My j-boy band obsession is coming along quite nicely. After a summer full of KAT-TUN concerts I decided to switch it up in winter and try out an Arashi concert instead. Arashi (aka. Storm) consists of 5 members: Mastumoto Jun, Sakurai Sho, Ninomiya Kazunari, Ohno Satoshi, and Aiba Masaki. While I prefer KAT-TUN's music over Arashi's, I like Arashi as a group better. They all seem to get along and have a nerdy/fun sort of image. I'm also a big fan of their dramas. Particularly those starting MatsuJun and Ohno. Good stuff.

Anyway, this year is Arashi's 10th year anniversary and thus they have been everywhere. On TV, in magazines, and all over the radio. They are the preferred band of pretty much every female student I teach and are considered the most popular band in Japan right now. In fact, I just watched a show last night that was recapping the most popular songs and albums from 2009 and Arashi was at the top of both lists.

I'm sure you can imagine how difficult tickets to this show would be to get. Arashi is a Johnny's band just like KAT-TUN so only those in the fan club can apply for the lottery to get tickets. I am in KAT-TUN's fan club and managed to snag tickets that way, but I am not part of Arashi's and didn't really have an interest in them until after the balloting was complete. Thus, my only option left was the blackmarket. And boy was I shocked when I started to looking for a ticket. For KAT-TUN you could get a fairly blah ticket for around the $150 mark. For arena level they usually started around $300-400. For some of the worst seats in the Tokyo Dome the starting price for an Arashi ticket was a whopping $500. Arena level? Try $2,000 plus. And no, that's not a typo.

I knew 2 other ALTs in my area who also wanted to try and get tickets as well so we made plans to try our luck the day of the show. I also wanted to pick up some concert goods even if we didn't manage to find tickets. However, I was worried that as a group of 3 we wouldn't be able to find anything or get stuck in an awkward, we could only find 2 tickets, situation. So I kept checking all the ticket selling sites and eventually bought a pair of tickets for $400 a piece. It was the best price I saw listed from the time I started looking till the day the concert started. I talked to the two other girls to see if they wanted the other ticket and if so, who would get it and decided I would sell it if they weren't interested. One of them ended up taking the ticket, but I probably could have sold it and made some money. But, it was nice to help out a friend and I was looking forward to actually sitting with someone I knew rather than a bunch of strangers.

The day before the concert was absolute crap. Pouring rain from the morning till the evening. Luckily, the day of the concert was gorgeous. I got into Tokyo a bit later than I wanted, but I started off by hitting up the goods shop. I walked away with a concert program, a bag, an Ohno uchiwa, a notebook, and pic sets of Ohno and Aiba. I really wanted one of the charms they were selling, but by the time I arrived they were sold out. Then I met up with Katrina, the girl who bought my extra ticket. She had spent the morning with Jennie who was still trying to get one. I was worried that she might not be able to given that there was a literal sea of girls with 'I want a ticket' signs. Together, we headed to Shinjuku for lunch and ice cream and got back to the Dome about 20min before the start of the concert. During this time we received many updates about Jennie's ticket finding exploits.

One thing to note about finding tickets the day of is that you can pretty much guaranteed to find one. It's really just a matter of how much you'll pay for it. There are always shady yakuza looking guys who have several to sell, but they were wanting $1,000 dollars for a crappy seat so Jennie had to pass. She also had someone approach her and told her to go to some shady host club to meet up with a woman who was selling a ticket. That was a no go to. She was approached several times and eventually ended up with a ticket in the same row as us, just on the other side of the Dome, for $500 which, while expensive, was the same price that most were selling for online before the show. I was actually surprised by how many offers for tickets she got. I wasn't expecting anyone to approach her, but apparently the other J-girls around her were actually getting jealous with how many people offered her tickets. Guess it helps to have blond hair and blue eyes. But, I also suspect those j-girls wouldn't have paid anywhere near what she did to buy the ticket. Ticket sellers are pretty smart. They know the gaijin will probably pay more than most and take full advantage....the bastards.

Anyway, the concert was amazing! When we got to the dome, we snapped some pics and headed to our seats. Normally I'd remember to stop by the 7-11 to pick up some drinks and snacks but I forgot this time. I ended up getting a really expensive orange juice box and Katrina got a soda and some type of potato snack. Our seats were pretty far back, but not too terrible or anything. I managed a quick and crappy shot of the stage, but it really wasn't much to look at.

Labels: arashi, concert, Tokyo

Went into Tokyo this weekend to celebrate Janet's birthday. We started off with a few hours at the new H&M flagship store in Shibuya. Love it! It has huge fitting rooms and there was even a 20% off everything sale happening at the time. I picked up 3 new tops and a pair of dangle earrings. From there, we headed to Pierre Herme, a fancy macaroon and chocolate shop, for some birthday cake and general chocolate overdose. I also snagged some of my favorite rose macaroons.

After that, we headed off to Alice, a theme restaurants based on the Alice in Wonderland tale. It is part of the Diamond Dinning theme restaurant group. I was a bit nervous about it, because the last Diamond Dinning theme place was Princess Heart for my birthday and it wasn't the greatest experience. However, Alice was definitely a step up from Princess Heart. Great atmosphere, good food, and interesting drinks.

Before calling it a night, we did a 2 hours Disney/Christmas song marathon karaoke session. Awesome, though I fail at remembering the names of popular Christmas songs!

The next day with hit up harajuku and went to an all you can eat desert place called Sweets Paradise. Got caught up in a huge line too, but not as huge as the one that had formed when we left the place. Then we hit up forever21. I'd never been before, so it was an interesting experience. The store was jam packed and I didn't really like it. I found a few things I was interested in buying, but the cashier lines were so long that I gave it a pass.

Then it was off to the main event of the weekend, Cirque du Soleil's Corteo. There was a bit of a panic in the beginning as we couldn't figure out where in the world it was at, but after than mishap, it was smooth sailing. Before the show we picked up some food stuffs, including some rather tasty and fresh melon pan. The show itself was interesting, if a bit confusing. Many of the acrobatic feats I've seen before at acrobatics shows in China but Cirque du Soleil takes them to the next level and with much nicer outfits and a loose story line. One of my favorite parts of the show was a midget who was attached to huge balloons and sort of walked and floated over the audience. It was surreal.

After the show it the plan was to head straight back to Yamanashi, but we ended up at the newly opened Uniqulo shoe store. Both me and Janet enjoy Uniqulo clothing and this shoe store is the first of its kind. I really hope the build more! Its the first shoe store in Japan that I've actually been able to try on my size shoe in all the patterns and colors rather than just a select few. I walked away with 2 new pairs of boots that ended up being 20% off of an already killer good price.

Then, along with my massive number of shopping bags, it was off to home.

Labels: birthday, theme restaurant, Tokyo, weekend

Let's just say I had a busy weekend.....

It started off with visiting one of my old elementary schools. I no longer teach at the school, but all the students bar the 1st graders have had me as a teacher and I currently teach their older brothers and sisters. I went to watch their sports festival. The festival was not so exciting. They get a bit old hat after watching two or three, but I really enjoyed seeing all the kids. As the saw me, groups of them would yell out my name and wave like crazy people. It was really cute.

After spending some time at the festival and talking with some of the kids, it was soon time to head to Otsuki for a pub quiz. While I suck at answering the trivia questions, its nice to get to see people I don't ofter get a chance to see and to meet some of the new people who I haven't had a chance to meet. Was a bit disappointed by the table I was assigned though. It was mostly people I already knew. I was also quite peeved at the fact that I was in the bathroom during one of the few questions I knew the answer too and my group ended up getting it wrong. Nooooooo! The pub quiz had a few interesting new rules/categories this time. There was even a physical challenge. All in all a good time. Never did end up figuring out who won as the quiz ran late and I had to catch a train to Tokyo.

Spend the night in Tokyo at one of my favorite hostels. The Sakura Inn in Jimbocho. Always a nice place and me and Janet ended up having a 4 person room all to ourselves. It was a quick stay though. We got up early the next morning to head to MakuhariMesse in Chiba for the annual Tokyo Game Show. It's been tradition over the past 2 years that me and Janet attend the show together. It's normally held during a 3 day weekend in October, but was held a bit earlier this year. Luckily I checked the website a few weeks in advance or we would have probably missed out! This year we wanted to attend 2 days instead of just 1, but due to the sports festival and pub quiz, it didn't quite work out.

Anyway, the game show was a good time as always. We got there about an hour and a half before the venue opened. Most of the game show is spent collecting 'swag' aka. various free things passed out by different companies either for doing nothing or playing certain demo games. Last year Janet manged to walk away with a decent sized stuff Sonic. Other goods from past years include key chains, mouse pads, cups, bouncy balls, and a ton of game demo CDs. This year it was clear that the swag was a bit lacking. Not as many giveaways and most of the giveaway stuff was fairly average. We did manage to pick up some jewelry, headphones, and a really cool multicolored pen/highlighter. No free game giveaways though, and the demo disks were also really scarce. There also seemed to more people and fewer vendors this year, which meant that most of the good stuff was gone exceptionally fast.

Didn't have much time to spend grabing swag though as I cosplayed this year. I went as Beatrice from 07th Expansion's Umineko no Naku Koro Ni series. I got a ton of compliments on it and had a ton of people ask to take my picture. One person even asked me if I was working for 07th Expansion as their 'booth babe' aka person who passes out fliers for a company while in costume. This got me all excited because I didn't think they'd have a booth, but in the end it turns out they didn't. I even got interviewed by 2 different TV stations. One of which was from Spain. I also managed to meet up with an online friend from Singapore who recently moved to Japan to attend school and was cosplaying from the same series as me.

I also ate at the show for the first time and was impressed by the food selection and quality. Everything but the drinks, which were going for 200yen a bottle, was really cheap too. I got 2 large chicken legs and french fries for 500yen. Couldn't even get that kind of deal at a fast food place and the food quality was significantly better than anything you'd find at a KFC. I'd even go as far to say it was sit-down restaurant worthy. Yum!

After considering stopping in Tokyo for dinner for a brief moment, we decided to head straight home. It was a very long weekend and neither of us were looking forward to work the next day.

Labels: cosplay, TGS, Tokyo, weekend, Yeti

Just had another fun filled weekend in Tokyo. I was supposed to go down to Fujiyoshida and attend a BBQ but I ended up not being able to find a ride to the party and I would have taken almost 4 hours via train and bus to get even remotely close to the lake where the party was being held, thus I opted to spend 2 hours traveling to Tokyo instead.

I spent the weekend with Katrina, who really wanted to go to the DBSK concert that was happening at the Tokyo dome. DBSK, or Tohoshinki as they are called in Japan, is a 5 member Korean boy band. I don't know much about them, but Katrina recently became a big fan of theirs. She wanted to get tickets to the concert, but they were sold out by the time she tried. I recently gained a lot of experience in getting Tokyo Dome tickets thanks to the KAT-TUN concert so I offered to help her look for some. All of the tickets I could find online were selling for at least 3man (aka $300) or more. And that was for crappy seats in the 2nd floor sections where the band would probably look like ants. She wasn't too please by those prices and opted to try her luck with scalpers on the day of.

I didn't want to wake up to early, so I just met her at the Tokyo Dome on Sat. afternoon. First we got lunch at this quaint little Italian restaurant and then it was off to hunt for some tickets. For one of the KAT-TUN concerts, I managed to buy cheap tickets off a scalper, but it was right at the start of the show and on a weekday for a concert that would be going on for 7 days straight. The DBSK concert was on the weekend and only 2 days, thus tickets were a bit scarcer. My first ticket buying via scalpers experience was super easy. When I got off the station at the Dome, there were girls just standing around with tickets to sell. This time, the only girls standing around were those with signs wanting to buy tickets of their own.

That made things a lot harder. Earlier in the day, I was paying close attention to the girls trying to buy tickets and did see a few who would approach the buyers and sell their tickets. Some things I noticed were that some girls who had already bought tickets could be seen trying to buy more later in the day. Either they had a lot of friends to buy for or where doing something a bit more shady and reselling the tickets for more than what they paid for. I was also trying to pay attention to how much the tickets were selling for and I definitely saw a few sell for under 1man.

But, for us, it was not so simple. Seeing as everyone had a sign, we stopped at a 7-11 and got a notebook to write up our own. Our sign simply said that we wanted to buy 2 tickets to the concert. At first, the only person who approached us was a seedy looking old man who wanted 3man for a ticket. We passed. However, it was really disheartening to see a bunch of other girls around us getting tickets while we were passed over. I can only assume that sellers didn't approach us because they didn't want to have to try and speak in English. I think next time our sign should also say Japanese okay! Eventually a Korean girl came up to us, but only had 1 ticket to sell. I assume she approached us because her English is better than her Japanese. By that point Katrina was getting angsty about not having a ticket and I didn't care either way, so we asked how much she wanted for the ticket. And low and behold, the price was 3man. She had one ticket to the Sat. show and another for the Sun. show. The Sat. show was for a crappy 2nd floor seat, but the one for the show on Sun. was for a 1st floor seat that seemed pretty decent. So Katrina decided to snag the Sun show ticket.

It took her quite a while to decide, but eventually she bought the ticket. It was a tough decision to make because there was a chance that we might just be able to find a cheaper ticket closer to the start time of the concert, but there were also quite a few girls holding want to buy signs so there was a chance that we wouldn't be able to find any ticket at all. I was a bit disappointed that I would not be going to the concert, but I definitely was not willing to pay 3man for a concert ticket to a band I didn't even know.

After sorting out the ticket stuff, we got in line to buy some concert goods. The line took about an hour to get through and I only ended up buying a CD of their recently released single. Katrina got a pamphlet book and a pen light to use at the concert the next day. Then we headed to Ikebukuro to check into our hotel for the night. The hotel ended up being an apartment building turned hotel, which was nice and our room was a decent size, had a decent AC, and had a nice bathroom.

After checking in, we headed to the Sunshine 60 building for some dinner. We ended up eating at the Ikebukuro Gyoza Stadium. Its part of an indoor amusement park type place and consists of various stalls selling all sort of gyoza. You actually had to pay for a ticket to get into the area where the gyoza stadium was. We hit up a few stalls and tried all sorts of gyoza. During our first round of the stalls, we were drawn to a stall that had a picture of a little old lady on the advertising poster and grabbed some gyoza from there. During a latter round, we actually ran into the real live version of the grandma who was on the advertisement. She was really cute. My favorite gyoza of the evening was this really great cheese gyoza. Yum! After that it was time for desert in what was the equivalent of the gyoza stadium, but for ice cream instead! I had some garlic flavored ice cream (that sadly tasted like plain old vanilla but came in a cool carton) and some chili pepper gelato.

After that, it seemed everything in Ikebukuro had closed down and it was only 9:30! We were thinking of catching a late night movie, but both of the theaters in town had their last moving showings at, like, 8pm. One was still open, but was only showing the new Evangelion movie. But even that didn't start till 1am. Weird. We considered doing some karaoke, but since neither of us had a karaoke place membership we decided to grab some chu-his at the combini and have a nice quite evening in our hotel.

The next day, we headed back to the Sunshine 60 building, stopping to have lunch at a really cute star themed cafe, and went to the aquarium. Started off with watching a seal show that was pretty cute and then walked around looking at various fish and animals. That weekend was the release of the Ponyo DVD. It's the newest Miyazaki movie about a strange fish girl and one of the tanks had a replica of Ponyo floating around in the tank. It was really cute!

After that we did some shopping and went up to the observatory. I ended up buying the Ponyo DVD as I haven't actually seen the movie yet, but know quite a bit about it thanks to my students. I got a bunch of freebies with it too cause I bought it from the Miyazaki store. I had heard the observatory was free the last time I came to Ikebukuro with Janet, but its not. When we went to the aquarium though, we ended up getting a combined ticket for both the aquarium and observatory because it was a pretty good deal. Went rather quickly through the observatory (the Tokyo skyline doesn't really change all that much and I've seen it from at least 3 other tall building before) and looked around at the Eva exhibit that was setup.

After that, it was time for Katrina to head to the concert and I was just plain tired and decided to head back to Yamanashi early. Somehow, I ended up with an unusually long 30min wait at Otsuki to catch the next local train and ended up having dinner at a soba/udon shop in the station. And that was my Tokyo weekend! Next weekend I vow NOT to go to Tokyo.

Labels: concert, friends, Tokyo

Spent the weekend hanging out in Tokyo with Janet. During my b-day weekend she visited the H&M store that was across the street from the Princess Heart restaurant and wanted to go back. While I didn't really need to do any shopping, I did want to go to Tokyo and see the huge 1:1 scale model Gundam that was recently constructed in Odaiba. So, off we went.

Took the early train in Tokyo. Had somewhat of a mix up as I ended up on an earlier train than the one she took, but I hoped off at the kaiyamato station and waited for her train to show up. Only had to wait about 15min, which wasn't so bad. On the train we had some breakfast. She got me some melon pan goods and also this really yummy chocolate mint drink that I am now addicted to!

First stop of the day was Odaiba. In Odaiba, we ran into this kitten store that had a huge pink cat in front of it and took some pictures. Then we went to check out the Fuji TV building. Very cool. Then we headed over to the park where the Gundam is. Seeing the Gundam was pretty cool, but the park had a really bad odor. Smelled like a herd of elephants had been recently living their. After we took a few 'action' photos we escaped the smell as fast as we could.






After Odaiba, we headed to Ginza to check out the H&M. Imagine our excitement, shock, and horror at finding there was a sale going one. Why horror you ask? Well, we are very weak willed when it come to shopping at the H&M and its really hard NOT to spend a bunch of money on clothes when you tell yourself.....well, I don't really NEED these pants, but, hey, they are 70% off so why not! We probably spent about 3 to 4 hours at the store. Very hard core of us, but a good half of that time seems to be spent waiting to get into a fitting room. So worth it though. I walked out of the store with 2 new pairs of pants, 2 cute shirts, and a summer dress for just under 1man (about $100).

After Ginza, we went to Shinjuku to check out Uniqlo's new summer stuff. And once again found ourselves in the middle of a sale. Ekk! We didn't spend so long in the Uniqlo but I ended up walking out with a pair of leggings, a summer jacket, and about 4 new summer shirts. Again, spending about 1man. And thats not the end! The department store where the Uniqulo is was doing some type of giveaway. For every $5 you spent at any store, you got a ticket. If you got 6 tickets, you got a shot at winning several prizes. Top prize was a vacation package followed by $20 worth of vouchers, $5 worth of vouchers, or a free snack from the 100 yen store. I ended up with 3 chances and won myself a free snack. Janet ended up winning the $20 worth of vouchers. So even though we were all set to move on, we ended up shopping again so she could spend her vouchers.

In our search for something to buy in the store, we ran across a shop that sold what has to be my favorite jam ever. Milk tea jam. Great stuff. I first discovered it on my trip to Kobe to see Nicole and was seriously considering asked her to ship me some more, but luck was on my side. Janet game me a voucher to buy a jar with. Then she used up the rest of the voucher on a tumbler and drink at Starbucks.

By that time it was almost 8pm. The night before we discussed going to a theme restaurant called Arabian Rock. Janet has really been wanting to go and I just love theme restaurants in general, so we called to get some reservations, but they were all booked up. However, the lady on the phone said if we just showed up we could probably wait to get it. Arabian Rock is conveniently in Shinjuku and only a 5min walk at most from the Uniqulo so we went over to see what the wait would be like. A cutie in an Arabian getup said I would be about an hour wait, which was fine with us.

Eating a late dinner usually means an overnight stay in Tokyo so while waiting to get in, we went to go check out the overnight packages at some nearby karaoke places. We also stopped by the donki store and got some random stuff. By the time we finished, almost an hour had past so we headed back to the restaurant. After a bit of a wait, we got in.

Like any good theme restaurant, we weren't imediatly seated. Instead we entered a room with a magic lamp. A genie voice over the speakers told us to......well, do something. Not even Janet could figure out what we were supposed to do. We tried rubbing the lamp, but that didn't seem to get us anywhere. At that point the genie voice started its loop again and we had no idea what was going on. Eventually I decided to try opening the lid on the lamp and the moment my fingers touched the lid, a door to the left sprung open! Nearly gave me a heard attack!

Beyond the door were 2 girls dressed up in arabian wear. They were probably a bit annoyed that we took to long to open the door, but were still really nice about everything. They had a small magic lamp with them and asked us to make a wish and rub it. When we rubbed, a flame poofed out the pouring end and then we were taken to out seats. I would put the decor to be on par with Ninja. Ninja is a bit more extensive and interactive, but it did feel really arabian in there. Our seats were huge and surrounded by a metal gate covering in a see-throughish fabric. Our host explained the rules and left us to our own devices. Not a minute after we sat down, all the lights in the restaurant suddenly turned off! We sort of looked at each other and freaked a bit until a voice on the speaker started wishing some one a happy birthday and then music started and the lights came back on. I really should of had my birthday there! They did a whole belly dancing thing and had cakes brought in by someone in a huge character costume. We got a good look at the costume because the person was standing right next to us, waiting for their cue to appear to the birthday person.

One thing I like about this restaurant over Ninja is that they make use of the server button so its easy to order. On the Arabian Rock website I was really drawn to a particular drink set. It was esentially a make your own drink kinda thing where they give you several shots of flavored liquor and a magic lamp (aka. mixer). I really wanted that, but didn't see it on the menu anywhere. Panic! But, when we placed our order they said it was a special offer that had expired but that they would go ahead and let me order it anyway. It was really awesome of them to do that for me. Later, I ended up panicking cause I didn't ask how much it was and alcohol at theme restaurants can be expensive, but it ended up only being about 2,000, which considering the about of alcohol I got, was a good deal. Janet got this really tasty looking milk and cotton candy drink.



The food was amazing. Not Ninja amazing, but the it also didn't come with Ninja's price tag either. We had some salad with potato chips, pitas with a choice of 2 dips, shrimp and potato cheese curry fondue, and steak bits cooked with a flame at our table. Round 2 consisted of a Cesar salad, curry steak dish, sweet potato fries, and then a deep fried root type thing that I forget the name of all the time. We considered dessert, but ended up not being able to finish all the extra food we order and thus no desert for us.





After dinner, it was straight to the karaoke place to try and snag a night package. The first place we tried was already full, but we did get into our second choice. After singing for about 4 hours, we both passed out in the booth. I have always wanted to overnight it in a karaoke box, but Janet always vetoed that idea in favor of a manga cafe, but she has been on a karaoke kick recently and actually suggested it this time. Personally I like the managa cafe better. Its hard for me to sleep with all the sound. But, I suspect that with some ear plugs, it would have been better.

The next morning we hit up a MacD's for a quick bite and then headed back home. Yay for a nice, relaxing weekend of shopping, eating, and more shopping.

Labels: gundam, shopping, theme restaurant, Tokyo

Birthday time! Last year I had a quiet curry dinner with some friends but this year I wanted a bit more excitement. So, I went to Tokyo to celebrate!

On my actual b-day I met up with some friends at L-River, a local bar, to celebrate both my b-day and the 100,000th post on a forum I frequent. The next day was the start of the a crazy Tokyo weekend. Took the train into Tokyo alone and got off in Shibuya. I had to stop here to check into my hotel for the evening and to pick up and pay for my tickets to China this summer. When I walked out of the train station, this woman with a clipboard asked if I had some time and if I knew any Japanese. I wasn't in a rush and she seemed fine with the fact that I only spoke a little Japanese. So, I figured we'd stand there and she would ask me a few questions, but NO! She took me around a corner and bam! There was a huge camera with lights and sound equipment setup in the corner and some girl in a frilly dress and sparkly makeup. Apparently what I thought would be a quick survey of some type ended up being a filmed TV interview! Haha! Made me wish I had time to up on my makeup that morning. No idea what show if was for, but look for me on J-TV talking about music and stress (....they were asking really random questions!). And while I was bumbling my way through the interview (god, my Japanese is horrible) a bunch of people made a circle around the TV crew to watch me.

After that rather fun fiasco, I had to hunt down the No. 1 Travel company in Shibuya. The map they sent was a bit old and I kept trying to find a Family Mart convenience store that didn't exist anymore. Luckily I had their phone number and the lady was able to direct me to their office. I left $500 lighter and headed over to the Shibuya City Hotel to check in. At the hotel I changed clothes, put on make up, and got ready for my night on the town.


From the restaurant I went to Harajuku and picked up some tickets for the KAT-TUN concert on Sunday and from there headed over to Ginza. Ginza is home to the Princess Heart restaurant. It's a theme restaurant that I have been wanting to check out and they do a special birthday thing where you get to wear a crown and have your picture taken. I was running a bit behind schedule, but managed to arrive on time. On the train over, I ran into a group of UK rugby players who were making a ruckus on the train. I was trying to ignore their drunken shenanigans but they called me over. I went only to get them to stop screaming at me from across the train. They seemed to be decent guys, if not a bit perverted. One of them tried to look up my skirt but discovered I had on what are essentially shorts underneath. Looking back, it was a really jerky thing to do but I didn't mind so much at the time as they were being really flirty. They tried to convince me to head out to Roppongi with them, but I obviously refused.




Once in Ginza, I met up with Heidi and Janet who have been checking out the H&M across the street and then we waited for everyone else to show. Problem was that everyone else was already at the restaurant. Ha. Oh well. Dinner was.....not that great. The restaurant was really sub par in both atmosphere and the deliciousness of the food. The tables looked cheap and beat up and didn't even have table clothes. The food, while very pretty to look at, wasn't very tasty. Especially not for the price. It wasn't all bad though. The special birthday desert and picture were really nice and I had a great time hanging out with everyone.






After dinner we headed to Tokyo's largest dance club, Ageha. When we first arrive we grabbed some drinks and wandered around. The place was SO empty! It was almost creepy how empty it was, but after about a hour it started to fill in and then it was suddenly packed! We all danced till about 3am at which point we headed back to Shibuya. I had booked a hotel along with 2 other friends, so we went to the hotel to crash while the rest of the group roughed it out at McDonald's and waited for the first train back home.


Normally I'd do the first train thing (way cheaper) but I actually needed some sleep because the next day I went to the KAT-TUN concert. Yes, again. That made it my fourth time. What can I say......I might be a little obsessed. On the way back home I had one last surprise. A friend who had not been able to go to dinner and dancing ended up being on the same train back home as me so we got to spend some time chatting. It was nice not to have to ride the train back home alone for once.

Definitely one of my better birthday weekends ^^

Labels: birthday, clubbing, friends, theme restaurant, Tokyo

I got lucky and got out of school early on 5/20. What better way to spend my free time that go to the Tokyo Dome for Kame's day! And this time I took notes.

This makes it my 3rd time going to the concert. The first time I had arena seats and the second time F1 stand seats. This time I was way out there in the 2F stand seats, but was also pretty much center stage, which was nice. Because it was a last minute decision, I didn't have a ticket when I showed up at the stadium. Not a problem though. There were several scalpers selling tickets and one agreed to sell me a seat for 2,000 yen. Seeing as the face value of a ticket is 6,500 yen, that was a great deal even though the seat was not so good. I was worried that buying from a scalper would be a bit shady, but it wasn't. Most of the scalpers seem to be girls that had friends cancel or who got better seats at the last minute and just wanna get a bit back for the tickets they bought.

From the high seats, the floating planets before the show starts are really cool looking. They also look nothing like the planets they are supposed to represent but I will forgive them cause they still look cool. I didn't even notice the planets the other 2 days.

I was really excited for the show because it was Kame's day and the day before was Jin's day which I had heard was amazing, so I was expecting big things! The boy is all about fan service so I expected to see some love. I was sad that I missed Jin's day, but I had to work. Before the concert even started, I stopped by the 7-11 to grab some snacks, drinks, and a pen so I could take notes. I also wanted to stop by the restroom, bu the line was ungodly long.

The show starts with cartoon versions of the boys getting into a shuttle and the big floating planets drift down behind the stage. I really like the pork or chicken comment during the cartoon bit, as if they were on an airplane or something. While the shuttle thing is happening, there is a junior on the stage acting like ground control for the shuttle. Then all the members were introduced, with Jin getting the most screams, followed closely by Kame. Sometimes I feel bad for the other band members cause the volume difference is so noticeable.

I love the first outfits they wear. Very heavy on the silver sparkles. First song was Rescue. Again, lot's of fire effects for this song. Even electronic flames on the screens to match the real ones. And there were a ton of Juniors in red dancing around. At the end of the song, Jin blew a little kiss. Next was One Drop. This song had a bunch of sound problems on the other 2 nights I went, but was fine this time around. A lot of water effects for this song.

Next was Lips and then Yorokobi no Uta during which a bunch of Kis-my-Ft2 members in green were pretty much molesting each other. Then it was Keep the Faith, which ended with a bang of fireworks. Following that was Don't you ever stop which was another song heavy on the flame effects. Jin was really into singing this song and Kame messed up his lines a bit. Koki took off his jacket and made it look like he was tossing it into the arena, but it was actually caught by a staff member. Next was White X-mas. The other time I saw this song, the stage was completely covered in fog, but it looked like the fog machines weren't working, so the effect was lost. Kame whispered his 'Christmas' in the beginning like he always does and got a thunderous scream.

Then it was Sadistic Love. Koki got some Akame love and there were these crazy green laser lights that I never noticed before. Next up was 1584. I really like the feudal era theme going on in this song. A bunch of juniors run around with these huge flags that are similar to the one I had to hold up during a parade that I was a samurai for. Those things are dang heavy! Kame was sexy as always and got caught up a bit when he was flying around with the black and white ribbon things. Then Koki starts his taiko thing, which is pretty cool and starts his solo, Pierrot. This song has definitely grown on me and is one of my favorites. They did the motorcycle cage thing. I noticed today that Koki's mic is all flame decorated which was awesome. Then is was time for Junno's, um, cloud song as I have dubbed it. Koki and Junno sang together for a bit. Then the crowd screamed at a random point during the song. I was confused until I realized it was because Jin had come out to get on his platform. Next, Maru does his beatbox thing and then they 'rescue' more Hey! Say! Jump! members. During this time, Jin kicked Junno off the 'rescue cart'. How mean! The 2 guests were in Gokusen 3 and will be in the movie with Kame. After a failed Maru bungee attempt, they bowed to him and he sang Cherry with them.

Then it was the song they sit in cages an float around for. Kame was hanging upside down of his and Ueda was bouncing up and down on the cage he and Maru shared and screaming at Maru to bungee! Jin just sits in his and does nothing. Next was the Jump up song. When the Juniors were running off the stage, Jin was bowing to them. Way different from the first day where I saw him try and kick one!

Then it was MC time. They all bowed a lot and did funny things to get the audience to scream. Junno's funny thing was ignored. They went over all their current projects once again. Following the MC was Water Dance, then Moon. Then it was time for the other bands. Kis-my-ft2 sang Fire Beat, which is really growing on me, and the other group sang Vanilla, or something. Seems to be a bit to racy of a song for such young boys. Then it was Real Face. I love the song but really hate the purple suit Kame wears during it. Then it was time for Kame's song choices. He chose I like, some song I didn't recognize, the make it world wide song (yay!), and I wanna be your lover song. Jin messed up the last song's lyrics bad and apologized mid song.

Next is was Ueda playing the piano and his solo. The Maru's solo and run around the stage screen thing, then Wonder! Still in love with this song. Jin bowed to the crowd at the end of the song. Then it was Battle of the Kings. First was Ueda vs. Junno. The had a battle with red and blue balls on the screen, but then brought out huge guns! Junno did a bit of acting from Romeo and Juliet and then Ueda blasted him with the gun and a bunch of streamers and sparklers came out. Very cool. Next battle was Koki vs. Nakamaru. They did impressions. Then it was Kame vs. Jin. They did their air battle thing and Jin died right away, again. Jin got thrown around a bit in the end and looked a bit freaked out. Ueda helped Kame down to the ground and gave him a big hug. Then it was Wilds of my Heart and Neiro. Encore was She said and Peaceful Days. They did not come out for a second encore.

After the concert I headed for the train station and came across something that wasn't there the last time. Unofficial concert photos! Yay! As I started to poke around and check out the photos, a bunch of cops came and made them leave, but they had a shop setup nearby. The shop was really small and squished, but I got my photos. All the photos were sold in sets of 4 for 500yen a pop and I got 2500 yen worth. I really wanted a good pic of Kame in his kimono, but most of the photos were of him all wet. And Jin had a ton of good shots. He is really photogenic. I wanted them all, but made myself pick only 3 of his sets. I can't wait for the official photo book to come out. They even handed out shiny silver flyers for it at the concert.

Labels: concert, KAT-TUN, Tokyo

Okay, not actually the official Day 2, but the second day I managed to make it to the concert which was 5/17. And this time, I was prepared!

I started my day by making an uchiwa! I felt really left out not having one the last time, so I stopped by the shop recommended to me by my day one concert buddy and made my own. I know that they are supposed to have your favorite member and everything, but I like all the members, so, yeah. Maybe my next one will be Jin-themed. I really had to rush to finish it, so it probably could have been better if I had more time, but I'm still really proud of it. The heart with wings design is based off the design that's covering all of their concerts goods. Here is is!

Once again, I got my ticket from the re-sale shop in Harajuku. This time around I spent 1man and got a seat in the stands. 23 gate, section 34, row 15. This time, I also got to the show early and thus had a full concert experience. Also, my seat gave me a really good view of the back stages that I could'tn really see at all the first time. I missed a lot of the water effects stuff and had no idea that Kame was dancing around all soaked, cause I couldn't see that from my seat last time. This time I got a perfect view.

Again, I was so wrapped up in watching the concert that I failed to take any notes. Concert started with Rescue, which is one of my favorite songs that I knew I had missed by showing up late the last time. Lots of fire effects for this one! Then it was One Drop followed by a medley of keep the faith, don't you ever stop, and white x-mas (man I missed sooooo much that first day!). Then it was Kame's solo. This time I managed to catch where he and the stuntman switched and knew it wasn't him. Made that whole part way less exciting. But Kame's kimono strip tease was just as thrilling as the first time and this time I had the added bonus of watching him dance around all wet and sexy like. And he ended it by not only floating on an umbrella on the water, but also spun around with fire work sticks too. Then it was Koki's solo followed by Ueda playing the piano and singing his solo. Also, in there somewhere was Junno's solo and Akanishi's new collaboration with Crystal K. called Wonder. Can't wait for that single to come out! Real Face was also in there somewhere too. Uggg, my memory sucks!

During the MC part, they talked about all their upcoming projects. At one point, Kame was pretending that he played Yabuki Hayato in Gokusen and it earned a bunch of screams. And Maru jumped for the first time! Though, it was at a lowered level. I still felt really happy that he managed to jump this time, especially cause people booed him at the first concert I went too. It was around this part that I met another concert going friend. She was 2 seats away, but managed to scream over at me. She was visiting from Malaysia and was happy to see a foreigner that was also a fan of KAT-TUN. We had a brief chat and exchanged contact info so we could keep in touch.

During the Battle of Kings I actually kinda got what was going on. The first was some type of light ball battle, then it was some kind of comedy imitation thing, and then an air battle between Kame and Jin. Still kinda weird though.

They did an encore and came out on a rocket ship. Jin's hair was all wet and sexy. They did She said and Peaceful Days. Once they finished, they popped back out for what could have been a second encore, but was just them talking for a bit and then leaving. Before heading back home, I picked up one last concert good. A bag. Its the perfect size to hold an uchiwa, which was annoying to carry to the concert in my not quite big enough purse.

Labels: concert, KAT-TUN, Tokyo

I've recently become a bit obsessed with a Japanese boy band called KAT-TUN. They are holding a massive 8 day concert in the Tokyo dome and I went to the very first day of the concert on 5/15. I bought my ticket from a re-sell shop in Harajuku the day before the concert. Spent 2 man on an arena seat in the A16 section. When I bought the ticket I had no idea how the stadium was setup and thought I was buying what I now know to be called a 'stand' seat. When I was at the shop I just assumed a 'stand' seat was one where you had to stand and thus was on the floor and not in the stadium seats and that 'arena' was a spot in the stadium seats. Boy was I wrong, but it ended up working out well for me cause my seat was amazing! Here is a pic of my ticket!

The A16 block was on the far right side of the stage, if you are facing the direction of the stage. It was really far from the back stage but really close to the giant main stage (though way off to one side) and right next to a ramp where the band members run up and down. So, while I wasn't super close to any particular stage I did get an up close and personal view of all the band members as well as a crap ton of Juniors who seemed to be everywhere at all times.

The biggest down side to the day was that I got to the concert late! I think I might have missed a train connection, which made me a bit late, and I was made even later by the fact that I had to go check in at my hostel. I arrived during White Christmas, which was a surprise because I didn't think they would perform that at the concert seeing as it's a Christmas song and all and it now mid May.

Because I was late, I didn't have one of the light up ball things that everyone else had, which made me sort of sad. I also noticed that everyone had uchiwa's. Uchiwa's are traditional Japanese fans. They usually come in pretty flower patterns and what not, but the ones at the concert were self made and decked out with all sorts of various sparkly things and the names of band members in neon colors. I obviously did not do my JE concert research! However, I made friends with the Japanese woman sitting next to me who told me about the uchiwa and where I could go to pick up supplies to make my own. Her English was pretty good and she was good at speaking in simple Japanese that I could understand so we ended up talking during the slow periods of the concert. She was actually a big Kis-my-Ft2 fan, who were one of the secondary bands in the concert, and would go crazy whenever one of them passed by on the ramp (which was quite often). After the show, I took my picture with her. Got a few glares from the guards, but apparently they are okay with you taking a pictures as long at its not in the direction of the stage. Either that or they decided it wasn't worth trying to explain the rules to the gaijin. Here's the pic!

I was so overwhelmed by the concert and taking everything in that I didn't bother to take notes and thus sort of forgot the specifics, but there are definitely some memorable moments that stood out. First is Kame's 1582 solo. OMG! That boy is insane. He got into this huge cage that was raised into the air and then he fell from it! I now know that is was a stunt person, but that day I actually thought it was Kame falling like that. I thought I was gonna have a mini panic attack. Koki's motorcycle thing during his solo was also quite cool. I thought it is was actually him riding around the metal ball cage on the motorcycle, but later found out it was not. The King battle confused the crap out of me, but Kame was swinging over my head for part of it, so my confusion was quickly forgotten. During the MC they talked about Gokusen, which comes out the in July and about Jin's upcoming movie Bandage. During this time, some Hey! Say! Jump! member was rescued by the group and Maru tried to bungee! He backed out though and everyone sort of booed him. I felt bad for him.

After the concert was finished, I got in line and purchased some concert goods. I knew I'd be going to the concert again, if only to see what I missed by coming late, so I got one of the light up balls. I also got a towel, water bottle, key chain, poster, and some pics of Akanishi Jin, who is currently my favorite member. I had to wait in a huge line to get them and it wasn't till I reached the front that I realized I could have gone to a different gate that had no wait at all. Oh well. A few more pics to wrap this up including pics of various KAT-TUN features that were outside the stadium, and a picture I sneakily took of the stage after the concert was finished.

Labels: concert, KAT-TUN, Tokyo

On Saturday, I decided my parents could not visit Japan without seeing some of Tokyo, so we did. First stop was actually more of an errand for me. The point and shoot camera that I bought last year died on my during my Golden Week vacation. I thought all hope was lost in fixing it until I found the camera box I could have sworn I tossed in the trash hiding in my closet while pulling out gifts I'd been storing for my parents. Thank you parents! Anyway, the box contained my warranty papers so I decided I'd see if they could fix it for me. Thus, our first stop in Tokyo was the Yodabashi camera in Akihabara. We actually spent more time there than I thought we would. My mom found the touristy section and was looking at yukata to use as bathrobes and my dad wanted to pick up some new earphones. We also ate on the top floor of the building as well.

After our Yodabashi visit, we went to Asakusa. Sadly, on our way over it started to pour down rain. But I didn't want to go all the way to Tokyo and not have my parents see at least one temple, so no turning back for us. While wet, we still had a good time. My parents did a bunch of shopping for family and friends while I took a bunch of pictures (though not nearly as many as I would have if it hadn't been raining). When we got to the temple, they had the doors to the inner area closed, which sucked, and were also starting to shut down the fortune telling booth things. Luckily, we managed to get to one before they shut it down and my parents got their fortunes (normal for my mom, and good for my dad, in case you wanted to know). Given our poor luck with the weather, I decided to pass on getting my fortune least I be blamed for the downpour!

After that, it was a long train ride back to home sweet home.

Labels: camera, parents, shopping, temples, Tokyo

My parents come out to Japan to visit this past weekend. I still can't get over how cheap it is for them to get here and how retarded the whole 'kids over 23 can't get benefits' thing is. Only $300 round trip for the both of them. Guess it pays to have family in the airline industry!

They came into Kofu via bus on Thursday afternoon and we ate at a cafe in Kofu station while waiting for the next train to my station. They were both pretty tired so once at my place we laid out the futons and went to bed.

The next day I took a few hours vacation to sleep in and take them out to breakfast at my local bakery, Mont Marlow. I also took a ton of pictures of them using the vending machine outside the bakery. It was my dad's first, but definitely not last, time using a Japanese vending machine.

Then it was off to work for me. When I got back home, we went out for some hoto at the local hoto place. Hoto is something everyone who comes to visit me must try as it’s the dish my area is famous for. Tastes really good to. My parents enjoyed the hoto place and the lady who owns the restaurant took her picture with them and gave them some gifts. They only downside to the whole thing was that we were sitting on the tatami and my parents aren't quite used to eating while sitting on the floor. Thus there were a few leg cramps going around, but they managed to survive!

After dinner we headed over to LRiver, a popular bar in my town. Especially for us foreigners! I already knew a group of people who be coming as a friend was holding her birthday party there that night. We got there a bit early but as people started showing up, I began to introduce my parents to my friends. And after a while, karaoke started up. Best part of the evening was these two drunken Japanese guys who took a liking to my dad. First, these guys were kind of strange to begin with. Normally, when a big group of the local ALTs show up, we scare away all the Japanese people. It normally takes less than 30min for them to pack up their things and go. These guys however, bucked the trend and rather than leaving actually started talking with us. The horror! They really seemed to like my dad in particular. Started off by calling his scary and by the end of the night were calling him sempai. I should also point out that they were fairly toasted.

We ended up staying way later than I thought we would and had to catch a taxi home. Not too bad for a first full day in Japan!

Labels: parents, school, Tokyo, vacation, wine

Went to a Sumo tournament on Saturday of last week with a group of fellow JETs. The plan was to all ride the train together and arrive at the area at around 11:30. However, I wanted to stop by Fujima Camera and pick up a new DSLR and thus took an earlier train. I am now the proud owner of a Nikon D40 with a 18-55 II lens. After picking up the camera, I met up with everyone outside the stadium around noon.


Sumo seems a lot like baseball to me. A lot of waiting with a little bit of action thrown in every now and then. So yeah, sumo was a little bit boring, but I did get to do quite a bit of picture taking with my new camera which made me very happy. I even ran out of battery power at one point, but managed to find an outlet and recharge it. I also picked up a sumo bento lunch while I was there and enjoyed eating bento and drinking sake while watching sumo. You can't get much more Japanese than that.


An interesting note about sumo. The tournament goes on all day, but all the matches in the beginning are low level and very few people show up to see them. The good matches start around 3 in the afternoon. That is when all the famous sumo wrestlers start their matches. It's also when all the TV cameras start filming and when most of the spectators start showing up. While there was pretty much no one in the arena when we arrived, by the last match, the place was packed!



After that, most everyone headed back home, but I wanted to make a weekend out of it and headed to my hotel to check in. I booked a dorm style room at the Sacral Hotel and when I went to drop off my stuff, a nice older Japanese woman was already there. She actually lives in Houston, but was in Japan visiting family and, while we were talking, the news started showing coverage of the sumo matches I had just seen! After our chat, I went to check out the Tokyo Dome, home of the Giants baseball team, grabbed some dinner, and then headed back to the hotel for a good nights rest.

Labels: baseball, friends, sumo, Tokyo

While Heather was visiting, we spent several day in Tokyo. We hit up a few places that I've been to many times, but also went to a few places that I had yet to visit. Some of the same old, same old, places included Asakusa, Shinjuku, and Akihabara. A few new and interesting things happen while there though. In Asakusa, while we were looking around and shopping, a group of what looked to be elementary students on a field trip came up to use and asked if they could ask us some questions in English. It was mostly likely a group of kids from an English school given the level of their English compared to my students! So that was kind of nice. Heather got to participate in some English teaching, if only for a few minutes. Also, in Akihabara, I usually go straight to the Yodabashi Camera and then leave, but this time around I spent a lot more time perusing other places in Akihabara, like Mandrake and Animate. We even ran into another JET from Yamanashi while I was looking for the Death Note soundtrack in the music sections of this big anime store/building. Small world.....



We also went to Harajuku and the Meji jingu shrine. I've been to Harajuku a few times and was at the Meji jingu shrine for New Years, but this was my first time visiting during the day, so I could actually see and take my time to enjoy the shrine. We got really lucky too. The day we were there we can across a wedding party taking pictures and managed to get a few pictures of them. The bride was just gorgeous! In Harajuku we also stopped by a lolita fashion store called Bodyline. While I've seen the fashion before, I've never been to an actual store that sells it till this trip. I was pretty interesting to see all the different designs and they were also having a sale that day so it was super busy!






As for new places, the biggest one was Tokyo Tower. Why it took me so long to visit, I'll never know. Probably because I heard climbing the tower is expensive, and it really is! At the tower you have the option to go up either by elevator or by taking the stairs. Both are equally expensive, but we opted for the stairs as you get a nifty little 'I climbed the Tokyo Tower' certificate if you make it to the top. One there, you can also spend even more to get to a special, and higher, observation deck, but we decided to pass on that. While the tower was fun to climb, and the view is quite nice, there are plenty of nicer and cheaper ways to view the Tokyo skyline. But, it was still worth at least a one time visit. After we climbed down and did some shopping at the base of the tower, we headed over to the temple that is right next to the tower. You actually get a really nice view of the temple complex from the tower itself. On the way over to the temple, we ran across a group of women trying to take pictures of their dogs with the tower in the back round. It was really funny watching them try to get their tiny bite sized dogs, all fashionably dress, to sit still.

Labels: festival, Heather, shopping, temples, Tokyo