Alright, it's finally Christmas break for me and I'm done totally relaxing, so I'm going to try and catch up blogging for the last month I was in Japan! It was a big flurry of excitement and adventure and finals, so there was no way I could blog at the time! Here goes =)
So we last left off at the Tokyo Toy Show, which was pretty cool! A weekend or two after the Toy Show, I went to go visit my best friend Sada and her boyfriend David! They had studied abroad in Kyoto last year during the Spring semester and were back there again staying with their friend Sae before Sada went up north to Aomori to work at an archaeology field site (wow!). So I took a few days off from school plus the weekend to go visit them! Since they had been there for a semester before, they already know all the great places to take me =D I was sooo super excited to get out of the city and actually see some historical Japanese culture! And being in Japan together was one of my and Sada's dreams =D
So how did I get there? By bus! Kyoto is a pretty good distance away from Tokyo. You can take the Shinkansen (bullet train) I think, but it's majorly expensive! Instead, I took the night bus! It's a bus that goes during the night and is therefore cheaper than the regular bus. The total for the round trip was about $116. I bought my tickets online and just printed out a piece of paper and took it to the station! I was surprised how easy it was. I got really nervous waiting for my bus though. There were so many different buses and they each had a different name, I was scared I'd miss mine! It came right on time though and I got on just fine with my luggage and everything.
The bus was totally awesome. It was three levels, and it was a woman's only bus! Japan is cool about that sort of thing, probably because there are so many lecherous men in Japan it seems.. but on busy mornings, some trains make the first two cars of the train ladies only because it gets suuuuuper crowded and there are a lot of cases of men taking advantage of the situation to grope women >_< class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">decker night buses too, but as a foreigner and a woman it made me and my parents feel a lot better about me traveling alone to be on a women-only bus =) Plus there was like nobody on it. I was on the third floor and there were maybe three other women there!
The windows all had curtains so you could sleep, the chairs reclined super far, and they gave you slippers and a blanket! It was all pretty sweet =D I had a hard time sleeping, as I usually do in that sort of situation, but I really enjoyed looking out the window to see just how Tokyo connects to the rest of Japan, and getting my first glimpse of Japan outside of the city. I got to Kyoto a little earlier than expected, and it was really early in the morning (like 6:45), so the train station was pretty much closed. I tried to go in and use the restroom, but discovered something about Kyoto culture: public restrooms don't provide toilet paper in Kyoto! I think this is a pretty common Japan thing actually, but Tokyo is so modernized/westernized that I never ran into this in Tokyo. In Kyoto, people usually just carry around the free tissue packets that advertisers are often handing out, and there's also usually a tissue packet vending machine in the restroom. I also learned that most public toilets in Kyoto are the traditional Japanese "squatter" toilets, which I do not like at all! I think I only used those twice my whole time in Japan, and it was only in the locker room at school. Ughh it was majorly gross! So with not much else to do I just waited around for Sada and David, and they showed up pretty quickly! Hooray! I was so happy to see them ^^
We did so much on our first day that I'll leave this post for now and start a new one for Day 1 in Kyoto!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Friday, October 24, 2008
New Website - Japanotes.com
Hi everyone! I got back to America in one piece, and I'll try to write a recap of my last month in Japan sometime soon, but in the meantime I'm here to announce the new website Nick and I made! It's called Japanotes, and it's a database for all the websites that feature anime and video game sheet music. We're indexing all the songs on those sites so you can browse or search them and easily find the song you're looking for! Be sure to check it out at www.japanotes.com!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Tokyo Toy Show
Finally! It's my pics from the Tokyo Toy Show like....three weeks ago, haha!
Tokyo Big Sight! It's a crazy looking convention center! I think the top pyramid parts make up one large hall.. but all of the toy stuff was actually below all of this.
There was a big saw art piece over to the right... not sure what that's all about, haha.
It's a pretty big sight after all!
Stroller parking lot. I found this pretty interesting =)
One of the toys that won in this year's Japan best toy thing, the Unicorn Gundam, or some such.
This toy is HOT right now it seems. Japanese girls are big into things that have a dessert motif. I think because they want to appear cute and sweet, that's what their fashion is all about right now, and desserts are also cute and sweet. So this toy gives you some kind of mixture that you put into a decorating bag and design your own little dessert toys and accessories. Mom, I thought this one would be particularly interesting to you =) Notice the how-to sheets down there that show you how to use the different tips! There were ones on how to do different borders and lines too.
Some examples of what you can make.
Puzzles were also really big at the show. I was surprised! They were especially advertising these reeaallly tiny pieced puzzles.
Such tiny pieces!
They also had these 3-D food themed puzzles where you have to fit the blocks together to make some sushi or whatever. Some of them were kind of lame, like... fit these pieces of pineapple together in this glass the right way to get....a glass full of pineapple?
This one just made me laugh. This UFO thing kinda hovers magically in midair or whatever and wows your friends, but the whole setup and commercial was just full of these white kids being overdramatically impressed/surprised/frightened over the mystery UFO. Kinda reminded me of something you'd see on American TV, where you have to call in the 1-800 number, sorry no CODS (do they still even have those commercials?)
These were way cute! This whole booth was movie-based toys =) Tiny batmans!
Star Wars nesting dolls!
They also had really realistic figures, like this Joker!
I like to freak people out with this photo! Creeepy!
I'm too young to really remember Popples, but I remember some of my older cousins having their stuff, so I was really surprised to see them here! Are they making a comeback in the states? Maybe they're just hoping to market to the super sugary cute Japanese crowd right now.
View from the escalator (that you had to stand in about a 5 minute, roller-coaster style line for), where you can see all the families watching the act on the main stage (usually a young lady singing and acting with characters in costume, like Hello Kitty)
Yaay a Speed Racer booth! Small children could get their photo taken in the Mach 5! If only I was a small child..
Yeah you keep looking for a Trixie doll in there, little girl. You're not gonna find her.
Speeeeeeeeeeeed!
Hey! It's a Blue Dragon! From the new game, Blue Dragon!
Zomg Speed and Trixie Barbies! Two of my favorite childhood memories combined! These are probably on the store shelves in America, but I'm never in any store that might sell toys so I just saw them at the show!! They look great!!!
Aaaahhh I haven't really wanted a Barbie doll in a loooong time, but... it's Trixie!! Maybe when I get home I'll go find one.. She looks so cute and mod!
Speeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!! Speed > Ken. I wonder how his hair looks!
An R2-D2 USB port! There was a Darth Vader head one too.
Power Rangers! They're still big as ever over here it seems! These guys were just mannequins, but there was a big stage to the right where they were acting out a battle for the little ones!
I thought this was cool. You go in this cave looking thing, which is the booth for this card game. Then they have these tables where you can sit and they teach you how to play! It reminded me of an anime called Angelic Layer where they kind of do the same thing, really help you get started in the game. It seemed like good marketing =)
This time, a red dragon! For that card game.
So they have these win-a-card little games around in the arcades and stuff, and I think you have to play some little game and depending on how you do you get some trading cards or playing cards for your series? They had a whole bunch set up here. It was fun to see the different types of people lined up. Kind of older kids to adults for like the DBZ, Naruto, and that monkey thing.. then younger kids... mostly boys, and then on the right was stuff like Pretty Cure 5 where it was all just little tiny girls lined up, hehehe.
So that was the toy show! Nothing crazy innovative or whatever, but it was fun to go see =)
Tokyo Big Sight! It's a crazy looking convention center! I think the top pyramid parts make up one large hall.. but all of the toy stuff was actually below all of this.
There was a big saw art piece over to the right... not sure what that's all about, haha.
It's a pretty big sight after all!
Stroller parking lot. I found this pretty interesting =)
One of the toys that won in this year's Japan best toy thing, the Unicorn Gundam, or some such.
This toy is HOT right now it seems. Japanese girls are big into things that have a dessert motif. I think because they want to appear cute and sweet, that's what their fashion is all about right now, and desserts are also cute and sweet. So this toy gives you some kind of mixture that you put into a decorating bag and design your own little dessert toys and accessories. Mom, I thought this one would be particularly interesting to you =) Notice the how-to sheets down there that show you how to use the different tips! There were ones on how to do different borders and lines too.
Some examples of what you can make.
Puzzles were also really big at the show. I was surprised! They were especially advertising these reeaallly tiny pieced puzzles.
Such tiny pieces!
They also had these 3-D food themed puzzles where you have to fit the blocks together to make some sushi or whatever. Some of them were kind of lame, like... fit these pieces of pineapple together in this glass the right way to get....a glass full of pineapple?
This one just made me laugh. This UFO thing kinda hovers magically in midair or whatever and wows your friends, but the whole setup and commercial was just full of these white kids being overdramatically impressed/surprised/frightened over the mystery UFO. Kinda reminded me of something you'd see on American TV, where you have to call in the 1-800 number, sorry no CODS (do they still even have those commercials?)
These were way cute! This whole booth was movie-based toys =) Tiny batmans!
Star Wars nesting dolls!
They also had really realistic figures, like this Joker! 
I like to freak people out with this photo! Creeepy!
I'm too young to really remember Popples, but I remember some of my older cousins having their stuff, so I was really surprised to see them here! Are they making a comeback in the states? Maybe they're just hoping to market to the super sugary cute Japanese crowd right now.
View from the escalator (that you had to stand in about a 5 minute, roller-coaster style line for), where you can see all the families watching the act on the main stage (usually a young lady singing and acting with characters in costume, like Hello Kitty)
Yaay a Speed Racer booth! Small children could get their photo taken in the Mach 5! If only I was a small child..
Yeah you keep looking for a Trixie doll in there, little girl. You're not gonna find her.
Speeeeeeeeeeeed!
Hey! It's a Blue Dragon! From the new game, Blue Dragon!
Zomg Speed and Trixie Barbies! Two of my favorite childhood memories combined! These are probably on the store shelves in America, but I'm never in any store that might sell toys so I just saw them at the show!! They look great!!!
Aaaahhh I haven't really wanted a Barbie doll in a loooong time, but... it's Trixie!! Maybe when I get home I'll go find one.. She looks so cute and mod!
Speeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!! Speed > Ken. I wonder how his hair looks!
An R2-D2 USB port! There was a Darth Vader head one too.
Power Rangers! They're still big as ever over here it seems! These guys were just mannequins, but there was a big stage to the right where they were acting out a battle for the little ones!
I thought this was cool. You go in this cave looking thing, which is the booth for this card game. Then they have these tables where you can sit and they teach you how to play! It reminded me of an anime called Angelic Layer where they kind of do the same thing, really help you get started in the game. It seemed like good marketing =)
This time, a red dragon! For that card game.
So they have these win-a-card little games around in the arcades and stuff, and I think you have to play some little game and depending on how you do you get some trading cards or playing cards for your series? They had a whole bunch set up here. It was fun to see the different types of people lined up. Kind of older kids to adults for like the DBZ, Naruto, and that monkey thing.. then younger kids... mostly boys, and then on the right was stuff like Pretty Cure 5 where it was all just little tiny girls lined up, hehehe.So that was the toy show! Nothing crazy innovative or whatever, but it was fun to go see =)
Thursday, June 26, 2008
3 Months!
Happy 3 Month Anniversary to us!
In celebration, here's that photos-only post I promised =) Photos of the Tokyo Toy Show will be next post!
The view from the 8th floor of the library, where I usually like to study! It's beautiful when it's not raining =)
A crepe from the crepe place in the station. The insides were great, but the crepe part was kind of tasteless.
A big lion statue on a building! This is in Kawaguchi, next to the arcade I usually observe for my class.
Here's some of the food from the really nice 1st year lock nomikai!
Ansen and Kay choosing drinks
Hunter and Jiro
Me and Diana!
Me and my new friends Emi and Mai!
My knees after learning the lock routine. Yeaah.. there was a ridiculous fall that had no trick to lessening the pain, except to not do it much until the day of the performance. Oof. Needless to say I bought kneepads after that.
The eel dinner I got with Greg and Jen for our two month anniversary!
Hunter and Kay
This is a famous statue in Shibuya of a dog named Hachiko. The story goes that after Hachiko's owner died, the dog continued its routine of waiting for him at the station every evening, for 10 years. The Hachiko statue is a well-known place for people to meet up when they leave Shibuya station.
A big ad for the new Indiana Jones movie in Shibuya.
Ansen in line to get into Studio Coast for our performance, eating a bento like some busy salaryman!
Studio Coast, aka ageHa! Party People!
Jen and I after a VERY long week and performance day... my makeup turned into zombie eyes.
Speed Racer poster in Ikebukuro station, woooooooo!!
The ice cream place that Jeannette and Julie and I went to in Ikebukuro, called Milky
This isn't the one we got, but if I go again this is the one I'm getting.
Everything was star-themed! I thought this lamp tower thing next to us was really cool..
..so I took two photos of it!
Jeannette and Julie!
Our crazy ice cream dish! I think it was the Gemini? It was banana-chocolate themed. That spaghetti looking stuff on the outside was some kind of banana foam! Weird! And those brown things seemed to be azuki beans without any sweetening......you can pass on those if you get this dish, haha. Whose crazy idea...
Cute!!
Hahahaha
We also had to get two pieces of cake so we were all paying customers. This is the aftermath. I should go back and steal that star-shaped dish........
Come see scenic Kawaguchi! You can see this crazy water sculpture from the train, so I went to go check it out!
Turns out there's a huge nature trail in Kawaguchi and it's really pretty! Here's a waterfall they made I guess!
On an unrelated note... I was disappointed when I bought these Country Ma'am cookies and opened them up only to reveal that each cookie was individually wrapped. Sure, I guess it keeps them soft. Sure, I guess it makes them easy to put in a lunchbox or something. But for as particular as they are about separating trash and stuff like that, they suuuure don't hold back when it comes to packaging. (They were delicious though. Thanks Country Ma'am, whoever you are.)
In celebration, here's that photos-only post I promised =) Photos of the Tokyo Toy Show will be next post!
The view from the 8th floor of the library, where I usually like to study! It's beautiful when it's not raining =)
A crepe from the crepe place in the station. The insides were great, but the crepe part was kind of tasteless.
A big lion statue on a building! This is in Kawaguchi, next to the arcade I usually observe for my class.
Here's some of the food from the really nice 1st year lock nomikai!
Ansen and Kay choosing drinks
Hunter and Jiro
Me and Diana!
Me and my new friends Emi and Mai!
My knees after learning the lock routine. Yeaah.. there was a ridiculous fall that had no trick to lessening the pain, except to not do it much until the day of the performance. Oof. Needless to say I bought kneepads after that.
The eel dinner I got with Greg and Jen for our two month anniversary!
Hunter and Kay
This is a famous statue in Shibuya of a dog named Hachiko. The story goes that after Hachiko's owner died, the dog continued its routine of waiting for him at the station every evening, for 10 years. The Hachiko statue is a well-known place for people to meet up when they leave Shibuya station.
A big ad for the new Indiana Jones movie in Shibuya.
Ansen in line to get into Studio Coast for our performance, eating a bento like some busy salaryman!
Studio Coast, aka ageHa! Party People!
Jen and I after a VERY long week and performance day... my makeup turned into zombie eyes.
Speed Racer poster in Ikebukuro station, woooooooo!!
The ice cream place that Jeannette and Julie and I went to in Ikebukuro, called Milky 
This isn't the one we got, but if I go again this is the one I'm getting.
Everything was star-themed! I thought this lamp tower thing next to us was really cool..
..so I took two photos of it!
Jeannette and Julie!
Our crazy ice cream dish! I think it was the Gemini? It was banana-chocolate themed. That spaghetti looking stuff on the outside was some kind of banana foam! Weird! And those brown things seemed to be azuki beans without any sweetening......you can pass on those if you get this dish, haha. Whose crazy idea...
Cute!!
Hahahaha
We also had to get two pieces of cake so we were all paying customers. This is the aftermath. I should go back and steal that star-shaped dish........
Come see scenic Kawaguchi! You can see this crazy water sculpture from the train, so I went to go check it out!
Turns out there's a huge nature trail in Kawaguchi and it's really pretty! Here's a waterfall they made I guess!
On an unrelated note... I was disappointed when I bought these Country Ma'am cookies and opened them up only to reveal that each cookie was individually wrapped. Sure, I guess it keeps them soft. Sure, I guess it makes them easy to put in a lunchbox or something. But for as particular as they are about separating trash and stuff like that, they suuuure don't hold back when it comes to packaging. (They were delicious though. Thanks Country Ma'am, whoever you are.)
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