8th August 2019: Tokyo Tower & Nakano Broadway {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by Sakaki Delijah

When I was in Kawagoe I found the Saitama special Coke bottle, and I decided I would be on the look-out for them. Afterwards, I saw the three-bottle Kansai pack in Osaka. Thinking about where I could get some of the Tokyo ones (I have an Ueno one that I bought in Narita Airport at some point), I thought about Tokyo Tower as a place to find them. I was not successful, but I did say hi to Tokyo Tower [東京タワー] (Shiba Koen [芝公園]is still under construction though (ó_ò).)

Afterwards I had a shopping sweep in Nakano Broadway [中野ブロードウェイ] – where I bought my new obi and haori – and later I met D****e for dinner.

Walked distance: Unknown, as the connection phone / wristband malfunctioned. I estimate around 6 to 7 km. As you can see, I was feeling the tiredness indeed, so these few days were more relaxed. For now…

3rd September 2018: More friends, less tourism {Japan, summer 2018}

Posted on 6 October 2018 by Sakaki Delijah

I walked towards Nakano [中野] again – realising that Nakano Broadway [中野ブロードウェイ] is in walking distance has been a problem – and the Aoyama Daiso where I got some stupid things, basically fake nails, stickers to put them on and blue mascara.

On my way I reaffirmed the existence of Tōkō-ji [東光寺]:

Then I came across Araiyakushi Baishōin [新井薬師梅照院]:

Once in the Nakano Broadway [中野ブロードウェイ] building I checked out the shops and jumped on the train to meet B**** for sushi (not killed in front of us, thankfully), and drinks and talking. This time we were not at Starbucks spending my voucher, but at Tully’s spending hers. Afterwards we were having a look at the make up shops in Shibuya 109 and Super-Donki. It ended up with me buying some red eyeliner.

Four our last dinner B****, D****e and I got shabu-shabu. In all honesty, I wanted curry but it has not sat well on my stomach the last few times, so now I’m afraid to try ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡ ← most of the tears are because I had to say goodbye to B**** anyway.

28th August 2018: Easy-peasy {Japan, summer 2018}

Posted on 30 September 2018 by Sakaki Delijah

Having felt so lousy the previous day I decided to take an easy day with friends. I took another Nakano Broadway [中野ブロードウェイ] trip, although I did not find anything interesting – actually I did but I decided to leave buying for later and the next time I came it would be gone. Not the item, the whole shop (≧∇≦).

I met B**** for Chinese food in Shibuya [渋谷], drinks (because we had free Starbucks!) and then I got a haircut! Not that my hair was long but it had started losing shape and it did not look neat. My hair saloon was called Number 76 and it was in Omotesando [表参道].

This was a bit of a weird experience – I got my hair dry-cut, then washed, then styled, and then I got a massage – and B**** treated me to it because she’s awesome and generous ♥

Afterwards we met with D****e and had dinner at a very weird meat place in Shinjuku [新宿] (once again in MyLord because we decided it is very convenient and it has nice places). I mean, this is a salad…

13th August 2018: Pretty Lights, Strike 2 {Japan, summer 2018}

Posted on 15 September 2018 by Sakaki Delijah

I had quite a boring morning filing all the insurance and company flights hoping to get the money I had spent on clothes during the time my luggage was lost. Then a storm broke so I took the subway to Nakano Broadway [中野ブロードウェイ] to canvass the shops for a while. After shopping (mostly for my friend C*****, actually) I headed home to drop off the purchases of the day because my back was hurting and I did not want to run around carrying weight.

I had arranged to meet D****e in Roppongi [六本木] when she was done with work for two things – one was taking pictures with the dozens of Doraemon [ドラえもん] that were once again colonising Roppongi Hills [六本木ヒルズ].

Then we went to Tokyo Midtown [東京ミッドタウン] building, also in Roppongi. We saw Tokyo Tower [東京タワー] on the way.

We had Chinese for dinner and then we walked into the gardens for the event called Midtown Loves Summer which was a show of lights and music, which was the second goal of the evening. Pretty!

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

Posted on 7 September 2017 by Sakaki Delijah

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.

30th December 2016: Water & lights {Japan, winter 16/17}

Posted on 16 January 2017 by Sakaki Delijah

I headed off to Enoshima [江の島] to meet with my friend Mk-san, whom I met in Gackt’s birthday party in July. By pure chance, I caught a glance of Mount Fuji Fuji-san [富士山] again.

Together (with Mk-san, not with Fuji-san ~ヾ(＾∇＾)) we went into Enoshima Aquarium – Enoshima Suizokukan [新江ノ島水族館], which was one of the few I had left in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. The highlight was the focus on algae and seagrass, because the jumping fish did not seem to be in the mood for jumping. Oh, and kira-kira jellyfish!

After the aquarium and lunch, I headed back to Tokyo [東京] and I stumbled upon one of the L’Arc-en-Ciel’s “Don’t be afraid” billboards.

Then I met up with K. and D****e in Nakano Broadway [中野ブロードウェイ] for a bit of shopping before we headed out to Tokyo Dome [東京ドーム] to watch some Winter Illumination.

Later we went to Tokyo Station to see the lights in the Marunouchi [丸の内] side and had some avocado burger in a random Freshness we came across. And it was cold. Very cold. Awfully cold. Finger-ouchy cold.

21st July 2016: Shopping spree (II) {Japan, summer 2016}

Posted on 9 August 2016 by Sakaki Delijah

This was the last planned big shopping spree and honestly I felt quite pleased after that. I started off in Nakano Broadway [中野ブロードウェイ] and then made my way to Shinjuku. Nakano aka Mandarake Land has reorganised itself to have topic-oriented shops. I had not been able to find the one that interested me – male singers – just yet. Actually I had found it but they had been moving things around and nothing was to be found there. Fortunately this one time I found interesting stuff at very good prices ＼(^o^)／ (I saw the same item I got for twice the price later in TRIO). After the Mandarake I moved onto the JRock TRIO and fell in love with a Gackt’s Ghost pendant so I got myself that, along with a VAMPS postcard and a Galileo special from Fukuyama Masaharu’s fanclub Magazine (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))

Happy with my items, I headed off to Shinjuku [新宿] to find the Closet Child CD shop. The previous day I had been in the punk goth one and gotten myself a ring, but this time I wanted the CD one. And when I found it, it was so worth it ♥

After class, I headed off to have dinner with a friend, totally ignoring that I had an exam the next day. Oh and when I got home I did laundry. Cause I’m cool like that ψ(｀∇´)ψ

8th July 2016: 勉強しました, I seriously did… {Japan, summer 2016}

Posted on 7 August 2016 by Sakaki Delijah

On this day I was at home all morning studying, not sure why because it really did not work all that well (￣◇￣;). The first week was a review of the previous level in the intensive course, so I found myself in a bit of a disadvantage. I passed it, but by the skin of my teeth. I was not too happy about it but oh well, at that point I’d make up my mind to take the best out of the course, learn as much as I could, and not be huffy or upset or think about how much money I had invested on it.

After the class and test, I headed off to Nakano Broadway [中野ブロードウェイ], which should just be renamed ‘Mandarakeland’ or something as seriously, they are taking over. Leave my TRIO alone, people! There I pondered if I needed a TOKIO bag, and decided that I did need a TOKIO bag for 108¥, and then got some Gackt stuff after the longest convo I’ve ever had with a fan-shop staff member regarding what the hell a free size was （≧∇≦）. I also decided I did not need a Yoshikitty key ring for 1500¥.

Then we headed off to show T**y the sights of Tokyo at night from the observatory of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Tōkyō Tochō [東京都庁] in Shinjuku [新宿]. Impressive as always, even if it was cloudy, because you go to the TMGB during the day to look beyond Tokyo, but you want to look at Tokyo at night. One of the most amazing things was that we were alone in the lift! Bloody alone, he and myself, in a TMGB lift (O_o)!!! While he was gawking at the numbers of the floors, I was taking pictures of the empty lift (⌒▽⌒)

I know my priorities.

For the record, getting my bearings around Shinjuku was hard for a bit, mostly because there you can’t really stop and look where you are going or you’ve got to go. And since I was coming out from a line I’d never used before, it was confusing. Then we ended up following the right passageway, but it’s either new or severely renovated, because the ‘street’ we ended up taking was not the one I remembered at all! I might have to explore again from the Yamanote platform.

After that we headed off home because it had been a long hard day.

31st August 2015: Up and down, Trains and fandom (reloaded) {Japan, summer 2015}

Posted on 18 September 2015 by Sakaki Delijah

We took the Yurikamome line to Odaiba [お台場] once more.

Kushikatsu tries were more successful this time around, and D****e managed to get a few more Chupacabra out of the machine later. Afterwards we headed off to the Trio2 shop, located in Nakano Broadway [中野ブロードウェイ] for some more fandom shopping. We saw the X JAPAN Tour billboards.

Later, we had dinner at Swallowtail, the Butler café – the first time I’ve not been too pleased with the food. The tea set was just too sweet all around, but all in all quite an enjoyable experience, as always.

To end the evening, we had a look at the UFO catchers, where we got Chupacabra uchiwa, and I raided the local Book Off.

8th & 9th August 2014: Never trust the French {Japan, summer 2014}

Posted on 25 August 2014 by Sakaki Delijah

I have discovered that it is easier to get up before 4 in the morning rather than between 5 and 8, don’t ask me why, but I suspect vampire genes. Boarding the connecting flight to Paris was a bit of a hassle as baggage drop took forever I (on the fast, already checked in queue, sheesh.) but the flight itself was good.

Transfer in Charles de Gaulle was however a true nightmare, which involved elevators, buses, mobs of people and staff calling out who could go on each bus according to the gate. Still made it to the gate with 10 minutes to spare… until they delayed the flight. The first notice talked about 3 hours, in the end we left with barely over an hour. Apparently there was something wrong with the entertainment system that could only be partially fixed, so we ended up with 15 films streamed over and over again.

I managed to doze through most of the trip, might have even slept some, because I had to watch Captain America II twice for it to make sense. Same with The Hobbit 2.

There were three or four turbulence alerts but it was not terribly bad, and we made up for the delay and arrived almost on time. It was Saturday, 6 am, which made it about 11 pm my regular timezone. I thought it would be dead, but surprisingly I was not, and after retrieving my luggage and making it thorough customs, I plunged into the maze that is the Tokyo chikatetsu service after being greeted by Tokyo Banana. The first thing that I heard when arriving in the platform was the music box version of SMAP’s “Sekai no hitotsu dake no hana“.

I’d be staying with a friend in Satte (Saitama), so that meant two hours and a few train changes along the way but it turned out fine. Now, getting the suitcase down from her third floor would be fun.

We decided to heard off for sushi and first Jmusic mission of the trip – which turned out to be Nakano Broadway and Shinjuku Book Offs. Sushi was, as always, delightful and I was quite oh-shinied by a few things in Nakano, also as always. Then there was a little DVD watching. That was an early night as jet lag and exhaustion eventually caught up.

29th June 2013: Tea Ceremony and Nakano Broadway {Japan, summer 2013}

Posted on 1 July 2013 by Sakaki Delijah

We attended a tea ceremony in the New Otani Hotel, a small event for tourists that was really nice on the geeky traditional kind of way. The lady was very friendly and did her best to be understood in English, so I did not feel off at any point – only sore as my hip seems out to kill me lately XD”

Later on there was Nakano Broadway [中野ブロードウェイ], where lots of money was spent, and Shibuya [渋谷] yakiniku and karaoke, although I was so tired that reading was kind of impossible XD”

15th July 2012: A very Japanese Sunday {Japan, summer 2012}

Posted on 20 July 2012 by Sakaki Delijah

The 15^th started with a visit to Inokashira Kōen [井の頭恩賜公園] and the temple in it, Inokashira Benzaiten [井の頭弁財天] overlooking Inokashira Ike [井の頭池]. I still find it amazing how the parks in Tokyo can completely drown everything that is going on around them, especially train and car noises. It’s like going to the country or something, within a few minutes of a train station. Inokashira Park was full of people walking, a drawing class and a small flea market.

A bright red shrine at the end of an equally bright bridge

However, the respite did not take long and we threw ourselves back into the busy streets of Tokyo, heading out to Shibuya for all you can eat shabu-shabu. No words, really. Just on nom nom nom nom.

Shabu-shabu restaurant. A broth pot stands in the middle of a table with two services, and two trays of meat are on the side

After lunch and a not-so-quick trip to Mandarake, we headed off for Nakano Broadway to ~~burn the credit card~~, snoop around idol shops, and buy a lot of stuff.

A shopping gallery

We had a a sushi dinner a sushi dinner (here, fyi, sushi is fish with rice, not rice with fish on top), at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, where you could also order. And when you did, your sushi came in a mini-Shinkansen (Sushinkansen!)

Sushi moving in a conveyor belt-like structure