Sunday, January 16, 2011

Japan Trip Day 3 & 4

Day 3

I believe, it was a Sunday when we decided to head down to Akihabara coz Pc told us that it would be much more crowded/interesting/happening/etc. But it just turns out to be crowded and nothing more. Apparently, someone from the K's House dorm told us that a stabbing incident happened before and thus some of the activity present at Akiba has toned down. ;_;


Soooo yea, right out of Akihabara station, we were greeted by the SEGA building. We kept going pass this building but never actually going into it.


Took a left turn from SEGA building and was greeted by this cute information poster along the buildings. I forgot about the content so maybe you can decipher it for yourself xD.


Whoever feels sexy can snap pictures of themselves here.


Pc and his failed attempt at looking moe.





I was looking for an otaku blood donation center featured by Danny Choo before and found it on the 5th floor of one of the buildings.


The entranceway to the said donation center. They were having some Tony Taka theme this round. Pity we weren't really allowed to take a tour within. Only blood donors are allowed to do so and we had a restriction for donating since we are foreigners. So we left with only this shot taken.


One of the alley ways had this promotional poster for Nitro+'s new game.


Back to the main street where all the goodies really are.


We chanced upon this awesome poster of Keima from 'The World God Only Knows'



A whole shelf of eroges :D I forgot where we took a shot of this. We aren't actually allowed to take any shots of stuff in shops but my bro had just acquired the skill 'Ninja Shot' and was happily taking pot luck shots of the said prohibited areas.


One of the more raunchy suggestive promotional posters. These things are everywhere so just you know. It's a very normal thing for them.


There was a sort of event at Akiba Square (photos below) and we were really fortunate to come across this Itasha most probably owned by some big gun of Nitro+.


The cool car was practically plastered with Sonico.


It would be my dream when i have the moolah in future to own a car such as this...


Said event at Akiba Square after the crowd has dispersed later in the afternoon.


Mostly featured booths from ero-game companies if i'm not mistaken. They were selling stuff like dakimakuras, CDs and misc stuff which were mostly gone when we were looking around.


Nippon Ichi Software! The cool doods who did Disgaea series! DOOOOOOOOOD!!!!! They were promoting their latest game here, i think it was called 'Criminal Girls' or something.



We like to break rules, particularly on this signage. A true ninja my bro has turned into.


Ze Animate store (duh)


Tony Taka was having an exhibition of his works at the basement of Toranoana and his latest work, particularly this one is just too awesome to describe. We weren't allowed to take pics again so...yea you know.



A precaution on the staircase of Toranoana to the upper levels of their building where the real good stuffs are.


After getting our otaku fix, we were looking around to try out maid cafes just for the kicks of it. We went for this which was quite a reasonably priced cafe with just ordinary maids with no special settings, since we just burnt our wallets earlier.



I couldn't resist asking my bro to take this shot. It's just too darn cute.


On our way back to the station, lo and behold! GUNDAM CAFE WTFUX??? i wasn't a fan so yeap nothing to see here after my wtf session.


Ready to head back for dinner.


One of the posters at the station.


Day 4

I was feeling a bit tired out after our little Akiba run on day 3. We were supposed to head to Hakone for some hotsprings and Fuji mountain scenery, but decided to go on the 5th day instead to maximize our time there since we wasted quite a bit of time finding stuff out at the station to make it a worthwhile trip anymore. So instead, we went for Washinomiya Shrine. What is so special about this shrine you ask? Read on.


Poster taken at the Washinomiya station. I'm not too sure what the kanji means but visually i think you would know too.


This is what we were here for. Washinomiya is the hometown for the author of Lucky Star and this place was used as reference spots for the anime.



We followed the breadcrumbs to the shrine.


Supposedly before this bridge (or after) was one of the settings used in the anime but we aren't hardcore enough to recognize it.


More breadcrumbs on lamp posts.


Most of the shops we passed by was decorated similarly to this.


We got lost following the crumbs along the way but yea, finally at the gates of the shrine.


Just outside the gate.


Confirmation that we are at the right shrine.




I forgot what these are called but we got to see a load of wishes by other patrons hung here.


I'll leave you to enjoy the architecture here.











Boards hung by Pc and me which can be found at the shrine now before they decide to make more room. Each board costs 1000 yen @.@" i wasn't going to participate but got poisoned along the way to do so too. The temperate here was freezing although there weren't any wind surprisingly. I had a hard time trying to draw with my frozen hands and with a ballpoint pen since Pc stole my Uni pen.



At the end of this trip back at the Washinomiya station, i was gradually falling sick. Halfway back to K's House dorm i was suffering so intensely that i lost control of my tear glands and was shaking uncontrollably. Standing and walking took all of my strength and i couldn't even mutter a word. By the time i was back to the dorm, i was down with a fever.

Fortunately, my bro was around to take care of me and later, Eddie together with his Singaporean mates back at the dorm gave me some medication. I was better the next day but not well enough to make the journey to Hakone ):

Stay tuned for the last 3 days!

Japan Trip Day 1 & 2

Me, my bro, PC and Kar Meng arrived in Japan at 11.00 pm and almost couldn't make it to our dorms that night. Fortunately we managed a last train ride halfway to our destination and took a cab for the rest of the journey which saved us $$$ for having to take a cab straight from Haneda airport =A=;; Collapsed on the bed upon arrival.

We headed off to Shinjuku on our 1st morning to check out Kinokuniya at Shinjuku. We took our time familiarizing ourselves with the railway system on the 1st day, and we invaded a lot of convenience stores asking for directions. People there are super helpful even though we weren't buying anything xD (which we do feel bad about).


The view directly out of the South exit of Shinjuku station.


Ticketing machines at the South exit.


We somehow ended up lost at the back of Takeshimaya shopping complex.


...And was greeted with the sight of Docomo Tower.

Me and my bro had an 'awesome' lunch of Krispy Kremes nearby where we shot the Tower. There wasn't much of a choice for us since we weren't familiar with the train system here yet to get us elsewhere that has vegetarian restaurants. I'll never forget this meal. The Donuts were @$!@# sweet and due to some mis-communication, i ordered a dozen between me and my bro. Couldn't finish it and brought it back to the dorm later. @o@;;

It was getting dark and looked like it was about to rain at about 5 pm, so we decided to take the train back to Akiba. Spent a couple of hours there scouting around Toranoana and looking around the other shops at the main road. We were going to spend a whole day here on another day so it was just a short visit to kill time. Unfortunately no photos were taken here.

After that little trip, me and my bro split up with the other 2 and decided to brave the odds of looking for our dinner a few stations away, listed on a very helpful book we got.

i almost cried tears of joy when we finally found the place located at Kinshicho, just 2 stations away from Kuramae (where we were staying). We had our first solid hot meal in Japan and it really brightened our spirits after toughening it out for the day. It helped get rid of that donut after-taste we had in the afternoon.


The restaurant owner was a Taiwanese and boy, was i glad that i could finally have a smooth conversation with someone other than my gang. We packed off 2 bentous from that restaurant as a contingency plan for the next day in case we couldn't find food again. The bentou was a taste of heaven *A*

The owner let us take a pic of one of the dishes another table ordered. i'm salivating just by looking at this and remembering the food there ;_;

On to day 2!

Early in the morning, me and bro + Kar Meng who tagged along decided to head off to Sensoji Temple located at Asakusa, just a 20 minute walk north of Kuramae.

Can't help but notice this cool cop at a traffic junction.


Took a pic of a telecommunications tower on our way there.


We reached the market street that stretches out for a bit before reaching the temple. Lots of delicious foodstores, sweets and souvenirs can be found here.


Me and Kar Meng decided to have some soft ice, despite the weather being extremely cold at that time. We were off our knockers. I had sour plum and it was like the best ice cream i had in a while. There's this manner-culture-thingy in Japan though, that we aren't supposed to walk and eat at the same time. So we were asked to finish up at the store itself.


One of the market lanes off the main one. Still too early and most of the stores are still closed.


Getting closer to Sensoji Temple!


Entranceway.




The altar directly after the donation box.


Donation box where we threw in a few some coins, clapped our hands, bow and paid homage/made wishes.


Mikuji, where we get our fortunes on a slip of paper after a donation of 100 yen.




Later in the afternoon headed down with the guys and Eddie to Nakano to meet up with our Japan-based friend Victor. We then eaded off to Nakano Broadway to pick up our Otaku goods. :D


Me and bro found the pioneer of vegetarian restaurants right in this place 16 years ago. It was wonderful!


2nd floor view of Nakano Broadway.


Wow?! There's actually a Games Workshop here that is actually crowded with players unlike some of the places i've been to in Australia.


We happened to pass by a small gallery in one of the floors of Nakano Broadway and took a look around since it was free entry. Stuff here are done in oilpaint and maybe acrylic. The staff took photos of us while we were busying ourselves taking photos of the gallery.


A close up on one of the works i like :)


Mandarake at Nakano Broadway that is so vast as to have things ranging from figures to music cds to artbooks. Most of the stuff are second hand stuffs that are hard to find anymore but they do have new stocks too.

Our living quarters for 4 on the first 3 nights there.


Living area of K's House is always wonderfully lively. Meeting and making friends with people from all parts of the world is part of the joy of staying at budget hostels.

I've been procrastinating far too long to post these pics up...also partially due to post-processing the pics (courtesy of my bro) and our so kind dead internet for a week. Stay tuned for more!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

CF2010 & Merry Xmas!

Let me help you with that ribbon...

Early Christmas greetings coz i will be off very soon.

As promised, photos for both day of CF courtesy of SURFACE's photographer my bro.


Overall, the event wasn't too bad but the accessibility to it was horrible. We could have died if there was a fire since the only way to get to that floor was via lifts which arrived 15 mins after you press the button.

The crowd wasn't too bad this year round despite all that and the quality of cosplayers locally are on a steady rise.

Ok folks, i've gone to Japan for a week and will be un-contactable.

Monday, December 20, 2010

mini minor updates

Watched TRON Legacy on Saturday and i took a walk down memory lane. Loved it much and i wanna get so inspired by it. Simplistic design using neon-lighted body suits. How awesome is that.

Attended Comic Fiesta during the weekend and will soon put up links to event photographs courtesy of SURFACE's photographer, my bro.

Will be in Japan for a week starting 23rd of this month till the 31st. i'll be totally unreachable during that extent so please take note buddies.

busy preparing and planning for the trip now, cya.