kaoru~

Alrighty~ as promised we're gonna bring you the story of the drunken brawl right up now~ But first we're going to do it chronologically because this blog is supposed to be a memoir of our trip!

So i was saying right after we boarded our bullet train ride we arrived at the city of Hamamatsu~! The city is famous for its manufacturing musical instruments~! Well, the first thing we saw when we got out from the train station was the Entetsu departmental store and Ernest-san told us we could go and have a look inside. Once in we were greeted with a lot of electronics and we took the chance to poke at the iPhone which was relatively new at the time and marveled at the pretty phones they use in Japan~ i tried to look for an electronic Japanese-English dictionary and found them a little bit too expensive. Hikaru tried to pick a videocam as requested, but the price is not really much different here locally. So we ended up with no purchase and headed for our dinner~!

Entetsu~!

The size of their phone unflipped with mine~ i want one~!

Dinner was extremely good~ Too bad i didn't notice what was the shop called. We were served with Unagi don set. Its really delicious, its something i couldn't taste back here in Malaysia, call me a show off but its true. After our dinner, Elina and Ernest -san led us to our hotel not too far away and checked in. While handing out our keys Ernest-san reminded us if we would like to have supper, we should come down and meet up at 10p.m. so we did~! 

My dinner~ KYAHOOOO~!!!(^▽^)ﾉ

We walked towards a yakitori stall nearby and looking in i could see the place would not be available to cater for all of us but Ernest-san went in anyway and courteously asked if they could accomodate us. The tenchou had to refuse as they cant just give us all the space we needed (we came down in a big group) and i cant help but to notice tenchou had a worried expression. Both me and Hikaru went into a convenienve store called the Family Mart to browse and at some point when we purchased a foldable umbrella (it was drizzling) the cashier guy asked me if i was from China. I smiled at him and told him we came from Malaysia and i cant help but to notice that wash of relief over his face. 

So we bounced out from the convenience store with our umbrella in hand and Ernest-san decided to take us to somewhere a little bit more expensive because some of us insisted on going. As we walked along the sidewalk, laughing, teasing Elina and she the same to us, we started to notice trouble.
Not too far in front a man dashes out from the sake ya  and spun around crying out loud some gibberish. In his drunken stupor i could hear him say " Hottoite!" which translates to 'leave me alone!'  and then we saw another man rushing out to help him up, pleading him to stop. I'm pretty sure the drunken man was Yamada because his companion was going all "Yamette yo YAmada, yamette. mou ii yo" which again translates to 'Stop it, Yamada stop it. It's enough' But the Yamada -san was staggering around and frankly, freaking us out. So his companion pinned him down on the ground while he writhed around shouting about how the world owes him shit. The police came and rounded them up. I was surprised to see that the police really just did round them up. They wont touch the man and had let his companion calm him down. We walked past and the police said something like 'Mendoksei yo na," translates to 'this is troublesome' . Elina ushered us to walk faster and try not to get the attention of the drunken Yamada as its their responsibilities to ensure we are safe from harm. 


We reached the more exclusive yakitori bar and we declined to go in as the prices are really steep, i mean u come from Malaysia, u have things like satay.. So, yeah. Elina offered to send us back as she was not comfortable with the price too. We walked past the policemen again and this time, the drunkard had calmed down and he stayed there on the ground sitting up. I saw his companion bowing and apologizing on his friend's behalf for causing trouble and one of the police was telling him to think about it and it caused a lot of trouble. You dont get that here. The police will just lock up your friend or u leave with a warning. Apologizing for the trouble your friend caused while drunk is really rare. At least to me. (^.^")

So we went back to the hotel, took our baths and camwhored for a moment and zzzZZZZZzzzZZzzZz~~~~~

Kaoru~

Everybody~ we are going into the second day of our wonderful days in Japan~ let's hear a KYAAAAAAAAAAAAa~~~~~ (^▽^)ﾉ Yosh, yosh~! On the second day we went to Kyoto and the first place we landed was going uphill on foot to the Kiyomizu temple~ XD~

Before all that, let's have a little insight into an instruction by our dear Elina gave us the night before. We are to adhere to the 678 routine for the rest of the days with the tour to ensure the efficiency of the trip. The 678 routine spells for a 6AM wake up call by Elina, 7AM for breakfast and 8AM for hopping onto the bus~ trust me, even on the first day, i feel extremely disturbed by it nonetheless. But i was thinking of Elina, if i were in her position it wouldve been worse. Waking up just to call us. For this, we salute u and thank you for your sacrifices made in this trip~ XD

So the day began with the hotel room phone ringing, and because i had terribly sleep talked about being too hot..(>.<") Hikaru was the one who picked up the call and we duly went back to sleep. Hahahah... i really did not recall talking in my sleep about being too hot (it was cold in Japan so we set up the tempreture in the room to 32C) but i do remember getting up and fell back onto the bed...(^.^") Gomen, Hikaru, for terrorizing you on the first night. Anyway, we got up anyway and took our baths and picked up our eyes, noses and mouths, got dressed and headed down to the lobby with our belongings in tow for breakfast~ After a nice breakfast we hopped onto the bus for our next destination : Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺)~! Sitting in the bus as we arrived in Kyoto, we could see a lot of those old school buildings and housing area, a maze like road that leads up there. The roads are generally narrow, it makes me feel close (^_-)-☆ We arrived at a parking lot and as we hopped down the bus with a little nausea, we saw a hill slope populated by shops peddling all sorts of souvenirs along the way up to the temple. I saw a few things i had in mind to purchase but we got very much entranced in the temple and we sorta ran out of time. Anyway, upon reaching we saw a big wooden gate and upon entering we saw a well, which were surrounded by people. It is a tradition in Japan that if you are ever going to visit a temple, you should clean you face and your hands and prepare to enter a sacred place. Everyone sort of winced due to the cold, but for me and Hikaru, we have to because we are training to become Japanese..(^ω^) and i shrieked. (^.^")


We walked around and saw the magnificient temple, built with completely no nails. No freaking nails and you are on a freaking hilltop babe. Woot~! This temple houses many other shrines, but our highlight of the temple was the Jishu Shrine, dedicated to Ōkuninushi, a god of love and "good matches". Yes, most of you can see where this is going. Huhu~ We climbed up the stairs and upon reaching the top, we immediately saw one of the 'love stones' which were placed quite a distance apart. It is believed that if one person with their eyes closed, and thinking about a special someone should walk in between the stones and reaches the end he/she will find true love~! At the time when we were there, a group of Caucasians were trying to encourage a rather plumpy but sweet looking girl to find her way over the other side. We cheered for her and cleared the way as well and it gets really fun~ She was walking and her friend was guiding her by telling her to "Go straight, go straight, its alright~ Everyone's cheering for you~" and then, some snobbish lady pushed that girl aside in the out-of-my-way manner. Shocked by the push she opened her eyes and it sort of cancelled all her efforts... Awww.. i feel kinda bad for the girl. But she has good friends with her so im sure she'll be fine~ (^.^) So, we walked around and saw a lot of amulets for sale. Of course, what we saw and bought is a S.E.C.R.E.T~



We moved onto the Otowa waterfall, where three channels of water fall into a pond. We understood that each stream brings three elements of wisdom, health and longetivity. We lined up and drank from the streams~ A very refreshing and cool drink indeed~ Kyaho~! After the drink, we ran for our life because we ran out of time and Ernest san told us to wait in the parking lot~! Yes, we ran downhill, evading people and i hope i didnt knock anyone down while doing so~ We boarded the bus in time huffing and puffing. Everyone got on the bus and were mostly waiting for us..Yes we were late. hehheheh



Most of the day we went visiting temples, there was one i couldn't remember its name, but it was a place where i first saw a field of sakura trees~ We also did visit the Heian Shrine which was built for the 1,100th anniversary of the establishment of Kyoto. We did nothing much here, except that we bought some souvenirs so im not going to elaborate much~

We were taken to a train station around evening, but the most exciting thing at that moment was that we were required to walk to the station as the bus was caught in a jam~ XD. Personally, i was excited as it was the first time we walk to the station~ Just like a Japanese~ Both me and Hikaru was so busy trying to live it up, rushing over to the other side of the road, climbing down the stairs, coming out from another flyover to the train station~ We were both smiling and busy looking at just about everything~ We got our tickets for our Hikari Kodama bullet train ride and as we were waiting we noticed that there was a electronic board that tells us the temperature we were surviving against. It was a chilly 12C! No wonder Hikaru were already shivering despite wearing warmers and coat. The funniest thing that happened during our wait for the train to arrive was that all of us in the tour group took pictures of another bullet train by the same window. Sitting by the window there was an uncomfortable salary man looking at us taking pictures of what he deemed 'normal'. (^.^") Hikaru and me caught the opportunity to take a picture and bowed to thank him and apologized for bothering him. In true Japanese fashion, he nodded back to the whole tour group. Hahahahahha~~~

Our train ride brings us to the city of Hamamatsu~! This post is getting long and naggy~! Yes~! So~! I'm going to call it a post today and next, our super drama drunken brawl up next~! Kyaho~!

hikaru

Day 1 ~ Shinsaibashi

Yah. Yes. Yep. I slacked. It’s been like ages since my last post. Or rather months since OUR last post. I’m NOT going to find any excuses but DAMN that writer’s block! >.<

Just when I thought, ‘Hey, Chinese New Year is just a week away, and with all the spring cleaning under process, why don’t I ‘clean’ other things that I’ve been slacking off?’

Yes, indirectly I’m actually referring to this blog that’s been collecting inches of dust just like my pc table, cupboards, drawers, boxes of books and mangas under my bed … and the list goes on. Horrifying? Yah, I call this the revenge of the dust. I admit I’m not much of a domesticated person but spring cleaning kills. Guess my New Year resolution reads, ‘Thou shalt not slack! It kills’

So moving on, from Kaoru’s post, the first night in Japan was exhilarating. There were a few *highlighted*points contributing to it but I’ll get to it as soon as I can.

From Cross Hotel in Shinsaibashi (心斎橋), a district in the Chūō-ku ward of Osaka, we made our way to a restaurant in the center of Shinsaibashi for steamy hot NABEMONO, nabe for short…~ (鍋物, なべ物, nabe cooking pot + mono things, stuff, kinds) so it’s basically our version of steamboat. But hey, this is Japanese steamboat! I guess that’s what makes it different…~ Their veggies and mushrooms are worth high praise, its much crunchier, juicier and well… tastier ~ It’ll make you warm and fuzzy inside while the temperature dropping steadily at night.

With fuzzily filled tummies, the night exploration begins. The streets were lighted up by blazing neon lights all over Shinsaibashi's billboard. We sauntered into as many shops as possible since most of the shops close at 8pm in Japan. Yah, weird ain’t it? Clothes, shoes, restaurants, pachinko parlour, designer’s shops, video shops, bookstore, sleazy looking shops, UFO machines and yah … arcades. We seized the opportunity to play a round of Taiko drum! In the middle of the road in Shinsaibashi! Not forgetting souvenirs from Shinsaibashi, we bought packets of delicious Senbei (煎餅), Japanese rice crackers. Along the way, we had some colourful macarons for dessert (kaoru's blue, mine's pink). (^ω^)

An hour later, not to our surprise, we heard severe tummy grumbling and then we knew its time for supper. Now let's think, what else in Osaka that we must try? YES..! That's TAKOYAKI (たこ焼き)..! Before you roll your eyes to dismiss me, let me tell you how is it different from those minuscule ones we have here. Its the size of a golf ball and crunchy and juicy tako with creamy okonomiyaki sauce and katsuobushi topping. YUMM...~ But wait, there is more! Shivering cold night will knock us dead if it wasn't for RAMEN...! Steamy hot Shio ramen...~ and ordering from a vending machine was such a fun experience.

Once again with our tummies happily filled, then it's bedtime, no? SO WRONG... *tsk tsk* It wouldn't be our style ain't it? (^_-)-☆ We did what most or almost or maybe some Osaka-ian did, we look for 'extra' entertainment... without paying a single ¥. Though some might really pay for it, but for us, looking at them in action worth much more. Still haven't got a clue? They are the host, which their female counterpart, well.. hostess. You can see them sprouting up here and there after 10pm along the whole stretch of Shinsaibashi. It is very interesting to see them trying to 'catch' customers and most of them were in dark smart suits carrying what it seems like a briefcase. Yes, a briefcase. It got me and kaoru seriously thinking what would've possibly be in there. But the amicably bright and smart us got it all figured out. It consists of menus. Nope not ordinary food menu if that's what you are thinking. Brace yourself. 'Menu' of the hosts on offer (男メニュー). Now you might slowly get up from the floor and sit yourself right back on your chair. We actually caught it on video for our own viewing pleasure but no, nothing exotic, just some hosts in action trying to chat up a few girls waiting for ... I don't know what are they waiting for. Probably some chat-up from them I guess.

So as we thought mission accomplished, we walked around for a bit more as that was the last night in Shinsaibashi.. in Osaka. Little that we know, a few hosts decided to try their luck with us. YES. US. NGOR DEI. WO MEN. KITA. KAMI. Yahh, go ahead and laugh your head off, I find it shocking too. Well, firstly, we looked like some disheveled damsels who just arrived from the village off-coast of nagoya. Simply put it, we don't look like we've got ¥ hidden somewhere inside our socks. Second, I guess these fellas are desperately desperate. They've got 'I need to catch some customers, ANY customers' etched on their beautiful foreheads. Even 'those' who look like us. Don't get me wrong, we look prettily Japanese and got mistaken quite a few times... (*^∀^*)

Unfortunately boys, I've got a strong alarm system installed in my brain and so the minute I saw them gesturing to each other to surround us, I inched kaoru into a lingerie shop! HAHAHA... Poor boys, kaoru and I look at their dejected faces and giggled. Nope, more than that, we LAUGHED.

In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, we ended out exciting night exploration in Shinsaibashi, Osaka. Coming up - 2nd day: Kyoto!! Stay tuned.

ETA: Please pardon our backdated reports... as we are still recovering from the trip... (≧▽≦)♪

Kaoru~

Day 1 ~ Universal Studio Japan

After touch down, as i mentioned way earlier, we headed into the bus and proceeded to Universal Studios~! Leaving the Kansai Airport we only stared out of the windows, with mouths gaping open and the occasional "OMG!! Look at the driver! So smart!" Yeah, clean and smartly dressed people are a rare species here where we stay. Hehehe..

Moments later, we reached... Universal Studios~!!! We pranced down the bus, making a commotion among ourselves, ('ourselves' here meant me and Hika pyon, because we hadn't got the time to interact with everyone..YET). I mean, Gawwdd... we're in Universal Studios~! the sight of the gigantic Elmo by the gates was enough to make me squeal in delight~

We sauntered in was.. er.. overwhelmed by the amount of people we saw lining up. I mean, its the school holidays and we're in Universal Studios. It's like a public holiday in MidValley (-.-")
So our beloved tour guide Elina and Ernest-san gave us options to either walk on our own, or we should follow them. Flustered with excitement that we just saw a Kaneshiro Takeshi look-alike amongst the middle school boys, we decided to float along with them. What's the hurry? We have five days to walk on our own anyway~
First stop, The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman-The Ride. Well, we were enthusiastic about it, we're told by Ernest-san that its a 4D ride~ By the way, anyone, someone please explain to me what's the difference with a 3D? Anyway, we bounced into the theater, went on into the foyer, into the numerous lanes segregrated by railings and queued up. And we waited, and scooted along.. 10 mins, 20 mins, 30 mins, legs twitchy, 40 mins, 50 mins, started to curse why did we changed our currency into notes intead of changing some coins so we'll be able to use the vending machine because we finished our bottles of water, 70 mins, and so on. We queued for 2 hrs. I was dehydrated and cold and tired. Again, i had low blood pressure and Hika-pyon had a minor headache. But anyway, along the queue, we were shown 'artifacts' or rather props from the comic and given 3D shades~ Very lifelike, having a glimpse of the props gave me a feeling of what was to come. We got onto a tram/train/ ride and we held our breaths as we started rolling onto the railings. In a sudden, all of Spiderman's nemesis', enemies, girlfriend, babysitter, uncle, whoever associated with him appeared and using my own cluttered understanding of Japanese, ol' Peter will save our asses as helpless citizens caught in a fray. (Ha ha ha) But, believe me, the 2 hour wait was ultimately worth while~ We screamed, laughed, gripped onto railings, flung arnd by those bad asses, got shaken around by Spidey, sprinkled with water and blew with hot air when Dr octopus got into a bad mood swing. We got in grumbling and got out beaming.


After the ride, obviously pleased, we sauntered around, fooled around and went into Backdraft, where they showed us how firefighters fought against the fires in the movie. i didn't watch it, and wasnt exactly thrilled about it, but it was cool, how they repeated a scene from the movie.

That was all for theme parks and rides in our Universal Studios tanken, becaue we had enough of lining up and we're not ready to sacrifice our precious time lining up~ So, we told Elina we're splitting up and she told us at the very least, follow them to the place where you can eat those yummy turket legs~! We again, lined up like good little kids and bought one for each of us the roasted turkey leg~ Oh man, one is really enough to fill you up silly~! it is the same place where we got our throphy wtaer bottle~! Hahahahaa~ We just barged ourway through while ordering drinks, we'd figure we'd share our drink so we ordered the Oolong Tea. There's no regular or large. There's half yard and footlong. Again, someone please explain. We ordered foot long and a trophy-like plastic bottle filled with oolong tea was presented to us and it's really a foot long. (-.-")

So there we were, like how the tour group described us as, two 9 year olds walking on our own, gleefully smiling to ourselves. We shopped around, chased after Hello Kitty, met Matsumoto tenchou (huhuhu...), took photos with Woody Woodpecker and gf, and gave major hugs to Elmo, the softie. All in a day's play, we had to leave at 5pm and crash into Cross Hotel~

We were told by Elina it is a 5star hotel, so we behaved and got into our room full of wide eyes expectation. i loved the toilet. The first thing i did was to study how to use the toilet properly~! hehehehe.. we didn't linger too long in the hotel, basically we're told to leave our bags and meet up in the lobby for dinner. So, being the very good and PUNCTUAl little kids that we are, we did and off we trotted to.. Shin.zai.ba.shi!!!!!!!!!!! p(#>,<#)q

kaoru~

YO~! It's time to start our story from Day 1~ Sorry, even though we intended to keep all of you informed while we were in Japan, we just didn't had the time or the connection to update you people with.

So we started our journey to Japan on the 29th March 2009, night flight. We had Tamaki, Hikaru's bro, sis in law and sis saw us off.

We admit, it was our first time sitting on a plane and when the plane took off, lifting its wheels off from the ground, piercing through the darkness, we held hands and gripped on the handle. It was scary, exciting, exhilarating and a little sad. Well, of course the sad would be the thought of leaving Kazuki alone for two whole weeks. I was thinking whether he would sleep well, but i know he was in the good hands of my family. All through the flight, we tried to take my mind off things, tried to relax, flicked the in flight entertainment, watched some movie, listened to Frank Sinatra and played games. We tried to sleep butthen, it was uneasy and uncomfortable. The uneasiness becomes unsettling and the unsettling is because for me, personally, i wanted to shout, "YAY!".

We were awaken by the hustle and bustle at around 4am. The air stewardess was distributing breakfast. 4AM. it was supposed to be started by a happy grin on my face. I had low blood pressure. Hmmph. Anyhow, i chewed and grumbled. We reached the Kansai Airport at around 7Am. We were jumping in our skins as we made our way through the alley and the first thing that hit us was a wave of chilly air. At that instant, we did regret about the weather. Hahaha~!

We made our way to the tour bus after refreshing ourselves up. Its kinda the first time for me to brush teeth in a public restroom. Anyhow, first stop. Universal studios~!