I've recently returned from a short trip (about 2 weeks) to Asia! Originally my flight was supposed to have a stopover in Japan but on the day of my flight, Japan had been hit by the typhoon so we had to go through a lot of annoying airport trouble to redirect our flight to Vietnam where I stayed for a little over a week with my grandma. I had never thought about the concept of the rainy season in Asia and that’s when I realized, “huh, what if this is the really rainy season?” Yikes, I didn’t bring an umbrella! Luckily for the most part, rain hit while I was indoors when I was in Vietnam. Japan’s forecast reported as being rainy my entire duration there, but it fortunately was not the case. I was able to continue with my trip without an umbrella. Talk about luck! In any case, I don't know how many entries I'll make covering my trip and maybe I'll write about Vietnam too, but for now here's what I got. I'd like to include pictures too, but many image hosting sites have gone kaput (my journal layout is dead too-- I'll have to fix it!) so this will have to make do.
September 20 – Friday
Our hotel for the first night was close enough for us to walk to Tokyo Skytree. When we got there we saw a rather sizable crowd in the open with a stage. I wondered if it was someone famous that everyone gathered for. Since we were short on time, we walked past it and took pictures at the Kirby Cafe and then went to the Kirby cafe shop. We went to the Pokemon Center in Skytree and shopped around before we left to return to the hotel. There was a store that sold "as seen on TV" but it wasn't like, American "as seen on TV". It was literally a shop that sold TV and anime goods. There was a whole section for Ametalk, Summers x Summers, ItteQ, Sukatto Japan and the like. There was Gaki no Tsukai too! I bought a Reigen keychain here because I couldn't help it.
I didn't expect to immediately be presented with a Hizashin clearfile.
Unfortunately I have one already, otherwise I would have bought it too!
The gathering outside was yelling in excitement when we got out. It looked like they were watching a rugby game and people were cheering. (I later saw the event reported on television news in Kobe two days later!)
September 21 – Saturday
I met up with
lysanderpuck in Shibuya. We went to the *NEW AND IMPROVED* Johnny's Family Club to see if it did indeed change any. We talked about how it had closed down for what we supposedly thought was for good, but then found out it had opened again under the radar sometime back. It does indeed look bigger than before. There was an exhibit featuring Arashi and some rugby balls they signed. I asked, "what is up with Japan and rugby" and I'm told that the world cup was going on. Japan had won the year before "randomly" and now they are crazy about it, I guess! In any case, now I understood.
We went and had lunch at this omelette rice place that was on the way to the Johnny's Family Club. We then went to Animate where I picked up more things than I should have. I did pick up some coaster and keychain covers, though!
This is the haul from the first two days!
Time was running short so we parted so my dad and I could get on the bullet train to Osaka. We spent some time at Osaka station trying to find food before finally arriving in Kobe at my uncle's house. I had never met my uncle before, so I was nervous. They were very welcoming though, so I had nothing to worry about. I couldn't help thinking the entire time how totally Osakan they were. Vietnamese Kansai-Ben is the trippiest thing. I know they're speaking Vietnamese, but they TOTALLY end with ya. My aunt and uncle were like a comedy duo when talking to my dad and me. I couldn't believe the power of human adaptation.
September 22 – Sunday (Kobe)
I ate Kobe pho my aunt made for breakfast and went to Kobe Harborland with my dad, uncle and cousin. It was very beautiful. The weather was good and the view was great. Afterwards I went shopping at Sannomiya with my cousin. On the way back he was telling me about some Chinese series, I think? And how he really liked the sword fighting, tatakae? I told him if he was into that, he will most definitely enjoy SHOCK.
We had yakiniku at a restaurant with my uncle's family friends. Their eldest daughter who sat next to me had just returned from 3 years in Australia for school. I found out because she had said "Thank you" to me in perfect English so I had to ask, you speak English?! We ended up talking a lot about Johnny's. It started off like this:
"My mom told me you're going to a show tomorrow. What show?"
"What? How did she know? I mean, auntie seriously told her about it that fast??
"Yeah, I heard it from my mom!
"Oh! Well, I'm going to see ENDLESS SHOCK
"I've never heard of it..
"Ah, its Domoto Koichi's--
"OH OMG... KINKI KIDS RIGHT???" She had lit up so suddenly that I went,
"Oh??? You know??
"My mom is a fan!
"OH WHO IS HER FAVORITE
"Koichi!
"Ah, we are the same!"
I proceeded to ask if she liked Johnny's but she said she was more into the juniors. BISHOUNEN was her favorite, but she said Kpop was more of her realm. Which was funny because she totally knew more about Johnny's than she let on. When I said I liked and attended one of ABC-Z's concerts she was like, "oh isn't everyone in that group like ossans (except Hasshi). That's when I told her I liked them before debut, for a very long time through SHOCK and she was like WHOAAA THAT IS SO COOL. She also brought up Kanjani Chronicle and we had a good tall about the English telephone game. I'm pretty sure at this point I asked her again and again, "are you SURE it's your mom who is a Johnny's fan??"
We talked a lot until we had to go. I hope I can meet her again someday. She is pretty amazing to have learned so many languages and she was very interesting to talk to.
Oh yeah, the yakiniku was AMAZING. I tried yukke, which is raw meat and eggs?? without knowing what it was. It was delicious.
I stole this image from Wikipedia.
When I returned to the house, auntie insisted I come with her to the public bath/ofuro. I was nervous for some other reason I won't disclose, but it wasn't so bad! It was an experience that I definitely would never have back home. It was rather nice, so if you ever think about going I would say sure, do it if you got someone who can show you the roped. I'd be so lost without auntie!
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