Last night out in Japan
Yesterday was the last night I could spend with my sweet friends. Me, Emmanuel and Sarah was invited by Yutaka to the Christmas party in bar/club Zing in Osaka.
The music played was mixed and there were funny games in between the dancing. I loved that they played reggae, ragga like Elephant Man and Mr Vegas a lot. Osaka is famous for its reggae scene and that's also why I feel like its my other home town. We danced like crazy that night.
Most of the people at the place were Yutaka's friends. They were all cool people to hang out with. ^^
The last songs played were Beyoncé and Destiny's Child songs. Emmanuel, I and Yutaka were still genki to dance to them. But then it was time to say good bye. It was so hard for me. I couldn't stop crying when I hugged Yutaka.
If it's this hard to say farewell to him, I don't even wanna imagine right now how it would feel to leave Emmanuel and Sarah. I know I will see them again in the future, but it's gonna hurt so much tomorrow.
...
Soon in Sweden.
The photo shoot in Kyoto
A time ago Sarah told me and Emmanuel about her friend who is into art and clothes. He wanted to take photos of her and us in his new clothing he made.
So, this day was all about Kyoto. We discovered a new side of the city. It's more underground and real than Osaka. More people with a natural fashion sense. It was refreshing!
Sarah's friend Dai was really chill. He lived in Toronto before as well. We were really impressed by his store and his taste for clothes. I got so much energy of just being there. The music in the background was amazing. We even got a CD with that music. The photo shoot in itself was supposed to feel natural. It was very fun and relaxing at the same time. I liked the dress I wore a lot.
Hanging out at Go with Café
It is a restaurant where drag queens perform. That was why it was so expensive to order one dish. I got a tempura plate for 800 yen. But that price also covers for the show.
Miss Olive was there! The drag queen we saw at the vintage party. Also, there was a new drag queen who made an awesome performance to the Pussycat Dolls.
We took the last train back at midnight and went to an izakaya in Hirakata. Got home at 4. It's all good.
Today's plan: go to the famous Aquarium in Osaka and attend the Christmas party where our Japanese Frenz Frenzy friends are. ^^
Tokyo in pictures
Little time left in Tokyo
Sitting in the lounge at Ace Inn with this crazy keyboard, but here is a summary of my days in Tokyo. Pics will come later as promised.
18/12
I discovered Akihabara, the area of electronical stuff and otaku things, including maid cafes and cartoon influenced cafes. In Den Den Town, Osaka I went to a dirty, so called, maid cafe. That is why I went to real one this time. It was very clean, nice and professional. The staff really went into the role as mangaish maids. All the maids sang songs and acted sparkling cute before serving the meals.
Afterwards, I went to Ginza quickly. I promised myself I would not buy anything at Forever 21 again since I did that the day before. Broke my promise and went home with a bag of cardigans.
Me and some people from the hostel went to Roppongi to experience the night life. As my friends from Kansai Gaidai said: Roppongi is a sleazy place. Therefore, I took the last train to Shibuya on my own to check out some clubs. I found a wierd looking guy with a good fashion taste who was going to show me a night club. But he recommended a bar near the place. The night clubs here are sooo expensive. About 4000-5500 yen. So I stayed at that bar that was really good. Awesome music, mostly house and unique Japanese live bands. The guy introduced me to his friends and we had a good time. In the end of the night, we ate Tokyo manji which a wierd version of okonomiyaki. Not even the Japanese guys were a fan of it. :D
19/12
Yesterday, me, Austin and David finally visited the Alice in wonderland restaurant in Ginza. We had problems finding it so I asked a greeter at Salvatore Ferragamo's about directions. I noticed how tall and racially ambigous he was as soon as he finished explaining. When we were walking towards the restaurant we were still discussing about his origins, so we went back to ask him. :D We found out that he is not only a greeter, but a model and actor for commercials.
We also checked out Shibuya 109 2, for men, before Ginza. It was funny how we tried to avoid the hosts who were literally pulling Austin's and David's arms to buy clothes from them, even tho we rejected several times.
20/12
Last day, a chill day! Me and Austin went to Asakusa and Ueno to see the traditional Japan. Checked out some temples and parks. Now, we are going to walk around in Shinjuku before I leave.
･_･
18/12
I discovered Akihabara, the area of electronical stuff and otaku things, including maid cafes and cartoon influenced cafes. In Den Den Town, Osaka I went to a dirty, so called, maid cafe. That is why I went to real one this time. It was very clean, nice and professional. The staff really went into the role as mangaish maids. All the maids sang songs and acted sparkling cute before serving the meals.
Afterwards, I went to Ginza quickly. I promised myself I would not buy anything at Forever 21 again since I did that the day before. Broke my promise and went home with a bag of cardigans.
Me and some people from the hostel went to Roppongi to experience the night life. As my friends from Kansai Gaidai said: Roppongi is a sleazy place. Therefore, I took the last train to Shibuya on my own to check out some clubs. I found a wierd looking guy with a good fashion taste who was going to show me a night club. But he recommended a bar near the place. The night clubs here are sooo expensive. About 4000-5500 yen. So I stayed at that bar that was really good. Awesome music, mostly house and unique Japanese live bands. The guy introduced me to his friends and we had a good time. In the end of the night, we ate Tokyo manji which a wierd version of okonomiyaki. Not even the Japanese guys were a fan of it. :D
19/12
Yesterday, me, Austin and David finally visited the Alice in wonderland restaurant in Ginza. We had problems finding it so I asked a greeter at Salvatore Ferragamo's about directions. I noticed how tall and racially ambigous he was as soon as he finished explaining. When we were walking towards the restaurant we were still discussing about his origins, so we went back to ask him. :D We found out that he is not only a greeter, but a model and actor for commercials.
We also checked out Shibuya 109 2, for men, before Ginza. It was funny how we tried to avoid the hosts who were literally pulling Austin's and David's arms to buy clothes from them, even tho we rejected several times.
20/12
Last day, a chill day! Me and Austin went to Asakusa and Ueno to see the traditional Japan. Checked out some temples and parks. Now, we are going to walk around in Shinjuku before I leave.
･_･
Tokyo
The expression of the day: そうなんだ。 - Sou nan da, which is an informal way of saying "sou desu ka". It means almost "is that so", "really?" or "I see". This is something I have heard a lot in Tokyo. I noticed it first when I asked the people on the street for directions and by listening to conversations. Have not heard "sou ka" or "sousousou" like in Osaka at all. Useless information, but interesting, right? :D
Ok, so now about my first day out of four days in Tokyo on my own.
I am at the hostel right now. I will show you pictures later. Promise!
Btw, this key board gets on my nerves. Grrrroooooouuuwwwrrr!
Checked in at Ace Inn, a capsule hotel, in Shinjuku before I went on my adventure in Shibuya and Harajuku. By saying "adventure" I mean "shopping frenzy". I bought sooo much clothes and jewellry, especially in Harajuku. The area is filled with shops for girls. I went to Shibuya 109 as well. It was huge. There was even a Shibuya 109 building 2 that I did not enter. Shibuya 109 felt like the big shopping building in the middle of Amemura in Osaka. Not so much new stuff, but I definetly found what I wanted.
Also, I found some new kind of shops I have never been to before. There were a bunch of shops for photos and posters of famous Korean and Japanese good looking people like pop singers, Visual Kei bands, actors, football players slash Keisuke Honda, you name it. And yes, I was one of those nerdy girls in one of the shops who bought 6 pictures of pop artists. A really good souvenir tho!
The time went so fast. It actually took a whole day to walk around in the shopping area of Shibuya and Harajuku. It could take a longer time if I had extra power for it. There were a lot of shoooops!
Enough shopping now, I am planning to find the Alice in Wonderland restaurant in Ginza. If I have enough time I will see the fish market as well, visit Akihabara and have the guts to check out Roppongi when it is dark.
More to come...later!
Ok, so now about my first day out of four days in Tokyo on my own.
I am at the hostel right now. I will show you pictures later. Promise!
Btw, this key board gets on my nerves. Grrrroooooouuuwwwrrr!
Checked in at Ace Inn, a capsule hotel, in Shinjuku before I went on my adventure in Shibuya and Harajuku. By saying "adventure" I mean "shopping frenzy". I bought sooo much clothes and jewellry, especially in Harajuku. The area is filled with shops for girls. I went to Shibuya 109 as well. It was huge. There was even a Shibuya 109 building 2 that I did not enter. Shibuya 109 felt like the big shopping building in the middle of Amemura in Osaka. Not so much new stuff, but I definetly found what I wanted.
Also, I found some new kind of shops I have never been to before. There were a bunch of shops for photos and posters of famous Korean and Japanese good looking people like pop singers, Visual Kei bands, actors, football players slash Keisuke Honda, you name it. And yes, I was one of those nerdy girls in one of the shops who bought 6 pictures of pop artists. A really good souvenir tho!
The time went so fast. It actually took a whole day to walk around in the shopping area of Shibuya and Harajuku. It could take a longer time if I had extra power for it. There were a lot of shoooops!
Enough shopping now, I am planning to find the Alice in Wonderland restaurant in Ginza. If I have enough time I will see the fish market as well, visit Akihabara and have the guts to check out Roppongi when it is dark.
More to come...later!
Backward fontaine
BTW! On our way to Lock Up we saw an amazing fontaine we've never seen before at the train station. It looked like the water went backwards. In fact, the lights made it look like it did.
Only in Japan... <3
Locked up before Tokyo
When we got there the police woman put handcuffs, leading us to our seats. The drinks were cool as well. The first ones we had were typical Japanese ones: not strong at all, but looked freaky. Sarah's drink for example, it had an "eye" in the glass. The second drink was really strong. That's probably why Emmanuel and I started to dance the Superman dance in the way of everyone. They asked us to sit down eventually. :D
But the funniest and SCARIEST moment was when a Japanese dark voice started to talk while the lights went on and off a la horror movie. It was time for scare-the-shit-out-of-the-customers-time! I was one of the girls who screamed when the bad guys came out from nowhere. Emmanuel however took off his striped shirt so we couldn't see him in the dark. As soon as another monster came to make us scream our guts out, Emmanuel jumped up from nowhere and scared him! He did not expect it!!! XD He even had to stop an catch his breath because Emmanuel did such a good job.
The policewomen came out to save us tho. They were checking if we were "daijoubu" (okay) and shot those evil creatures.
This is an example of a perfect goodbye night with the most awesome friends I have here in Japan.
Tomorrow: TOKYO for 4 whole days!!!
Love Story: The Bodyguard
♥
After a long time of studying I took a break and did some grocery shopping. All the sudden, next to Lawson, there is some wierd dude waving both arms while running towards me like a crazy person. When I was starting to increase the pace to avoid this crazy person I noticed that it was not a Japanese insane man, but Emmanuel! Oh my gooosh...so I stopped.
We hanged out at Lawson, chatting about yesterday, friendship and Tokyo. Emmanuel let me take a bite from his onigiri (rice ball). An old, grandpaish man who stood a few meters away from us started to giggle because he thought we were boyfriend+girlfriend. He was the cutest old person I've met. Just wanted to hug him during the whole conversation we had. We were surprised that he knew English that well. The conversation was almost like following:
Cute old man with almost no teeth and a very Japanese pronounced English: What are you doing in Japan?
We: Students.
Cute man: What are you studying?
I: Economics. :3
Cute man: Keizai...economics. You are studying economics. But I think you enjoy Japan.
Then, he was telling us about the love story... :D He gave us bubble gums, fruits and Japanese cookies during the talk.
Cute old man: You like...(mumbling in Japanese)...love story...(more Japanese)...Whitney Houston...Kevin Costner...Bodyguard!
Aaaaaw! <3 He compared me to the bodyguard and Emmanuel to Whitney. XD
It was a funny moment. This came out from nowhere. ^^
The wild child night
★ It was my last night out at Onzieme with Emmanuel and Sarah yesterday. Of course I'm gonna party with them again, but Onzieme will not be visited by me from now on...since I'm going back to the snow chaos, you know. Anyways, the evening started of when Sarah did an extreme make over on me. My hair was all curled up and my make up was fierce. She said I looked like a wild child, and I definetly felt like one considering the fun night as well. Thank you so much! <3
♪ We prepartied at Triangle Park and even had time to eat at McDonald's before we went to Onzieme. The club had an anniversary thing going on. I noticed that the "hot chic" line was gone and no desperate business men were there. That is: no tackiness! And the music...awesome!!! Electro/house music was played and we could dance to all the songs. It seemed like we danced with everyone. The atmosphere was positive and great. The lights contributed to that as well. Even drag queens came out from nowhere and posed near the DJ. In addition, most of the people could dance! And the best thing we could do was to not bring our cameras. They're always in the way. Besides, you were not allowed to take photos in the club anyways.
★ I'm so happy this night turned out to be perfect with my best friends on both sides. They're the most awesome people you could know! <3 Emmanuel said once that when he goes out to a dance club, it's never the same with us (me and Sarah). He doesn't have a good time without us. ^^
♪ So now, when I think about Onzieme I will always remember it as how it was this night. :3
Kobe
Me, Sarah and Taichi went to Kobe yesterday. It was a bit chilly (+10 degrees) and got dark quite early, which was good. Kobe is best experienced when it's dark. It was truly amazing to attend the light festival.
First, we did some sightseeing in China town which Kobe is known for. It was something I've never sene before and it felt like I was in another country for sure. There were a lot of Chinese food.
Then, we went to the Kobe Luminarie, 神戸ルミナリエ, a light festival held every year about 2 weeks in December. It was created after the big earthquake and is a memorial for that. In Japan, mostly couples go together to this festival. It is somehow connected to Christmas. Here, people celebrate Christmas with their boy/girlfriend. If they don't have anyone, they party with friends. Yes, it is the reverse purpose of the Christmas spirit we have in the West where it is all about the family and everyone should be a part of it. Anyways, it was pretty comical that Sarah and I walked around together, the only gaijin, single girls, in the bunch of Japanese couples. :D In the background, beautiful music was played. Everything was so impressive!!! Every detail!
★
★
★
During our walk I was so grateful that Taichi took us there. I remember how he should me a picture of the light festival about a year ago. Again, I felt like my dream has come true.
Also, we walked in the メリカンパーク (Merikan paaku = American Park) near the harbor and the great shopping mall to see the famous towers and buildings of Kobe from a better view. Kobe was like a futuristic city. After the earthquake, I guess the government wanted to do more than only rebuild it. So many art pieces and statues were everywhere, even in the station!
★
★
★
Btw, something funny we saw was a couple with their dog in a diaper. XD
Kobe was what I needed to get my motivation for studying again. Only two final exams left: Trade & Investment and Japanese (the listening and writing part).
Christmas is here!
I was riding my bicycle in dark Hirakata to kill time. All the sudden this amazing light in different colors pierced into my eyes. Just loved what I saw. It was the only house that looked like that on the street.
Someone will have an interesting bill on the consumption of electricity for December.
The vending machine nation
Vending machines...you can find them anywhere in Japan. You can buy drinks everywhere in other words. One time, when I went out running I found another kind of vending machine far away in the small town Hirakata. So, a couple of days ago (when I got lost in the middle of the night) I took the opportunity to capture this in a photo. The magazines are quite expensive, aren't they? Well, that's the price you have to pay if you don't wanna face the cashier in 7eleven.
The myth about panties vending machines were true btw. But that was a looong time ago! :D
The host club night
Friday was first spent with Masa and Taichi, the Japanese friends who were studying at my school in Sweden.
We drinked a lot and ate good, typical Japanese food. We all got a little yoparatta, especially Taichi. :D Then we went to a egg dessert (sort of) stance. And afterwards to Lush, where they sell soap and such, since we waited for Aofie and Petra who I was going to the host club with. I really enjoyed the time with them. ^^
★
Now to the host club thing! From day 1, me and Petra had been taking about going to one of those host clubs in Osaka. Hosts are something Osaka is famous for. A lot of documentaries about them take place in Osaka. They usually stand on the bridge of Shinsaibashi and next to the station of Kyobashi.
Japan is the future (except some stuff like the way of thinking and music)! Host clubs do not exist in any other country. Everytime a Japanese person hears that there are no such things in for example Sweden they get surprised. Our hosts didn't know that either.
★
We tried to find a good host club. The first one we saw seemed very popular and expensive. Outside was a screen of the top 10 hosts. We kept on walking, but were kind of lost in finding a good one. We found one cute host with a suit on the bridge since we didn't have time to search after clubs on our own. Surprisingly, he knew a little English (level 2, like me in Japanese) and took us to his host club: Excellent. His (nick)name was Kazumi. There were not a lot of hosts because most of them were searching for clients at that time. It was cheap for being the first time. There are always discount prices the first time you go to a host club. For 1h I paid 1000 yen for nomihodai (all you can drink), no tax (most host clubs have that), and beers for the hosts (1000 yen for one beer). We split the price of 6000 yen on 3, so we only paid 2000 yen each. I wanted to stay there longer, but the last train went at 12. Me and Aoife changed our minds and went to Giraffe instead. Something our hosts got a little dissappointed about. They thought we were going to stay there longer when we were talking about clubbing longer. However, I wanted to dance!
★
How was it inside? It was really nice! Our main host, Kazumi, presented the host menu for us. It was funny to see all the photoshopped pictures of them. We didn't pick one in particular. That's why Kazumi tried to map us out. He asked us what type of boy we like. "Funny, cute, smart?" At that time, Kazuma and a funny host with typical, long host hair came to our table. Kazumi was universal in his personality. He was a smart guy; studying Economics in Osaka. Kazuma was more of a playboy, very flirty. The comedian...I even forgot his name because that's how I remember him. He was very funny. They were all very charming and open...and 20 years young! We could understand how Japanese girls could fall in love with them since Japanese boys are normally the opposite. Kazumi was very considerate to ask us many times if it was ok to buy drinks for the other hosts, even though we said yes. He wanted to make sure we understood everything. ^^ On the question what kind of host we would like, I told them that we definitely like short hair (no host hair). So the comedian had to go... :D
After a short while I felt like dancing and wanted to see host parapara (Japanese dance). They didn't normally do it, but I was persistent. Kazumi told the DJ to play parapara music and put on the video of host parapara on all the televisions. He was following the choreography as good as he could. It looked difficult. And Kazumi pointed out that as a host you need to have a serious face when performing the parapara.
I recorded some dancing on my camera, but it was so dark (can't see it that well). The DJ was actually the one dancing in the video. Sorry for the short videos. The batteries were running out.
★
Something we noticed was a hostess type of girl next to our table. She had 3 hosts on her side and you could tell she went there often. 3 hosts are not the cheapest either. More than 70 % of hosts' clients are hostesses and prostitutes. Most of them go there 2-4 times a week to experience a temporarily boyfriend and have someone who is in the same branch to talk to.
To conclude I can say that I had a great time during the short time with them. In the future, I could see myself going to a host club one more time just for fun. If I'm fluent in Japanese by then that is. :3
My date with Madoka
ML 優子 Sundman had the most wonderful day in a long time in sunny, warm Umeda. In the morning, I won Pocky and a J-pop CD in Japanese for best presentation. During the day, ate takoyaki, did undies purikura and watched Battle Royale 3D on my date with Madoka Hatakenaka . Now, eating Pocky and listening to the CD with Sarah Bergman . Love my life! ♪
The word of the day: ほうこうおんち(houkouoncha) person with no sense of direction. Madoka is just that. <3 But she's the cutest one I know who is that. :D
My Facebook sums up pretty much everything of my day. 1st December, 2010 was the most awesome days I've had in a long time, yes. But it also reminded me that I'm going home soon and I have to enjoy the last time here to the fullest. I felt a little bit of sadness because of that in my happiness.
Madoka is the coolest Japanese girl I've become friends with here. She was also my first female Japanese friend.
This day was special since we've never hanged out only me and her. Also, her boyfriend and she just separated. Nothing is better than a girly day like this for those hard times.
First, I have to say that my day started off perfectly! My Japanese presentation I did on Mauritius yesterday was apparently the best one. My award was chocolate flavored Pocky and a J-pop mixed CD with a cover that probably sensei did on her own in a cute Hello Kitty plastic bag. I was really surprised. ^^
After class, I went straight to Kyobashi to meet my sweet friend. We changed train to Umeda. When arriving we went to the Hilton hotel. Madoka is gonna go on a job hunting meeting at that place so she needed to know where it was. While searching for our destinations I was overwhelmed by Umeda. Or actually, it's the center of Osaka. It really looked like the Japan I've been imagining before I came to this country. The buildings were extraordinary. Shoot that I didn't bring my camera (not on my phone)! The weather was amazing as well. I was sweating in my cardigan and had to throw away my thick stockings.
Before the cinema we ate cheap takoyaki (300 yen for 7 pieces) and went to a purikura in the biggest and coolest game center I've seen so far. A couple of weeks ago, when we were in Kyoto and bought underwear, we decided to do purikura showing off our new, cute bras. We were kind of joking at that time, but we did it today. It was so much fun that I wanted to do it again. And so we did! ^^v (Note: we were not serious when we did the pics!!!)
Then, we finally saw Battle Royale 3D. The movie was of course without subtitles, but was uncut. The 3D effects were nice. Especially when the blood came out from the students' bodies. The blood was like spraying on us. It was cool. :D
The day was long, but it felt short since so much fun happened.
I'm aiming for the last days here to always be like that.
<3
