Tag Archives: self-plan

27th December 2015 – 1st January 2016: Scotland (Great Britain)

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A friend and I decided to organise a New Year’s Eve getaway to Scotland, and I used the opportunity to get some stuff and redtape out of the way, so you might notice some chunks of time missing. Furthermore relationship with Scotland is complex and bittersweet, so I’m not sure how this post is going to turn up

The first part of our trip was based in Edinburgh. We arrived rather late in the evening so we just got to Waverly Station and walked to the hotel to get some rest before we started off the adventure.

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, and it is a dark city, but not in a bad way. The dark, moss-covered rock seems designed to absorb any little beam of sunlight and warm the houses. In our first morning we had a walk around Princes Street Garden, where the Scott Monument, a memorial in honour of the writer Sir Walter Scott, stands. There was also a Christmas market standing.

We climbed up Castlehill to visit Edinburgh’s castle, in the Old Town. The castle stands on an extinct volcano and some of the archaeological remains can be traced back to Prehistory! The first castle is thought to have been built around the year 1000 BC, which means the foundations are 3000 years old! The site of the castle includes, among other dependencies, The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Regimental Museum, National War Museum, the Royal Palace, St. Margaret’s chapel, and a couple of distilleries. Due to its vantage point, also features a great view of all the Edinburgh area.

We walked back down Castlehill and made a stop at The Tron in the City, a former church turned artisan flea market.

My friend is a Hard Rock Café collector, so we went to the George Street area, which was decorated.

After lunch, we walked to Calton Hill, a hill / park area located near the centre and that hosts the Dugald Steward Monument, the National Monument and the Nelson Monument.

Then we met with a local friend to have dinner (bangers and mash!) to The Elephant House, the so-called birthplace of Harry Potter, where JK Rowling went to write the novels.

On our way back we saw some of the illuminated views, most prominently the Christmas market and the Balmoral hotel.

Glasgow

Aside from all the emotional baggage associated with Scotland, I can say that Glasgow is one of my favourite cities in the world. Most of what we did was walking around even if the weather was nasty at points. As we came out from Queen Street Station, our first visiting spot was George Square and the Glasgow City Chambers, and we had lunch in a Greek restaurant that I love over there.

But we quickly moved over towards Saint Mungo’s Cathedral, also known as the High Kirk of Glasgow. It is a 12th century building built in North Europe Gothic style.

Afterwards we walked up the Necropolis, a Victorian graveyard on a hill behind the cathedral. Today it is a great place for a stroll, aside from a place with way too much history for a humble blog post.

We strolled up and down Buchanan Street and the Central Glasgow area a few times – Queen Street, Central Station, the museum of modern art, the Japanese restaurants… We stopped at the HRC again, the Mandela Monument and dropped by St. Enoch’s shopping centre to see the light reindeer and warm up.

We walked to the Glasgow Cross area then, with the Tolbooth Steeple, the clocktower that marks the entrance to the Merchant City.

We came across quite an amount of interesting buildings in the Merchant City, among them St Andrew’s in the Square.

Another of the places we visited was Glasgow Green, which was half flooded due to the storm.

And when the weather became so bad that the sleet was making impossible to stay out on the streets, we visited the Riverside Museum, the Museum of Transport of Glasgow, where we had some delicious scones too.

We tried to see Dumbarton Castle, but it was closed down due to wind and the storm, so in the end we just took a ride there and walked around.

On the 31st we had dinner at a very nice Japanese – with awesome staff. Then we bought some provisions and headed to the B&B.

At night we were surprised by the fireworks so we ran out of the B&B room to find them.

And on the first we were treated to a rather… unimpressive… first sunrise of the year.

When we flew back I had one of the most surreal experiences ever – we had bought a pack of scones for breakfasts and snacks, and somehow it became tangled in my phone wires. Well, turns out that wired-tangled scones look one hell of a lot like bombs on X Ray machines! The poor Scots security guard was first deadly pale, then so relieved that I was not carrying a bomb!

3rd September 2015: Kawagoe & Omiya {Japan, summer 2015}

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For my last full day in Japan I set off to Kawagoe. Not coming from downtown Tokyo, I did not take the JR line, so when I came out I could not grab a map. Thus, I had to brave it and get on with it – as my phone did not recognise where I wanted to go. Wohoo, orientation adventure. And yup, you guessed it – I got lost. However, this time it was a fortunate loss, because I ended up at the Seiya-san Muryōshuji Kita-in [星野山無量寿寺喜多院] temple complex, which I had marked as ‘maybe on my way back’ originally. It was a very lucky turn, because I met up with a very nice Japanese lady who explained the complex to me and with whom I made friends. She showed me around the premises and recommended the museum – and the 500 disciples of Buddha Sculpture Garden – Gohyaku Rakan [五百羅漢寺], which I loved to pieces.

Kita-in Temple main building with the pagoda in the background:

Kita-in Temple Complex: Gohyaku Rakan:

Kita-in Temple Complex: Amazing main building:

Hakusan Gongen [白山権現], adjacent to the Kita-in Temple Complex

After saying my goodbyes and checking the museum, I headed off towards the area called Koedo [小江戸] (Little Edo), stopping around to check on small temples and shrines. Koedo features black buildings that survived WWII bombings because the pilots thought they were burnt already. This was the main thing I wanted to visit, and I was surprised at the fact that I met very few Westerners here. I guess it was due to my visiting on a weekday. The most famous street is the Black warehouse district, Kurazukuri no Machinam [蔵造りの町並].

I found the Clock Tower, Toki no Kane [時の鐘],

Once I was done wandering around Koedo Kawagoe, there was something else I wanted to check, the main Hikawa Jinja [氷川神社] in Omiya [大宮], a district in Saitama [埼玉], which was fortunately on my way back. There were huge koi in the pond there.

Afterwards I just headed home for some ramen and nice company as good-bye for now. See you next reload, Japan!

2nd September 2015: New views of known sights {Japan, summer 2015}

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I went to Haneda Airport to see D****e off as she was leaving already, and on my way back I shook melancholy off by climbing up the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Tōkyō Tochō [東京都庁] in Shinjuku [新宿]. I had noticed that my camera was better than I was expecting it to be, but I was a bit blown away when I realised the neat stuff it could do. I am very happy with it. Here is a sequence of me aiming at Tokyo Tower [東京タワー].

Views of the Skyscraper District from the TMGB observatory:

After that, I took a stroll down the Skyscraper District, as I wanted to go back to one of the shops I had visited on Sunday. Unfortunately, at this time I was not feeling too well, so when I made it to the shop I had to be quick.

After I had made a much-needed stop, I hit a Book Off (once again) or two (again, once again) and finally headed back for an early evening. B**** and I had a relaxing dinner, tonkatsu in my case, and we both ranted out about our problems. Good for the soul.

1st September 2015: Downpour Shibuya {Japan, summer 2015}

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D****e and I headed off to Harajuku [原宿] to check out the idol shops, but I wanted a quick visit to Meiji Jingu [明治神宮] to get the calligraphy from there. I had never been able to find out where they did it, and it was good to have some Japanese-speaking person around. We were surprised to walk into some kind of religious parade I still have got to research.

Afterwards, through a downpour, we had a look at Takeshita Doori shops. When it was almost noon we headed off towards Hachiko in Shibuya [渋谷] as we had agreed to meet a friend for lunch – shabu shabu in Shibuya’s Nabezo and then headed off to Cosmo Planetarium Shibuya [コスモプラネタリウム渋谷], which is a really neat place with very comfy chairs that lean back… yep, you guessed it, I zonked out. In my defence, I shall say that… all Japanese and a talk about gravity and I was getting dizzy with the 3D screen…

After a quick visit to Tower Records for a magazine I was looking for (and in the end got a wrong one, but oh well…) we had yet more karaoke (in a huge room) and eventually headed off home to have some CocoCurry.

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

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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.

30th August 2015: Up and down, Trains and fandom {Japan, summer 2015}

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After laundry – which was kind of urgently needed, we headed off to Odaiba [お台場] to try to get some kushikatsu. Unfortunately by the time we made it there, there was no space any more, so we ended up in a Korean place. I’m not particularly fond of Korean food, except when it’s grilled meat, but it was late and food was needed, and I found something cheese and vegetables. Oh, well.

After that we headed off for some UFO hunting again (Chupacabra, you guessed it), and later to Shinjuku [新宿] to check out two fandom / goods second-hand shops: Pure Sound and Closet Child, where I found a few interesting things, and others that I filed away for future reference.

Then there was karaoke before heading home, and we tried the McDonald’s avocado burgers on our way back. That… was a rather underwhelming experience I guess. Not bad, but not particularly good XD.

26th August 2015: Kobe – the calm before the storm {Japan, summer 2015}

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Before setting off to Kobe, there was one stop in Kyoto I had to make: Kyoto [京都]’s Seimei Jinja [晴明神社] which enshrines the soul of Abe no Seimei, reportedly the most powerful onmyōji Japan has had. He lived in the mid Heian Kyo as was the main actor in the union of the Shinto church and the state. He has been widely used in fiction as his figure seems to be half historical – half fictional anyway (Note to self: you’re still missing the Osaka Seimei Jinja). The shrine is built where he lived in Kyoto, quite close to the Imperial Palace itself. I am quite happy I got to go there alone, because the level of fanbying I achieved in that place might be embarrassing ^^”

After taking pictures to my heart’s content – getting the shrine’s seal, an omamori, and getting a free sticker because I was a foreigner, I went back to the station and took a Shinkansen to Kobe [神戸]. Kobe is one of the most important ports in Japan, and in 1995 was hit by a major earthquake which displaced areas of the city up to 6m to the sides. It is quite a new town, and it was very calm for what was about to happen. The next day, the most important yakuza gang in the country, based in Kobe, was about to split into different syndicates.

I wandered Kobe for a while, saw the clock flower and the eternal flame to commemorate the deaths from the quake and eventually made my way back to the harbour and Meriken Park. A part of it has been left as a memorial, never to forget the destruction caused – the Memorial in Meriken Park [メリケンパーク]. The Meriken Park Earthquake Memorial is eerie somehow.

After seeing the memorial, I could already scout the Kobe Port Tower. I got a combined ticket to see the Tower and the adjoined museum – Maritime Museum and Kawasaki Museum. From the Tower I got quite a good view of the whole city and the harbour. It is quite humbling to think about that nature did to the city, and what could happen again any time. No pictures allowed in the Maritime Museum though, so I just bring you some pictures from the top of the tower.

After Kobe Tower, I made a stop in Sannomiya Jinja [三宮神社].

Then I headed off to have a look at the local Chinatown and the local shopping street/gallery – Motomachi Shopping street [神戸元町商店街].

Chinatown had mostly food stalls, and I was not hungry – and I have already tried Kobe beef and know that I can’t afford the real good stuff, so after wandering around for a bit, I decided to head off to Ikuta Jinja [生田神社], the most important shrine in downtown Kobe, and quite in the lovey-dovey date couply future prayer. Not for me, but very very beautiful shrine.

And then I headed to check in the hotel and start a bit of a train nightmare that I won’t write about in hopes to forget eventually. Thus tomorrow we shall start with the arrival in Sendai.

25th August 2015: Arashiyama & Nara {Japan, summer 2015}

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Today was a delayed day, actually, as I apparently took over the plans I made last year when VAMPS had the secret live and I skipped back to Tokyo to attend to it. Then again, as I had changed plans from yesterday to today, everything came a little jumbled.

After a nice chat with the Tourism Office lady – in broken Japanese, as I did my best, the fist thing I set off to do was visit the Arashiyama bamboo grove in Arashiyama Chikurin no Shōkei [嵐山 竹林の小径], which is a nice little town adjacent to Kyoto (yep, not a neighbourhood. A town all on its own. That’s Japanese urban planning for you). I had been wanting to visit the area for a while now, and finally made it there. After a nice detour – because taking the wrong turn in Japan always yields to something interesting (then again, people, placing sings of ‘bamboo grove this way’ right behind the map is not helpful, Japan) – and a couple of temples I ended up where I wanted to be, and boy was it impressive.

In the middle of the bamboo grove we find Nonomiya Jinja [野宮神社], a nice little shrine which was at the time overridden by Chinese tourists (that happens, apparently, when you visit a shrine dedicated to marriage).

After a couple of hours wandering the bamboo grove I head back to Kyoto station and once again took the Nara line, only this time I would not be stopping in Inari as I have done before, but took the express to Nara [奈良] itself, which was something else that had been on my list for a while.

Yet another nice Tourism office lady, and way too many Spanish tourists later, I was on my way towards Nara Kōen [奈良公園], Nara Park, where my first impression was one of the things that makes Nara famous… deer. Hundreds of ‘wild’ deer which chase after tourists to get shika senbei (deer crackers) and eat maps when said crackers are not available. Very cute, very… adamant XD

But not my main visiting goal, never mind the creepy American dude who wanted to take a picture of me with them. My goal was visiting the to visit Todai-ji [東大寺] temple, and Daibutsu [大仏] (Giant Buddha) it hosts. Todai-ji did not disappoint me at all. It is a very solemn, very special temple and I enjoyed it.

I wandered around the Nara complex for a while and visited Kofuku-ji [興福寺] on my way back. They have a very famous Ashura sculpture, and a thousand-arm Buddha statue, but no pictures allowed, so I can only show you the exterior.

After some dinner on my way back, I headed off for Kyoto and the hotel which I was to leave the next day to head off to Kobe.

24th August 2015: Up and down Fushimi Inari Taisha (Kyoto) {Japan, summer 2015}

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Still sore and a little sunburnt from the Beast Party, I woke up early-ish on Monday to make use of my JR Pass and head off to Kansai, namely Kyoto [京都]. It was as always both a short and long ride and for the first time I did it with a reserved seat, as I gave myself the exercise of trying to talk to the reservation people. It did not go too well, but I managed my reservation.

Upon arrival in Kyoto I changed my original plans – again – due to – again – rain forecast. So instead of what I had planned, I changed into shorts, put on my cap, and armed with onigiri and coke, I set up to top Inari-san [稲荷山], Mount Inari. You see, I have been to Fushimi Inari Taisha [伏見稲荷大社] before, twice, and both times I had to give up halfway because heat. Both times I tried to stick with healthy stuff – isotonic drinks and so, rest, and do things correctly. This time, I bought water, coke, snacks and onigiri, allowed myself to rest, but not to sit down and finally managed to do the whole thing, snacking on onigiri and crisps as necessary and pushing forward. I am quite surprised my clothing survived, too.

I started down at the big torii and the honden.

This is the pond where I usually kinda collapse XD but this time I made it through.

Kyoto view from Yotsu-tsuji, halfway up.

Itchinomine (First Summit)

Proof, in case you doubted me…

Fox temizuya (purifying fountain):

Down the other side:

By the time I was done, I may have been able to head off to another shrine, as I took less time than I had expected, but I decided that I’d better get some rest and get ready for the next day. After all, this was supposed to be ‘relaxing vacation’.

… Yeah, I don’t believe that either.

21st August 2015: Shibuya and Shinjuku {Japan, summer 2015}

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I was to meet with D****e in Shibuya [渋谷] as she was coming directly from Haneda that day and we had arranged to meet in Tsutaya – there would be Hachiko meeting point later on, but we wanted something covered, just in case the skies opened.

As it takes a bit to get from Satte to any place downtown Tokyo, I organised myself to be out of the door with enough time to find myself a shrine to visit. Because yes, I can find shrines anywhere in Tokyo and beyond and after a while walking through skyscraper-type buildings, I turned a corner to the Konnō Hachiman-gū [金王八幡宮], which I had not been able to find the previous year due to an Internet failure. I’m still torn about going to Yasukuni Shrine, by the way, which would have been another of my options. On one hand, I would like to come back and get a calligraphy seal; on the other, it would feel like condoning the whole thing Yasukuni means and… I don’t know, I think I have to think harder about that, especially with Abe’s whole revisionist attitude. Meanwhile, this is Konnō Hachiman-gū (which was being repaired so loop-sided picture not to bother the workers), and the little Inari altar located next to it.

Once the shrine fix was achieved – come on, it was my third day already!! – I headed back to Shibuya [渋谷] to meet with D****e and as I walked back I saw something I had not noticed before, as it had been on the opposite side of the direction I was heading. However, now I could see it straight ahead.

The L’Arc~en~Ciel’s L’ArCasino billboard. Pictures happened. Maybe some inner fanbying too. Did I mention I love my new camera? Cause I do, a lot.

After a while doing experiments with the zoom, I headed off for the Tsutaya floor we were going to meet in, and barely had the time to check out the stuff before she arrived. Afterwards we headed off for the Book Off (which… is changing names?) because we could, and afterwards to the BIC Camera so she could pick up her own SIM card.

She wanted to check out a Shinjuku [新宿] kimono store to see if she found VAMPS’ bat yulata, but we were out of luck and it was already gone. And then there was karaoke, because for some reason there’s always karaoke with her in Shinjuku?

And then there was home and CocoCurry. Finally CocoCurry ♥

20th August 2015: Still life, moving life {Japan, summer 2015}

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As predicted, the 20th dawned rainy and not too inviting, so I headed off to Ueno Park to visit one of the many museums there. I heard that the collection of the Kokuritsu Kagaku Hakubutsukan [国立科学博物館], Tokyo’s National Museum of Nature and Science had been renewed and I wanted to have a look. In the end, not much had changed, but I still had a fairly good time, because I am a geek like that. There were about three million primary school classes there, though, and a few high school ones, which was a bit annoying – and loud – but nothing too bad.

Some of the wards mix science with mythology and culture, for example the earthquake science area has an ukiyo-e of the god Suzano keeping Namazu, the giant catfish which causes earthquakes, still. As much as the bio area is cool, I think my favourite part of this museum is the fossils collection – which is scattered in different wards in what I assume has some logic but I am yet to find it. I am particularly taken by the Dunkleosteous glass panel, and of course (insert everyone who knows me going ‘duh’ here) the Megalodon teeth.

But kinda a lot of things are cool. Like dinosaur fossils. Which make you giggle when you’ve recently watched Jurassic World. There is a plesiosaur (which, by the way, is not a dinosaur). What is a dinosaur is, of course, the T-rex (#TeamTRex) – completely irrelevant information: it is a cast of Scotty, the largest T-Rex ever found.

After finishing in Ueno and getting into the wrong station – of course, that must happen at least once when I am in Japan, I headed off to Tokyo Skytree [東京スカイツリー] in Sumida [墨田] just because I could.

I did not want to climb it up, but there was something there that had been on my to-see list, Sumida Suizokukan [すみだ水族館], Sumida Aquarium. Apparently there is a tacit agreement among Japanese aquariums so each one has a super cool thing that only they’ve got. So they are like pokemon, you gotta see them all if you wanna catch all the cool things. In this case I was aiming for the giant isopods. But of course, I never say no to sharks, even with annoying kids screwing up the pictures.

And then there was sushi, and that was goooood.

… Maybe I should have titled this post “fish in every form”?

19th August 2015: Kickstart in Minato (not Ueno for a change) {Japan, summer 2015}

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After I don’t want to think about how many hours of travelling, a quite narrow connection and too many superhero films on the plane, I landed at Narita and got my suitcase. No problem through customs though I was quite surprised when the guy tried Spanish with me. That took a bit to register.

I had ordered my SIM card online, to pick up at the post office at Narita Airport, and then I had my first run-in with Japanese maps. Ah, the lovely Japanese maps. You gotta love them. Once located where the hell I was and which of the corridors I had to wlak, picking up the SIM was easy and efficient.

After that, I got my JR pass and my NEX ticket at the Narita JR office, recharged the Suica and and I set off towards Tokyo. During the NEX trip I took the time to exchange SIMs and get my internet connection up and running so I did not get too lost around. My original plan had been runnign to the Natural History Museum in Ueno, but the weather was nice and there was rain announced for the next day, so I changed plans on the fly.

I left my suitcase in Tokyo Station because I was not sure that it would fit in the coin lockers and there is a manned storage there. Fortunately, it did fit, and I set off towards Minato [港] to say hi to Tokyo Tower [東京タワー], Zojo-ji [増上寺], Shiba Koen [芝公園]. Just because I could.

I really like this view of Zojo-ji and Tokyo Tower.

The altar in Zojo-ji (sneaky pic):

Ema tablets and Mizuko belonging to Zojo-ji:

Small Buddhist altar in Shiba Koen, Nyoirinkanzeon [如意輪観世音].

Kumano Jinja [熊野神社]:

Shiba Koen view, along with a certain tree I really like:

The cicadas’ singing was deafening, but welcoming, and I spent the morning and early afternoon in Shiba Koen and the lower / free levels of Tokyo Tower, also getting used to my new camera – which I love, by the way. Afterwards I headed off to pick up my luggage and… well no, that’s not true.

As it was getting hot and I still had an hour to kill, I dropped by Akihabara [秋葉原]. It is not my favourite part of town but it was quite close to where I was and there is a nice Book Off, where my first shopping of the trip took place. I love the new ‘maxisingles’ section, makes everything so convenient.

Then I did head off to pick up my luggage – and had a bit of trouble locating my coin locker because Japanese stations have levels. Urgh. Afterwards I did head towards Satte in Saitama, as would be staying with a friend there. Then there was some food, and one of those flavours that I always associate with Japan – the strange veggies / fruits juice they have at the GUSTO drink bar. And then bed because excitement can only compete against jumping over half the world for so long and there was stuff to do the next day. Mainly fossils.

8th March 2015: Saint Seiya Legend of Sanctuary in Guadalajara (Spain)

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When I was young I used to love the anime Saint Seiya. Then, as I grew older, I read the manga, then I sort of drifted away from it, until somehow new fandoms and old fandoms collided – and it as announced that YOSHIKI was writing the theme song for the film Saint Seiya Legend of Sanctuary. That grabbed my attention, and eventually Selecta Visión announced that they would release them in cinemas in Spain.

When it was announced that it would be showing in the shopping centre cinemas in Guadalajara for a couple of sessions only, I decided to buy my ticket online. It was strange for me for several reasons – the main of them was that I rarely go to the cinema to watch something dubbed. Also, the online shopping was weird -instead of getting a ticket, you got a number and then you had to input that number on a machine to get your actual traditional ticket printed.

I drove to the shopping centre, which was rather dead as it was a Sunday at half past six, the shops were closed and the restaurants not open yet. The audience of the cinema was comprised by a class of special needs kids and a lot – and I mean a lot of super-excited fathers with their young sons, who had no idea what the whole fuss was about. I enjoyed the film – I had resisted watching it bootleg although it had leaked on the Internet. It was a different, lighter take on the Battle of Sanctuary. I did, however, miss the Virgo Shaka vs Phoenix Ikki battle – because after all they’re my favourite characters. When the film ended, I stayed behind for the whole credits and YOSHIKI’s song “Hero”, beautifully sang by Katie Fitzgerald. I was literally the only person left in the cinema through it, and I had to apologise to the cleaning crew, who told me no problem. And hey, I got to see the mid-credit scene on my own!

Saint Seiya Legend of Sanctuary

After the film, I walked to the car and drove home to watch it again in its original version, because I am that kind of geek, and I was not too impressed with the dubs – but hey, that’s me, I’ve always preferred the originals.

1st February 2015: Space Pirate Captain Harlock. Madrid (Spain)

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You can say that this was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment improvisation – I literally woke up and decided that I wanted to go and see the Space Pirate Captain Harlock. I found a cinema in Madrid that showed the film and I hopped on a train to get there. I arrived in time for an early lunch before I headed off for the film, as the only version in Japanese was at half past three.

This was one of the first times I ate and went to the cinema alone in Madrid, and it was a strange experience. My relatives always say that a person eating alone is sad, and as I’ve been hearing that for a long time, and sometimes it resonates, specially when I’m in Spain. I originally wanted to eat sushi, but in the end I decided against it and went to UDON instead, where I ended getting the membership card. I decided to try the Chicken Yaki Udon – much better than the ramen, in my opinion, as they were real udon noodles, unlike the ramen which uses tallarini – and a koroke (croquette), and I had cheesecake mochi for dessert.

After lunch I headed off to the Yelmo Cines Ideal to watch the film. I had no seat number and I did not need one as we were literally… five people in the cinema. It was a small cinema theatre, and when I arrived there were three or four people, I figured that more would come, but when the previews started we were just five, and five we stayed. When the film finally started, I was really impressed by the quality of the CGI – I already knew that the voice-over was going to be great, what with Oguri Shun and Miura Haruma.

The plot of the film reminded me a little of Space Battleship Yamato, but that might just be me being biased. Even if I vaguely remember watching the anime from the times I was a child, the film felt at the same time nostalgic and new, so I could really enjoy it. Although it is a bit on the predictable side, it wraps up really well.

After the film, I backtracked and it turns out I was home before anyone even noticed I was gone. I should get away more often (≧▽≦).

27th December 2014: A stroll in the cold (Guadalajara, Spain)

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I had a couple of friends over for that silly blursday period between Christmas and New Year’s and we decided to get to Guadalajara for a walk or two. Not that there is much to see, but it has a small zoological park. The Zoológico Municipal de Guadalajara had a rocky start, with small cages and sad animals, but it seems to be trying to do better. The main activity that goes on in the zoo is the recovery of birds of prey, and there are some education programs too.

We had lunch in an all-you-can-eat Asian restaurant that I enjoy because it is one of the few places where I can get myself some sushi.

Afterwards, we visited the Palacio de la Cotilla, Cotilla Palace – whose name ‘palace’ is more than overrated. It is a 17th century is a downtown manor in Guadalajara, Spain, formerly owned by the Marquis of Villamejor. One of the rooms, named the “Chinese Room”, Salón Chino de la Cotilla, is decorated with hand-painted rice paper, brought from Beijing, and several Japanese Edo-period paintings which were probably purchased in France from Dutch sailors or merchants.

Finally we took a stroll towards a silly spot in the middle of nowhere that has a Japanes-like bridge over… nothing, really, but it is a cute bridge, in the Parque de las Esculturas, Sculpture Park.

After that we just headed back home because it was dark and cold and pizza could be ordered (≧▽≦).

23rd August 2014: Tea Ceremony, Imperial Gardens and Sushi! {Japan, summer 2014}

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For my last day I had thought about trying to go to see Gackt as Uesugi Kenshin in Joetsu, but (un)fortunately I realised late Friday evening that he would not be there. Good that at least I noticed before I was there and had spent four hours on the train XD

Thus I talked my friend into coming to a tea ceremony with me near Tokyo Station in Chiyoda [千代田]. This was very fun because the tea-lady (Tea master? Tea mistress??) allowed us to participate and actually bat the matcha to make it bubble up. There are no photographs of that, but I have one of the delicious takoyaki we snacked on as we were waiting for our timeslot, along the guy making them.

Then we headed off for the Imperial Palace East Gardens, Kōkyo Higashi Gyoen [皇居東御苑], which I had not been able to visit last year. The gardens run alongisde the Imperial Palace and hold the ruins of what used to be the Edo Castle, Edo-jo [江戸城].

Then she indulged me in a very stupid desire I had, and that was having something sitting down in the Shibuya Starbucks, and taking a few pics from there. It was silly but it made me intensely happy.

As we headed back we rode by surprise fireworks.

The day ended with sushi, and the trip too. It was over for this year, and I don’t know when I’ll come back, but I know I will. Somehow.

It has to happen.

22nd August 2014: Re-discovering Zojo-ji {Japan, summer 2014}

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After spending the morning with D****e waiting for her suicase to be picked up, we headed off downtown Tokyo. We would separate for a few hours and then meet up to go visit a Japanese friend.

I decided to spend my time revisiting the Zojo-ji [増上寺] and Tokyo Tower [東京タワー] area, because the last time I had passed by I had glimpsed a part of Shiba Koen [芝公園] park that I had not seen before and that seemed open. It actually was, and I got access to the back of the temple. The graveyard was closed down, so I only snooped over the fence.

After this I met with D****e again to go to our Japanese friend’s house, and she made us curry! Actual Japanese homemade curry!

Oh yeah, and we watched VAMPS videos and she gave us a lot of food-presents!

21st August 2014: The Not So Lucky Cat did turn lucky! {Japan, summer 2014}

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Last year I headed off to Gotoku-ji [豪徳寺] a couple of times, the Temple of the Lucky Cat, in Setagaya [世田谷], but unfortunately did not work out. This time I finally was able to find the Temple open and it was good because while 10 minutes away from where I was staying away last year, it was a good couple of hours this time.

The lady in the gift/prayer shop was very nice and praised my Japanese (LOL), but we managed to understand each other and I got my charm (and an English brochure too!), she got her money and now I finally got my waving cat at home! (Which technically you’re not supposed to do, but keep my secret).

After that I headed to Shibuya [渋谷] to visit Tokyu Hands, which has lots of shiny, but is tremendously expensive, and then dropped by the Tsutaya as two singles I was interested in were being released that day. I ended up buying a bunch of magazines there because I knew it was going to be my last shopping visit. It always amuses me that they double-check with you whether you’re sure if you’re buying two equal things. But yes, I knew someone who needed a Rurouni Kenshin special magazine in her life XD.

Here you have the VAMPS and Tackey and Tsubasa’s single stands.