So yesterday my friend and I went to a maid cafe in Akihabara. A maid cafe is where young girls dress up in maid outfits and serve really cute food and drinks and often talk in a very cutesy way to their customers.
Maid cafes are popular among the male crowd, but females and families can be found in them as well.
So my friend and I decided to go to on and see what it's like.
Of course it's rather expensive (around $26), but it's worth going to at least once.
We got the parfait set where we got a delicious (and adorable) chocolate bear shaped parfait ice cream, a photo taken with one of the maids, and a souvenir key chain.
Oftentimes the maids would come to your table and ask you to do cutesy things with them, like "make a heart with your hands with me! YAY!!!!"
it was a fun and worthwhile experience. I know that there are butler cafes as well where it's geared toward the female audience, with handsome men dressed as butlers. But I haven't yet found one.
I heard they are in Shinjuku, but I haven't gone yet.
We shall see....
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Saturday, November 10, 2012
The Phantom of the Opera and Tokyo Tower
Yesterday I met my friend Masumi at Hamamotsucho station for a day of fun.
She had ordered tickets to see the musical "The Phantom of Opera" for that day so we decided to go out before the show started. We were going to go to the Pokemon Center, which was right next to the station, but it was PACKED! Literally the wait just to get in the store was 1 hour. Since there's a Pokemon Center in Nagoya as well, it wasn't a top priority for me that day. So instead we went to Tokyo Tower, which used to be the tallest building in Tokyo, until the new Skytree was built.
On our way we passed through a Buddhist temple, which was really beautiful and was full of activity because today was a special holiday, 3,5,7 Day. This is a day were children ages 3, 5, ad 7 are celebrated and usually dress up in traditional Japanese clothes and head to the local shrine or temple. I didn't really see any children, but a service was going on inside the shrine. Also there was an area that was FILLED with cute god statues. Each god had a name, and Masumi told me that they were individual families' gods. They all wore hats, but some had other accessories and toys placed there by their family. There was also a monkey handler having his monkey do tricks outside the temple, very cool to see.
When we made it to Tokyo Tower, it was still morning, which was a great time to go; it wasn't crowded and we were able to just hop into the elevator and head straight up.
It was a gorgeous day so the view was BEAUTIFUL! We got our picture taken together there.
When we were done, we went back down, where a small carnival like area was set up with all sorts of games and small rides for children. I saw an old lady riding an electronic panda. Funniest thing I've seen in awhile.
After we got back inside, we went shopping. I had no intention of visiting Tokyo Tower when I first came here, but after shopping there I highly recommend it for people wanting souvenirs There were tons of stuff, and all relatively cheap. And I was able to nearly finish out all of my souvenir shopping for everyone back home.
Then we went to the musical, which was... AMAZING! I never had a chance to see the show in America, and I always wanted to. I love the movie and know the story and music very well, so despite being in Japanese I had no trouble understanding. The music still sounded great in Japanese, but I'm definitely biased for the English versions of the songs. The characters' acting was superb, they acted and sounded just like they did in the English version, and the Phantom's voice was still sexy in Japanese. <3
It was a great day and I thank Masumi so much for taking me, she's such a sweetheart!
She had ordered tickets to see the musical "The Phantom of Opera" for that day so we decided to go out before the show started. We were going to go to the Pokemon Center, which was right next to the station, but it was PACKED! Literally the wait just to get in the store was 1 hour. Since there's a Pokemon Center in Nagoya as well, it wasn't a top priority for me that day. So instead we went to Tokyo Tower, which used to be the tallest building in Tokyo, until the new Skytree was built.
On our way we passed through a Buddhist temple, which was really beautiful and was full of activity because today was a special holiday, 3,5,7 Day. This is a day were children ages 3, 5, ad 7 are celebrated and usually dress up in traditional Japanese clothes and head to the local shrine or temple. I didn't really see any children, but a service was going on inside the shrine. Also there was an area that was FILLED with cute god statues. Each god had a name, and Masumi told me that they were individual families' gods. They all wore hats, but some had other accessories and toys placed there by their family. There was also a monkey handler having his monkey do tricks outside the temple, very cool to see.
When we made it to Tokyo Tower, it was still morning, which was a great time to go; it wasn't crowded and we were able to just hop into the elevator and head straight up.
It was a gorgeous day so the view was BEAUTIFUL! We got our picture taken together there.
When we were done, we went back down, where a small carnival like area was set up with all sorts of games and small rides for children. I saw an old lady riding an electronic panda. Funniest thing I've seen in awhile.
After we got back inside, we went shopping. I had no intention of visiting Tokyo Tower when I first came here, but after shopping there I highly recommend it for people wanting souvenirs There were tons of stuff, and all relatively cheap. And I was able to nearly finish out all of my souvenir shopping for everyone back home.
Then we went to the musical, which was... AMAZING! I never had a chance to see the show in America, and I always wanted to. I love the movie and know the story and music very well, so despite being in Japanese I had no trouble understanding. The music still sounded great in Japanese, but I'm definitely biased for the English versions of the songs. The characters' acting was superb, they acted and sounded just like they did in the English version, and the Phantom's voice was still sexy in Japanese. <3
It was a great day and I thank Masumi so much for taking me, she's such a sweetheart!
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Ghibli Museum and Aladdin
So this past week has been rather busy for me.
First my class performed a skit of "Aladdin" for the Meikai School Festival yesterday. So this whole week was devoted to rehearsing, which I didn't complain about because the teachers gave us little homework all week.
On Thursday, I finally fulfilled my otaku dream of going to the Studio Ghibli museum in Mitaka. I went with my friend Thuong, and it was AMAZING!
The museum itself is not very big, just 4 floors, but each floor is packed with stuff to look at and narrow hallways and doors of all different shapes and sizes, which makes navigating an interesting task.
The stain glass windows everywhere were beautiful, each depicting a different Ghibli movie, I was able to take a few pictures of them, but photography was not allowed inside the museum.
Basically the 1st floor of the museum covers the history of animation and a timeline of the Ghibli movies produced. The 2nd floor had a replica of a Studio Ghibli animation room, where frames are drawn and how they are colored. It was nifty to see the process. Of course all the explanations were in Japanese, so I couldn't read much as I know only a few kanji characters.
The 3rd and 4th floors kind of mix together, I cant really remember what was on each, but I know that there was a giant cat bus for children to play on (I wanted to play in it soooo badly). And of course there was a gift shop on the 4th floor, which was PACKED! even more crowded than the galleries! XP
I bought more things than I should have, of course. But I regret nothing. My favorite item I purchased was a Howl's Moving Castle calender. It is a statue of Howl's castle, where dice with the date, month, and day of the week are displayed on various parts of the castle. It's really cool and can be used indefinably.
In the museum's garden there is a cafe, the Straw Hat Cafe, that has all organic foods. The food there was DELICIOUS! and not terribly expensive. My friend and I shared a chocolate parfait, which was like a foot tall with layers of fruits, cake, and ice cream. It was sooo good.
Then we both had "here come the sun" cream soda. It starts out as purple on the bottom and yellow on the top, with blood orange ice cream on top. But once you mix the colors, they turn pink! and it was really sweet and wonderful.
Then on Saturday was the Aladdin skit, which went pretty well I thought. The crowd was small, but I didn't mind a small crowd (I'm sure we made tons of mistakes in our Japanese XP) I was villain #2, not really Iago, not Jafar, just some evil guy in a witch's hat and sparkling red cape.
If there's one thing I learned, I learned that Japanese people love taking pictures. After the play, I swear we had like a 30 minute photo session where people just crowded around and took our picture. I mean our costumes were nothing spectacular, just a random hodgepodge of various items that one can find at home relatively easy. But still they wanted our pictures anyway, with little girls crowding around Jasmine and Aladdin. It was really cute.
Tomorrow I'll be going to Tokyo Disneyland with two friends of mine. I'm really looking forward to it!
I guess I better squeeze in some school into my busy schedule.....lol XD
First my class performed a skit of "Aladdin" for the Meikai School Festival yesterday. So this whole week was devoted to rehearsing, which I didn't complain about because the teachers gave us little homework all week.
On Thursday, I finally fulfilled my otaku dream of going to the Studio Ghibli museum in Mitaka. I went with my friend Thuong, and it was AMAZING!
The museum itself is not very big, just 4 floors, but each floor is packed with stuff to look at and narrow hallways and doors of all different shapes and sizes, which makes navigating an interesting task.
The stain glass windows everywhere were beautiful, each depicting a different Ghibli movie, I was able to take a few pictures of them, but photography was not allowed inside the museum.
Basically the 1st floor of the museum covers the history of animation and a timeline of the Ghibli movies produced. The 2nd floor had a replica of a Studio Ghibli animation room, where frames are drawn and how they are colored. It was nifty to see the process. Of course all the explanations were in Japanese, so I couldn't read much as I know only a few kanji characters.
The 3rd and 4th floors kind of mix together, I cant really remember what was on each, but I know that there was a giant cat bus for children to play on (I wanted to play in it soooo badly). And of course there was a gift shop on the 4th floor, which was PACKED! even more crowded than the galleries! XP
I bought more things than I should have, of course. But I regret nothing. My favorite item I purchased was a Howl's Moving Castle calender. It is a statue of Howl's castle, where dice with the date, month, and day of the week are displayed on various parts of the castle. It's really cool and can be used indefinably.
In the museum's garden there is a cafe, the Straw Hat Cafe, that has all organic foods. The food there was DELICIOUS! and not terribly expensive. My friend and I shared a chocolate parfait, which was like a foot tall with layers of fruits, cake, and ice cream. It was sooo good.
Then we both had "here come the sun" cream soda. It starts out as purple on the bottom and yellow on the top, with blood orange ice cream on top. But once you mix the colors, they turn pink! and it was really sweet and wonderful.
Then on Saturday was the Aladdin skit, which went pretty well I thought. The crowd was small, but I didn't mind a small crowd (I'm sure we made tons of mistakes in our Japanese XP) I was villain #2, not really Iago, not Jafar, just some evil guy in a witch's hat and sparkling red cape.
If there's one thing I learned, I learned that Japanese people love taking pictures. After the play, I swear we had like a 30 minute photo session where people just crowded around and took our picture. I mean our costumes were nothing spectacular, just a random hodgepodge of various items that one can find at home relatively easy. But still they wanted our pictures anyway, with little girls crowding around Jasmine and Aladdin. It was really cute.
Tomorrow I'll be going to Tokyo Disneyland with two friends of mine. I'm really looking forward to it!
I guess I better squeeze in some school into my busy schedule.....lol XD
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Tokyo Disney Sea!
So yesterday I went to Tokyo Disney Sea for the first time, and it was great!!
Tokyo Disney Sea doesn't have many big rides (and only one of them was actually a coaster) but they're so many shows and shopping to do that you could easily spend a whole day there without riding a single ride. Tokyo Disneyland is the place you wanna go if you're looking for rides.
And I've never been to Disneyland in California, but I have gone to DisneyWorld several times, and I can say that the Tokyo version is basically a smaller version of it. The main differences are language (but all announcements are made in both Japanese and English, plus English maps, so the language wasn't an issue at all) and the many more Japanese people (I only saw like 3 other white people, lol).
The Disney characters are all there, Mickey, Minnie, the Princesses, etc; and really their voices in Japanese are very similar to their English counterparts.
The food is amazing there. I have Italian gelato and a Mexican dish for lunch and it was delicious. They also had very fun and interesting Halloween specials (like sweet potato sticks and skull candy and such).
One thing I found interesting was the many popcorn stands they had. You could buy a souvenir bucket and keep refilling them for $5 at any popcorn stand.
But a warning, they DO NOT have normal popcorn. Indeed you will not find simple butter popcorn. They had caramel corn, black pepper, sea salt, curry, and strawberry popcorn. I had caramel corn myself, but if I had more time I would've been more adventurous to try the strawberry popcorn.
Another fun fact: Japanese people find the American flag to be very cool looking, so I often see it on clothes and accessories. I find this quite humorous as I can find more American flag goods here than I would in America (I think). So I bought a hat with Mickey ears in the American flag colors of stars and stripes.
Coming to Japan has certainly given me a new found appreciation for my country. Of course we have heaps of flaws, but so does everyone else. Not even Japan is perfect.
But I feel like I had to leave my country first to really appreciate it and see it from an outside perspective. I know that I'm really growing as an open-minded person here.
I plan on going to Tokyo Disnyland here soon, so then I can make some more comparisons. And I really want Bambi ears, I saw someone wearing them but I couldn't find them. Maybe they are in Tokyo Disneyland. I'll be on the hunt.
Tokyo Disney Sea doesn't have many big rides (and only one of them was actually a coaster) but they're so many shows and shopping to do that you could easily spend a whole day there without riding a single ride. Tokyo Disneyland is the place you wanna go if you're looking for rides.
And I've never been to Disneyland in California, but I have gone to DisneyWorld several times, and I can say that the Tokyo version is basically a smaller version of it. The main differences are language (but all announcements are made in both Japanese and English, plus English maps, so the language wasn't an issue at all) and the many more Japanese people (I only saw like 3 other white people, lol).
The Disney characters are all there, Mickey, Minnie, the Princesses, etc; and really their voices in Japanese are very similar to their English counterparts.
The food is amazing there. I have Italian gelato and a Mexican dish for lunch and it was delicious. They also had very fun and interesting Halloween specials (like sweet potato sticks and skull candy and such).
One thing I found interesting was the many popcorn stands they had. You could buy a souvenir bucket and keep refilling them for $5 at any popcorn stand.
But a warning, they DO NOT have normal popcorn. Indeed you will not find simple butter popcorn. They had caramel corn, black pepper, sea salt, curry, and strawberry popcorn. I had caramel corn myself, but if I had more time I would've been more adventurous to try the strawberry popcorn.
Another fun fact: Japanese people find the American flag to be very cool looking, so I often see it on clothes and accessories. I find this quite humorous as I can find more American flag goods here than I would in America (I think). So I bought a hat with Mickey ears in the American flag colors of stars and stripes.
Coming to Japan has certainly given me a new found appreciation for my country. Of course we have heaps of flaws, but so does everyone else. Not even Japan is perfect.
But I feel like I had to leave my country first to really appreciate it and see it from an outside perspective. I know that I'm really growing as an open-minded person here.
I plan on going to Tokyo Disnyland here soon, so then I can make some more comparisons. And I really want Bambi ears, I saw someone wearing them but I couldn't find them. Maybe they are in Tokyo Disneyland. I'll be on the hunt.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Kanazawa Trip
So for four days and three nights the Tokyo IES students took a long field trip to Kanazawa, the "marshes of gold" - a historical city on the opposite side of the big island from Tokyo famous for its gold leaf production and ancient buildings.
The first place on our list was the Ninja-Temple. No, this temple was not for Ninja, but it received that name due to its many traps and secret staircases The temple was actually the home of a lord Daiymo, who worked under the shogunate. There is a secret tunnel under the floorboards behind the main shrine that allows one to escape to the nearby castle. There are stairs with white paper on the backboards, concealing square holes that guards in a room underneath the stairs, when shadows of intruders are spotted on the white paper, can thrust their spears through the paper to stab the enemy's feet. There is also a room with 4 tatami mats (the number 4 has the same sound as the word for death "shi") and a door that locks automatically when you close it. This room was for seppuku, or ritual suicide There are 29 rooms and 23 staircases, when one really thinks about it, that is a ton a staircases!! Many rooms have many openings and secret doors to allow those living in the castle to move freely and quickly in times of invasion, meanwhile confusing the intruders. I wish I had pictures to show, but because it is a place of worship picture taking was not allowed. Have to respect the shrine.
Next we went to a beautiful Japanese garden. Inside the garden we went to a tea-house and watched Sado, or tea ceremony. The tea was super gross (I dislike tea of any kind - it all just tastes like leafy water to me), but I drank it all out of respect. The anko dessert served with the tea was really sweet and helped me finish the tea.
Next we went to a Gold Leaf studio, and created our very own gold leaf chopsticks! I chose a simple design of a simple gold spiral, mainly because I could actually execute it relatively well. A lot of students tried complicated design that usually failed because of their inability to properly execute them. I learned that the hard way many years ago during ceramics. Sometimes simple is always better.
The next day I ate at a sushi-go-round for the first time. I never ate sushi back home, but here I really love it! Although I do still worry about contracting a parasite, but I feel like the Japanese know their fish so I trust their judgment and preparations. Though I don't think I'll ever have the balls to try fugu (poisonous blowfish).
At the ryokan (Japanese style inn) I went to the public bath for the first time. I was a bit nervous getting naked in front of people, but since it was just the female students (no Japanese were using it at the time) it wasn't so bad. Actually the bath was very relaxing!!
It was a very tiring, but awesome trip!
The first place on our list was the Ninja-Temple. No, this temple was not for Ninja, but it received that name due to its many traps and secret staircases The temple was actually the home of a lord Daiymo, who worked under the shogunate. There is a secret tunnel under the floorboards behind the main shrine that allows one to escape to the nearby castle. There are stairs with white paper on the backboards, concealing square holes that guards in a room underneath the stairs, when shadows of intruders are spotted on the white paper, can thrust their spears through the paper to stab the enemy's feet. There is also a room with 4 tatami mats (the number 4 has the same sound as the word for death "shi") and a door that locks automatically when you close it. This room was for seppuku, or ritual suicide There are 29 rooms and 23 staircases, when one really thinks about it, that is a ton a staircases!! Many rooms have many openings and secret doors to allow those living in the castle to move freely and quickly in times of invasion, meanwhile confusing the intruders. I wish I had pictures to show, but because it is a place of worship picture taking was not allowed. Have to respect the shrine.
Next we went to a beautiful Japanese garden. Inside the garden we went to a tea-house and watched Sado, or tea ceremony. The tea was super gross (I dislike tea of any kind - it all just tastes like leafy water to me), but I drank it all out of respect. The anko dessert served with the tea was really sweet and helped me finish the tea.
Next we went to a Gold Leaf studio, and created our very own gold leaf chopsticks! I chose a simple design of a simple gold spiral, mainly because I could actually execute it relatively well. A lot of students tried complicated design that usually failed because of their inability to properly execute them. I learned that the hard way many years ago during ceramics. Sometimes simple is always better.
The next day I ate at a sushi-go-round for the first time. I never ate sushi back home, but here I really love it! Although I do still worry about contracting a parasite, but I feel like the Japanese know their fish so I trust their judgment and preparations. Though I don't think I'll ever have the balls to try fugu (poisonous blowfish).
At the ryokan (Japanese style inn) I went to the public bath for the first time. I was a bit nervous getting naked in front of people, but since it was just the female students (no Japanese were using it at the time) it wasn't so bad. Actually the bath was very relaxing!!
It was a very tiring, but awesome trip!
Friday, October 12, 2012
Akihabara: Anime Paradise
So I went to Akihabara for the first time last night. and I was in heaven.
The beautiful city lights flashing anime on giant TV screens, stores packed with anything anime my little heart could desire.
And the coffee I had at the cafe was also very good.
I actually got into a bit of trouble in the anime store I was shopping in.
You see the store is 7 stories tall, and each floor had its own cashier station.
I merely thought this was for the convenience of the costumer to pay on any floor they wanted.
But as I got to the top floor, carrying everything I picked up from all the previous floors, a man pointed a sign to me saying that you must pay for any goods you pick up on the respective floor you got it from.
This doesn't make any sense to me! if I did that I would have to carry so many annoying little bags instead of the nice big one I got at the end! Also, WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME SOONER?
I love Japan, but man it can be frustrating at times.
But I had a great time. and now I know the rules. They really need to make that sign bigger. Why would I look at it amongst all of the beautiful anime goods before me??
The beautiful city lights flashing anime on giant TV screens, stores packed with anything anime my little heart could desire.
And the coffee I had at the cafe was also very good.
I actually got into a bit of trouble in the anime store I was shopping in.
You see the store is 7 stories tall, and each floor had its own cashier station.
I merely thought this was for the convenience of the costumer to pay on any floor they wanted.
But as I got to the top floor, carrying everything I picked up from all the previous floors, a man pointed a sign to me saying that you must pay for any goods you pick up on the respective floor you got it from.
This doesn't make any sense to me! if I did that I would have to carry so many annoying little bags instead of the nice big one I got at the end! Also, WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME SOONER?
I love Japan, but man it can be frustrating at times.
But I had a great time. and now I know the rules. They really need to make that sign bigger. Why would I look at it amongst all of the beautiful anime goods before me??
Friday, October 5, 2012
First Sickness..bleh
So finally a week of little sleep has caught up to me. I think I caught a very mild cold. I had a slight fever yesterday, and my throat is sore.
But they fever is gone now, and my throat doesnt hurt, but it still feels dry and uncomfortable.
Hopefully a weekend filled with sleep will help.
Though I cant relax too much, I have a take-home exam to do...sigh XP
I wish I had less homework so that I could explore Japan more, but I guess school was the main point in coming here. :P
Anyway back to work!
But they fever is gone now, and my throat doesnt hurt, but it still feels dry and uncomfortable.
Hopefully a weekend filled with sleep will help.
Though I cant relax too much, I have a take-home exam to do...sigh XP
I wish I had less homework so that I could explore Japan more, but I guess school was the main point in coming here. :P
Anyway back to work!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)