Konokoi

Yay! Photos!

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:54:29 +0900

Our photos are finally up! Go check them out! :D

Quick Photo Note

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:12:20 +0900

Well, after 35+ hours of travel time, from waiting at Narita to taking the Greyhound from Canada to Seattle, we’re finally home. I have a hell of a lot of photos to go through.

So with that said, I’ll post here whenever I upload a batch. :) Thanks so much for following along! Time to defeat jet lag. :3

We’re on the plane now. T_T… This is how we feel....

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:41:08 +0900

We’re on the plane now.

T_T… This is how we feel. Naichau Kamo.

:( It’s finally here, we’re staring at our gate...

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:01:00 +0900

It’s finally here, we’re staring at our gate back to Vancouver. Eleven days felt like months. And even in that short time, we felt like we’ve found a lot more than a great vacation spot here in Japan. It felt like we found a second home. So many memories. We’re really going to miss this place.

Sayonara Nippon, until we meet again. :)

(It’ll definitely take us a while to stop instinctively bowing, if we do at all.)

It’s 6:54 in the morning an we’re on our way to the...

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 07:13:05 +0900

It’s 6:54 in the morning an we’re on our way to the airport. :(

Last night we were going to go to the airport early because Bryan was getting sick, until we realized we had missed the last express train there ._.;

We wandered around Shinjuku trying to find a place to sit, until we found a place called “Manga Net,” a sort of resting area, where you can rent your own cubicle type space. Ours had a couch TV and computer with internet (which is the only part I managed to get in a picture) and was built for 2, so it fit us pretty comfortably.

We paid fir the night package, so it was only $15 each for 8 hours (plus free drinks). We watched part of Narnia (the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) and then found a Japanese game show in which guests (including Matsumoto Jun had to try and putt a giant golf ball with a giant golf club into a giant hole (with points awarded to however close you got, like a target).. the aim wad a hole-in-one, but they all pretty much sucked at it! LOL.. I’m gonna miss Japanese TV :<

Alas, that was our last uniquely Japanese experience! Now we’re on our way back home, and it’s just come all too soon :/

At least we’ve managed to do a lot in the short time we’ve been here, but we’re already looking forward to the next time we can come back! Japan actually started feeling a little bit like home. ♥

Since we checked out of our hotel already, we’re just...

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:05:00 +0900

Since we checked out of our hotel already, we’re just hanging around Shibuya waiting for morning to come. But it’s only 8, so it looks like we have a lot more waiting to do!

This picture is of a café we stopped by but didn’t get to go into, because a private party was being held. The lobby was nicely decorted, though, with a disco ball and everything! And around the corner i could see a glimpse off a cabinet with a display of autographed stuff.

I did see some cosplayers while in Harajuku, but they usually...

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 16:15:22 +0900

I did see some cosplayers while in Harajuku, but they usually move to fast for me to take a picture! they must do that on purpose.

In this picture you can see some in the back (in red).

So Bryan and I split up for a while, he went to play his new...

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 16:13:14 +0900

So Bryan and I split up for a while, he went to play his new favorite game (Lord of Vermilion) while I went shopping in Harajuku.. for THE LAST TIME!!! TT^TT

But at least I managed to get lots of cute stuff, like the necklace pictured! And some skirts, and a top, some accessories ♥

This is my okonomiyaki dish during the cooking process!...

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 16:02:47 +0900

This is my okonomiyaki dish during the cooking process! It’s mainly cheese <3 and it was good!!

For my last visit to a Book-off I found both two-top photobooks,...

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:58:00 +0900

For my last visit to a Book-off I found both two-top photobooks, as well as their first solo photobooks. Thus the W-themed photo!

Well, the moment we’ve been dreading has finally come upon...

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:49:00 +0900

Well, the moment we’ve been dreading has finally come upon us — it’s our final full day in Japan.

We checked out of the Sakura Hotel today and managed to get our now 4 pieces of heavy luggage to Shinjuku Station. Quite the ordeal that was almost as tiring as our first day.

Rather than decide to find another hotel, we decided to stuff all of the luggage into a set of large lockers. We had no way of knowing if any of it was going to fit, but luck was on our side and it did.

After that, we decided to eat some lunch at an oknomiyaki resturant. You usualy have to make your own, and that’s what we ended up doing. It was a scary but rewarding experience. Scary in that we were constantly checking around us to see what other people were doing without being obvious, not wanting to look like complete gaijin newbs, but still being like “wait, which part goes first? are we supposed to mix the ingredients? If so, do you mix in the bowl or on the stove top? Am I doing this right?!”

The one in the picture is the one I made. Mayonaise, sauce topped some lettuce, corn, other vegetables, egg, shrimp and cuttlefish. Delicious. And I took some notes for when we attempt to cook our own again. :)

After some shopping and having dinner, we headed to a nearby...

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:14:32 +0900

After some shopping and having dinner, we headed to a nearby arcade when suddenly Bryan spotted… TAIYAKI!!!!

I’d been looking for a place to get some of this since we got here, but I resigned myself to accepting that it was either kinda rare or out of season.

Enter Bryan to save the day!! I walked by the place without realizing what it was, so it’s all thanks to his mad observation skillz. ♥

After Ginza we headed to Ueno’s shopping district! We were...

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:06:54 +0900

After Ginza we headed to Ueno’s shopping district! We were headed to the Hello! Project store (which was pretty similar to the last one we were at), when I saw this lovely Blythe doll!

It didn’t have a price on it, so I dont think it was for sale :< I guess that’s good, though, I might have wanted it so bad I’d have gotten it even at in unreasonable price! She’s got an Alice in Wonderland theme going, which is one of my (many) weaknesses.

We went shopping in Ginza! Well, not really, we’re not...

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:02:48 +0900

We went shopping in Ginza! Well, not really, we’re not rich enough for that.

But we went to a specific shop to buy something. On our way back to a station I saw this poster for Hikki’s new English album and I had to have a photo.

I ♥ Hikki! Kinda sad to know she was in New York promoting the album while we were all the way in Japan for once, lol,

We found some empty frames in Ginza station, so we thought...

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:37:36 +0900

We found some empty frames in Ginza station, so we thought we’d immortalize Bryan by putting him in one of them!

So today we went to see the Imperial Palace, but it was kind of...

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:16:37 +0900

So today we went to see the Imperial Palace, but it was kind of far to get a good photo with my iPhone.

Bryan took a lot if good photos with his camera, though, so those will me up later on Flickr.

This photo here is from a fountain plaza we found just across the street from the palace area! It was really pretty, Bryan got lot of good photos of that, too ♥

We’ve seen a lot of one of our favorite Hello! Project...

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:26:58 +0900

We’ve seen a lot of one of our favorite Hello! Project idols, Suzuki Airi, advertising Pizza-La, a Japanese pizza delivery chain. Obviously, we had to try it out.

Fortunately, there was one just a few blocks away from the Sakura Hotel, so we started our day there.

This picutre is probably the closest Jenni will ever get to eating meat. XD

On Shaun Inman’s recommendation, I finally made it to the...

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:22:55 +0900

On Shaun Inman’s recommendation, I finally made it to the 8bit Cafe in Shinjuku! It was a very small place, but that made it seem a lot more cozy.

They had all kinds of retro gaming memorabilia there. Along the bar, there were a lot of action figures and lots of old handheld games. Unfortunately, they were getting ready to close by the time we were done with our food. :(

I must definitely return here.

Forgot to post this last night! We went to the 8-bit Café last...

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:01:09 +0900

Forgot to post this last night! We went to the 8-bit Café last night and they had such cool stuff lining the walls!

There was anything from retro game stuff like a Power Glove (which Bryan tryed on), to books, to this sketch pad which was filled with drawings and messages from past customers!

Bryan and I made our own page in there headed “Things We Did In Japan,” so be sure to look for it if you ever go. :3

So we came to Akihabara again! it’s cold and windy out, so...

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:22:37 +0900

So we came to Akihabara again! it’s cold and windy out, so I’m glad we’re mostly doing stuff indoors.

Bryan’s going to try this game out, where you play as a gundam/mecha type machine in this pod that simulates how it might look/feel if you were actually the pilot of one of those.

So for Bryan’s birthday we’re gaming at arcades, and then later we’ll be visiting this 8-bit café he’s been wanting to go to :3