wrote "shin" (new) on a black stone, which is supposed to bring me some new wendings on my life or something. XD Anyways, Kamakura by all was a nice trip, it was a bit too hot, but since I'm better now I didn't got any heatstrokes or something.

Sooo yesterday hahaha we went to Comiket, the largest Anime Convention. Well... it sucked. We were a bit late when we got there, but the row to the convention was still amazingly huge. So we waited there in the bloody heat to get into the convention. After we finally arrived, Jo & Kim had to change into their cosplays. No biggy, since we already waited quite some time so we can wait a little longer. After 1 hour and a half waiting for them Kim got back telling us that Jo is not ready yet and that we should get into the convention by ourselves. Ok, waited that 1 hour and a half for nothing. So we went in to the first hall we saw and it was a good place, the Yaoi-hall. I bought some stuff (also a Initial D doujinshi for Boy XD) when Amber got a sms from Jo saying that they were waiting at the spot we waited them. So we went back... but no Jo and Kim. Ah well, you know like we'd waited more than ONE FRIGGIN HOUR for them but they didn't even felt the sympathy to wait for us. So, after the sucking Comiket we went to Aqua City to grab some food. But even there it was so fucking crowded. It was crowded in the train, crowded everywhere. You could smell the sweat of all those heated up Otaku's. If you think the Dutch Otaku's are crazy, the Japanese ones are more worst.

Anyways, in the evening I went to Ueno with AXT and Ronald because my favorite clothing shop was having a 20% sale on every piece of clothing. So I shopped there for like an hour, bought a lot and then went to do some purikura with Ronald and AXT. After that we went to the Starbucks where we waited for Amber etc. to have dinner all together. We went to the Yakiniku restaurant where we last were. Yakiniku is not a great option for when you're with a lot of people with some having a huge hunger, some not so and some who have to look out for their money. So in the end, I was still like mad hunger, we paid the bill and 4 of us went straight in again to eat Yakiniku again. I didn't tag along because I found it quite crazy to pay the bill at first and then go back in again. >.<;;

So the rest of us went to Yamashiroya to take some look around. I went to the second floor where I bought a Stitch watch foor 700 yen (5 euro) and a Cheshire Cat Agenda for school. Because I didn't know where the rest went, I went outside to found Kim sitting on the stairs also waiting. So I sat next to her and we waited... that's when the craziness occurred.

After ten minutes or so an middle-aged man came to us. He stood there and talked a bit to Kim (no idea what he was saying) and then he cam to me. He lifted up his finger pointing at my electric fan and asked "Ikura desu ka"? (How much does it cost) So I said that I had bought it at the shop behind us and ignored him. He walked away. Then another man came. He looked at us and asked: "Sympathy desu ka?" x4
We ignored him also and he went away. BUT THEN.. another man came by and he threw (no joke) some money in front of us. We were like WTFFFFF!!!! I stood up immediately and walked back into the store, wtf were those perverts men thinking!!!!! Kim was in shock also.

Japanese Middle-Aged Man are nasty.

But anyways, we had actually planned to go to Kyoto today because of the Obon Matsuri. But because we couldn't find a hostel in Kyoto we decided to drop the festival and go to Kyoto tomorrow instead. So today we'll be going to the Pokemon Center and Tokyo Tower with Jody etc.

I haven't got a chance to upload my photo's or check my e-mail, so please have patience!

Hanshin vs Giants!!!

Tuesday: because I wanted to buy a Yukata, I didnt't tag along with Amber-san etc. to the Edo Tokyo Museum, instead I went to Shibuya with Ronald and AXTO-san. We went into the mega expensively mall named Tokyu, where Yukata's go in the price of 27000. Like I'll ever buy such an expensive Yukata when I'll only wear it one or two times. After getting lost a little (I did ccame across some cool Livehouses though) we went in to the 109 where I went out again right away. Ugly trash clothing. I was almost giving up after we went to the Maruicity to find yukata's which goes from 10000 yen. Then we checked out the 109-2 (for men). Wow, there was like 4 floors with only women clothing and only 3 floors for men when it was supposed to be the mens side of 109. XD But I found a yukata there for 4000 yen, so I bought that. :P

In the evening we went to Tokyo Dome for the Spa Laqua, an onsen in the Tokyo Dome. Wow, that was relaxing. They had many sauna's, the onsen itself was really chill but the most fantastic of all was the relaxing room; a big room with a lot of relaxing chairs with a small TV on each of the chair where you can relax. The chair can be moved to an all flat position where you can sleep. I slept like a rock haha. XD

Wednesday: After having a one and an half hour of sleep I woke up at 4 a.m. because we had to go to the Tsukiji Fishmarket (largest fishmarket in the world). It was really cool to see the lively gigantic market, but I felt so dirty after I've been there, not a great combo with the onsen I had a few hours ago. XD There I bought some shitake for mum.

But today was also the day for the game: Hanshin Tigers vs Yumiuri Giants!!! Wow Tokyo Dome was sooooo cool, so huge and it was so cool to see everyone wearing at least something of their club. Baseball > Soccer x 100000000000. We sat on the Giants side, too bad they lost. XD But yesterday they did won from the Hanshin with 7-0 :o. On the last homerun of the Giants, an old Giants fan went wild and gave everyon on our row an high five. That was so cool. :P But the baseball game was one of the coolest events of this vacation.

Today we'll go to Kamakura where we'll visit the big buddha!

Picture of the Most Relaxed Man of the Week

This man was able to sleep soundly in the friggin heat, so he made it as the Most Relaxed Man of the week!!! *applaude*

Ginza & Roppongi!

Ok, first we went to Tokyo Dome to get us some Baseball Tickets (Hanshin Tigers versus Yomiyuri Giants!!!) for wednesday. After that we went to Ginza, the fanciest district of Tokyo. You'll find shops like Dior, Gucci, GAP and... the Sony Building!! That was mega awesome!! The first thing we saw was a gigantic aquarium filled with exotic fishes. The whole theme was Sony Aquarium. It has 8 floors where you can see televisions which shows some fishes or some Sony products and when you go to the 8th floor you can watch a 3D Aquarium movie! I stole the 3D glasses because it had the 'Sony Aquarium' stamp on it, as remembrance. XD

After the Sony Building we went to chill at the first Starbucks in Japan. Then we went to the East Imperial Garden just to find out it was closed today. Great. >.<;; So we headed to Roppongi, to the Modern Art Museum. For 1000 yen we were allowed to the enter the Mori building which was quite close to the Tokyo Tower (it's higher than the Tower!). The view was very nice, especially on the roof. After that we went to the Mori Art Museum where there was an exposition of some kind of French Artist. It was kinda morbid, the artist was really into the human body and pluches. But I kinda liked it. Amber didn't liked it though, she said she'll get nightmares after seeing that. XD

After the museum we went back to Ueno, we wanted to eat at the Doobies at first, but it was closed (what's up with today XD). So me and Amber went to some market looking store where we bought a Yomiyuri Giants shirts for 7 euro or so. XD I also finally bought the Adidas Limited Edition Sneakers at the ABC Mart! I also discovered a store in Ueno where they sell awesome clothing. I finally bought some pants and a very cool vest. We also went to the Book Off which sells quite cheap CD's. I bought the Stay Away single of L'Arc~en~Ciel for 105 yen (60 cents).

Tomorrow I'll go shop for a Yukata (for the Obon matsuri in Kyoto) and in the evening we'll go to Spaworld (Onsen) in Tokyo Dome! =D

Zepp Tokyo!!!

Hello kiddies!

Yesterday was a chill day! We woke up a bit later and went to Akihabara. I intentionally wanted to buy 2 R4 cards for both me and Boy, but it's like they were nowhere to be found when you want them. So I'll be buying those later this week. We walked through Akihabara when I found an extraordinary window: a window full of living penguins. The shop which kept those penguins sells Dragon Shaved Ice, it was so weird. Anyways, Akihabara is always nice to shop. Bought some Gurren Lagann goodies and some manga. After that we went to a yummy Italian restaurant. When we walked out the restaurant, there was a life-size Rilakkuma standing in front of us! He was so cuuuuute!

In the evening we went to celebrate my birthday (a bit early I know, but if I do it later then it would be a bit problematic because of the railpass), so we went to do some karaoke. It was awesome like last time, we invaded some karaoke room again and they invaded our room in return haha. Check the pics and movies on my photobucket. :P We came back to the guesthouse at around 6 o'clock in the morning, but I couldn't sleep long because I had to go to a concert the same day.

So today, after a few hours of sleep, me and Arian went to Zepp Tokyo in Aomi (where Palette Town is) to see the Match Up'08 concert. It surprised me that High and Mighty Color wasn't popular at all and that Abingdon Boys School was more popular than I had expected. What surprised me also was that there were a LOT of old ladies dressed like youngsters who were also going to that concert. Me and Arian laughed a lot at those ladies. Anyways, the concert was awesome.



First was High and Mighty Color, Mako was so cute. I have to say that I don't dislike the rap-dude anymore because he was kinda cool at the concert. Too bad they only performed for an half an hour. After H&MC came Ikimonogakari, a rather unknown band to me but I loved their performance. Inoran came next, but I didn't like their music and the singer wasn't really into it. Abingdon Boys School was aaaawweeeesoooomeeee!!! The whole crowd went wild, even the oldies haha. =D The whole concert was really cool, I enjoyed every minute of it. ^_____^

Some pictures

Text coming soon, we're going to karaoke now!

Purikura of the Week

Fill in the clouds! (we didn't got the time to do that anymore XD)

Yokohama

WOW, the weather is getting hotter and hotter, so not COOL (literally). Today we went to Yokohama, the greatest density of habitants after Tokyo. First we went to check out Yokohama's Chinatown, also the biggest Chinatown in the world. It was really cool decorated, I've really got the feeling like I'm actually in China, well, except the fact that when you walk through the street you'll hear "Irraaaishaaaaymaseeeee" every second or so. XD Anyways, since it was so bloody hot we didn't stay in Chinatown for that long.

Oh, I have found the most awesome Baopao ever: the PandaMan. It's a red bean pao decorated as a Panda. Wowowowoowow love love and so tasty! After Chinatown we walked to the Yokohama park, the way to it was the way straight to hell. It was so friggin hot I'd the feeling that I was getting a blackout twice. The "I hope we can do something more indoors tomorrow" is something I can throw in the trashbag. But the park wasn't any special, not for the way to hell anyways. After the park we walked to the Yokohama Bay, that was cool. First we went to chill in a mall so we can recover a bit from the heat. In the mall we found Pokemon Center!!! I went crazy over there hahah. So many Pikachu stuff oh oh oh. I bought a Pikachu hat and a napkin.

After Pokemon center we went to the amusement park at the bay where the famous gigantic ferris wheel and the hotel from the anime Honey & Clover is housed. I made ten thousands of pictures of that Ferris Wheel because I loved Honey & Clover. I also got into the Ferris Wheel, 15 minutes of airconditioning and chilling... ahhhhhh heaven!! After Yokohama Bay we went back to the guesthouse where we decided to go to back to Tokyo Dome in the evening again to hit some balls at the batting center. Too bad that it was almost closing time when we got there, so we didn't got the chance to do some baseball slamming. So we decided to chill at the Arcade across the street and we went back to the guesthouse afterwards.

Tomorrow is a chill day, we'll go to Akiba where I'll buy the R4 card for me and Boy. And we'll do some karaoke in the evening. NOMIHODAI!!!

Picture of the week

Because I love this picture:




Up to Yokohama!

Tokyo Bay

Yesterday we had a chill day, we went to Shibuya where I went crazy on the Mandarake, Yaoi for life hahahahha. XD After that we went to Harajuku to the Bape store where Sjoerd bought a reversible shirt which I'm jealous of. I also want to buy a Bape shirt, but I've to wait 'till I've seen the Exclusive store in Aoyama. Oh we also went to the Stussy Store where I'd bought an awesome hat. Too bad I'm still sick so I didn't had the strengh to do much these days.

Today we went to Tokyo Bay to swim. But too bad the bay we went was a non-swimming area. So we just bathed. First I went to the Disney Store to buy a gigantic Stitch beachtowel and a smaller Stitch towel.

It's really too bad that the weather in August is really too hot, I just can't stand the heat. My body is recovering really slowly because of this weather. And I might had received a heatstroke because I was feeling a bit naucious after we got off the beach. I really hate myself for being sick so fast, because at the moment I can't enjoy my vacation on the fullest. I hope we can do something a bit more indoors tomorrow, because the heat is a bit too overpowering. Also there's kinda a cold war going on between some people here, I hope they talk it out soon because a vacation is meant to enjoy and relax.

Joypolis & Onsen!

Odaiba rules. Today we went to Sega Joypolis, a gigantic arcade/ entertainment center. Entree fee is 500 yen, but you have to pay every attraction inside. But if you buy a pass for 3500 yen, you can enter all attractions for free. So we bought that. Joypolis was so cool, it looks like Sega Center in London before it became Troccadero. It has big attractions but also small ones. You have things like House of the Dead 4 Special (with 2 TV's and a car that can switch to one tv from the other), Initial D 4 Special (with real cars), Halfpipe (attraction which looks like you're skating in an halfpipe), rollercoasters etc. I loved Joypolis. After that we went to an onsen. First I thought it would be very awkward, because I've to be naked before strangers. But the onsen was so nice. First you have to change yourself into a yukata, then you enter the mainplace. It was decorated like a matsuri festival, it was really cool. First you can enter an outside footbath, which is SUPER painful. There are stones laid in the water, when you walk in it, it felt like your the stones are breaking your foot in two. You can also pay about 1500 yen to enter a special bath where little fishes picks on your foot. I didn't do that, but Sjoerd etc. did. After that we went to grab a bite and then me and Amber went into the Womans bath.

It was so friggin weird at first to see people naked. Every Japanese women have super hairy bushes. Before you enter the bath, you get 2 towels, one big and a small one. The big one you can't take along to the bath, but with the small one you may. I didn't know where to cover with that small towel, I was walking so awkwardly. First you have to cleanse yourself in the shower. The shower was FRIGGIN hot. Than you can enter a variety of Onsen, which was FRIGGIN hot. After a few tries I was finally able to enter a bath normally. The first time I couldn't handle the heat and went out of the onsen after 30 minutes or so. The second try was a lot nicer. I also had a massage for 30 minutes. OMG that was awesome. It was so painful at first, but he did loose up my muscles. I felt sooo fucking relaxed after the massage. Yes, Onsen owns.

I've uploaded my photo's. It's on the Photobucket since Flickr doesn't accept anymore pictures.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v472/Yakitorii/Japan/

Don't know what to do tomorrow yet.

Finally New Posting!

Sorry for the delay guys, but since 4 days ago the internet of the guesthouse got cut off by *kuch* AXT *kuch* XD

Since yesterday I got sick because our room's airconditioning is like non-existent. So I didn't had any good sleep for a whole week now. Since Rowandi, Jody and Kim left for Osaka today I slept in Rowandi's room, to catch up some sleep. Sadly I got interrupted by the knocking of the door because I wasn't allowed to sleep in that room because there will be a newcomer sleeping there. Anyways, I got a roomswitch with a good airco, but just today.

Anyways, since I haven't updated for 4 days now, I've a lot to write. But the sad thing is that since I didn't write up the things I did everyday I forgot a lot. Thursday we went to Ueno Zoo, because there was a panda. But when we got there, we found a lot of panda merchandise... but no panda. WHERE DID THE PANDA GO?? >.<;; Anyways, because Jody etc. was arriving today we went back to the guesthouse early. On our way home we saw a baseball practice which was really cool.

When we went back to the guesthouse Jody etc. didn't arrive yet. We got worried. But then we got a call from them, they were stuck in Ueno. They took a cab to here which was quite expensive. In the evening we went to eat Yakiniku with all the people, which was big fun. In the evening we went back to Uguisudani and went to a local cafe. The cafe stupid, so expensive and what we didn't know was that every cafe in Tokyo there is something called a table charge. So in the end we paid too much for our drink plus 300 yen table charge. Stupid cafe. So we went to the other side, got some booze and went to the roof of the guesthouse and chilled the fuck out. XD A lot cheaper.

Friday we went to Shinjuku, to the Metropolitan building. This building is higher than the Tokyo Tower, plus it's free. The view was nice, but since it was misty that day we couldn't really see much. After that we went to Shinjuku, a nice district with a lot of shops and skyscrapers. There was a mall named the Maruichi Young where the Kera Store was housed. I went crazy haha XD. After that we went to Shibuya where we met up with Jody. We went to grab a bite, ohh that was some mad funny shit. We were with like 11 people and the waiter got crazy because almost everyone of us didn't knew Japanese. But he was so cute, he was running like crazy and so helpful. After dinner we went to Cospa Shop where I got an awesome Gurren Lagann shirt and bag. After Shibuya we went to do some Karaoke! Nomihodai owns. We got crazy. XD Around 5 o'clock we went back to the gueshouse.

Saturday we had a chill day. Woke up at around 12 o'clock, went to Ikebukuro to see the newest Naruto movie (I fell asleep after the first 5 minute and woke up at the last 10 minutes), then we chilled in the roof in the guesthouse (love the spot).

Sunday... oh sunday was madness. First we went to Akihabara to find out that there is no longer a car-free sunday. After that we went to Shibuya to see Jody perform. Heh. We couldn't find the place at first, after we arrived there was like a huge row. It was bloody hot then and there were 2 crazy rockdudes behind us talking about us the whole freaking waiting time. They said that AXT was stupid when he was playing with some paper, Sjoerd a gigantic angry looking bear who could kill anyone any second. XD The most irritating was, they thought I was cute. Well, that's true (J/K XD), but it was so irritating. They were inspecting me from top to tow, and yelled Kawaii like ten million times and how they should ask me out and shit. Luckily they didn't dare because they thought I didn't know any Japanese. The whole thing was stupid, we've waited freaking long in the row and Jody wouldn't let us in. So in the end we missed the whole freaking show of Jody. I just can't get the Japanese, why party at 2 o'clock in the afternoon?? After Shibuya we went to Harajuku to the bridge, but since it was so freaking hot there was almost no cosplayers. What we did see was... the twins. It was funny because we only saw foreign cosplayers on the friggin bridge. But how big are the odds that we met the twins on that bridge?

Anyways, me, Ronald and AXT went to shop in Harajuku while Amber etc. went back to Ueno. I finally found the Banana Fish store where I bought a skirt. We also found the Bape store, nice store! We also found the Ice Cream and Billionairs Club store. I asked for a map for the Bape Cafe but since it was only half an hour left before it's closed we decided to go another day. After the Laforet we went to Hanjiro, a BIG secondhand store. Cheap cheap clothing! But too bad it was almost closing time so I couldn't really shop. After Harajuku we went to Akiba to chill in some arcades.

Today we got to Tokyo Dome. First we went to the batting centre. THAT WAS AWESOME!!! After that we went to Tokyo Dome, where a build in rollercoaster was. The whole Tokyo Dome was full of girls because today Kat-Tun will be giving a concert in Tokyo Dome. I felt really sick today, but today was also one of the hottest days. After Tokyo Dome we went to Asakusa... to find the famous shrine. We walked for more than an hour, I felt like I was getting a heatstroke, sooooo fucking hot. When we finally made it to the living world, the KFC was like heaven for me. Asakusa was nice, too bad it was kinda late when we arrived because most of the things were already closed. There I bought 2 Ichiban headbands for Boy and Werner. When I got back in the guesthouse I fell asleep right away and woke up quite late.

I hope to upload some photo's tomorrow or later this week.

Tomorrow we'll go the the Sega Joypolis in Odaiba plus the Onsen in Odaiba. ^^

Pictures!

Finally I've uploaded my pictures so far. They can be found at my Flickr Account. I also uploaded the videos on photobucket since Flickr doesn't accept it.

The link is:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v472/Yakitorii/Japan/

Yesterday night we went to Ueno to grab a bite. We wanted to do some Korean BBQ first, but we had to wait 11 minutes and since some were very hungry we went to another restaurant.... worst choice ever. Our waitress, the bitch, was a stupid fuck who can't take orders. I ordered Chaahan (fried rice) and gyoza but the bitch forgot my Chaahan. Sjoerd ordered Melon Soda and the bitch forgot that also. It wasn't even busy or something in that restaurant. So my mood was like *GRRRR BITCH*, so I paid with the smallest coins I had in my wallet. The rest did that also XD. Since I haven't had a good meal, I vented my anger on UFO Catchers. My anger was apparently good for UFO Catchers, because I got a huge Rilakkuma for 500 yen. XD

Today we'll go to Ueno Zoo!

Harajukuuuuuuuu

So, after we went to pick up AXT and Ronald from the station we went to Akihabara so that Amber could buy her camera. I bought a 2GB SD Card for my camera for 1090 yen, about 6 euro. We went back to our guesthouse and then we went to..... HARAJUKUUUUU!!!!!!!

I'M GOING CRAAAAZYYY OVER HERE!! HARAJUKU HARAJUKU HARAJUKU HARAJUKU!!!

We went to the bridge first, but the cosplayers only show up on Sundays. After this we went shopping. Like almost all my favorite clothing brands are in fucking Harajuku. Today was the hardest day for me to restrain myself from buying a lot, there was like millions of things I wanted. In the end I spent about 100 euro on 5 pieces of clothing. But trust me, I had to let a lot of things go. Soooo many fashionable people in Harajuku, not only Rock types but almost every other style. I went crazy when I saw the Sexy Dynamite London and Listen Flavor store. But the coolest of all was 'Laforet', a huge store. When you go to the groundfloor, which is divided in A and B, you'll find brands like Super Lovers, Putumayo, h.NOATO, Hell Cat Punks, Sexy Dynamite London, Algonquins and my latest favorite World Wide Love.

We also went to Kiddy Land, a huge Toystore. That was also niiiiceeee!! I saw a Gurren Lagann shirt that I'll definitely buy in Akihabara. (They only had 1 shirt of my size and it's a bit dirty)

Also, today the newest Pokemon movie got released here, so we saw a lot of cute kiddies with a Pikachu hat walking around. XD

I don't know where we'll go tonight, but I hope we can finally go to Akihabara tomorrow and not just half an hour or so. >.<;;

I also hope to upload my pictures tonight, because Amber got her luggage back.

Shibuya to Akihabara!

After I woke up at 5 A.M. today, we got outside to the Seven Eleven and bought some breakfast. Then we chilled a bit in the guesthouse and went to Shibuya. Shibuya is awesome, it's so lively and so many stylish people are walking around there. I walked the famous cross-over at the Hachiko Square, it was so great. I just walked there, just amazed because I've seen this scene so many times on Anime or Dorama but now I'm actually here. First we went to the HMV, CD's are quite expensive there. I only bought the CD I searched for a long time: "Moshpit on Disney", I was so happy when I found this CD. Then we went to the Disney Store, which was so cool decorated. You'll see it when I can upload my pics online. I can't do it now because I need Ambers Laptop for that and since she hasn't recovered her luggage yet. (the luggage will arrive tomorrow at our guesthouse)

After the Disney Store we went to the Uniqlo store where I got a present for Werner. Then we went to... BATHING APE STORE SHIBUYA. I freaked out when Amber discovered the store. But, I didn't buy anything yet, I have to wait for Aoyama and Harajuku. After that we went to the Starbucks in Hachiko Square where we've waited for Maarten, but he didn't come. >.<;; I got myself a "Matcha Kurimu Furappuciino" (Green Tea Frapp) which is SO FUCKING DELICIOUS.

So we went back to the station and got on the Chikatetsu to Odaiba where the Shounen Jump Store was (at Aqua City). I'm not such a big fan of Shounen Jump so the store wasn't really interesting for me, but Sjoerd etc. stayed a long time in there. :P After that we went to Toys 'r' Us, which was cool, kinda the same like the Toys 'R' Us in Hong Kong. We got hungry after and went to a Foodcourt. I got myself some delicious Chicken Curry (lol, I got a receiver where I have to go pick up my food when the light switched on green). We went back to the guesthouse, chilled a bit and then went to Akihabara because Amber wanted to buy a camera and Sjoerd an Ipod. So we went to the Yodobashi Camera, a gigantic electronic store. I was like "WOW". Inside 2 things got my attention, the Sanyo HD Videocam and the PS3. Both were so cheap, plus we'll get extra percent of discount because we're foreigners. So I'm thinking about getting the Sanyo Vidcam, but I'm not sure yet.

When we wanted to go back to our guesthouse, the metro actually had a delay of about 20 minutes, wtf, the Japanese metro got a delay?? It was so strange to experience that. XD

Tomorrow we'll go back to Akiba, then Amber will get the cam. After that we'll go to Harajuku. OMG, I'm really excited, I'm actually going to motherfucking Harajuku!!!!!!!!!

First Evening

Ok, Japan is awesome.

Around 6 o'clock in the evening we went to Ueno with Sjoerd etc. First we went to Yamashiroiya, a huge Games, anime and Gadgets store in Ueno. Geez, it's that I had to restraint myself, fuck awesome. After a quick look at the store we went to an arcade. UFO Catchers for the win, I won a Stitch with a tokyo shirt on! I saw arcades like Street Fighter IV, Tekken 6, a lot of Gundam stuff. Everything was 100 yen, MAD CHEAP. After ten thousand arcades we went to grab some food. The restaurant was small and you have to buy a mealticket at a vending machine. The meal was very tasty, I had Hamburger with egg on rice.

Oh, don't mind my grammar please. it's now 5 o'clock in the morning but I couldn't sleep anymore, but I'm still tired though so my mind isn't working properly yet. XD

But Tokyo at night is awesome, you see like a LOT of Business Men walking (some a bit drunk) in search of girls. It's like totally normal that a business man tries to hit on you when you're a girl. Mad funny to see. And a LOT of hookers here. We went to a 24 hour open department store with a lot of random shit and tell also sell Maid costumes etc. So it's normal to see a business man with a few hookers choosing an outfit, damn nasty haha. XD

Today we'll go to Shibuya, I'll meet up with Maarten. I'm very excited, SHIBUUUYAAAA!!!
and maybe also Akihabara...

SEVEN ELEVEN for tha WIN!!!!! XD

Pics coming soon!

Yoooosh Tokyo ni kimashitaaa!!!

Hajime no Posuto de Tokyo ni wa, konnichi waaaaaa!

Ok, our flight sucked big ass. Well the flight actual itself wasn't that horrible, but all the stuff that happened around it just sucked big time. My handluggage got checked EVERY time I went through the customs. My expensive creme (which I needed for in the airplane because I have a very dry skin) got thrown away along with my shampoo. But I bought a Japanese shampoo now for cheap, so that's not really a problem. The biggest problem was that Ambers luggage got missing when we arrived at Narita Airport. We were already worried because it took a damn long time and then the last luggage arrived but Ambers luggage was still nowhere to be found. Then some Japanese guy came along with a sign which had 2 names on it, some other guy and Ms. Pothoven. So we were like: "O shi..." Then he told us that the luggage got lost, it could be in Amsterdam or London, GREAT. The biggest problem was that Ambers medicines were in that luggage and she only had 2 days worth of medicines packed in her handluggage. So I hope they'll deliver the lugagge tomorrow ...

So anyways, we arrived in Narita. I went to buy a Suica Card (and stuffed 5000 yen in it) and we went with the Skyliner to Ueno. What we didn't know was that we couldn't use the Skyliner with the tickets we had, so along our fee of 1130 yen we had to pay 9200 yen more, GREAT 2. Anyways, we arrived in Ueno, the weather is here so hummid that my shirt got wet in an instant. And then another problem occured, we couldn't find the hostel. We were looking when a Japanese lady came to us and asked us if we needed some help. We told her that we were looking for our hostel and then she asked us where we came from. When she knew we were Dutch she began to talk in Dutch. We were like:"huh?" She had lived in Belgium and so does his son. So she and her son helped us find our hostel. But since the Japanese addresses are so friggin wicked that we wandered around the area for more then half an hour. It was so friggin hot and I was so tired from the flight that I felt like I could faint anytime. FINALLY we found the hostel, we thanked them and went in.

The hostel is quite nice, nice people and the room is ok. It has an own fridge and a (not so cool) airconditioner. But Filip (who is from Belgium) told us that we can change rooms if we want to. So we are content.

We haven't seen much of Japan yet, but we already met quite some extraordinary events.

Now we are at the hostel waiting for Sjoerd etc. and then we'll go have dinner at Ueno and visit an arcade.

Pictures will be uploaded later.

2 Days to Go!!!!!

Wowow 2 days to goooo!!! Yesterday I had my last day of work before the vacation, so it means Chill-Out these last 2 days! =D I do hope to see Batman: Dark Knight before I go though. I will do some last check-ups today, tomorrow check-in online (picking seats is always so cool, because that means the trip starts very soon!) and my sis will be coming to The Hague tomorrow. =) I'll try not to sleep tomorrow night so I'll be deadtired and sleep all through the 13 hour flight. That worked for me when I went to Hong Kong, so I think it will work this time too. XD

Speaking of Hong Kong, my friends are already making plans to go to Hong Kong for 2 weeks this Christmas. For me it's quite easy because I can stay at my family and food is hella cheap there. But I can't say if I'll tag along yet. Let's just look forward to Japan for now haha. XD

4 Days to Go!!!

And so 2 days has passed and now it's 4 days to count down! I'm getting more and more excited. Today I got my paycheck so that is also settled. ^______^ When I arrive in Narita, the first thing I'll do is go to a Seven Eleven, buy a Pocari Sweat (and some random figures), make a picture, ask someone to take a picture of us in front of the Seven Eleven, which will be the marking of my stay in Japan! I'm wondering what we'll do on the first day. Visit an Arcade is a must. :P But if I see UFO Catchers, I'll be going crazy on those things, so that's a no-no. XD

4 Days! =D

6 Days to Go!!

I've made this blog just to keep track of my Japan travel. It's also a little diary for me, so I'll be able to read back my journey when I'm in Holland again (not a very keen thought though >.<;;). I hate Dutch, so this blog will be in English.

Anyways, 6 days to go! Time sure goes fast, but it will be even faster when I'm actually in Japan itself. I'm almost done with packing, only need to pack a few more things, but I'll do that later this week. XD