Tokyo, Disney Sea, and Kyoto PART 1 OF 2!

It never fails. I'm extremely late on the update. I've been extremely lazy during this break. It started out the week of Christmas and I've not been doing a whole lot since then.

First off, I wanna mention the music that I added to the blog. It's a few Japanese songs I've been listening to of late, the first song that plays is background music to one of my favorite shows "Samurai Champloo". The second and third songs as well. If you feel like listening to a really sad song I'd recommend the third on the playlist. The 4th is from the most recent Gundam 00 and plays on the radio around here all the time. Finally, the last song is from another of my favorite shows currently running in Japan by the name of Soul Eater. If you have cookies enabled on your browser it will save the volume settings, so if you don't want to hear it then just click it off and it should stay off the next time you visit.

The break actually started a little sooner than it should have. Monday the 22nd was our last day before the break. Patrick and Martin had already left for the states and it was just me and the Chinese student that day. We both sped through the material as it wasn't that difficult, just a little verb conjugation with some new forms at the end of the sentences to say something differently or to quote someone. The teacher let the both of us out early because I told her I was going to Tokyo for a few days and was catching an early bus. She was very cool about, especially since we got the material so well. She also gave us a small Christmas present with a few snacks, a small loaf of bread, and some candies.

After that I grabbed my things and walked down to the station to meet Ho-san. I arrived a few minutes early so I sat around eating donuts from one of my favorite bakeries in town and had a smoke before departing. Soon there after Ho-san showed up and we only had a few minutes before our departure so we just sat and talked about what we were going to do when we go there. We then hopped on to the bus and I played a little bit of "Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core" on my PSP and listened to some tunes with my iPod before taking a small nap. I woke up about an hour later and saw it was pouring down the rain outside. I was hoping it wouldn't be like that the following day considering that I'd be going to Disney Sea.

After arriving at Shinjuku we caught a train to the area our hotel was in. Unfortunately, Ho-san didn't really know where the hotel was so we walked around in the downpour until we actually stopped and asked the police and even then we ended up circling the hotel once before finding it. In the end we got there safely and that's what matters.

The room isn't much bigger than this
right here......

After drying off we decided to go to Akihabara which was very close by. As you all know I talk about this place all of the time, and the reason for that is because I love it. It's totally my kind of place, filled with games, manga, anime, movies, and every type of electronic device you could possible ever conceive.

Before looking around or doing any shopping we decided to grab a bite to eat. We couldn't really think of anything extravagant so we ended up settling on KFC since I've not tried it since being here. It actually wasn't all too bad, they even had a turkey dinner if you wanted to pre-order it, but one small turkey would cost about $60. I'll have to try the crispy next time though seeing as the regular was a little too soggy for my tastes.

Think I ate enough?

We then did some looking around. Ho-san was amazed at my knowledge of Akihabra seeing as I'd only been there one time previous to that. I'm pretty decent with directions, especially if it's a place that I like. We walked around to the Gundam character good shop where I bought an awesome Gundam 00 tshirt that says "Trans Am" (no this isn't the car, it's the name for when they put their machines into a certain state giving them more power, although it is quite a funny name) on the front and on the side of the chest it has the Celestial Being (the group the Gundams work for) logo that glows in the dark. What can I say...I love this shit...

We then turned the corner where we went into another character goods shop where I found a few cigarette lighters with one of my favorite shows on it, "Neon Genesis Evangelion". The show is more than ten years old but still has huge popularity not only here in Japan but in America as well. I also bought some "Maid Cookies" that you're supposed to have with tea, but I don't drink hot tea and the cookies are just as good without it I'm sure.

After that bit of shopping we headed back to the hotel where I noticed that there was a certain company that had an office where I was staying....(For those who don't know BT is one of the leading ways to illegally download movies, games, and music these days)

That's right folks...Bit Torrent Inc...

After that we took showers, watched a movie, and then slept to prepare for the long day that would follow...

We got up around 7:30 AM the next morning and starting preparing to leave for Disney Sea in Tokyo. It's a park that's more known for it's shows that take place on a man made lake in front of a man made mountain. Here's a few pics of me sleeping on the train...


After a short trip on the train we got to Disney and people were flooding in to the park. We then took a Disney Monorail to get to Disney Sea. It was totally Mickey'd out people, check out these handrails.

And yes...even the windows are shaped like Mickey...

After a short train ride we found ourselves in front of Disney Sea where we snapped a few pictures of the things you get to see on the way into the main area of the park. And yes...I do love Wall-E...

This looks familiar......

It's the resorts 25th Anniversary,
what good timing I have :D

These pics are cool and all but after entering the park you get to see the main point of the park which is in the center of everything:


We then had to chose where we wanted to go first. We headed over to the Journey to the Center of the Earth ride which is actually inside that huge volcano from the previous picture. However, it was a two hour wait....They do have something very useful in this park though, "Fast Pass" tickets. These tickets allow you to visit the ride at a later time and you get to go to the head of the line. You can only have one Fast Pass every few hours so this allows you to maybe get on a few more rides instead of missing out on everything.

Since we couldn't ride that we decided to head over to one of my favorite Disney Movies' area...ALADDIN! There was only a carousel as far as rides were concerned, but I wanted to see a 3D light show I had read about in a tourist magazine. So we waited in line for about 45 minutes before we were lead into a dark room with a huge vase in the middle. After sitting around for a few minutes we were surprised at when something would occasionally peak it's head out of the vase and look around at you. After the doors were shit and everyone was in a snake popped out of the jar and started telling a story about a small boy who found the lamp and his master (who is a magician) took it from him and used two of his wishes to gain wealth and power. After this short story we were lead into a large theater where a the evil magician came out and performed his tricks all the while keeping the lamp under lock and key so that the Genie wouldn't steal the performance from him. The Genie was all in the 3D and had some really cool affects like bubbles and such coming at your face. In the end the boy frees the Genie and the magician accidentally wishes himself away. Here are a few pics from the area as well as the what little we could shoot inside...





After that cool little show we tried to think of where to go next. I really wanted to go to The Tower of Terror so we decided to head there next and maybe grab some lunch before or after. Unfortunately, there was quite the wait, so we decided to eat first and then by the time we were done we were able to get our second Fast Pass, and then we would have to come back later in the evening in order to use it. We ate at an American style restaurant and I had my first steak in Japan, and it was pretty tasty. Really expensive...but tasty none the less...
Here are a few pics from the area that The Tower of Terror was in, which is also known as the "American Harbor" area.




Here's a pic of me looking at The Tower of Terror, and thinking "I'm totally gonna kick that ass later"

Tasty caramel popcorn. $12 for the can,
and $5 for the refills. We got like 4 refills :D

Cool janitor looking guy that would mime things
and had sounds when he would pretend to clean and such.
Sorry, I should have shot a video of it. Funny stuff...

After all that we decided to catch our first show at the lake in the middle of the park. The show was called "Legend of Mythica". I didn't think I'd be into it, but I have to say it was pretty cool and I can't imagine the amount of organization that goes into things like that. Here are a few pics as well as one of the videos from the show. Remember the volume is always obscenely loud on this vids for some reason...

There's actually one more video that I would love to have uploaded but there is a 100MB limit for videos and this one was a mere 15MB over the limit. Unfortunately, it's the best video I have too because later they bring out about 4 more huge floats, one that is a dragon, and my favorite which was a gryphon that had flames shooting up out of it. Hope these videos do the show a little bit of justice though. The other two videos later in the blog should be very enjoyable however :D

After the show we walked around a bit and refilled out popcorn. We then got to use our first Fast Pass for Center of the Earth. It was a great feeling becuase we didn't wait for more than ten or fifteen minutes. I didn't think the ride would be very cool, but it was interesting. It takes you through the volcano and you see all the fantasy creatures one might find in the Earth's core. After seeing a huge monster the cart propells you up a huge hill and then you know what comes next......a huge drop! Ho-san was crying after it was all over because she seems to hate anything that scares her.

After that we headed to the back of the park which housed a sort of jungle (maybe Aztec) aesthetic. We waited in line for about an hour and a half to ride an Indiana Jones ride, unfortunately it was based of the new movie, but it was still cool. After that I bought a few things for my lil neice and a few things for myself. I got a picture from the ride as well because I thought it was funny I have this huge grin on my face while Ho-san is burried in my arm and you can't even see her face! Here are a few pics from that area...

In the words of Gizmo..."Bright lights, bright lights!"

Oh, Scrooge, if only I could swim
in coins like you could in Ducktales....

Cool Lights at night!

Best. Gloves. Ever.
Even Mickey needs a smoke break....

Sorry, but this is where I have to cut it short....these entries take a little more time than you think and when adding videos it can take a really long time depending on the file size :( So I'm going to cut this in half and update the rest of my Disney Sea/Tokyo trip in the next entry. I also will have some good pics (I hope) from Kyoto. I'm leaving there tonight on a bus ride that will take 8 hours! After that we'll (Bob and I) will do some sightseeing, check into our hotel, and then go to a party in Osaka. Sunday we'll do a little more sightseeing around Kyoto and then hop a late night bus yet again back to Kofu and I'll be back here Monday. I'm probably going to have to miss class because of it...but as bad as it's sounds...I'm kind of apathetic about it. My Japanese isn't bad, nor am I doing poor in the class. I've realized even in one year there's no way I could master the language. So, as long as I keep up with my studies I think I'm allowed to enjoy myself when the opportunity arises! Expect a decent video of the other show we saw at Disney Sea this next post!