J-HOLIDAY DIARY 2013

19 August 2013 to 6 September 2013  

DAY 1

こんにちは！ 東京　に　とちゃくしました。Hello.

In case you did not know I am on holiday at the moment. I am in Japan of course. I left for Japan on the 19th. The flight was nice with only a little enough turbulence to make it exciting.  I watched "Oblivion" on the plane. This was one of the most boring movies I have ever seen. It was completely stupid. I also watched a Japanese movie about three women in their thirties who were not married and did not have boyfriends and were therefore stressed out.

I arrived safely at Haneda at 5:45am on the 20th. Unfortunately the ground staff told me my suitcase was misdirected and will arrive at Narita at 8:00am! Hmm?

I went to the delayed baggage desk and was given a ticket. The counter girl was hanashi-yasui (and cute). She said the suitcase would be delivered to my hotel.

From there I caught the monorail from Haneda to Hamamatsucho. Very easy and cheap. I made my way to my hotel to put in an appearance. My room would not be ready till 1:00pm.

I was so tired that I went to Yoyogi Koen to sleep on the grass. I put a pair of in-flight socks over my eyes to shield them from the sun. I fell asleep but was awaken by two park rangers who thought I might have committed suicide by taking tablets. I assured them that I was very much alive. I got sunburned arms.

Yoyogi Koen is nice. There was a girl on a park bench playing some sort of large flute. There were people waving sticks. Two people were trying to catch butterflies with nets. There were the obligatory drunks who were nevertheless harmless.

After this I went to my hotel to take a bath and sleep. At 6:00pm my suitcase still had not arrived. I phoned the ANA help desk and they said it was on its way by delivery van. I waited in the hotel waited and did not go out. It was eventually delivered to my hotel at 9:30pm. Relief!

I spent the evening unpacking. It was too late to go out so I was forced to go to Lawson to buy snacks. Sorry!  I bought yummy noodles and coffee flavoured jelly with mocha cream on top. 

By the way? What does guru-guru and goro-goro mean? Someone said it on the TV and it is not in my dictionary? I think it is "children-speak".

Tomorrow I will go to Akihabara. Depending on the weather I will go to Mt Takao, Sea Paradise, Enoshima or Nikko later in the week. Probably best not to go on weekends?

I will try and take photos, but I am not too good at that sort of thing.

 

DAY 2 

こんにちは。 お元気ですか？

Hello to you all. Unfortunately today I was not feeling too good. I woke up with a blistery rash along the length of my left forearm and a very runny nose. I recall the other day that when I slept on the grass at Yoyogi Koen my arm was itchy. I think I must have either laid down in some stinging nettle or was bitten by ants as I slept. If it doesn't clear up I will take a nice photo to show you. It is very very itchy.

At lunch time I went to Akihabara to look for Alice. She is a character from Queen's Gate anime. Unfortunately the only character figure I found was scary but not cute, and expensive. I will try Nakano or the flea-market on Sunday. My nose won't stop dripping, yuk!

In the evening I went to Maidreamin' #1 cafe by the train station. I have been here before. The maids' names are even more silly than usual, such as しし (Sisi, I guess meaning sister, not shishi the lion), ミ ラン (Milan) and スクレ (Sucre, which is French for sugar). They have now banned smoking at the tables, which is good. The menu is more streamlined now, which is not so good. Basically, if you want a meal your choice is limited to omu-rice, curry-rice, hamburger or spaghetti. I would have to admit this is not such an amazing choice. However, the maids are small and cute. There was a group of girls celebrating a birthday.  

They are having a nautically themed event at the maid cafe this Sunday. The maids will all be wearing sailor suits......ha! ha! Actually I am having a small joke with you, as sailor suits has nothing to do with naval maneuvers, unless of course it involves the navel on a maid's midriff......ha! ha! In Australia this sort of thing might be considered slightly risque, but is all innocent fun.      

It has been raining today and I am still very tired. I need to drink fruit juice for vitamin C. No photos yet. I will take some photos tomorrow. 

DAY 3

Hello to you all. お元気ですか？Today I was a bit low and only went to Nakano for an hour, then stayed in my hotel for the rest of the day. Not good. By the way, my arm is better looking now but still a bit itchy. 

DAY 4

Today I decided to go to Hakone.However I got on the wrong train and 3 hours later I ended up back where I started. I was not overly depressed by this as I do not dislike train journeys. 

I knew after 20 minutes I was on the wrong train, but as it was headed in an easterly direction I thought I would take a chance and just change to another train at a station I recognised. However, after a while there were not even any stations as such, only platforms without English translations. Very bothersome for me.  

In the afternoon I went to cry on a maid's shoulder.....ha! ha! I did draw a few pictures for them, see below. By the way the date in the corner is wrong, it is actually the 23rd today.

 

DAY 5

This morning I went to the pond at Ueno Koen. I wanted to sit by the cool water. Unfortunately you cannot see any water at all as it is full of huge water lily type plants. They have the same thing in the swamps in Darwin but full of crocodiles. Here they have ducks. Here is a picture of a temple at Ueno Koen.

After this I caught the Tobu Line train to Kawagoe. Unfortunately I did not overcome my number one phobia of eating in restaurants so I left hungry.

In the afternoon I  went to the maid cafe in Ikebukuro. I actually talked to a customer. Her name was Keiai. She was 50% Japanese and 50% Brazilian, but she looked 100% Japanese. She was friendly. I drew a picture of Fluttershy for her and gave her a 50c coin with Princess Diana on it as a souvenir. Talking with people is a bit overwhelming for me, my number two phobia, so I didn't stay too long. However, She said she goes to the cafe often so maybe I will bump into her again. It cheered me up a lot.

DAY 6

It is raining today so it must be Sunday! I was hoping to go to the flea-market but of course they cancel it if it rains. Never mind.I have had an upset stomach for a few days. I am therefore resting in the hotel today. Better luck tomorrow.

DAY 7 

Hello again. I still have a stomach ache. I am still resting in the hotel. I did at least go to the maid cafe for a few hours in the evening. Very dull. 

DAY 8

Hello once again. Today I do not have an upset stomach. Good.I took the train to Hase today. It was warm and sunny. Hase is next to the sea so there is a cool sea breeze. I took some photos of the 大仏 with some girls in the foreground. See below. I have been here before. It was surprisingly quiet.

After this I went to the 長谷寺 and took some more photos with some fish. See below. 

Can someone explain to me about the little statues in the cave. They are all lined up and some are in the rocks?

I did go into a cafe-restaurant in the temple complex. It was a nice friendly place with glass walls all the way around so you could see inside! I had udon soup. It was passable. The soup was a bit watery and the udon was definitely overcooked.

After this I walked to Enoshima along the beach, mostly. You could not see Mt Fuji at all because of the haze so I did not stop. I caught the train back to Ueno.

It has just gone 4:30pm. I am going to have a bath and do washing. I will probably go to Shibuya later. Tomorrow I will go to Mt Takao. I still need to see Hakone and Nikko.

 

 

DAY 9

こんにちは！　お元気ですか？

今日は　高尾山　に　いきました。　おてんきは　よかった。　青空　ありました。

高尾山　に、　おもしろい　しゃしん　を　とれました。　

ざんねんながら、　高尾山の上　から　富士山が　ゼンゼン　見えませんでした。　

曇り　だけ　見えました。　しゃしん　を　たくさん　とりました。　見て見て。

ところで、the other night there was a small earth tremor which lasted about 8 seconds.

I caught the Chuo Line from Kanda to Takao. Unfortunately I had to stand most of the way. At Takaosanguchi I decided to walk rather than take the cable car. I followed others who were doing the same. Bad idea as the route was a rough nature trail through tree stumps, loose rocks and mud. After 45 minutes I had returned to the cable car, with sore feet. By the way, there are lots of crabs about, which is odd. I guess they are fresh water crabs that live in the creeks? I bought some steamed buns from a vendor along the way to the top of Mt Takao. I did not know what was inside till I bit into them. It was nice but a bit odd. I think it was probably some sort of spinach, but it was also slightly sea-weedy? It was tasty. Tomorrow I will go and see QSCS Live Event in Akihabara. 

 

DAY 10

Today I did not wake up till 10:00am. I did some laundry, wrote a bog, took a bath and tidied up my hotel room. After this excitement I took a long nap. I went out at about 4:00pm and looked around the shops in Akihabara and then went to see QSCS at Heaven's Gate. Here is a picture of QSCS. They are a maid J-pop group that have their own original songs, and also lip-sync to AKB48, Vocaloid and Momoiro Clover. I drank something called gari-gari-kun. It was blue with a blue ice-block in it. It was definitely non-alcoholic. 

 

DAY 11

Today I ventured into Ikebukuro. I went to Tokyu Hands but unfortunately they were having a sale on. Therefore it was packed. It was very hot. I bought a pencil, two magic sticks, and a small artist's model, female of course, that you can bend into various positions and then draw. I was so hot I left soon after this and returned to the hotel to take a shower. I will need to go back to Ikebukuro as I forgot to got to Namja Town, Nekobukuro, the aquarium and the planetarium. I was very tired so I did not go out at all after this. I did some homework. I do not sleep well at night either. Do I have any funny anecdotes? Not really.

DAY 12

こんにちは！　お元気ですか？　　今日は　青空でした。　あつい！

けさ、　江ノ島　に　はやく行きました。　　江ノ島は　おもしろい　ところ　です。

江ノ島　で、　おてら　と　とりい　を　見に行きました。　しゃしん　を　たくさん　とりました。

そして、　おもしろい　CAVES　に　行きました。　CAVESは　すずしかったです。　きもち！

CAVESの　ほかに　カンタン　レストラン　に　いく　こと　を　しました。　

りょうり　の　しゃしん　を　とりました。　見て見て。　いつもどり　烏賊！　　

ざんねんながら、　江ノ島から、　富士山が　ほとんど　ぜんぜん　見えませんでした。

レストランの　あとで　江ノ島の水族館　に　行きました。

This is not a particularly great aquarium. It is very overpriced at 2000 Yen. After this I went back to the hotel to rest. Unfortunately I had to stand all the way from Enoshima till Ueno so I have tired feet. I am writing this blog at 10 minutes to four in the afternoon. Later I might go out.

DAY 13

Today I went to the Akihabara flea-market, but then I didn't. What I mean to say is I went to where the flea-market should have been, but it wasn't' there. I am sure it is on Sunday as I have been before? Never mind. 

I decided to walk back to Ueno, which is not far. I went to Ueno zoo, which is very cheap to get into to. It was very hot. Yesterday was 36c and today was even hotter. There were lots of heat stressed creatures, I believe they are called parents......ha! ha!

Most of the animals in the zoo appear to be of the rodent variety; such as tapir, capybara, anteater, chupacabra, gopher etc. Here are some photos. 

DAY 14

Today I was going to go to Hakone. I got on the train early at Ueno but when I got to the platform at Tokyo it was so packed and so hot I decided to give up on the idea. I think Nikko is a better bet so I may do this tomorrow. 

I went to my usual maid cafe in Akihabara for lunch instead. They had a new menu that included lots of bona-fide Japanese food such as yakisoba, gyoza, takoyaki, fukehira etc. I ate all of these except the takoyaki. I felt a bit guilty about eating the shark as I am not sure it is ethically harvested? Oh, they have something on the menu called "big chicken fly". I think they mean fry? It looks like a small chicken schnitzel. Guess what, one of the items they have on the menu is horse! The dish is called "horse-meat yukhoe''. It is raw horse-meat with a raw egg-yolk in the centre! I couldn't stop thinking about poor Fluttershy. I spent some time drawing some pictures in the maid note book. Here are some photos of the more reasonable pictures that I drew. Some of them I drew the other time I came to the cafe. It is half-past four in the afternoon. I will probably go out later?

  

DAY 15

Today I woke up late again. I went to Odaiba. They have a one piece themed fun fair here with a giant well endowed mermaid. Or they did have. It is now abandoned or at least closed down. There is nothing more creepy than an abandoned amusement park. Very tiresome. I went to take a photo of the giant gundam, see below. Unfortunately I was too late to see 3D Miku at Joypolis. In the evening I watched TV. There was a film about a geisha who wanted to be a samurai. There was also a cooking show. They cut up large slices of raw potato and fried it with cinnamon and sugar. But it might have been a yam?

 

DAY 16

Last night I had insomnia. I did not sleep at all. I lay in bed awake with my eyes shut from 11:00pm till 6:00am. At least my eyes weren't tired. I then took a bath. 

After that I went back to bed to get a few hours sleep. Then the room moved from side to side and the furniture shook. This lasted about 15 seconds. I did sleep for a few hours after this. It has been raining and there is a not so hot breeze, which is nice. I think there is a typhoon down south, which is not so nice?

I took a trip to Ikebukuro. I wanted to go to see the cats in Tokyu Hands and the exhibition centre display, which often has anime themed exhibits such a Pretty Cure or Prince of Tennis. The cat kiosk was not attended and the exhibition centre had no exhibits. There were posters for a samba display in the main area of Sunshine City but not until the day I leave for Australia. Not much luck again. I did buy some small items at Tokyu Hands.   

After this I went to Akihabara to do some shopping. I went into Azone and bought a pink see-through nightie, pink knickers, a pair of striped knee-high socks, and a punk crop-top. Not for me of course. Guess who?  I  also had a second look at Gate-opener Alice but opted not to buy. However, I did buy a giant radio-controlled tarantula, so cute! 

It is now 6:14pm. I will possibly go out later to Maidreamin'. I want to buy a CD. I will leave the spider in the hotel. 

Oh, by the way, the other day when I was in a cafe I talked with a maid who spoke perfect English with an American accent. She was not American but learnt English in New York. She is a university student and was working part time in the cafe. I think she was studying commerce or something? Anyway, she told me that if a customer talks with her she is not supposed to tell them she is a university student, but to tell them she is 17 years old. She also told me she has tried her best but cannot talk in the squeaky voice that the other maids use. She also said the customers talk to her about anime but she has no idea what they are going on about.

DAY 17

Today was the last full day in Japan for my current holiday. I wanted to wake up early to make the most of it so I set the alarm for 6:00am. Unfortunately when I woke up there was heavy rain and thunder. Oh well. It had eased off by 11:00am. Oh, by the way, in case you were a bit suspicious about yesterday's blog, those clothes that I bought were for Minoko, in case you didn't realise.    

I decided to go and have some fun with the maids in Akihabara one last time for this trip. Firstly I dropped by the Keisei Line Station in Ueno to buy a Skyliner ticket to Narita. In the ten minutes it took me to walk from my hotel to the Keisei Station and on to Uneo JR, I was damp with sweat, it was so muggy and humid. It was as bad as Darwin. Anyway, I went to Akihabara. I was surprised that there were a lot of foreign tourists, as I hadn't seen many in previous trips. I went to the No.3 and eki-mae-ni cafes that I usually frequent. I talked to a guy from Chiba. I asked him his name and he said "you can call me Ken", rather than my name is Ken, which I thought was a bit odd? He was a friendly sort of chap. Later I talked with a guy from Nagoya who I think was called Shota? I paid for a "live set" where you get a drink,  a cheki and a maid lip-syncs to your favourite song, which in my case was "Megu Megu Fire Burning Night". The maid was called Mariru. She is the top maid in Maidreamin and the other maids refer to her as Mariru-sensei. She is actually tall, extremely elegant and talented, not at all goofy and cute like most maids. Nothing else happened. Actually, today was probably one of the best days of the trip for enjoyment.

I drew a picture in the maid notebook as usual, see below. As you can probably tell my portfolio of badly drawn pictures is somewhat limited to MLPFiM and maids.