I just left Japan, and I can't stop thinking about it. I already missed it already despite being glad that I'm back home. So, I'm going to tell you about it.
Day Zero
To start off, I did not get a good night of sleep before the day of the flight. I kept having fear of oversleeping and missing my flight. I probably only feel into a dozing state at 1 am, and then woke up at 4 am since my flight was for 7 am.
It was only after arriving at the airport and seeing the line to get into the security check-in line that I realized that it was Thanksgiving week.
Security didn't take too long and soon boarded the plane that would take me to Dallas, where I would take the plane going to Tokyo. So, three hours later, I arrived and boarded my transatlantic flight.
It was upon boarding that I realized another thing. Although I ordered the tickets from Japan Airline, the plane that would be taking me to Japan would be American Airlines and not a Japan Airlines plane.
At least no one was sitting next to me so I had extra room. And the meal was okay.
Anyways, I have arrived in Narita, Japan at around 3:30 pm.
After disembarking, I went through custom and check, and since I used Visit Japan Web, it went really quickly from there. I met up with my friend, who had visited Japan before and was the one to convince me to go.
With her help, I was able to get my Passmo Card, pocket wifi, and some cold hard cash. There was a reason why I went with the Passmo Card. It's going to expire in a month or something, so next time, I'm just going to use the electronic Suica Card.
Then we took a train to our hotel. Oh, it was a pain. I was really stressing out about the train system while I was here. It got better as the days went on, but there would always be a lingering fear in the back of my head questioning whether I got on the right train or not.
Anyways, we arrived at our hotel room. And this would be my home sweet home for the next week.
It was still around six. Even though I was jet lagged, and only got a few hours of sleep on the plane, I didn't want to sleep yet to force myself to adjust to the time. So, me and my friend went out for dinner.
It was ramen where you purchase a ticket from a machine. It was only around 700 yen, meaning that it was less than $5! And it was absolutely delicious. American ramen is forever ruined for me. Even if it is just as good, it will always be far more expensive.
After that, me and my friend wandered around. Mostly so she could purchase stuff for her family and friends. We went to BIC Camera for, well, a camera, but it turned out that the model her friend wanted was discontinued. Then we ran to several shopping centers for makeup for her aunt. In the end, she found it in a drug store.
When we walked back, we stopped by the nearby 7-11 to get some smoothie. Taste was so-so, but the process was cool. I'd recommend you try it at least once.
All in all, we returned after walking five miles. Needless to say. I fell asleep very fast that night.
Day One
The next morning, I met up with her friends and went to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.
Unfortunately, I couldn't take any pictures inside, but needless to say, it was very awesome. I saw some WIPs of how the studio colored scenes for each image as well as how they used a scrolling background to make it seem so that a still image was moving.
The tickets also included a seat to view an exclusive short film. We got to watch Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess. It was short and wordless, but it was no doubt a Ghibli work.
After that, we went to Capy Neko Cafe, where we got to pet and feed a capybara.
Honestly, the Capybara's fur was very stiff and wasn't very pleasant to pet. We spent about an hour or two here. From there, we continued the Ghibli theme as we went to a themed cafe.
There, we ate a lot of Ghibli-movie based dishes.
The first dish was a salad based on My Neighbor Totoro. I'm not a big fan of salads, but it was pretty good since they sourced it from local produce.
Second Dish was Beef Stew. It's said that Sky Pirates love it and is based on Castle In the Sky. It was probably reheated canned stew to be honest. Love the bowl.
Dish number 3 is bacon and eggs toast from Howl's Moving Castle. Egg was what you expected and the bacon tasted surprisingly good. The bread was apparently bought from Toho Bakery, which is quite famous and near the Ghibli Museum.
The fourth dish is Meatball Soup that appeared in Castle In the Sky. Honestly, it was okay. It didn't have the artificial taste as the beef stew and the vegetable was good. The meatball tasted more like a bread ball than chicken meat, though.
Fifth dish is Chicken Pumpkin Pie from Kiki's Delivery Service. Of all the dishes, this one seemed to be the one with the most work. I didn't eat much of it as I was already full, but one person really liked it. The best dish fo the day according to her.
Sixth and last dish was dessert. Another dish based on My Neighbor Totoro: Ice Cream and Chocolate Truffle. Ice cream felt more like sorbet than actual ice cream to me, and the truffles were very dense. I didn't like it very much, but then again, I don't really eat dessert.
Aside from the course meal everyone got, I also ordered an ice cream float based on Castle in the Sky. Again, it was meh.
All in all, I had no regrets going, but I wouldn't go again.
That's pretty much for Day One. I cant' remember what we did for dinner. I think they went for McDonalds while I went to a sushi place.
I'm pretty made about this. Not because it wasn't good, but because of how good and cheap this was. This was only 2100 yen, $14!
Day Two
Woke up before 8 am in order to wait outside a bakery known as Sucre-Rie. Turns out, it was closed that day, so we waited for nothing.
At least I got some decent food while waiting. Again, from 7-11. The mined tuna roll was amazing, just thr right amount of wasabi. The trout sushi was okay, rice felt a bit old.
Since the bakery was closed, we took a train to Akihabara and ate breakfast at a cafe. I got a scrambled egg sandwich and melon float soda. Sandwich was okay, but I didn't really like the soda.
The first place we went to after breakfast was Akihabara Radio Kaikan. It was an anime lover's dream. What's even the point of going to conventions anymore? Just go to Japan for a few days, it might be cheaper.
We came pretty early, so most of the store weren't opened yet. Still, we saw some pretty cool stuff. I didn't take too many pictures though. I'll show what little I did.
Saw some dolls. They were very cool in my opinion, but my friends thought they were creepy.
We didn't buy anything yet, they planned to buy some prize figures after comparing the prices. I wouldn't buy much of anything until the second to last day of my stay.
When it was about noon, we went to Sama for lunch. It was a curry place where you could choose your curry soup base and toppings. I went with tomato-based curry and beef cubes.
After lunch, we went to an owl cafe. There were so many owls, but all the guests had to keep quiet. Even when petting the owl, you had to move very slowly and only use one finger. Even then, you could only lightly stroke without putting pressure on them.
It was a cool experience, but I would do it again.
We got to choose an owl to take a photo with. I think my owl is so done with me, lol. I won't be showing it, since It has my and my friends' faces.
PS. there was another owl named King Crimson. I regret not choosing that one.
After the Owl Cafe experience was over, we split up into two groups. My friend and I did some more shopping/window shopping at Yodobashi Akihabara, another mall. It was there that I encountered something super "cute."
There wasn't really much to say after that. My friend was leaving the next day, so we gathered in the hotel room for some get together time. I fell asleep halfway through though. In my defense, It was past midnight and I woke up at 7 am.
This post is really taking longer than I thought it would. I'm going blog about the second half of my trip in another post next week, where I'll talk about my solo (kinda) trip. Until then, happy readings.
Sincerely, D.C. Haenlien
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