Japan Trip Day 2: Shibuya, Shinjuku, Solamachi

Morning view from hotel window

I did not expect that the sun is already up by 530am and I opened the curtain too wide. Of course I continued my sleep and with such an amazing morning view, it would be an amazing day ahead.

I left hotel at about 9am as my first plan of the day was Samurai Armor Photo Studio and it only opened at 10am. The place is not really easy to find especially when I tried to gungho without a map. Well in the end somehow I managed to find it and I enjoyed walking through the alleys.

Last year I experienced cosplay photo studio and kimono photo studio but not samurai armor. After googling for possible photo studios, I decided on Samurai Armor Photo Studio (here is the link in case someone is interested). I had my initial reservations about the price (13000 JPY) as it is more than double of the previous cosplay and kimono photos. In the end I told myself to YOLO since I would not be able to do this if I am not travelling alone.

Price aside, overall I think it was money well spent. The dressing up experience is awesome. I was daunted when hearing that the armor is about 15-20kg. I remembered when I only tried the samurai helmet at Osaka Castle previously and it was pretty heavy. Can't imagine the full set now. At the same time, I convince myself that now I can do 20kg deadlift or 15kg overhead press so the weight should not be so bad. Haha..

After brief introduction of all the samurai armors, I chose Toyotomi Hideyoshi's armor because of its golden colour (compared to other armors with more subdued colours) which I thought would stand out better against the dark background. It happens to be heaviest armor. Lol.

The whole experience was nice, relaxing, and as advertised. I feel that the photo studio is not just selling the photos but is selling the whole experience as a package. Firstly I was introduced to the samurais whom armors are available at the shop. I was allowed to touch the armors as well. After choosing, I was asked to change before the dressing of the armor by the professional dresser. The process was also not just about dressing. He shared history that the samurais had someone trusted to help them dressed as no way they were able to put on these things by themselves and they could get killed during dressing. He also shared the parts of the garments which obviously I cannot recall by now.

The inner garments were pretty tight. I think it is for spine stabilising support so that the 15-20kg armor does not feel too heavy on the body. After the inner garments were done, I was asked to pose next to my chosen armor. Lol. The armor does not feel that heavy and I was surprised I could still move around quite easily.

The photographer was ready with the poses, down to the angles, etc. I found this very helpful because it was not easy to pose while wearing 20kg armor as far as safety is concerned. With the suggested poses, the photographer knew exactly how I should position my body parts to prevent me from falling down. Things were fine until the squatting pose because after that my thighs started to feel the burn. Haha..

In total there were about 15 poses and 150+ photos. There were several takes for the same pose so I could change my expressions between smiling, being serious, or simply NG. I am quite happy with the end results although some of the lighting could be improved. Another nice thing about this studio is that they allowed me to take photos with my own camera if I wished. Since I am travelling alone, I find it stupid to ask for help to take photos with my own camera when the studio's camera is much better. Lol. Anyway my thighs were so tired and I could wait to take off the armors already so I declined.

Can't see face so can post :p

On the way back to the station, I stopped by MOS burger to have early lunch first. That was a right decision as my memory failed me and I sort of getting lost trying to find the station. I went around and around for half an hour this time (even longer than earlier when I was trying to find the photo studio from the station). As I mentioned, I did not mind exploring the alleys but the heat was killing me.

I went to Shibuya and right from the train station, there were already LED panels advertising Halloween at Disneyland. Tell me how can I resist the temptation... Lol. I went to Disney Store which to my surprise was actually just opposite of Loft that I visited twice in June. The shop front is actually very eye catching with decoration ala Disney Castle. The shop is quite small but it has 3 levels. The queue for Disneyland ticket was crazy. There was no queue at all at Aqua City yesterday so next time I know which Disney store to find. Again Magic Carpet, Abu, and Rajah were not available. I decided to buy all the Alladin stuff I wanted because I saw last 2 Jasmine that I did not see at Aqua City yesterday. For no reason, I even bought 2 of Price Ali. Well with that basically I bought all the hanging plushies (seriously I don't know what this thing is called) and laughing figurines for 50% off and tax free.

I decided not to kill myself to check out Nakano Broadway and Akihabara today so I explored Shibuya a bit longer. Apple Store here was still under renovation, I checked out Tower Records, as well as Yodobashi and Bic Camera as my landlord asked me to see if still can find rechargeable battery for his karaoke mike. I dropped off at Book Off and I found Aladdin and Peter Pan Qposket for 350 JPY each nia. In June I was spending days trying to find them as cheap as possible and the cheapest I got was for about 800 JPY each. I already have them but since this price is like damn cheap, I don't care and buy another one.

I was still not going to give up on finding Abu, Rajah, and Magic Carpet so from there I went to Shinjuku Disney Store. I still could not get used to Shinjuku East and West and it took me quite sometime to find back the Takashimaya. It was worth it because it was the first time I saw Abu plushie. Only left last 3 on the shelves so I decided to buy.

After this I was running out of water and I could not find any vending machines!! I went to Takashimaya basement but there was no supermarket. Arrgh.. I almost felt like fainting but no choice I still had to walk to Shinjuku station for higher chance of finding vending machine. I saw Family Mart and from this episode of thirst, I learnt to buy the 1L water instead of the 500ml one hahaha.. I checked out Bic Camera and Yodobashi and texted my landlord to give up on his battery liao.

I only had time for 1 more Disney Store so it was a choice between Harajuku and Solamachi. I decided to go Solamachi as it was more difficult to access. I was a bit lazy to squeeze into Takeshita-dori and Harajuku is more convenient to visit while on the way to Nakano on my last day if I still want to go.

Haiz.. next time there is something nice at Disney Store, I should just buy them. After Solamachi, I gave up on Rajah and Magic Carpet T_T So sad.. I could have gotten them if I just bought online. I already went as far as asking my proxy if they could help with Disney Store purchases and it would be free domestic shipping but yet I wanted to wait until I already saw the item since I did not think Aladdin merchandises would be so popular.

As it was still late afternoon, this time I managed to see how Tokyo Skytree looks like when I checked out the bus stops to explore the possibility of going back to Odaiba by bus. Sigh.. seriously this Solamachi is really not accessible lah. I had dinner at Solamachi before calling it an early day again to pack and prepare myself for the next 3 days in Disneyland. By the way when I say early, it is still about 6pm so it is like 1 working day lah. Hehe..

Loot of the day

After seeing the samurai photos, waaa, I have to make some comments sia. Not only the lighting that needs improvement, I think some of the background looks awful and cheap from some certain angles. A lot are also not symmetrical. They only have 2 backgrounds and same poses for everyone so this kind of things should be avoidable nia. Or perhaps the photographer should slow down while taking the pictures to ensure quality over quality because there is no point having 150+ shots when many are not perfect.

When I google Toyotomi Hideyoshi, I cannot find the same armor that I had this morning leh. His armor should be the one with super huge spiky helmets. Apparently that was the one I chose at Osaka Castle 3 years ago. So what is the thing I wore sia? T_T I am not too familiar with this Japanese samurai stuff.