Aster in Japan

  One would think that after eight previous trips, another flight to Japan would feel like routine, but the start was already different since I needed a domestic flight transfer. However, being able to see the islands of Okinawa from the plane awed me, and definitely set the tone for my enjoyment of the main island. I arrived with fairly high expectations, and I got to say that Okinawa more than delivered. Although I confess it was slightly odd to stay along the Kokusaidori main street, as it’s so touristic and feels like a shopping street in Tokyo, but it still has its own Okinawan flavor. And I was so close to the ocean! I couldn’t believe how quickly I reached the shores, and even with a highway road above my head, it was great to trail through the water on my day of arrival.

Visiting Shuri Castle was on the top of my wish list, so I did that right on my first full day. Reading about the beautiful reconstructions and seeing the pictures definitely didn’t hold up to the real thing, and I could only admire the love and dedication that had gone into reconstructing this centuries old castle. It felt so completely different from the other Japanese castles, which it of course is, but I hadn’t expected to feel that so acutely. You could definitely tell how proud the people here were of the castle, and I can only hope that those whose livelihoods depended on the castle can get by now. It still feels surreal to think that the buildings are no longer there. There are logistical problems for rebuilding, although I don’t doubt they will get there in the end. It burnt down before, and rose from the most terrible of ashes. It will likely take decades, but considering how big a symbol this place is, there will definitely be something new. I do confess I kind of skipped war memorials during this trip to Okinawa, but the scars of the Battle of Okinawa was visible everywhere; and yet it was also noticeable how the people have come back from it. I can only hope their spirit will continue from hereon too and that this symbol will rise again.

Of course, I had no idea while I was there what would happen four weeks later, but I’m glad in retrospect that I took my time and uh, took as many pictures as I did. Nearby Tamaudun Mausoleum impressed me deeply as well, although I must confess that was due to the full package: the castle and the history and the mausoleum together, plus the pathway leading up to the building was short but absolutely lovely.

After that, I saw so many sights. I climbed the mountain to find Nakagukusu castle, where I had a blast feeling like I was in some weird limbo between a gothic European castle in ruins with crows flying by and, well, a subtropical island, with beautiful blue seas on both sides. Weirdly, it really looked like only the castle was clouded that day, as the sun was shining on both sea sides, but it just added to the atmosphere.

I went from super touristic but cheerful Okinawa World with its gorgeous caves to the genuine and wonderful museum, teaching me so much more about the islands, explored gorgeous gardens, and to top it all off, I got to spend a day on Tokashiki island, which really was the icing on an already delicious cake. The weather was lovelier than I could have even hoped for, the views were amazing, and I was honestly jealous of myself while I was there. This really was the picture perfect ‘tropical holidays’ right from the travel brochure, and although I think I’d get bored of it if I were to spend a whole week just chilling on the beach, it was an amazing way to end my week down south. Not to mention the submarine ride! I’m really glad I was tenacious and eventually lucked out and got on, because I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It’s one thing to see coral reefs on tv or in an aquarium, but seeing them in the wild is awe inspiring. Luckily the Kerama Islands (which Tokashiki is the biggest of) are a national park and under protection, and I can only hope that we can all protect amazing sights like these all around the globe.

 After a week of exploring something completely new, it was time to return to an old friend: Fukuoka, which I had stayed in for a week back in 2015. I had fond memories of staying there, and this week didn’t disappoint. The flight was so relaxed I would almost say I got rid of my fear of flying (not entirely, but it definitely diminished from here on), and then it was time to explore the places I had missed out on before! It was my first time seeing a typical conical and active volcano, and Sakurajima definitely didn’t disappoint. Karatsu had caught my eye in recent years, and I’m so happy I went there, because I had a delightful day and I was thoroughly charmed by this city. Beppu was highly touristic, but I had a good time exploring the hells anyway, and I’m easily amused, so getting to say ‘I went to hells and back’ won’t get old soon. The typhoon made me stay in Fukuoka for a day since I didn’t want to risk getting stranded, but I don’t regret it one bit as I finally got to see Kushida shrine in the sun and had a blast in Canal City. It was safe enough to go to Yoshinogari Historical Park next, and wow, there was so much to see and do that I definitely have to go back here sometime. And hey, I got to be crafty and made a mirror! I’m still unreasonably proud.

With the weather continuing to smile down on me, I hit Okayama next, where I finally got to dress up as a princess in the castle (I’m easily pleased) and saw the sights we sadly had to miss out on last year due to floods. Gorgeous sights and castles greeted me as I finally got to see more of Shikoku, and although I am definitely a bit weary of temples now (sorry, Onomichi), the views over the Inland Sea continue to impress. The weather was exceedingly kind to me and gave me blue skies over all castles, and so I happily checked off number 7 on the list of 12 original castle towers still remaining. Past the halfway point! I do love castles, haha.

My luck hadn’t run out yet as on my final day in Okayama, KOKIA was performing in Osaka. It was just an hour away from Okayama, the closest I was to Osaka the entire trip, so that left enough time to visit Universal Studios beforehand. And of course, seeing KOKIA live is always a magical experience (which is a nice bridge from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter I guess, haha). I’ve said it before, but even live recordings and DVDs can’t compare to the live experience, and I feel so privileged and blessed that this is my seventh time (!) getting to see her live. And this was my third time in a row getting to meet her for an autograph! I might get spoiled at this rate, haha. It was wonderful to hear songs from all those years ago as well as some newer favorites.

And although I hadn’t been looking forward to the long trip to Tokyo, this was in fact a very relaxed experience. I had so much leg space that my suitcase in front of me was no big bother, and the seats next to me stayed empty anyway. Getting back to Tokyo, and more specifically Ikebukuro, felt like coming home again, and I enjoyed soaking into the familiar sights (and uh, shopping, I have to admit).

This was the only part of my trip where I actually noticed the typhoons that had blown over or were on their way. Japan has taken quite the battering this year, with typhoons forming very late into the season, being more powerful than ever, with Hagibis being the tragic record. It had given me quite the scares, but all it really meant for me was a few windy days, two days of rain on 4 weeks total, and making it risky to leave Tokyo for the mountainous areas. The people here have suffered far more. I can only hope they recover well from this natural violence and that they can catch a break for a while.

 Anyway, you can easily dump me in Tokyo for months on end and I will still have a great time. This city is so massive and there are plenty of places worth a second (or third, or ninth) visit, so it’s hard to imagine I’d ever get bored here. And since many of the series and games I like hail from Japan, I definitely took the chance to stock up on merchandise and go to cafés to let out my inner fangirl. Look, I grew up on Pokémon, I’m not gonna ignore the chance to have dinner with Pikachu. Rainy days aren’t so bad if you get to spend them in a museum so big that even a full day is barely enough to see everything, and I got to spend some extra days with my friend on top of it.

I have to admit I felt a bit bad about not using my JR pass much in that last week except for the Yamanote line, but that in no way diminished how much fun I had, and I confess to having cried a couple of times in my final days in Tokyo due to my impending return home. Of course, going on holidays is different from living somewhere, but I still feel like a piece of me was left behind in Japan way back in 2010, and so it hurts to part every time. That might sound dramatic, but that metaphor does explain why I feel so strongly about it.

 The flight back gave me one last treat with the Fuji showing up through the clouds, marking the first time in all those flights when I actually got to see it from the plane. Sadly the picture I took on my phone isn’t super crisp, but it’s the best I could do at the moment, and really, there’s something about that mountain you can’t quite catch on camera anyway. The flight was calm and hardly affected my nerves, and though I didn’t sleep much, I managed to get home safe and sound without even falling asleep on the train or bus.

Of course, the jetlag was waiting for me with a big ol’ hammer, and it took a while for me to recover. A bit longer than expected, actually, although I suspect part of that was caused by just how much I’ve seen and done over those past 4 weeks. Look at how long this entry is getting, and I barely even touched on some days and impressions! I can’t believe I got to check off my entire list of places to visit until I got to Tokyo. I hadn’t thought my body could handle it, but I was pleasantly surprised, and I definitely feel in a better condition than ever. Seeing all these wonderful sights for sure invigorated me, so I don’t doubt it helped, but the relative ease with which I climbed those mountains also surprised me. Not that I’m complaining!

And that brings me back home. I’ve had two weeks to recover now, and I think my body has adjusted to being back in the Netherlands again. I’ve collected all my reports from this blog (and have apparently done NaNoWRiMo writing challenge a month early, as I surpassed 50,000 words written in a month, oops), my photos have been sorted out, I’ve put together a photo book for the collection, and… well, all that’s left is closing off this blog until the next trip. That won’t be this year anymore, haha, no more last-minute Christmas trips to Tokyo! Although I won’t deny it’s tempting, but I’d rather take the time to plan out my trip for next time.

I don’t know when that will be. Part of me really wants to see the cherry blossoms, but it’s a busy season, so I should be looking into flights and hotels already if I am set on doing so next year. Summer 2020 is out, though. I’d rather avoid the height of summer in Japan if at all possible, and well, with the Olympics and Paralympics next year, I think Japan really doesn’t need any more tourists in the mix, haha. So, who knows! I’ll have to wait and see where next year takes me, although I’d love to return to Japan as soon as possible. I still haven’t visited Hokkaido, after all, and I did plan out a lot of day trips from Tokyo that I didn’t get to do now.

 I keep saying it, but I don’t think I’ll ever be done with Japan. Despite hardships, I am so happy I decided to study its language and culture, over a decade ago now. It really broadened my horizons, allowed me to meet new people, and introduced me to an immensely interesting country. Although I’m far from fluent (I really need to pick up my study books and at least increase my vocabulary, yikes), it still really helped finding my way here and getting in touch with people. Of course, I saw everything through a tourist’s eye, but I do my best to read up on the places I visit and get a better sense of the culture and history through first hand experience. Speaking the language to a degree definitely helps with that.  

And so, I will now close this blog again until my next trip, which hopefully won’t take too long. Whether it’ll be a short hop over to Tokyo or a longer cross-country travel remains to be seen, but I can’t wait to find out!

Even though my flight was an hour later than it would have been in summer, I still had to get up early. My alarm was at 5:30, although of course, I was nervous enough about missing my alarm that I woke up at 4:30. I stubbornly stayed put until my actual alarm and then got ready to go to the station.

I had gotten lucky this year: the Narita express would go via Ikebukuro during a time it would get me to Narita airport in time for my flight, so all I had to do was drag my luggage to the correct platform. Unfortunately I took the wrong entrance to the JR tracks, which had only staircases, but I had time enough to go back and get to an entrance that did have escalators. I did have two big bags now, I definitely wasn’t going to drag them up stairs, haha.

Luckily, there was plenty of space in the train to secure my baggage, and I went to my designated seat and settled in. I’d bought an egg and Danish doughnut for breakfast, so I nibbled on those as I watched the scenery go by. Of course, the Narita express also stops at stations like Shinjuku, Shibuya and Tokyo, so I got to say goodbye to those places one last time. Sadly I was on the wrong side of the train to see the Skytree properly, but I was sad enough about leaving as it was, so maybe it was for the best.

At the airport, I sighed because I had forgotten the international departures were on the fourth floor, so that was quite some escalators all decorated with lovely sights of Japan to pass before I came close to dropping off my luggage, haha. I checked in for my flight (sadly getting stuck on a middle seat), and then made my way to check in the baggage. I was only a couple of kilos over the limit, but that’s still a couple of kilos that would have been way more expensive to pay for as overweight baggage or to send home by mail. 

There was a longer queue for the carry on bagage, but that row went very quickly and before I knew it, I made it to immigration. They had modernized and now used automated gates, so if you have a newer passport like me, you can very quickly pass immigration now. And I didn’t even get a nice stamp anymore either! Boo. At least I still have the sticker declaring my entering the country, but no longer the stamp saying when I left.

With all checks done, all that remained was waiting for boarding. I spent my time wandering through all the shops, getting some exclusive KitKat flavors and my favourite green tea, looking for a puzzle I ended up not finding, and by then it was almost time to board already! So that was a good way to kill time, although next time I’ll probably find a place to dump my backpack, it was getting rather heavy.

Well, as mentioned, I had a middle seat, so I put my backpack in the overhead locker and kept my purse close. The flight was going to be short, just shy of eleven hours (short being relative in this case), although we did have to wait a bit for streamlining purposes, whatever that means. Once we were barely into the sky proper, there was a new announcement: on the left, we could see the snowy top of Mount Fuji peak through the clouds! Yep, that’s important enough to announce. And I was in luck, because I was on the left side of the plane. Sadly my camera was in my backpack, so I quickly pulled out my phone to snap at least one picture. Despite all my flying back and forth to Japan, this was my first time actually seeing the Fuji from the plane, so that was really exciting! 

Since the skies were clear, I occasionally took pictures from the view, with gorgeous mountain ranges bidding me goodbye as we left Japan behind us. 

I fiddled with the on-flight entertainment system for a bit, watching two movies and some episodes of Friends while dozing off a little in between. It was a smooth flight, with quite clear skies overall, so I also managed to take some pictures of the Dutch coast line before we started landing.

Landing was very smooth as well and we actually arrived half an hour before schedule! There were warnings at Schiphol for long waits at passport control, but uh, the wait was estimated to be 10 to 15 minutes, and since I could make use of the automated gates again, it was even less for me. The luggage had already been unloaded, so that was another short wait, and thankfully both my bags had survived the trip safe and sound. My Kitkats even survived!

It was on to the train tracks, where I realized Japan had really spoiled me with trains, haha. I got rather grumpy about not knowing where the doors would open, and I ended up standing in front of a first class car, so I had to walk a bit to get to the proper car, sigh. And despite Schiphol being the starting station, the train itself got here 2 minutes late. Two whole minutes, tsk! (As I said, Japan spoiled me, haha. The train from Okayama arrived in Tokyo down to the second, despite that trip taking four hours.) But all was fine, and I only had to take one more bus to make it to my home town. It was a pretty full bus, but it quickly emptied out enough for me to sit down with my baggage, so that was nice!

I was at my destination half an hour earlier than scheduled, but luckily my dad was still able to pick me up. Just as well, because I was nearing the end of my stamina, haha. I managed to eat properly for dinner, but I was quickly starting to nod off and ended up going to bed at 8:30 PM. I woke up at 5:30, went back to sleep, and eventually got up around 10. I took it easy and mostly just unpacked my souvenirs, putting them into their proper places for the most part. (I didn’t do that many impulse purchases, so I have place for pretty much everything, haha.)

And now it’s Wednesday, my second full day back home. I still feel rather jetlagged, but I think I’m adjusting well, so hopefully I’ll be rid of it soon. I just finished my puzzle and I started folding my first tiny cranes with my tiny 3x3 cm origami paper, but it’s rather challenging, so maybe I should save that until I’m more awake, haha.

It turns out I have close to 4,000 (!) pictures on both my camera and phone combined, so it might take a while to go through them all. Once I have, I’ll do photo sets, one per week, before I’ll write my final report looking back on the whole trip.

I had an absolute blast, and right now, Japan feels still very close, like I can just get on a train and be back there any minute now. (I mean, in theory I could, but it would take a while, haha.) I’ll need some time to readjust to being back in the Netherlands. 

So! I started the day with a bit of a scare, since I couldn’t check into my flight online and the airline company didn’t respond. I decided to take it out in karaoke, only to find out that you can totally sing until 5 AM in the morning, but starting before 11 AM was not possible in Ikebukuro, pfff. Instead, I took the train to Shibuya to say hi to Hachiko one last time and visit my shrine once more. After crossing the scramble crossing however, I found a karaoke joint from my favourite chain (Big Echo) that was open 24/7 and currently had no waiting time, so in I went!

This building actually had ‘princess rooms’, titled Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and so on, but my room was just next to them (you can book a room just for yourself, so no need to share with strangers). I had booked for 90 minutes and just put a bunch of Japanese songs on blast, with the Japanese people in a room near me putting Ed Sheeran on blast, haha. Though I do admit I also picked a bunch of Disney songs and Total Eclipse of the Heart, because I wanted to let it all out. It definitely worked and I had a great time. And the price tag was a lot lower than I was expecting – prices are down before 7 PM, so if you ever want to do karaoke in Japan, be sure to do so during day time to save some money.

I explored the streets of Shibuya that I knew, had some nice finds into the nearby 100 yen shop, went for lunch at a café, and eventually found myself floundering a bit, mindlessly browsing for clothes I wasn’t even set on getting. It was only 3 PM though, so I made myself walk back to find the Miyamasu Mitake shrine again. And once again, it was completely quiet, tucked away in between the skyscrapers and somehow drowning out most of the sounds. I gathered myself here, took some deep breaths, and actually felt my upset stomach settle into normalcy again. Yep, I love this shrine alright. I definitely recommend it, but please don’t go there in droves now, haha.

I made my way back to the station, with a slight detour through the Starbucks that looks out over the scramble crossing just to shoot a picture from above, and then hopped onto the Yamanote line for Ikebukuro.

I wasn’t even planning on that much, but I went into Sunshine city anyway, visiting the Pokémon Center and just – generally seeping in the familiar atmosphere. It’s the weekend before Halloween, and although the big event here is behind closed doors and a paywall, there were still quite some people out in full costume. I saw an Ash and an N cosplayer in the Pokémon store, haha.

I went through my favourite stores too, only picking up a small strap for my phone, but as said, it was also comforting to just take in the familiar sights and streets. I actually had the perfect amount of money with me for dinner, breakfast for the train tomorrow and the last minute small fry at the airport, so unless I wanted to visit the ATM I couldn’t even spend much money, but it was fine. Things change over the years, of course, but Shibuya and Ikebukuro remain familiar. (Although I had to laugh a little at the contrast with my first visit in 2010. Back then, most people I went to school with had iPhones while most of the Japanese people still used flip phones. Currently, they put up warnings everywhere to tell people to not look down at their smartphone while walking. Not that most people heed that warning, but hey. At least it also means there’s a lot of free Wi-Fi spots going around.)

A little after 7, I picked up breakfast, dinner and some dessert and ate the latter two in my hotel room. I, uh, was getting a little emotional over having to leave tomorrow, so I didn’t want to eat out in case I broke down crying or something. Luckily, the TV provided a distraction, as the figure skating grand prix season has started and some of the biggest names in Japanese figure skating competed in the Skate Canada event this weekend. The competition was already done, but this program featured the highlights of the men’s and ladies’ programs, so I ended up watching it all and staying up a bit late, considering I still had to figure out my suitcases, oops.

That is all done now, though! I’m – actually not entirely sure my small boxes of Kitkat will survive the trip, but the candy themselves should be alright. All legitimately breakable things are in my carry-on. I am definitely over the weight limit for one suitcase, but the airline eventually checked in with me and let me know that although I can only check in at the airport, the second bag had gone through okay. So that’s a relief, and with the Narita Express up and running again, I should be at the airport a good three hours before my flight.

I can’t believe how fast these 4 weeks have gone by. It does feel like I’ve been in Japan for a long time though, maybe because settling into Tokyo is pretty easy by now. But I had a great time, despite the typhoon troubles in my last week (which I don’t even dare to complain about, considering how lucky I’ve been overall). Maybe I could have done more in this last Tokyo week, but hey, I still had a good time, and that’s what counts.

I’m going to close down the laptop and try going to sleep, as I have an early alarm tomorrow. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this trip and Japan in general, but I think I’ll save those for my retrospective post.

I’ll probably shoot this blog a quick message once I’m back home safe and sound, then the final pictures will follow and then – the final posts, I guess. My final thoughts, the usual photo sets of the highlights… And then I will have a hell of a time browsing through all my pictures to compose a photo album, because I almost filled up my entire SD card. I can put like 4000 pictures on one of those and that’s not taking into account the candids and panoramas I took on my phone, so, uhm.

But that’s for later. For now, sleep and the final lapse of the journey!

From there, we walked to nearby Ueno park like I had earlier this week. Our destination today was also a museum: the National Museum of Western Art, which is right near the entrance of the park, haha. They have a special exhibition going on right now about the Hapsburgs, one of the most influential royal houses in Europe.

As it turns out, they go way further back than I thought, down to the early 16th century, and the collection contained both portraits of the royals and art from their personal collection, the earlier halls also containing artefacts such as armour, so that made for a very varied exhibition. It also turns out I know embarrassingly little about European history until the 19th century or so, since I could barely answer my friend's questions about context, oops... it got a little better in the later halls where I also started to recognize people, like Marie Antoinette and the only ones I knew were Hapsburg beforehand: Franz Joseph I and Elizabeth (yeah mum, I saw one of the Elizabeth paintings in real life, haha). These are paintings I only knew from pictures, so that was cool to see, and the Marie Antoinette portrait was HUGE, wow.

Once we made it out, it was time for lunch, so we queued up for the museum restaurant. We both got a lunch set with salad, pasta and a mini dessert. I was not expecting this much pasta for the price, so I couldn't finish it all, but my friend taught me the word for someone who can't eat much, so at least I can apologize with the proper vocabulary now, oops. (It's shoushoku, by the way - literally 'small eater'.)

We talked so much that it was soon time for my friend to leave, so I accompanied him to Shinjuku station, where he accompanied me to the start of the walk to the metropolitan government building, because I always get lost at Shinjuku station, pff. Then it was time for us to part ways for this trip. Thank you so much, I had a great time together!

My goal for the afternoon was to get to the top of the building for the free observatory, but I'd uh, forgotten it was a Saturday afternoon, so about a few thousand people had the same idea. Probably not THAT many, but the queue was still so long that I just gave up for today. I was starting to grow sad over my trip ending, so i didn't want to spend my afternoon feeling sad in a busy queue.

I went back to Ikebukuro instead, where I dumped my backpack in the hotel and went into the city to check out sunshine city and surrounding shops and game halls. I had a good time even if I still don't have souvenirs for everyone, and in the end had to leave cause I was getting tired, not because I wanted to go, haha.

I stayed up a bit late as I mentioned, and I'm currently rather anxious as I can't check in for my flight. I tried contacting the airline, but well, it's barely Sunday morning in Holland... fingers crossed they'll get back to me soon. It's fine if I have to check in at the airport, but I wonder now if my extra luggage got through, since I arranged that through the app. Fingers crossed again!

I'm obviously not going to sit around and wait, so I think I'll head out soon for maybe some karaoke and last minute souvenirs. It's really a shame about the JR pass, but I don't think heading far out of Tokyo is a very good idea right now, fresh after the huge amounts of rain with more to come.

Tokyo is being hit by rain today, a lot of it. The express train to the airport even got cancelled, so I'm crossing my fingers it'll be back to normal by Monday, yikes. Anyway! The rain had also delayed my friend due to traffic, so I stayed in my hotel room a bit longer, catching up on games and weighing my luggage until I had to conclude the inevitable: I need a second piece of luggage, oops.

My friend arrived through the rain, so we spent time catching up until it was time to head out for lunch. Due to the weather, we just stuck with Ikebukuro station, which is plenty big enough to spend a day in if you want. I felt like omurice, so I showed my friend the place I frequent here. We also got fluffy pancakes for dessert, and basically spent the whole time catching up, haha.

Unfortunately, there appeared to be trouble on hand in Shinjuku due to impending flooding, so plans for the late afternoon got scrapped and we parted ways, agreeing to meet up again tomorrow morning when it should be dry.

And well, since I'd committed to the extra luggage idea anyway, I went to Akihabara for figurines I'd been eyeing, haha. Might as well make the most of it! Back in Ikebukuro, I picked up a huge bag to stuff my extra kilos in and made my way back to the hotel with take out dinner. And so here I am, everything reorganized and getting really sleepy, haha.

The rain is hitting the area that were already hit during the big typhoon slightly over a week ago, so risks of flooding and land slides are high. There's already been a reported death in Chiba prefecture nearby, so fingers crossed...

Today was a rather short and uneventful day, although I do have some pictures! You see, I went to nearby Shin-Okubo station for a café visit. A couple of months ago, the 2D café opened here. There are similar concepts in South Korea and I did hear a lot of K-pop on my way there, so I guess they might have gotten inspired, although there’s no relation between this one or the Korean café.

Anyway! The café is what it says on the tin: 2D. Or at least, it’s been decorated to appear as such. It’s pretty trippy, since it had opened less than an hour before and thus it wasn’t really busy yet, so there weren’t a lot of people breaking the illusion yet. I have a setting on my phone that lets me change the picture to a cartoon, and uh, that setting changed nothing to the pictures I took here, haha. So that was fun! Of course, I ordered a drink and a slice of pie, thankfully 3D because I don’t know how I would have eaten it otherwise. There were mostly other foreigners here, actually, and everyone was naturally taking pictures.

From here on, my day is – not so exciting to write about. I went to Harajuku and revisited Takeshita street, coming up empty handed as a dress I’d seen the other day was already gone, and crossed into the high class Omotesando road, which is a couple of zeroes over my budget in most cases, but fun to browse around in. Kiddyland also has a huge store here: it’s a toy store, but it has so much in so many categories, you’re almost guaranteed to find something you like. I did, although I kept my money in my pocket for now.

After that and a yummy sandwich at a normal 3D cafe, I hopped over to Akihabara, where I still only window shopped! Gasp! I just confirmed a couple of items on my wishlist were still in stock, but I took the risk and left without buying. I still don’t know if I need extra luggage, although it might be a good idea to do so just in case. For that, I checked out the Don Quijote store back in Ikebukuro, and then went to have dinner at the Milky Way café, which looks out over the crossing to Ikebukuro Sunshine City.

And uh, that’s it! Told you today wasn’t very interesting to type about, haha. Tomorrow I’m meeting up with a friend, and after that I think I’ll go figure out the luggage thing. I swear I didn’t buy that much, but well, laundry does add up, and buying a 1.5 kilo book didn’t really help I guess, oops.

It’s definitely not my first time to Tokyo Disneyland, although usually I take the subway to get there. Since I have my JR pass still active and I haven’t been using it much in Tokyo, I refused to take a mode of transportation I had to pay for, so I first went to Tokyo station with the Yamanote line. From there, it’s 15 minutes with the Keiyo line, but that’s all the way at the other end at the station, so you can seriously add another 15 minutes to the travel time. I wasn’t exaggerating when I called Tokyo station a separate city!

The Yamanote line came to an abrupt halt halfway through as the emergency brake had been activated, but it must be a false alarm or otherwise easily solved issue, as we continued a couple of minutes later. It was indeed quite the walk to the Keiyo line, but they put up signs every five steps, so at least it was a very easy road to follow.

And then Maihama station! The weather had turned out to be incredibly nice today, with blue skies so bright I could easily see the Skytree and – was that the snowy top of Mount Fuji? It sure was! That’s how clear the skies were, haha.

Anyway, the walk from the station was a bit different. I know they’re working on a new area inside the park, but apparently they’re also doing extensive redevelopments, because the main entrance was under covers and there were cranes surrounding the castle. After the entrance, the first Halloween decorations came in sight, and part of the fun: watching everyone’s costumes! It’s only during Halloween season that you’re allowed to dress up in Tokyo Disneyland as an adult, and lots of people make use of that opportunity. Some costumes are so good I had to blink and stare to realize they were not the official cast members (which is, incidentally, why it’s not allowed to dress up the rest of the year – you might confuse the kids). Also, it makes for fun situations, like Alice standing in line for lunch with the Queen of Hearts or Belle posing with the park version of Gaston while 5 other princesses watch with interest, haha.

I was inside a little after opening, so I lingered around to wait for the first parade: the Spooky Boo Halloween parade! It’s held twice over the day and thus a short one, but I love Halloween, so I was curious to see what they’d pulled. The parade mostly features the best known characters: Mickey and his friends. They taught us a dance and halfway through, the parade came to a halt for a dance performance. The dancing cast members had gorgeous costumes! They were really into it too, so that was a joy to watch, and I’m kinda sad I couldn’t get a good full view of them on my camera from where I was standing to show you guys, only glimpses in between people’s heads.

I was in for something sweet now, so I wandered into Fantasyland for what I thought was a churro, but ended up being a tipo torta, which – I’m not entirely sure what it is, but it was delicious! I got it in purple sweet potato flavor, because I felt obliged after Okinawa haha, and purple is a Halloween color here, so the sweet potato from Okinawa gets used liberally this time of the year.

I had chosen the Haunted Mansion as my appropriate first ride of today, because duh, Halloween. The wait was 40 minutes when I joined, which was okay if it weren’t for the hot sun, so I was glad to make it inside for the Nightmare before Christmas version of this ride. I really love it a lot – I think it was summer 2017 that I last saw the ride in its original form, oops.

After that, I went back inside again for another favorite ride: Mickey’s Philharmagic Orchestra. There was a small wait here, and a ton of kids who got really into the screening (it’s 4D, so the 3D effects are heavy and you get sprayed with water and scented air in between), so that was kinda cute, haha. They were all making grabby hands at the apple pie and Ariel’s gems.

Once outside, I stumbled upon some character meet and greets in Fantasyland, and then right into the Dreaming Up parade. It’s a lovely one, but I’ve seen it twice now fairly recently, so I wasn’t going to wait on the floor for it. Didn’t have to! I got an okay spot for the visually most impressive floats, so that was a nice little coincidence, haha.

Next up was Pirates of the Caribbean, which I love, but the drop is the scariest thing I do in Disneyland, so I wasn’t super pleased about being put in the front row, haha. I lived, but it took a while for my pulse to calm down. (I’m big on the thrill rides, you can tell.) It’s still super fun, and outside was a band of pirates playing! I think they were kind of trying to spread the crowds today, as it was probably a bit busier than initially expected due to the weather and a couple of rides that tend to draw crowds were closed for today.

After some lunch, wandering around for the views and some window shopping, I settled down next to Snow White’s wishing well to wait for round two of the Spooky Boo parade. About ten Snow Whites and other princesses showed up to take pictures by the well, haha. Sadly, the parade only made a quick round here without dancing in between, but I did get much better shots of the floats now!

And it wasn’t that bad, because I had wisely gotten a fast pass for Haunted Mansion at the same time as the parade, so now I didn’t have to rush as the parade was over quite quickly. I didn’t see the Haunted Mansion wait go down to under my 40 minutes anymore, so that fast pass had been a good call. (I think they’re connected to your ticket now, because I had to scan my entrance ticket and not the fast pass receipt to get in line.)

After that, the iconic ride: It’s a Small World! It’s still fun, and I think I’m mostly past my trauma over the song now, haha. I couldn’t help wanting to take pictures here and there, even though I have a ton already. Spotting the recently added Disney characters is quite fun.

It was getting dark quickly now, and I noticed I was getting a bit bumped out. I kept getting lost in the dark and with the covered parts of the park, so I eventually told myself to just get something sweet and then decide whether I was going to call it an uncharacteristically early day.

As it turned out I just needed food, haha. A hot dog for lunch wasn’t sufficient to get me through the complete afternoon, who knew! I got some ice coffee for the caffeine rush (bad, I know, but hey), bought a little gift for a friend, and was just in time to see the electrical parade Dreamlights. This one changed a little a couple of years ago, but overall it’s still the same one as the one I saw in 2010. It’s still fun, even though the song is even catchier than It’s a small world, haha. They added a tiny something that I spotted right away: Alice was riding a giant teacup on top of the Cheshire cat, rather than the cat’s back proper. I was a bit further away this time, so I got some nice shots of the full floats. I eh, have plenty of close-ups from earlier years, haha.

I then finally made the decision to just get the new Tangled popcorn bucket, which is shaped like the floating lantern from the movie with a little Pascal the chameleon to sit on your shoulder on the strap. There’s a light inside, so that makes for lovely sights in the evening, although the amount of popcorn (caramel flavor at this stand) that came with it was – worrying, haha. I did manage to finish it all though, despite not being the biggest popcorn eater, but whoa. (You can get the bucket separately from the popcorn so you won’t have to clean it, but the popcorn separately means you get two cartons of them, since that’s how much can fit into the bucket.)

Newly invigorated, I decided to get back to attractions. I went into the Enchanted Tiki room first as it was nearby and I love the songs and Stitch. It’s very much a kids attraction and I very much don’t care, haha. If anything, the line is non-existent here and you just have to wait for the next performance to begin.

I then found the ball game stand, which I suck at, but that’s okay, because you get to pick a really nice exclusive pin if you lose, so I got the Minnie one, haha. Making my way back to Fantasyland from there, I hopped into Philharmagic again, the line gone and just having to wait for the next performance to start. There’s a merit in staying late, haha. I rushed to Peter Pan next, where the wait was down to 15 minutes. It’s a fun ride, but it’s over so fast that I can’t justify standing in line for 50 minutes for it.

Finally, with ten minutes until park closure to go, I went to Pooh’s Hunny Hunt – and they closed the line after me, oops. Two more ladies came rushing in via the fastpass entrance, but that was it. Pooh’s Hunny Hunt is a fun and unique ride, but since I’m not a big fan of Pooh bear, I refuse to wait for him for 70+ minutes, haha. This worked, even though it was still about 10 minutes. Around park closure! Wow.

There were still surprisingly many people in the park as I made my way to the exit, some even still on the way into the park. I wonder at what time they can actually close the gates… Hopefully the park members work in shifts, yikes.

After a quick last look in the Bon Voyage store just outside the park I made my way to the station, where I had to wait for the next Keiyo line train as this one was… very full. At 10:30 PM. Ah, the Disney magic, haha. (The people from Disneysea also gather at this station.) Thankfully that got me a front row place in line for the next train, so I could sit (!) until the terminal station of Tokyo, where it was another brisk walk to the Yamanote line and finally, back to my hotel.

 So here I am now. I took a shower last night and fell asleep almost right away. Didn’t sleep through my alarm at least, but I did put it on snooze and only got up as late as possible to still eat breakfast at the hotel here, haha.

Today should be a little calmer. I might do some karaoke and find a café I read about opening some months ago, but other than that, I don’t really have plans. Sadly, the weather is getting bad again starting tonight, thanks to yet another typhoon making rounds. It should be gone by the time my return flight is scheduled, though.

Yikes, time flies. It’s Thursday and I’m flying back on Monday! Ack. Sadly I don’t think many of my Tokyo side tips can go through, if any. A bit of a waste of my JR pass, but it’s long since paid itself back and hey, I will still use it for the Narita Express to the airport if nothing else. I don’t want to over-exert myself or put myself into dangerous situations, so I might just stick to Tokyo until the last day (although Saturday should be alright weather wise, at least less rainy, but again, dangerous situations). And hey, I haven’t gone back to just Tokyo on 2 separate trips because I hate it here, haha. Although with all the things I’ve seen around here, I might have to cash in on that extra luggage… After that huge book I found the other day, I’m already nearing my limit, and the cost of overweight luggage is as much as an extra bag at Don Quijote would cost, so uh. I can still think about it until 24 hours before the flight, so that’s what I will do, haha.