Tag Archives: cuisine

9th & 10th June 2018: Wicked London (England, Great Britain)

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This will be the last work-trip, at least for a while. I might change my mind later, but for now I’m done with them (although there’s an upcoming family trip rather soon…). Again, we flew in early Saturday morning, and we went to walk around the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge.

Then we went to the British Museum. I left them for a couple of hours there and I went to visit some of the lesser-seen galleries.

We had booked tickets for the musical “Wicked” in the Apollo Victoria Theatre at 14:30, so we headed over there. Wicked is a parallel story to “The Wizard of Oz”, focusing on the story of the Wicked Witch of the West, who becomes a social outcast due to her tendency to speak her mind and the strength of her magic. I had really wanted to watch this for a long time, so I used this chance and convinced the group to get there. I absolutely loved it ♥.

After the show, we dropped our things at the hotel. The group wanted to get some rest, so we stayed there for a while, then got out again. We took the underground towards London central and we were in Trafalgar Square for a while.

Then, we went to Chinatown for dinner.

Later, we walked around Piccadilly Circus, checking out some shops and so. We even stopped for cake.

On Sunday morning we went to Saint James’s Park, where we got to meet the local fauna, especially a very adventurous squirrel.

Then we dropped by Buckingham Palace. Although we did not watch the Guard Change, we did see one of the relief marches.

We walked from there to Westminster, saw the Houses of Parliament and the Big Ben, along the outside of Westminster Abby.

We visited the Monument to Emmeline Pankhurst and stayed for a while in the Victoria Tower Gardens.

As a final visit, we went to the Natural History Museum.

Finally, we headed off to the airport, and the icing of the cake was that we got caught in a controllers’ strike, so we had like a three-hour delay on our flight and it took forever to get home (;¬_¬). All in all, this was a very… strange trip, and without a doubt the highlight was going to see Wicked, which is something I had wanted to do for a long time, and gave me a couple of hours of enjoyment to myself.

21st & 22nd April 2018: MIYAVI & London (England, Great Britain)

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On Saturday the 21st I caught a red-eye flight and I landed in London Stansted around 7:00. After clearing security (aka a security guard very interested on WHY I was there and WHOSE was the concert again?) I got myself on the train and headed off directly towards ULU London to attend MIYAVI’s “DAY 2” World Tour in Europe 2018. I spent the whole day at the queue / venue, so I tell you much of what I did, except that I was an idiot and did not really eat much solid food, if at all. A cookie, I seem to remember, and a cereal bar, which in the end caused a bad stomachache. Lesson learnt. Also! Heatwave in London. How do I manage to always catch the heatwaves in London?

MIYAVI is a Japanese guitarists I’ve listened on and off for a while. I lost a bit of track of him when he got married and had a baby, but every excuse is good for a little getaway. And I have to say that he blew my mind.

I set off at around 4am on Saturday and arrived in the queue around 10 am. The line was incredibly well organised, and the venue staff was super-friendly and efficient (which is a welcome change from most). Often, when an artist comes in, you can hope for a wave, maybe an autograph or sneak up a picture – not with this man, who goes out of the way to shake your hand and thank you for coming.

Well, I did have a VIP ticket that included a handshake and a picture, so I got two handshakes out of him! The concert itself was fantastic, fast-paced and MIYAVI is a guitar master. He was supported by a number of musicians and singers and they all were bustling with energy.

MIYAVI's instagram story reading well done London you guys were hot tonight

Before heading to the airport, the following morning I headed off to the British Museum, which was halfway between the venue and the hotel. I spent a couple of hours there, mostly in the Korea and China areas. There I fell in love with the Bodhisattva Guanyin.

Collage. British museum façcade and some exhibit from the Asia ward - Shiva, Buddha, a green-faced priest, dragon, a Korean dress... The main piece is Guanyin, sitting with a knee up, their hand resting on the knee, the other leg hanging down

From the British Museum I directly went to the airport, and I grabbed some food at Itsu, which is not my favourite Japanese brand due to the price, but my stomach was acting up (my own fault though (≧▽≦)) and I needed something to appease it. So sushi, miso soup and Coke it was.

Sushi and miso soup

7th – 9th April 2018: 8º Salón del Manga y Cultura Japonesa. Alicante (Spain)

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This was a crazy, crazy weekend in Alicante that I planned on the go with my friend C*****. It all started when guitarist Inoran, from Luna Sea, was announced as guest in the local “Manga and Japanese Culture Convention” Salón del Manga y Cultura Japonesa de Alicante. She was on the fence as to whether she wanted to come, but after musician Kenichi Yoshida was also announced, she was sold. I had already bought my tickets and booked a room, but it was fine for two people, so we could bunk together.

I finished work on Friday at around 19:00, made a dash for the local train station and jumped onto a commuting train to Madrid, where I took the long-distance train to Alicante. I arrived at around 22:30. C***** came to pick me up at the station, as she had arrived and already checked in. That was good, because she had time to walk around the area, and that would be handy later on.

Saturday, 8th April 2018

The next morning, we went to the bus station. After attaining victory over the ticketing machine, we found the correct bus. We knew we were at the right platform judging by the amount of cosplayers on the benches. The bus driver refused to sell tickets on board, so he sent everybody to battle the ticket machine. The bus set off late, but we eventually made it to IFA the, convention venue. Once we had a schedule, we started planning around it. At the very least, the Saturday plan was:

  • 13:30 – 14:30: Inoran’s presentation (which was supposed to have an autograph session afterwards)
  • 19:00 – 20:00: Inoran’s concert (which actually had the autograph session)
  • Walk around for a little, and check out the traditional area
  • C***** wanted to check out the artists’ alley to find some people she follows online

Inoran (Inoue Kiyonobu [井上 清信]) is one the founders and a guitarists of Luna Sea, one of the big names in the Japanese visual kei scene – now officially turned “alternative rock”. Inoran has also collaborated with different artists in different endeavours such as MAS*S with X Japan’s Hide, Fake? with Oblivion Dust’s Ken Lloyd, among others. Inoran has also established a solid career on his own as a solo artist. Someone (from the producer agency Here comes the Sound) fooled – or bribed with food – him into going to Alicante, Spain. Therefore, we decided to go and see him.

When we entered IFA, we walked around the space to get our bearings. The convention was divided in several areas: the commercial stands, the non-commercial ones (artists’ alley), and a small matsuri [祭り] “festival”, with more traditional decorations and shops. There, we came across artist Mitsuru Nagata, a man who makes the almost impossible way of Japanese calligraphy shōdo [書道] actually look easy. He he also creates sumi-e [水墨画] prints. Sumi-e stands for “ink wash painting”. It is the art of using calligraphy ink in various degrees of dilution with water to produce images. One of the characteristics of sumi-e is that no retouches are allowed, every stroke is definite. It is so difficult that the peak of the art is the ability to create a perfect circle in one precise stroke.

Mitsuru Nagata was born in Kyoto, but he resides in Barcelona these days. He started studying calligraphy when he was six years old and holds a Master Calligraphy degree. He sells his prints online and on different events around Spain, where he travels to promote Japanese culture. His stand at the convention had fantastic paintings.

Several hanging rolls of Japanese ink paintings, with samurai and a phoenix

After about an hour of walking around (probably even less) we decided to join the “queue” to enter the small hall where Inoran’s “presentation” was to take place. We got talking to a bunch of people, including a group of Japanese girls, including one, E**chan, who was studying Spanish! I think I met a Japanese version of myself…

According to the description, the presentation was a short introduction of the artist, an explanation of who he was, a summary of his musical career and some videos, followed by an autograph session, and lasted an hour. In the end, it was ten-minute event. There was a tiny summary of Inoran’s career and basically we just got to see him say “hola”, and we watched the MV of his newest song. There was no real “summary of his career” nor signing.

Inoran talking into a microphone

In general, I have to say that the organisation of the event was horrid. Out of the three scheduled signing sessions, only one took place, with no explanation as of why during the whole convention. The following week, it was mentioned that Inoran had requested two signing sessions to be scrapped. Instead of saying that, the autograph sessions just disappeared from the webpage schedule, so early print-outs had them, others did not. It was a bit chaotic.

After the presentation, around 14:00 we… had no plans until the concert at 19:00, so we decided to just… wait at the stage, and believe me, we were not the first to think about it,.We ended up sharing “first row” with a bunch of other Spanish and Japanese fans. We killed time snacking, we watched the cosplay contest, and got all pumped up for the whole thing. I mean, we could sit on the floor, against the barrier, with access to food and water. Best queueing conditions ever. We witnessed the preparation of the stage, including setting an iPad for Inoran to look at his lyrics, guitar checking and so on.

Inoran is the guitarist of Luna Sea, a musician at his core. Truth be told, he is not the best vocalist in the world. Other members of the group were u:zo on bass, Yukio Murata on second guitar and Ryo Yamagata on drums. The concert was really fun (and it elevated the number of members of Luna Sea I have seen to three out of five). I think it’s great when singers try the local language, or at least mangle it. Inoran did so with a very well-rehearsed “¿lo estáis pasando bien?” (are you having fun?). He also had some English prompts such as “scream” and “jump”, but most of what he said was in Japanese. Understandable Japanese at that.

Inoran on the stage, playing guitar and looking at the iPad to remember the lyrics

Setlist:

  1. Come away with me
  2. Get a feeling
  3. Awaking myself
  4. 2 Limes
  5. Beautiful Now
  6. No options
  7. D&B
  8. One Big Blue
  9. Rightway
  10. grace & glory
  11. Tonight
  12. Get Laid

The whole affair was even better than expected. Murata was utterly fun, and even if we had u:zo on the other side of the stage we still got to see a great deal of his. At some point they got the Here comes the Sound (producer) guy up to play some Luna Sea songs. The background noise was so great at that moment that it took me a long while to actually recognise the actual song…

As we had waited at the stage for hours, we had “first row”, against the barrier. A few minutes before the concert, the organisation brought a number of people to sit between the barrier and the stage – volunteers”, “workers” and “VIPs” who did not care at all, to the point that Inoran himself called them out at a point. The official pictures show them playing with their phones and not even looking at the stage. What’s the point of being there if you don’t care? Behind the fans there were the curious onlookers. I do wonder what Inoran found himself thinking about the convention.

The only actual autograph session and M&G happened after the concert. When we formed the queue, we were told (screamed at) that we needed to purchase a postcard for Inoran to sign. This postcard had the cost of 1<e, and it had been printed by the convention from an internet image,it was not even something the artist himself had brought. I told the volunteer that some of us had official material, and he shrugged, saying that only postcards could be signed. I subsequently asked if he could just enquire if Inoran was willing to sign anything else. The volunteer shrugged again with “I don’t speak Japanese” – tough luck, buddy, I do. Badly, but enough to ask for an autograph.

I paid my euro for the postcard and when Inoran reached out for it, I pulled out one of the CDs I had brought, and asked him to sign that instead. There was an uproar from the volunteers, but he had literally zero issues signing my CD. I mean, it was his original material after all (Note to the organisation: you fools, if I pay you the 1€ and don’t use your postcard, you can sell that postcard to someone else who will pay another euro. Seriously). We got selfies (with smile), handshake and signature, so it was all pretty great. At the same time, my friend C***** was recording everything, and Inoran’s staff were laughing in the background. As I was leaving, I asked Inoran to also sign C*****’s CD instead of a postcard too, and he smirked at me. I’m sure that the organisation hated me a lot that evening, as I started a trend.

Inoran's autograph

After the autographs, we left the area and walked towards the Matsuri. We bought some sumi-e art from Mitsuru Nagata, and then headed off to the artists’ alley. C***** bought herself a bunch of things (and some pins for me!). We also saw the Mary Poppins cosplayer who we thought should have won the cosplay contest, and we talked to her for a while, and took some pictures – according to the contest rules, she should have won the price, but the organisation chose something more anime-oriented. Finally, we headed off to take a bus downtown and walked towards the hotel.

Two Japanese ink drawings. One is a samurai drawing his sword, the other one some bamboo. Also two badges: one reads I speak fluent sarcasm, the other one everything is better with dragons

As we had had a small on-the-go lunch waiting by the stage, we decided to go for a serious dinner. The fun part was that we ended up finding Taberna El Chapeau, the restaurant where Inoran and the band had been the previous night. To be honest, it was very near our hotel, and we checked the menu for kicks and giggles as we were heading for something fast-food. It turned out the place was not expensive at all, so we decided to eat there! We tried the palm-honey eggplant, a mixture of fried seafoods, a mini-burger, and a very sinful brownie for dessert – the lemon sherbet was on the house.

Dinner. Some fried snacks and a mini hamburger, a pair of lemon shots, and an ice cream scoop

Sunday, 9th April 2018

Our must-do schedule for the day included:

  • 12:00 – 13:00: Kenichi Yoshida’s concert (unclear if there would be any signing afterwards. Spoiler: there was.)
  • 13:30 – 14:30: Q&A with Inoran (which was supposed to have a signing session afterwards)

Sunday morning started pretty much the same as Saturday’s had. We took the bus to the convention centre IFA, and walked around. We got to meet with Mitsuru Nagata, and we asked him to take a picture with us in front of his works. Aside from super-talented, he was extremely nice. He was very surprised when he found out that we did not work in the convention and we were so interested in his art – he seemed flattered / embarrassed. Nagata invited us to attend his sumi-e demonstration, but unfortunately it was at the same time as Kenichi Yoshida’s concert. When we told him that, he said that we absolutely had to go and see Yoshida, as the musician is not around as often.

Thus, we went to queue to enter the hall. We actually arranged to queue twice in one go, since Kenichi Yoshida’s concert happened in the same hall as the Q&A with Inoran. We had made some nice acquaintances at the Inoran queue the day before, and they agreed to “save our spots” for Inoran while we went to Yoshida’s concert, as long as we stepped out and took back the place (and did not stay in the hall). We thought it was fair. Besides, the convention rules said that the hall had to empty between acts to prevent people from just hogging the seats, or saving them for friends.

When doors opened for Kenichi Yoshida’s concert, it was clear though, that those rules did not apply to “friends with the organisers”, who could just step out and then jump back, dodging the queue as they had technically “vacated the hall”. When called out, they were indignant. One of them had been asked to translate last minute, so he and all his pals, of course, had immediate priority.

Furthermore, after queueing for couple of hours in order to get a good spot in first or second row, we were not allowed to sit down in the middle (again, saved for VIPs), and sent to the corner just behind cameras and tripods, joy. Thus, we migrated to third row to be in the middle. Fortunately, most press was restricted and we did not have to “enjoy” extra cameras rather than the ones used for the official recording. Before the concert started, we were told that there would be a signing session afterwards, Yoshida would be signing postcards – just like Inoran the evening before – but that there were only twenty of them. We were very annoyed at that because, yet again, C***** and I had brought our own original material.

Kenichi Yoshida had been brought to Spain in a joint project by the Japanese Consulate in Barcelona, the Music museum and the Japan Foundation for a concert and a few activities in Barcelona. Alicante was a welcome bonus. He came along with percussionist Yuki Tsuchida, leader of the band Cross Groove Premium.

Kenichi Yoshida is a skilful tsugaru shamisen interpreter, who debuted in 1999 along his older brother as Yoshida Kyodai (Yoshida Brothers). The shamisen [三味線] is a traditional three-string guitar like instrument from Japan, based on a previous Chinese one. It is played with a pick. The tsugaru shamisen is a particular variant of the regular shamisen, larger and with thicker strings, which is plucked as well as hit with the pick.

The concert was spectacular, as much as the one I had watched in Madrid in 2016. Between songs, Yoshida explained a little bit about himself, his instrument, and some of its history. He gave a few notions about how the shamisen appeared in Japan, evolving from a traditional Chinese instrument that entered the country through Okinawa and it gained popularity as it was moved up north. It changed through time and one of the variants that appeared was the tsugaru shamisen.

Kenichi Yoshida playing shamisen, with his percussionist on the right

At the end of the concert, as C***** and I thought the postcards would not be enough, we decided to try our luck asking Yoshida directly if he would sign our CDs. And thus, instead of going into “Battle Royale” for the postcards we… took after him. As Yoshida was climbing up the stairs along the drummer and the manager, I caught up with him. I… very respectfully… tried to tell him in Japanese that there were too few postcards and that my friend and I had brought the original CDs, and if he would mind signing those for us. Thinking back,maybe we could have just stood in line without the postcards, but I was not sure they would even allow us to queue.

To my eternal surprise, Yoshida smiled and said yes. The manager ushered me up to the second floor as C***** went to hold the place in the queue, and I got the CDs signed, along with a complimentary sticker. Shaking like a leaf, I went back to the queue. In the end, it turned out that there were enough postcards for all the fans, so we tried again! Yoshida was nice enough to take a picture with us and sign postcards again.

Yoshida's autograph

Then we went to the hall again to see Inoran’s last appearance, the Q&A session, which did not have a signing either. The event was carried out in Spanish, English, and Japanese. After watching the MV, the questions came. They focused on Inoran’s thought on Spain, and whether he knew about how popular he is in Spain. Some fans and “press” asked interesting questions about his career, experience and collaborations with different artists and bands – Hide, Tsuchiya Anna, Luna Sea, Fake? and so on. He was asked how to become “big in Japan” particularly as a musician, and he said “working hard”. And then I lost it when he called us fans “young”. That almost made me roll on the floor laughing.

Inoran sitting on a chair with a hat, a scarf, and his jeans rolled up

After the Q&A, Inoran left, and C***** and I headed back towards Alicante. In the bus, I exchanged information with E**chan to stay in contact. C***** and I picked our things up from the hotel and walked to the train station, where he had a super-late lunch.

Burger, fries, and a glass of coke

We had a shared train-ride to Madrid, and we spent most of it in the cafeteria, chatting up. We also got to see a pretty rainbow as it rained on the way. After we made it to Madrid, we separated for the last leg of our journeys, happy to have met up once more for yet another fun adventure.

Dark clouds and a rainbow

11th March 2018: An old-fashioned museum and a strike in Madrid (Spain)

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I was looking at a work-related trip and wanted to use up Sunday morning to visit “a couple” of museums, then meet some relatives for lunch. Unfortunately, I was caught in the middle of a public transportation strike, so in the end I had to walk for a long while instead of doing what I wanted! Anyway, what I managed to do was getting to the Museo Geominero Nacional, the “Geomineral Museum” in Madrid. It is located in the headquarters of the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain, in a classical-looking building finished in 1925. It was designed by Franciso Javier de Luue. It is a classical-looking museum with wooden cases and an impressive stained glass ceiling, comprised by a central room and three surrounding balconies.

The access is through a marble staircase and the first corridor is already packed with display cases, even before you get to the main area. These cases show small and not-so-small fossils and replicas, displaying the first taste of the evolution of life on earth.

Once in the main room, most of the floor is taken up by the standing cases holding minerals, fossils and meteorites.

In the centre of the room lie the remains of a mastodon, located in the area of Ciudad Real in the 20th century, one of the crown jewels of the museum.

Of course I have been able to locate the collection of megalodon and shark teeth that are on display on the balcony.

Other displays on the upper floors include Spanish mountain goats, cave bears, and a human-evolution collection. Unfortunately, those did not photograph well due to the sun reflection.

And finally, my favourite piece of the collection is the Tyrannosaurus rex skull replica that presides the museum for the second floor.

When I came out, public transport was not running any more, so I had to walk through the Madrid backstreets until I got to the area where we had arranged to meet, and we went to a restaurant called El Escarpín, where I had an awesome pan of… wait for it… gratin meatballs with molten cheese on a bed of potatoes (Albóndigas gratinadas con queso de tetilla sobre cama de patatas). Amazing! Either that, or I was really ravenous after my hour and a half walking. Serves me right for not keeping up with the news! I learnt my lesson!

10th – 12th February 2018: Highlights of Glasgow and Edinburgh (Scotland, Great Britain)

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This is another trip that I took with customers. We flew into Edinburgh and took a bus directly to Glasgow, where we arrived at around 9:00 on Saturady morning. We made a stop for breakfast, then we walked to Saint Mungo Cathedral.

Then, of course, I guided them up the Necropolis Hill. The weather was very nice for a chance – because I have the exclusivity of good weather in London, but not in Scotland, which yielded to a nice walk.

We had lunch in my favourite Greek restaurant, and then walked around Glasgow – some of the members of the party wanted to go clothes-shopping so I took the opportunity to get into a bookshop or two. We dropped our things off at the hotel and walked in and out some of the shopping centres in the Central Glasgow area. In the evening, I took them to try Wagamama, a ramen / British fusion food chain. I’m always in for ramen (≧▽≦).

On Sunday morning we took the train to Edinburgh. We visited the Old City and Edinburgh Castle, with some awesome sights (because again, the weather was really good – albeit cold as hell, because, have you seen that snow??) and fumbled around for a while.

We had lunch at the Deacon Brodies Tavern, a traditional a restaurant in Castlehill – mince pie here.

We also took a walk towards the New City – and there was shopping again. In the end we had an amazing cup of chocolate as early dinner before we went back. I was supersuprised they wanted dinner, but I had had enough with that chocolate and just some tea at night. The shop where we had chocolate was called Coro: The chocolate Café, and I have no doubt I would go back to that shop.

Just before we headed back to Glasgow, we came across an art installation in Prince Garden, which had lots of pretty coloured lights.

And when we woke up on Monday to go to the bus station and head off to the airport… it was snowing! Honest to god snow on the streets!

We reached Spain without further incident in the afternoon, and that was another weekend wrapped up.

1st (and 2nd) August 2017: Running out of time! {Japan, summer 2017}

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This was my last day and I had to make the most of it! First I went to Shibakoen [芝公園] and Tokyo Tower [東京タワー], because that always keeps the sadness at bay. I went up the tower and I finally gave in and bought the stamp rally booklet. I should have done it before. The Tower was being visited by a primary school class. Ho boy.

Then I went to Iidabashi [飯田橋] using the Shibakoen subway station. The day before I had hired a private lesson to have a teacher explain Japanese conditionals to me. That was very productive. Finally I was off to Shinjuku [新宿] for yakitori and karaoke with B**** and D****e to say goodbye for now.

Finally, I half-packed because I apparently forgot half of my stuff atover there, and went to bed. At 2:02 in the morning there was the only noticeable quake of the trip, quite a big one. In the morning, I headed off to Narita Airport, checked-in my luggage, and once again, it was time to go back to reality.

31st July 2017: Little Korea and Tsukishima {Japan, summer 2017}

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I met up with B**** in Shin Okubo [新大久保] to walk around Korean Town make-up shops. Afterwards we headed off to Iidabashi [飯田橋] because I needed to drop by the school I had been at the previous year and B**** was nice enough to come with me. we took the chance to have a great sushi lunch at a bit of a more refined sushi place than our usual sushi lines. It was so very amazing!

Then I wanted to go to Ikebukuro [池袋] again because I had not found something I wanted in the Shibuya [渋谷] Tokyu Hands on Saturday, and we found ourselves a nice place to sit down and have something to drink (aka, Starbucks) because it was our chance to try whatever lemon beverage they were selling at the moment.

Then I headed off to Tsukishima [月島] to have okonomiyaki and monja with Ms-san and D****e. And then there was a parfait / icecream / whatever.

30th July 2017: Tokyo → Yokosuka → Sarushima → Yokosuka → Yokohama → Tokyo {Japan, summer 2017}

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We ended up in Yokosuka [横須賀] because D****e wanted to go to a music and book shop called Yajima Record Honten [ヤジマレコード本店], which was sadly closing the following day. The first thing that we did when we arrived, however, was lunch (because we had not gotten up early and we had spent a couple of hours on trains). Yokosuka is known for being an American army base, so it prides itself on being “Americanised”, and the typical dish seems to be hamburgers. This is the avocado burger I ordered.

After this we walked a block north and found Yajima. The key aspect of this shop was that it had a bunch of posters and signatures from old promos from a bunch of J-rockers. It was a bit of a magical place and it is very sad that it is closed now. I took the chance to buy an unopened, brand new copy of Hyde’s Shallow Sleep single, and we took pictures of a bunch of the promos that were still up, some of them twenty or thirty years old.

Afterwards we walked to the pier to catch a ferry to see Sarushima [猿島], which hosts a few old timer army bases and wartime ruins, aside from some very nice ocean views. It would have been nice if we had managed fewer people around, but alas, we all came by ferry so we all arrived at the same time. Sarushima is the only natural island in Tokyo Bay, and geologically it seems to be a continuation of Futtsu cape on the opposite side of the Bay. Although the name means “Monkey Island” there is no monkey there except in a legend that says that a white monkey guided Saint Nichiren through the fog in Tokyo Bay to the safety of the Island. Sarushima is a World Heritage National Historic Site.

Afterwards we went back to Yokosuka Pier and boarded the Mikasa [三笠] warship which was used as flagship in the Russo-Japanese war (and sank after the war because she blew up. Figures). It is now a naval museum where you can VR the battle. I got VR-obliterated. There is a reason why I did not pursue a military career.

Afterwards we diverted our way to go to Yokohama [横浜] and get nikuman for dinner in Chinatown. We sat on a park bench and ate nikuman and drank bubble tea. Afterwards we walked down by the harbour and through Yamashita Koen [山下公園] and looked at the sunset/night skyline. Finally we caught a train back home.

29th July 2017: Shinjuku, Shibuya & Blended Fam {Japan, summer 2017}

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D****e and I were going to have a relaxing weekend, not leaving Tokyo [東京] and stuff, but she wanted to do some shopping. We started off in Shinjuku [新宿], at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building Tōkyō Tochō [東京都庁], which was as always great and on her subway line anyway.

Collage showing Tokyo from above - thousands of buildings that disappear in the background, and some forlone green parks

Afterwards, I wanted to check something in one of the Shinjuku fandom shops (it said to ask the shop assistant, and I can ask, but I was not sure I would have understood the answer, thus she offered to tag along with me). Unfortunately the item I wanted was already gone, life is tough.

Then we went to Shibuya [渋谷] for lunch, Tokyu Hands and Mandarake. Afterwards we walked in the rain towards Royal Flash to check Arly’s Jewellery Line – Blended Fam. Arimatsu, or Arly, is the drummer for Oblivion Dust, and used to play for VAMPS too. He also designs jewellery, and he makes very pretty stuff – unfortunately quite expensive. We chose to drop by this day because he was going to be in the shop greeting fans, and engraving his most affordable piece of jewellery, a pendant made from his used cymbals. Furthermore, if you got one while he was there, he would engrave your initials on it! Fun. I decided to get one, and he was mortified when “SD” was engraved upside-down, yielding to “DS”. He was mortified. Then I joked about it and I gave it a naughty meaning… making him choke with laughter. So… it was a win, I guess?

The artist engraving the pendant, and the material - old cymbals cut out in a heart-shape.

After the event, we headed off to the Tokyo SkyTree [東京スカイツリー]. We were going to see the nearby fireworks with a friend from there, and have dinner later, or have dinner with her if the rain did not stop. In the end only we had dinner – as it was raining very hard and we thought the fireworks would be cancelled, so we headed off to a nice Chinese restaurant at the SkyTree which had extra long gyoza.

Chinese food - dumplings, rice, sweet and sour pork, soup

When we were coming out we saw one last firework, as the show was not cancelled in the end. Live and learn.

Firework sparks behind the structure of the Tokyo Skytree

28th July 2017: Shopping at Ikebukuro {Japan, summer 2017}

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This is something I had never thought I would have done, but it was strangely fun – I went shopping along Ikebukuro [池袋]. And not fandom shopping – well, yes, there was fandom shopping, but… It was weird. I was in the Book Off as always that I’m around. I was also in the Sanryo Gift Gate but there was no Yoshikitty to be found.

The original intent was going to the Sunshine City Aquarium [サンシャイン水族館] but when I arrived there was a very long line, so I decided to wander around for a while. I accidentally ran into a T-shirt that I loved and had to buy – full of sciency formulae, and a bag I really liked. I found it a bit expensive, so “decided” not to buy it.

After some conbini lunch I went back to the Aquarium and decided to wait as the line did not seem to be about to be longer than 15 minutes (much better than the 45 before).

The Aquarium was full and it never fails to surprise me how Japanese kids are this wild in aquariums in general- but this time I got pushed around by grannies too! XD I also found a new appreciation for pelicans and ended up with a lot of pelicanbutt pictures.

After the aquarium I headed to the Closet Child on my way to the station and bought a very cool T-shirt from a group I don’t really listen to, but very cool, and 1000¥. And then, because I had not really gotten myself anything too expensive in Closet Child, I gave into temptation and went back for the handbag. Many people have complimented me for it, and I really love it.

Afterwards I met up with B**** for sushi and Starbucks while D****e was in a fancy dinner on a boat, with my camera (yay phone pictures). After I got into the train, I was messaging with D****e and we realised that we were on the same train. What are the chances? Very, very small XD

27th July 2017: Osaka → Kyoto → Tokyo {Japan, summer 2017}

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It’s not the first time I’ve done this, but this time it was sane-ish. I left Osaka [大阪] maybe at 8.30 in the morning and took the Shinkansen to Kyoto [京都]. Once there, I found myself a coin locker at the station and went on to the bus area. I was heading to Jonan-gu [城南宮] which was my last shrine of the Kyoto Gosha Meguri ~Shi shin Sou Ou No Miyako~ [京都五社めぐり~四神四神相応の京~] and… under repairs too. But I had finished the Meguri. I had to wait about an hour for the bus. Then 40 minutes ride, about 10 minutes in the shrine, 30 minutes waiting for the bus back and 40 minutes ride again.

After I had some lunch at the station, I headed back to Tokyo [東京], where I met up with D****e in order to hit Nakano Broadway [中野ブロードウェイ] to rummage through TRIO (Yay TRIO for getting me what I needed ♥… and some more stuff I did not need but hey, who cares about those details?). Afterwards we had some kushikatsu dinner.

25th July 2017: Osaka → Shinagawa → Osaka → VAMPS {Japan, summer 2017}

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Yeah, well. That day, I had to go to Tokyo and and pick up my VAMPS at Zepp Osaka Bayside because there had been a slight mess up. But in the end everything resulted fine and I was able to attend the concert. Let’s try to break it down.

Through the mostly-sleepless night I had booked another hotel, so I just picked up my things, returned the keys and did not even try to cancel the other nights. I was just happy to get out of there. I took a shinkansen to Tokyo, where I retrieved my ticket, had lunch with B****, and jumped on a train back. I checked in my new hotel – I’ve never felt this happy about a boring hotel – and had a shower. Then I headed off to the venue, Zepp Osaka Bayside.

After the hotel stress and not having slept much that night – the atmosphere was super creepy – and having to do the Osaka-Tokyo round trip, the concert felt super-cathartic, and one of the most tension-releasing ones I’ve ever attended, even with an album I’m not the biggest fan of. Furthermore, there was a very lovely The Jolly Roger, one of my favourite songs.

Zepp Osaka Bayside building, and VAMPS tour truck.

On my way back I saw Tsūtenkaku [通天閣] lit up (but I seriously had no energy to climb it) and bought yummy, yummy salmon at a random conbini before I bunked down in my nice, safe hotel in Shinsekai [新世界].

Tsutentaku Tower lit up in blue neon, and a tray of raw salmon for dinner

20th July 2017: Dazaifu – not ready for thorough tourism {Japan, summer 2017}

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Dazaifu [大宰府] was the neuralgic centre of the island of Kyushu between the 7th and the 12th century. Today is sort to Fukuoka what Nikko is to Tokyo. Nowadays it is mostly known for its temples and shrines. It has a central core close to the station where you get around quite easily and a few things off the way which… are an adventure to get to.

I started the day visiting Dazaifu Tenmangu [大宰府天満宮], which was crawling with tourists to the point that it was hard to walk at times. It is a big shrine with a huge bridge over a pond in the shape of 心.

Afterwards I got myself a bottle of water and climbed up to Tenkai Inari Jinja [天開稲荷神社] which would have been really, really awesome and creepy if I had been alone, but alas, there were a bunch of other tourists along. It was quite of a climb up so the number was fewer, which made it less crowded though.

After climbing down I wandered around and passed a tiny shrine on the bank of Aizome River [藍染川] the place of a rebirth of a woman named Umetsubo. There is also a small shrine and a “historical site.”

After this I reached Kōmyōzen-ji [光明禅寺], a Zen temple with a great garden, but no pictures were allowed, and you could not really walk through the gardens. However, it was much, much emptier and nicer.

It was now when I decided to head out to the Kanzeon-ji [観世音寺]…

… and Kaidan-in [戒壇院], along with the so called Bonsho Bell.

In order to get here the map sent me through rather bad roads, and it got scary for a second when a car was coming. Furthermore, the signposts were all messed up, making it hard to follow them and the map. But in the end I made it and even if I did not enter the museum, I felt accomplished.

On the other side of the road you could climb up to Hiyoshi Jinja [日吉神社], a tiny and quiet shrine on top of a hill that I really liked – I thought the kami would be bored so I dropped them a prayer too.

After all this I still had a few things left, but I was very tired and there was a storm brewing, so I backtracked to Fukuoka, where I had slept, gathered my luggage and was ready to take a train to my next destination when I unexpectedly met with a VAMPS fan friend, the same one D****e and I ran into at Kumamoto castle! Small world! We had ramen – Hakata ramen, of course – together and then I took the train towards my next destination, on the other side of Kyushu: Beppu.

Beppu [別府] is a small town on the side of a volcano known for its hot springs because it’s on the slope of a volcano named Tsurumi-dake [鶴見岳]. It has almost 3000 volcanic spring vents and it is a bloody amazing place!

I checked into the hotel and almost immediately walked out because the hotel was right next to Beppu Tower [別府タワー]. However I got distracted by Matogahama Koen [的ケ浜公園] and the beach and the breakwaters.

Finally I climbed up to the tower and looked around the city. I was a little disappointed because I was expecting to see some of the vents or at least a spark coming for the volcano, but it did not happen.

Afterwards I walked down to the hotel and spent an hour in the public bath that they had, which was really, really good for relaxing. And then I collapsed in bed and got some sleep because there was a big day the following day!

(I have to say here that I have decided to omit here most of the ‘blergh’ part of this trip in order to keep only the nice memories, thus the upcoming posts are a bit edited. So I’m not telling you about the unfriendly people I met in the way and that made me feel a bit sad. Just the friendly ones because they rock! )

17th July 2017: The power of nature {Japan, summer 2017}

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In the morning, D****e and I left the hotel to tour Kumamoto [熊本] a bit more. We headed off to Fujisaki Hachimangu [藤崎八旛宮], a shrine dedicated to a bunch of historical figures, among them Emperor Ojin.

After that, we walked in the sun towards the castle, and we missed our entrance to the nice shade, so we were in the scorching sun for a little longer than intended. In the castle park we headed off to Kato Jinja [加藤神社].

As we walked around the park, and from Kato Jinja itself we could see part of Kumamoto-jo [熊本城], but we could only see one of the towers, as the main building is still under reconstruction. The destruction of the turrets and walls gave us a chill, thinking of that quake and how strong it must have been. I have decided that I must come back to Kumamoto some day to see this castle once it is reconstructed.

As we were coming down we met a friend and arranged to meet with her later to emulate HYDE’s pictures at the station, but first we dropped by Kumamoto Inari Jinja [熊本城稲荷神社].

We had a shabushabu lunch and then headed off to the station meet with C. and to take our pictures with Kumamon (and a nice old couple who… wanted pictures with the gaijin for some reason).

After that I took the Shinkansen to Hataka station in the city of Fukuoka [福岡], where I arrived around 6pm. This kick-started my pattern for the following days: travel to a new city in the late afternoon / early evening, check in a hotel close to the station, see monuments by night, sleep, see the important stuff during the morning.

I checked into the hotel, changed clothes and headed off to see Fukuoka Tower [福岡タワー] and Momochi Seaside Park Seaside Momomichi Kaihin Koen [シーサイドももち海浜公園]. The latter is a small beach park which holds some restaurants, cafes and one of the famous Fukuoka wedding venues (the Marizon).

I entered the Tower and was waiting for a while to climb up, but it was worth it, as I got to watch sunset. I really like the whole tower-climbing thing. Finally I backtracked towards the hotel, stopping to take pictures of the lit tower on my way back.

15th July 2017: 1,176.2 km with a stop {Japan, summer 2017}

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Shinkansen are a wonderful invention (although the air-con regulation could use some work). D****e and I jumped on one to go to Nagoya [名古屋] from Yokohama at around 8.20. We were to be at Zepp Nagoya at 11:00 for the VAMPARK that was held there, which was a sort of exclusive film documentary of the previous year’s activities.

Zepp Nagoya Logo with a notice that reads Vampark 2017 and the date - 15th July 2017

After the VAMPARK and a forgettable lunch at an Indian restaurant in Nagoya station D****e headed to the airport and I continued on another shinkansen to head off to Kumamoto, where we had a concert the following day. This was because I had a RailPass but for her flying was cheaper.

In the end, it took me about 5 hours 20 minutes on trains from Yokohama to Kumamoto [熊本] in three different shinkansen. Once in Kumamoto, I got to meet the city’s mascot, Kumamon, a huge friendly black bear.

A giant Kumamon head rising from the floor. Kumamon is the Kumamoto mascot, a cartoon giant black bear with red cheeks and white snout and eyebrows

I had to invest a bit until I figured out the tram system, and that made it that – funnily enough – both D****e and I arrived at our hotel within 10 minutes of each other. After checking in we headed off to have a bite with a bunch of VAMPS fan friends at a freezing izakaya where I tried raw horse (basashi [馬刺し]) for the first time o.o.

Plate of raw meat with lemon and wasabi

13th July 2017: Shinkai (Deep Ocean) {Japan, summer 2017}

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I headed off to Ueno Kōen [野公園]. The first thing I did was exchanging my JR Pass. Then I hit the Natural History Museum Kokuritsu Kagaku Hakubutsukan [国立科学博物館] because I had seen on Tuesday that they were running a temporary exhibition on Deep Ocean. Since last year’s Hunters of the Sea was good, I had decided to check it out.

The exhibition, called Shinkai [深海] ran several parts. The first of them (bioluminescence and Hadal zone) had a bunch of interesting specimens both kept in formol, along with there being big screen showing the creatures in their natural habitat. Of course, Japan, being Japan, was much more fascinated by the screens rather than the actual fish. Some of the most interesting things that they had exhibited included: a giant Antarctic octopus ( Megaleledone setebos), a Pacific footballfish (Himantolophus sagamius, those that have a little light on an antenna on their head), a huge chimera and a lepidion (Lepidion schmidti). However the central pieces of the exhibition were the Pacific sleeper shark (Somniosus pacificus) and the Atlantic giant squid (Architeuthis dux).

Another part focused on geology and ocean floor exploiting, alongside some earthquake research, especially on the Great Tohoku Earthquake. The most interesting part here were the chimneys and the Manganese nodules.

There was a bit on augmented microbiology but that is not that key XD

After I left the exhibition I headed off to Yushima Tenmangu [湯島天満宮], which is associated with plum trees, but none of them were blooming at the time. It also enshrines the Kami of Learning, so I hope it helps with my Japanese.

Afterwards, I took the Ginza line to Shibuya [渋谷] to meet up with B**** for some Starbucks and sushi. Sushi is always good!

10th July 2017: Smooth arrival {Japan, summer 2017}

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And that was a first. We were on time even if we had taken off slightly late and I was downtown Tokyo at noon. Japan is ‘trying’ to make arrival more friendly and now your fingertips are taken by someone who is not security, but it’s still the same process – you arrive, they take your fingerprints, take a photo of you (without glasses) and then you go through immigration. Then you pick up the luggage and go through customs, where they may or may not open your suitcase. This time, I did not get mine open, even if I had a perfect answer for why I was there.

I had lunch with D****e, then went to her place to have a shower and change clothes and then met up with B**** for ice cream, because I was back in Japan in melting hot weather. And then I met up with D****e as I had borrowed her keys, went back home, had some dinner and crashed.

11th & 12th June 2017: Highlights of London (England, Great Britain)

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As part of my day job, I took a group of customers on a trip to London. Not the best decision in my life, but one that I would repeat a couple of times before I had enough. This was a short getaway – we took off on a red-eye flight on Saturday and we came back on Sunday evening.

Our first stop was The Tower of London, officially called “Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London”. The main Tower, “White Tower”, was built in the 11th century, and additions to it were made up to the 1400s. It was designated Unesco World Heritage Site in 1998. The Tower holds an armoury, some treasure, documentation offices, a few shops and the Crown Jewels of England. And, according to the legend, quite a few ghosts.

After the Tower, we took a moment to see the Tower Bridge.

We had a hotel basically at the end of the world, and we decided to go to drop our things off before we continued on the visit. We saw the Wellington Arc in Hyde Park on the way to the royal palace.

Then we fooled around Buckingham Palace.

Finally we went to Chinatown to have dinner…

… and rounded up the day at Piccadilly Circus.

The next morning we headed off to the British Museum. We had breakfast outside because of course it was one of those times when it’s all warm in London. Waffles = ♥

The British Museum was established in 1753, and opened to the public, in its current location, in 1759. It focuses on human history and art, having branched the natural history items to the Museum of Natural History and all the documentation to the British Library. The museum holds the awe-inducing number of 150 million of artefacts from dozens of cultures of the world, both ancient and modern, with amazing Grecian and Egyptian collections (albeit having disputed ownership…)

Inside the British Museum we separated. I left them to have a walk around the most important areas and I walked into my favourite spots (although the Japanese galleries were still closed. I also got a ticket to see the Hokusai – beyond the Great Wave exhibition, which presents a number of Hokusai’s works organised in series or topics. One is waves, and it shows how Hokusai experimented with textures, shapes, swirls and foam until he found the “perfect” wave – his most famous work, the Great Wave. There is a series on people, another one on mythology, and another one on himself and his family.

After I was done and we had met up again, I helped them found some stuff that they had not seen but still wanted to. Then, we headed off to the Westminster area to see the Big Ben, and although there was some scaffolding already visible, we managed to see the whole thing.

Finally, we headed off to the airport to get back home.

3rd – 5th March 2017: #XDAY in London (England, Great Britain)

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The X JAPAN concert in Wembley was scheduled for the 12th of March 2016. Unfortunately, on the 15th of January, guitarist PATA was admitted to the ICU in Japan, which set back the date a whole year. For the record, I’m very happy that PATA made a full recovery.

Since January 2016 I had been trying to arrange one of the VIP packs that were being offered and which included transportation, but the promoter ONTOURS had been skittish. The postponement did not come as a surprise. In the end these packages blew up and there was a different kind of VIP upgrade arranged, that my friend C***** and I chose to buy. This included half of the merchandise and access to the sound-check. Later on, it was announced that the band would be signing copies of the “We are X” album at hmv in Oxford street. My friend C***** and I also managed to get tickets for that one, so we were elated.

Friday, 3rd of March 2017: We Nailed It

C***** and I met at the airport on the 3rd of March, Friday, for an early afternoon flight, and everything went smoothly. The only minor bump was that she was carrying a trolley and the lady at the gate decided that there were already more than fifty trolleys being loaded as carry-on – there were not, I had counted them and that she had to check in. She tried to protest (literally, the attendant started tagging the line when she saw us) to no avail. I was not having it, so as soon as we walked past the boarding pass check, I ripped off the “check at gate” tag and produced a copy of the boarding pass (without the check-in sticker), and we were allowed in without problem.

We arrived in London Stansted, went through immigration without any impertinent agent bugging us, and we took the Stansted Express, then changed into the underground. It was all smooth once more, we got to the Oxford Street stop, alit, and found the hmv building. When we reached the queue, sheshe stayed and I went in to buy the CDs for the autographs. I also bought a bottle of water, and the cashier actually got a chuckle out of my face when they gave me a new £5 note, which are sort of plastic-y, and have a transparent part. After this, we settled to wait. It took a long time to finally get to the signing area, but the weather was reasonable and there were no weird people around.

You could take pictures on the approach to the band, but as you arrived at the front, you had to leave all your things. As you approached the band, one of the assistants would take the booklet from you and handed it over to the first artist, guitarist Sugizo, who did not look too awake. Then ToshI, who was smiling all the time. Yoshiki was happy as he tends to be when he is the centre of attention. Patatried to look like nothing had to do with him. Finally Heath handed (what you hoped was) your booklet back to you.

All in all you might be seeing them for 3 or 4 minutes top as the hmv staff kept yelling at you to hurry up. It was however worth every second, although all my pictures ended up being horrible.

hmv building outside, autographied CD and a very blurry image of the band signing

And here is my not-so-little secret: I froze. I had practised so much what I wanted to tell each and every one of them, but I just froze and I couldn’t get the words out except a mumbled thank you to Heath when he gave me my booklet back. I remember looking at Sugizo and Yoshiki thinking “they’re real, they’re here, it’s happening…”

We knew that there would be a crowd after the event, and we wanted to avoid that, as C***** has a bad back, so we decided against waiting for them after the fact. Instead, we headed off for the hotel we had booked just next to Wembley Arena. On the way, we stopped at a Salisbury supermarket to get some stuff that we might need – aka some drinks and snacks for the following day – we needn’t have worried though as when we turned the corner we found a whole shopping centre with restaurants.

We checked in, left our things, had a shower, and headed off for dinner. She had never been in a Wagamama before, so I thought it was a great idea to try it for dinner. I think she enjoyed it – and so did I, I might have eaten a bit too much.

Dinner: dumplings, fried chicken, ramen with a lot of veggies, sweet buns

Saturday, 4th of March 2017: The Actual #XDAY

On Saturday morning, the actual #XDAY, the fourth of March 2017, we had breakfast at a Costa Coffee – I have to say that I really enjoyed introducing her to a bunch of “my favourite British things”.

Tall coffee latte mug

We hung out at the outside of the venue all morning until we could get our VIP accreditations and be admitted. Before everything started, though, we had some burgers for lunch.

Fancy burger with overflowing lettuce and avocado sauce

After lunch, we went to the VIP line. I saved up the space while my friend made a run to the merchandise booth to check if they had the We are X soundtrack CDs – yes, exactly the same one that we had bought the day before, except that this time they had a special cover – blue, red, or purple. And with each CD you got a set of “trading cards”. We were not lucky at this time.

The venue, with lots and lots of windows

The whole experience once within the venue started with watching the rehearsal, at least what we were allowed to – to this day I don’t understand why we were let in late and escorted out early so we only caught about 50% of it. Highlights of this are Yoshiki in pink sweatpants, and ToshI waving his hand at us whenever “nobody” was looking.

The band rehearsing

We were chased out to wait in the halls and I used the time to slither towards the merch booth, where I got the CDs – all three colours (twice, actually, for both myself and C***** as she kept the spot). Eventually, the doors opened again and we took the picture on the stage – unfortunately without the band – as the arena started filling up with people. After this we found our seats. I made a run to the ticket booth again because I had won an extra set of tickets and we needed to check whether by any chance they were better than what we had. Through this process, I ended up having a riff-raff with the security staff at Wembley that lead me to file a complaint letter. Of course, I had to run into my least favourite things about British people.

Late, of course, everything started. First, we were shown the documentary “We are X”, and it hurt every bit as much as the first time in Barcelona. And as the documentary was coming to an end, the music rose up and we got started with the chords of Rusty Nail. The concert was fantastic – we had had to wait for over a year but we were finally there. This was my first real X Japan concert, and my heart was soaring all through the event. Everything was magnificent: all the members, the music, the crowd… It was so amazing I wished it never ended.

Unfortunately, though, everything comes to an end, and so did the concert, though I hope the memories never fade away.

Stills of the concert

Sunday, 5th of March 2017: Excitement Hangover

The next morning, we woke up and went to find the Costa again, because Costa is amazing. It was raining, cold, and I was not feeling too well as I had hit a wall, but coffee revived me a little. We got into the underground to go to the commuting point to the train and kept an eye out for any We Are X posters that we could find (we decided against trying to find the billboards because that would mean a big detour and we did not feel comfortable with the flights timing).

We eventually found some posters at Baker Street and… after a quick Instagram check we realised that we had stumbled upon the very same poster in front of which ToshI had taken his pictures, and we had a laughing flash.

The concert promo in the underground.

When we reached the airport we had some hot food at the Stansted Itsu – not the best but it was warm and it helped me feel a bit better.

Lunch - containers of fast food: gyoza, miso soup, turkey with peas, and meat broth. The logo says itsu eat beautiful

We separated at the airport because C***** had a better connection to her town to return than she had for arriving in London. All in all, this was one of the best weekends of my life and it all worked almost perfectly – all the important things anyway.

Also, I made a promise to myself after this – that I would not freeze again in front of a star. I hope I can keep it.

8th (and 9th) January 2017: The jump back to Tokyo… and then completely back… {Japan, winter 16/17}

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At an insane hour in the morning, umbrella-less and in the middle of the rain, I got myself back to the point where buses were finally running to the airport. I dozed away the trip, because else I would have kept tying to read quizzes in Hiroshima-ben, the local dialect, that they were displaying on the bus screen.

I made it to Hiroshima airport and pulled a bunch of things off my backpack to conceal them before I got my boarding pass in case my carry on got checked, but once again the ‘I am a scary gaijin’ thing worked and I was free to go.

I was allowed to get my water bottle in, even with it being half-full, and I had a Calbee crisps breakfast because I could not find a sandwich inside, although in retrospective, maybe I should have gone out and back again as I had time. Then again, I would have had to explain that to security… never mind. So I had coffee and crisps. Not the best option, but what I had available.

When I landed and got back to downtown Tokyo [東京], I met B**** at Shibuya [渋谷] for gyoza, and boy did we eat gyoza. And afterwards she walked me to Shinjuku [新宿]to buy some stuff, and then we went to a cafeteria for cake… well, she had cake, I had a coffee jelly with vanilla which was my new favourite thing in the world. I seriously need to learn to make that.

After that there was a visit to Swallowtail in Ikebukuro [池袋], the butler café, which is as always very fun. We had a bit of a lost butler – he felt kind of new – and not the prettiest one. I noticed that they have uniformed the butlers, too, so now they are all wearing the same thing. After that we dropped by the shop and I got myself a bracelet I can’t wear because my wrist is too thin… and here I thought that I would get away with stuff prepared for Japanese girls… nope.

After that there were goodbyes and thank yous and tears because the only thing that I did the next day was going to the airport, more goodbyes, more tears. Very sad. As always.

Until next time, I guess.

Maybe.

Hopefully.