Thursday, 22 November 2012

The Imperial Palace

Our last full day in Japan was a...  (insert an adjective I cannot think of----my brain is getting too tired for this-)... day as today we went to the Imperial Palace. Actually to start the day off we all went to Akihabara at Yodobashi so that Pie could go get a new figma(figurine of anime. So far I have Sayaka Miki--in her 'armour'-- and Madoka--main character, in school uniform, she's hard to come by. Normally she's in her 'armour' as well... Wait how did I get onto the subject of my figma????) recap: Pie could get a new figma that came out today in Japan. She's probably one of the first Aussies to own one... So Her new figma was of Link. If I have to explain who he is, where have you been for the last 20 years in the gaming world???? Another 4 or 5 figmas were also released today so there was a crowd outside the store. After a quick bakery breakfast we went to The Imperial Palace.

At the Imperial Palace-where the Emperor lives, I didn't even know that Japan had an emperor until today...- We were allowed inside the East Gardens. The gardens there were really beautiful and I enjoyed the day a lot. Until I had some of mum's cold coffee. That was disgusting. In the moat around the Palace there were these giant fish that would go to the surface and open their mouths. It was cute. In a gross sense.

I would rate this day 8.5/10!


                                                                   since when did I do ratings??????

Tuesday, 20 November 2012

The Ghibli Museum

For those of you who don't know what Ghibli is, Ghibli is a company that produces anime. For those of you who don't know what anime is, anime is japanese cartoons except the faces are more angled and the eyes are bigger and the effects are better and the story-lines are better... Actually anime is japanese cartoons ONLY 1,000,000,000 TIMES BETTER THAN AMERICAN CARTOONS!!!!!-You may have noticed but I like anime...-
 
                      Anyway...

At the Ghibli Museum There was different areas and different exhibitions on. My favourite one was all the background paintings. Some of the paintings were the original ones from 'Arriety' These were some outdoor scenes. My particular favourite was an night one showing the house.

The entire Ghibli museum was A-MAZING and I would say it is a must go for anyone visiting Japan!

Bullet train -speed video-



The Mt.Fuji Trip

The day started at 7:30AM, when we had to get up and get dressed to go to Mt.Fuji!!! We went on a bus to the fourth station on the bast of Fuji. It was exciting to see the top of the monstrous mountain. We had hoped for snow, but at this time of year buses are not allowed to where the snow is, incase of an accident. We had another 1 1/2 hour bus trip, then we went to a hotel for lunch. Lunch was a traditional japanese style lunch. We then went on the bus (again!) for a 1 1/2 hour bus ride (again!) to the Sulphur mines of Hakone. We went over the mines in a cable car, and ended up walking around for an hour until the bus came. The Sulphur smelt like rotten egg mixed with cheese, blue cheese. AND THEN ANOTHER 90 MINUTE-yes this is 1 1/2 hours- BUS RIDE. We then went to Lake Ashi  for a boat ride to Hakone-there are a lot of Hakones....- To have a half hour bus ride to THE BULLET TRAIN!!!

Monday, 19 November 2012

The Cat Café

So, today we moved hotels but that's not the most exciting thing we did today. Today we went to The Cat Café !!!!!!!! The cat cafe is a two-storey cafe with lots and lots of cats inside!!! The top floor is just an area full of cats where you can play and the bottom floor is the cafe part, also swamped by cats. Only mum and I went to the cat cafe while Pie and Carmel went looking for a Daiso (Japans $2 shop except 110 yen-$1.31) There was one cat with a scrunched up face- she was black with orange and a touch of white. Most people would call her ugly-actually she wasn't what you would call 'cute'- but Mum and I decided that we liked her, she was so nice and snuggled up to us a lot.

Overall it was an AMAZING day and I am looking forward to tomorrow when we go to Mt.Fuji!!

Sunday, 18 November 2012

Piera and Carmel

--Hotel Room-- why do I even write this anymore?


So let me explain. In all my posts I don't use 'me and mum' or 'mum and I' I say 'WE'. That's because Mum and I are traveling Piera and Carmel!!!! My entire family has known them since I was in my last year of kindergarten. My older brother David became best friends with Piera in prep, even though Piera is a girl. I put the 'even though' because David, like most boys, thought girls were icky, stupid, girly- do you get the picture now? So since then Piera, Carmel and Steve (Pie's dad) have been like our family. I couldn't say pie was like a sister. I mean, we have different parents and that might upset them, so we're like really close cousins. Except we don't rip each-others faces off when we see each other (family custom).  So basically we could Carmel and Pie family in a rather technical way.

Wow... Harajuku and Disneyland!

Our plan for today was get up and go to the train station and take a train to Harajuku.  At Harajuku we had waffles for breakfast and I got the biggest waffle I have ever seen EVER....  The street where we had our breakfast is called Takeshite Dori - say it slowly..  :)  The best thing to see in Harajuku is the Harajuku girls who wear very beautiful clothes..  The shops there are weird but fun..

Kiddyland!!  Another shop we went to was called Kiddyland - it was five floors of complete toys.  It was giant and astounding to see that many toys in one place.  I now realise why it was called Kiddyland.

After lunch we stopped at the hotel for a rest and then took a train to Tokyo station, then changed to another train to take us to DISNEYLAND!!!!!  The best part was the Electric Parade at night.  I nearly made Carmel vomit on the teacup ride by spinning it so fast...  At the end of the day we wanted to see the fireworks but they were cancelled :(  Not happy..  But overall Disneyland was an amazing experience and I froze my butt off.

In the shops around Japan, there are lots of fluffy undies.  I now realised tonight why the fluffy undies are so popular because it was freaking freezing!!

Tomorrow we change hotels and I am looking forward to the changes as this room is getting rather small...

Saturday, 17 November 2012

Last Friday Night.

--Hotel Room--

Last night we went out for dinner at Ikebukura. We initially planned to go out for Ramen Noodles, but we found a shopping centre called 'Sunshine City' We spent a lot of  time shopping. Next door to Sunshine City was a 8 floor building called 'Tokyu Hands' and in there I saw my first Hamster/Gerbil!!! This is quite a moment for me as we are not allowed to have Hamsters in AUS and Hamsters are featured a lot in my anime. Piera then wnted to go shopping in 'Animate' a giant anime shopping centre. So Mum and I went out to get Japanese McDonalds. Mum got a chicken fillet burger and i got chips and nuggets. Sure Its not japanese but we ate it in Japan, so it kind of counts. Right????

Taco-banana-rama-pyjama-llama

--Hotel Room--

That is the name of one of the train stations we went to today.  Or pretty close to it...

So to start the day off we went to Kawagowe (which is like a suburb). Around there there are a couple of beautiful shrines that we went to, as well as 'Old Town'. Old town is based around what shops used to be like. There is also a little place in there called Penny candy lane. This is a little lane full of shops selling lollies LOTS of lollies.

     My writing level has decreased-damn jet-lag. Now I'm hungry.

Any way!!!.....!!!!!!!!.....!.!!!....!!....! ummm.... where was I?????? ummmm........ OK! Now I know what I am doing!!!!


At old town there was a chopstick shop where I got my name engraved in a pair of chopsticks.

Thursday, 15 November 2012

A VERY long day.

--Hotel Room--

After a long day of walking and shopping I am EXTREMELY VERY ULTIMATELY tired. To start off the day we went shopping at a MASSIVE art shop. Then we headed up to the 'Shinjuku Gyoen  National Gardens' In the gardens there are 3 styles of gardens 'English Landscape, French Formal and Japanese Traditional. We then headed to a department store for a bento box lunch. We had lunch on the roof of the department store. The roof top makes Myers now look like Safeway.

Finally Here!

--Hotel room--

I am in the hotel room at 7:11 with a 7/11 across the street. Funny coincidence. In your time it is now 9:09 AM. Pretty soon  We will be going somewhere for breakfast. So far I have had 2 japanese foods/drinks.
this is my doll Suzie with what I have tasted. 'Pocky' and 'Melon-flavoured Fanta'

Plane over Guam


Time left to destination 3hours 14 minutes
2426 km to our destination
Travelling at 859 km per hour
Temp outside -56.0 Celsius
Level of boredness 10/10

With all this considered I am not allowed to leave the aircraft, its -56.0 outside. I wish I had a scarf. Then I wouldn’t freeze my butt off if I went for a walk outside. But with Mum saying ‘no’ to the walk outside idea I think I’ll stay in here. Bored out of my brains. At least there are TVs in the back of seats in front of you. For the past 5 hours and 45 minutes I have done the following to not bash my head against a brick wall (not that there are any in a plane)

Watched Ice Age 4 Continental drift
On the TV on the back of the chair says ‘contIENTal’ its spelt continental.

Watched the new batman movie-until I got bored

Had a sleep for 1 hour-until I got bored

Watched Total Recall –until I got bored

And started typing on this blog- and yes! until I got bored.


I think I might have another sleep with all this boringness considered.

 P.S the main word of the day is BORED. Remember this code word to so a lucky winner can receive a prize.

If you’re wondering the lucky winner happens to be me.

Wednesday, 14 November 2012

On our way!

---Gold Coast Airport---
Just finished breakfast after a 2 hour flight from Melbourne. We were a few seats ahead from a little kid who kept asking "why are we over/landing in the sea?" "why are we in a space shuttle?" I got really annoyed. There was also a toddler running up the aisle screaming "Mummy Mummy!!!" Now even more annoyed. After getting our packaged checked I GOT SCANNED FOR EXPLOSIVES!!! This was after getting checked into Melbourne Airport. Then at Gold Coast Airport MY MUM GOT SCANNED FOR EXPLOSIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Piera and Carmel (We are traveling with them) said it was our family. My mum also gave me a stern talking-to about saying the word "bomb" the police will take you off the plane and question you. What is with my family and terrorism?



Monday, 12 November 2012

The Trip

The trip.

The Trip begins at 4:00AM- when we get out of bed. The actual fight begins at 6:10 AM. We fly out from Melbourne-Tullamarine and have a stopover in the Gold Coast. I will be posting on this blog every night in the hotel.                             



This is a map of the flight path.