Mizu-Kioku[dot]Net: Japan 2008: July 2008 Archives

In Hiroshima

By

Jhui

on July 29, 2008 5:20 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I cant believe this man. I just spent the last half an hour trying to logon to my blog. wtf -____- How did I manage to forget my username?!!!!!! I seriously rock lo.

Am currently in Hiroshima City University using the free internet. Whee~Free internet is my friend! Shall continue blogging about my Tokyo trip when I get home and after I finish my homework. Damnit, there is like lots of readings and the best thing is I dont understand. Am I stupid?! Hmmmn...

Okay, going for steamboat now....bye~

In Hiroshima

By

Jhui

on July 29, 2008 5:20 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I cant believe this man. I just spent the last half an hour trying to logon to my blog. wtf -____- How did I manage to forget my username?!!!!!! I seriously rock lo.

Am currently in Hiroshima City University using the free internet. Whee~Free internet is my friend! Shall continue blogging about my Tokyo trip when I get home and after I finish my homework. Damnit, there is like lots of readings and the best thing is I dont understand. Am I stupid?! Hmmmn...

Okay, going for steamboat now....bye~

Tokyo Day 1

By

Jhui

on July 27, 2008 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Have been in Japan for around a week and I have a serious lack of money right now. Everything in Tokyo's so cute and I feel like buying everything but firstly, I have not enought money left and secondly, my luggage's seriously full already. Anyway, as I havent managed to sort out my Osaka photos, I'm going to blog about Tokyo instead now. Whee~

Arrived in Tokyo by a night bus from Osaka on the 23rd. The night bus was seriously horrible(but cheap) and I couldn't really sleep on it. Got off at Shinjuku station, got lost, squeezed through the horrendous amount of people, got lost again and finally arrived in Ikebukuro. As the check-in time was 3pm, we decided to place our luggages with the hotel first so that we would'nt have to lug them with us while shopping. Guess what?! The place where you put the luggages is SELF-SERVICE, i.e., anyone can just go in and take your luggage without your knowledge. WTF?! How unsafe...but...like we had a choice. Ate lunch at Macdonald's and I ordered the Salsa Chicken Burger which is currently not available now. Heehee, I love limited edition stuff!

A Macdonald's meal in Japan is kind of expensive considering that it costs about SGD$8 but the food's really good. Look at the french fry! Freaking long lar! One bad thing is that you have to ask them for ketchup as they wont give it to you automatically. Oh, and never order iced tea there unless you like pungent flower tea. I almost died drinking the tea up.

After lunch, we went to Tokyu Hands to shop. They have like everything imaginable there. They have like Kojima Yoshio T-shirts,

Edo Harumi T-shirts,

wigs for you to look like Bae Yong Jun in Winter Sonata (wtf),

fish-head masks,

wigs to make you look like an auntie,

masks for you to dress up like a psycho killer,

and even costumes to make you look like a different kind of living thing.

Oh wait, there's also this boob ball thingy where you can erm...squeeze them to relieve stress? I dont know.

There's also a pet shop on the highest level of the store where you can get pet clothes, food, baskets, diapers (yes, pets have diapers too!) and many other pet-related stuff. You can also pay like 600yen to play with cats but seriously, I think that it's too expensive.

Returned back to the hotel to shower and rest before meeting up with Fulin's friend, Yasuko, for dinner. Ate at Saizeriya where I ordered this spinach+cheese dish. Although it was just vegetables topped with melted cheese, it was freaking good.

Had an ice-cream dessert too~. How not to get fat in Japan you tell me!!!

So yup, this basically ends my first day in Tokyo and I'm actually leaving for Hiroshima tonight. Night bus again. Damn.

In Tokyo

By

Jhui

on July 23, 2008 9:42 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

/Edit 2/ Fuck. There was an earthquake lo! In Iwate with a magnitude of about 6.8, at around 0:26 Japan time. Tokyo also shook a little at around 2 on the scale. That answers why I felt the ground shake earlier. So I called the reception again and this time he admits that there was an earthquake but according to him, "earthquakes are common in Japan". When I told him that I've not experienced one before(except for the little shake in Singapore), he went "Oh, but it's fine."

-_______________________- Shithead. I replied "REALLY?!" and put down the phone.

More about the earthquake: http://typhoon.yahoo.co.jp/weather/jp/earthquake/

/Edit2/

/Edit/ OMG, I think that I just felt the ground shake. My friend felt it too so it's not my imagination. We were so afraid that it was an earthquake that we called the reception. "The floor shook!!! Is there an earthquake?" He couldnt understand what was "floor" nor "earthquake" so we gave up talking to him in English and used our lousy Japanese instead. His answer was that there's no earthquake and being the insecure tourist that I am, I questioned him..."Are you sure there's no earthquake!?!!!" "Yes." Okay, now I feel damn stupid and paiseh to go down to the lobby tomorrow. Then again, luckily it wasnt an earthquake. /Edit/

One word to describe the Japan trip up till now...TIRING. Finally left Osaka last night and took a night bus to Tokyo. Couldnt sleep at all on the bus and I ended up with a sore neck and butt. After arriving at Shinjuku bus station, the first thing that came to my mind was...Why does this place smell of urine?! It was freaking bad. Unlike Osaka, the streets of Shinjuku and Ikebukuro are pretty dirty with cigarette butts scattered all over the floor. Guess this is what happens when too many people stay in one place at one time.

Had to drag my scarily heavy luggages all over the Shinjuku station simply because I was trying to find the non-existent elevator. I'm pretty sure that there's an elevator somewhere but it was nowhere near where I was situated at that time. As it was rush hour with hoardes of salarymen walking in all directions, I really did not want to drag my luggages all the way to the where-the-hell-is-it elevator. Train stations here have a serious lack of elevators and I totally hate it because it means that tourists have to drag like 20kg worth of stuff up and down FLIGHTS of stairs just to board the train. Also, another point about Tokyo is that...the people here are like Singaporean aunties...and that's not a compliment. When the MRT train arrives, Singaporean aunties will always push their way through like there's no tomorrow. In Osaka, people queued up at the sides and allowed others to alight. In Tokyo, those assholes just pushed their way through. Seriously, if I cant get off the train...YOU THINK I WILL LET YOU GET ON MEH?! In the end, I just "lightly" brushed my luggage against anyone who was trying to budge their way up the train.

Anyways, I'm pretty tired now. In fact, I'm seated at the hotel lobby using the free wireless instead of going out to tour Tokyo. Okay, more updates when I find the time to do so~ Whee~

Karaoke in Japan

By

Jhui

on July 21, 2008 1:04 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Am so freaking tired right now. My legs feel like as if they're going to drop off and my shoulders feel like as if two sumo wrestlers are sitting on me. Yesterday, I walked for a grand total of at least 13 hours, with probably like a half-an-hour lunch break. I still have no idea how I survived. Today, I didnt walk as much(8 hours) but the weather was freaking hot and humid. Besides buying myself a hat to shield myself from the murderous sun rays, I also had to buy a towel to wipe off the sweat that was forming around my neck and my face and my arms and...aiyah, everywhere lar! I dont think that I even sweat that much during physical education lessons last time lo. The worse thing is that...I feel that I'm getting darker day by day. Oh no! I want fair skin damnit! Apart from the weather, shopping in Japan is damn good but damn sinful at the same time. Everything's so freaking cute and I have this tendency to want to buy everything that fits me. Why am I like that?! =(

And, I feel damn ugly in Japan. 99.9% of the girls here have PERFECT makeup, PERFECT hair, PERFECT style, PERFECT figure and PERFECT boyfriends. Eh, how unfair. I wonder how come their makeup never melts even under the hottest temperature, how come their hair stay bouncy all day and how come they never seem to sweat even if they wear at least 3 layers of clothes. I want to learn their tricks man.

On the first day here, which was on Friday, Fulin and I went to sing karaoke because we were seriously too tired to do any more walking. We wanted to go see Osaka Castle that day but we realised that it was raining after climbing at least 200 steps. Seriously, Japan's train stations have too many steps on the staircases and too many exits. No wonder the Japanese are so slim. Anyway, we decided to stop by this karaoke place called Oasis to relax.

Japan's karaoke seriously puts all karaoke outlets in Singapore to shame. Let me show you why. Firstly, you get to sing the latest Japanese songs almost straight away after they're released, unlike Singapore where you have to wait for either at least 2 months (Diamond Dust) or the songs dont get imported at all (Kbox, Partyworld). I sang Shuuchishin's songs~ Whee~ So happy.

Secondly, Japan's karaoke show clips where artists introduce their new songs or clips of the lastest CD releases.

Thirdly, Japan has this remote control which has damn lots of functions. It's small but it has lots of great stuff packed inside it. You can select your song, search for a particular song/artist, lookup the latest news, check the meanings of new Japanese words, see the period where the new Japanese words were created and so on. Singapore's karaoke only has a lousy remote control that allows you to select songs. Period.

Did I mention that you can sing not only Japanese songs but also Korean, English and even Chinese songs?! The best thing is that they even provide lyrics to almost every song and the lyrics can be viewed even when it's not your turn yet via the remote control so as to let you prepare for your song before your turn. Fucking cool. Lyrics for Korean/Chinese/English songs are also available. Wow! Below's an example of it. It's Jolin Tsai's song by the way.

Next, Japan's karaoke allow you to press the "clap" button so that you can add more fun to your singing experience. Eh, Partyworld and Diamond Dust also have ar?! Oh, in Japan, they have more than one "clap" button. They have ALOT. There are "clap" buttons that even have girls going "Kya~n, yamete~", "This is my first time...". Damn fucking erotic. Great for guys who cant exactly hear these words from an actual girl.

Japan's karaoke also disinfect their mikes and deodorise away and weird smells coming from the mikes.

They also go the extra mile for you. Not only do you get to sing karaoke, they also provide other services for you. They lend you handphone chargers, tambourines, reading spectacles, umbrellas and even help you call a taxi if you miss the last train. Not sure how true it is but...damn cool lar!

Oh, and the best thing is that...it's freaking cheap! For two people, two drinks and karaoke for 7 hours, it only cost us a measly 1000yen, which is roughly 13 Singapore dollars. Divide that amount by two and it's only SGD$6.50 per person. =D

I want to sing karaoke again man! Whee~ Okay, feeling damn sleepy now and I need to do my laundry(sweat-soaked clothes are so not pleasant) so I shall end here. Nighty!

他妈的

By

Jhui

on July 19, 2008 1:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Tamade is pronounced like "tah-mah-there" in Japanese but it also looks like "他妈的"(a curse word in Chinese) if I read it in the hanyu pinyin way. =D

First day in Japan was fucking tiring so I shall update tomorrow instead. It's already 1.30am here so I guess I should be going to bed already...or else I probably wont be able to wake up in time for breakfast.

Japan 2008: July 2008 Archives

In Hiroshima

In Hiroshima

Tokyo Day 1

In Tokyo

Karaoke in Japan

他妈的

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