Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer

I do not normally watch Conan movies but Zero the Enforcer caught my interest from the trailer. It seems exciting and action packed. More importantly, Rei Furuya aka Bourbon aka Tooru Amuro is featured quite heavily in this movie. I do not follow Conan anime as well so my knowledge about Conan is as far as the Indonesian version of the manga and at this point of time, the identity of Rei/Bourbon/Amuro is still mysterious.

Zero the Enforcer has a nice mystery plot and twists although it is less funny than usual with limited screen time of the Detective Boys and the absence of Heiji and Kazuha. The story involves Japanese police system and legal system so it can be quite educational too if someone is interested in such things. As usual, Conan movies' action scenes tend to be over-the-top, unrealistic, and unbelievable. Despite all these, the action scenes are still adrenaline pumping. The suspense is sustained throughout the movie because the characters seem to be clueless about what is happening with electronic devices everywhere mysteriously exploding. The climax is quite intense because the place expected to be a safe haven turns out to be unsafe too. Overall, Zero the Enforce is pretty good Conan movie with good mystery plot as well as exciting adventure/action component. 

I always enjoy characters that have multiple identities and have to maintain different personas. Conan is one example of such character so it is interesting to see how he is also confused when encountering people that behave similarly. Having said that, based on the current progress of Indonesian Conan manga, I actually hate all these multiple identities and disguises as it makes everything confusing. After knowing who is actually who and whether they are good or bad makes me enjoy the story more. That is quite obvious for me who prefer spoilers to being kept in suspense hahaha.. So now I am happy to know who Rei/Bourbon/Amuro is.

Incredibles 2

The Incredibles came out in 2004 and I found it groundbreaking with the theme: what if superheroes do exist in real life? Not only it deals with the usual superheroes stuff, the family theme makes the struggles more believable. It took more than a decade for Incredibles 2 and I am definitely very hyped about it.

I am not sure if I have grown up or Incredibles 2 simply lacks the novelty factor that the original has as I do not enjoy it as much as the first one. Incredibles 2 still deals with present world family issue when mum has to work and dad has to take care of kids at home. Other than this, it basically reuses whatever has been used in the Incredibles, except that this time is saving the mum instead of the dad. The characters do not exactly develop and nothing new is offered from them so seeing the same powers like in the first movie no longer extract the same sense of wonder. The conflict/threat presented seems too personal or small scale for a superhero movie and I honestly cannot be bothered about "whether superheroes are legal or not" compared to a "threat to humanity or world destruction" for example. The action scenes are not that action-packed and I do not get any adrenaline rush. Perhaps the saving grace for this movie is Edna Mode and Jack Jack but they do not get enough screen time to actually make me enjoy this movie.

I had high hope for this movie and I was hoping that this movie could help to uplift my mood a little bit. Nah..

End of holiday & Virgin Business Class experience

To mark the end of holiday, I will combine the post of my virgin experience travelling in Business Class. It should have been First Class but due to the unfortunate equipment change, I ended up with only Business Class. The consolation prize is that the flight was changed to the latest B787-10 plane (which unfortunately does not have First Class) and I got to experience the latest Business Class seat... as if I had experience the old one lol. Before I start, pardon my ungratefulness and for complaining of "first world problems".

Singapore-Tokyo SQ 638 (25 May)

There was a time when the queue for economy was too long and I was diverted to the Business Class lanes which at Changi Airport are located at totally different check in rows. That time the Business Class lanes were quite empty. Now when I had Business Class, the Business Class lanes were pretty crowded with each counter had about 3 people in the queue.

That did not dampen my excitement for the access to the SilverKris Lounge that comes with Business Class ticket. I was too excited until I forgot about my mobile wifi rental. Lol. The lounge was great but it was way too crowded. Yes.. I know it is another first world problem. I am used to the free lounges that come with credit cards and those lounges usually have sucky food options but relaxing and quiet. SilverKris Lounge was so busy like a food court but at least in the end I still managed to get a seat. The food options are quite varied although they are not food that I enjoy. Curry.. Laksa.. I do not want to risk diarrhea for my travelling. I also don't eat things with bones. But definitely the food options and drinks are better than those "free" lounges.

The experience of turning left to enter the plane was so exciting. When I was sitting at the chair for the first time, I felt so restless and could not stop grinning like a kid being excited for something for the first time. I was not familiar with the things, compartments, and various buttons which are usually non-existent in Economy. Too bad I was too shy to ask the cabin crew to help taking a picture even though I entered the plane quite early and the Business Class section was still empty.

That's all I have as a memento of this experience :(

After the plane took off and reclining was allowed, I realised that my seat was broken T_T Whut...!!! As it was a midnight flight, the cabin light was already darkened and there I was standing for about 20 minutes in the dark while watching 2 ladies crouching and bending down to manouver and try fixing my seat. Gosh.. where were the stewards? In the end, the seat was declared official spoilt. Oh well. what to do? I would just have to enjoy the rest of the flight and thinking of how to send a complaint for compensation later on.

Few minutes later, I was asked to switch seat as there was a staff travelling. I initially refused because I could emphatise with that staff. However, the air stewardess insisted as this was part of their service and responsibility to give up a staff's seat when things like this happened. The new seat was still a window seat but I preferred my 12A with the seat next to the window. The new seat has the seat next to the aisle. Honestly after standing for 20 minutes my sleepiness sort of disappeared and with the traffic along the aisle, I had difficulty sleeping. I could not get myself comfortable: it was warm with blanket but when my body came into contact with the frame of the seat, it was cold. In the end, I only managed to sleep for about 2 hours.

I chose to have my meals as breakfast and I was excited for the famed Lobster Thermidor. Despite the simplistic appearance, it was tasty. I liked it and I enjoyed it. That is a huge compliment from someone so picky about food and usually do not eat things that require peeling. Oh ya, despite the small look, it actually made me full. I also tried the free wifi on board for a short while. I could post a picture on facebook so the wifi is not that bad la. Haha.. I spent the rest of the flight watching Coco which was suprisingly great. I did not manage watching till the end.

Breakfast on air~~

On the ground, I could not find my luggage at the carousel while my sister's one was already out and she was travelling in Economy. Surprise surprise.. my luggage was actually already placed on the floor and was ready for collection. Hehe.. first time so I did not know would have such service mah.

So that is all for my first time experiencing Business Class. Despite the hiccup, the 1-2 hours of sleep on a full-flat seat (aka bed) made a huge difference from sleeping in a seating position. I felt much more refreshed and less tired on the day. I suppose the great lobster also helped. I did write a feedback because how can a seat in a new plane was already spoilt etc. I basically got 5000 miles as service recovery. Oh well.. better than nothing.

Tokyo-Singapore SQ 637 (4 June)
This was my first time leaving Tokyo from Narita (previously my return flights were always from Haneda) and I learnt to buy a return Airport Limousine bus next time as it would save 1000yen+ compared to buying 2 tickets separately.

Because of Business Class ticket, I decided to heck care and bring home the Disneyland umbrella. Each passenger was allowed to put 2 pieces of luggage in the bus storage so I had to carry 2 small bags + umbrella + backpack up to the bus. Lucky the bus was not full and I could put my barang-barang on the seat next to me.

The check-in at Narita was amazing and much better than what I experienced in Singapore. My sister was in Economy but she was allowed to check in together with me at the Business Class lane. Staff also helped with her check-in luggage. That was amazing because even I did not get that kind of treatment at Business Class check in in Singapore.

I got ANA lounge access and there were a few in the airport. We did some last minute shopping (as always!) and the ANA lounge staff was very kind to inform me that there was another lounge nearer to my gate and asked if I would like to go to that lounge instead. Wow of course!! Haha.. I enjoyed ANA lounge better than SilverKris lounge. There was crowd but it was not to the point of difficult in finding seats. To be fair, perhaps because it was a morning flight vs midnight flight at SilverKris lounge. I enjoyed the food more as they were things that I would eat (e.g sandwiches, pastries, sushi, etc). I would not compare with SilverKris lounge's offerings because some people may prefer "heavier" food options there.

I decided to be thick-skin this time and I asked cabin crew to help me take picture in the Business Class seat. Haha.. He was also nice to offer if I would need some orientation with the new seat. If only I was offered that during the flight last week, it would be much more appreciated. Guess what? I was having problem again with my seat T_T The air steward managed to get my seat into full-flat position so no more 5000 miles for service recovery. Lol. I would not mind not lying down for this flight as I decided to watch movies.

I continued watching Coco and towards the ending, it got really touching and I was holding my tears. It was so embarrassing when a stewardess happened to walk pass and asked me if everything was okay. Lol. I continued with Call Me by Your Name which I tried watching in my flight to Jakarta in April but because of the glare from the screen during that flight, I had no idea what was going on. Honestly I felt quite uncomfortable watching as there were some male x male scenes and I was concerned when people were walking pass my seat. Lol.

Lastly, I decided to watch Star Wars: The Last Jedi and now I sort of understand why so much dislike towards this. I kinda liked Star Wars: The Force Awakens (which I also watched on a plane a few years ago) but The Last Jedi made me regret and I could have spent the time watching something else. There were emotional and desperate moments which unfortunately were turned into anti-climaxes because of the Jedi power. I was actually shocked and saddened when Leia died but that moment was turned into confusion when somehow she was able to survive using her Jedi power. Luke's grand entrance and his fight in the end were emotional and touching and this too was turned disappointing when he was only projecting himself and eventually he died just like that. Thank goodness I am never a Star Wars fan to begin with.

The Book-The-Cook option from Tokyo does not feature lobster so I chose Beef Curry which I have to say: disappointing. It did not look appetizing, it looked small, there are better beef curry out there, and the standard meal that my neighbour had looked more tempting than this Beef Curry. Oh well.. I was not in an adventurous mood to try alcoholic drink so the only thing I ordered was a mix of pineapple juice with something.

Appetizer.. The left plate was for bread which was not served yet when I took this photo

I already finished the bread :p and yes this is the sad looking Beef Curry

In summary, the whole Business Class experience is not as WOW as what I imagined before. I thought it would be a waste to have it for the red eye flight since it is only for sleeping but I stand corrected. A nice and comfortable sleep for a red eye flight is better than watching in-flight entertainment. The day time flight is not as attentive as I expected and that was another reason why I did not really try more drinks. One obvious reason for me to prefer Business Class will be when my trip intention is to do shopping. That extra baggage allowance and having 1 overhead compartment to myself for my stuff is great and something I will not get in Economy.

Having said those and despite all the hoohah during the booking, I still prefer collecting miles than cashback for my credit cards. Hehe.. Yes it is to "buy" the experience since there is no way I will be spending 3000k+++ just for a flight using real cash. And I have yet to experience the First Class, Suites, and the Private Room. Haha..

Japan Trip Day 9: Shibuya, Nakano Broadway, Shinjuku, Akihabara

Last day of holiday is always contradictory. It is the last day of shopping and packing so the tendency is to rush. Yet since shopping places do not open so early, there is no need to rush in the morning and that makes the rushing during shopping hours even more.

I started the day going to Shibuya Loft because I was really interested in getting the 3D printed figurine. As the building is not exactly visible from the famous Shibuya crossing, it was my first time there and I think it is quite a hip shopping mall. It was a wasted trip since the 3D figurine counter was always unmanned and I could not tell if the staff of the mall were the same staff for this. Asking questions was also out of question since I could not speak Japanese. Honestly after seeing the sample figurines, I was not as excited. The face is not smooth like resin/PVC/clay figurines but has textile-like structure. Yet with the studio closing in August, this might be the one and only chance I can take my narcissism to this level.

Next I went to Nakano Broadway. Although it was almost 11am, I was surprised that the train was still relatively quiet and today is a Sunday. I reached at about 11am to find many shops were not open yet. Lol I was too eager because internet states the building opens at 11am but Mandarake only opens at 12am lol. I decided to have breakfast at McD first. I do not know how the Japanese ask if I want to eat there or take away so perhaps that is the next thing I need to learn.

Despite having Business Class luggage allowance, storage space will never be enough when it comes to toys and I decided to ship the things I bought at Mandarake although it means having to pay for EMS shipping and forgoing the tax refund. I bought Free! artbooks and Heero & Relena figures which were on sale due to damaged box at Surugaya that I saw yesterday. Another consideration for shipping was to have free hands for my shopping later in the day. Lol.

I still could not stop thinking about the 3D figure so I went back to Shibuya Loft and in the end I just had to give up as there was still noone manning the counter :( I went to Shinjuku and somehow found the Uniqlo store with the Doraemon statues. It was actually a Bicqlo store (Bic Camera + Uniqlo combined store) so no wonder it did not appear as Uniqlo store in google. Shinjuku is so big and I do not think I will be able to locate this place back haha but it was quite nice somehow ending in this area as it was a car-free day and people could walk on the streets.

If I were a Doraemon fan, I would be thick skin and asked a stranger to help me take a photo lol

Akihabara was also having a car-free day until 6pm and it was interesting to see people cosplaying and taking pictures on the streets. Since I was empty handed, I decided to buy food stuff at Don Quijote and Kazuya Miyuki figure. 5000 yen was not enough to get 8% tax refund so I added Ryosuke Kominato palmate figure (1000 yen) and with tax refund, it felt as if I only paid 200 yen for him.

I binged eat again for dinner. On top of buying 2 packs of paopao, I also bought Godiva drink and takoyaki from the hotel's food court. Obviously I could not finish them and I had to force my sister to help me with paopao. Lol. Packing was also a nightmare from overshopping. If I did not ship my shopping from Mandarake, there was no way I could fit everything haha.. After deciding that I would bring 2 suit cases + 1 hand carry bag to be checked in + 1 hand carry bag + 1 backpack tomorrow, I did not have enough lock. Lol. At 9pm, I walked around Shinagawa area to find kombinis and they all did not sell lock. Oh well.. lucky my sister brought 1 extra.

So that is all for this Japan holiday T_T

Japan Trip Day 8: Kamakura, Akihabara, Tokyo Skytree

Kamakura is my mother's request. Although she is not coming for this trip, since I already spent time researching how to go and what to see, I decided not to waste the effort. There is a direct train from Shinagawa and it takes about half an hour so it is quite convenient to visit.

There are many temples and gardens in Kamakura although the most famous attraction is the Giant Buddha. In the interest of time, I decided to just take a look at Giant Buddha. The location is actually called Kotokuin Temple. I thought Giant Buddha will make Kamakura quite a major place to visit so I am quite surprised that road signs are still mostly using Kanji and there is still minimum English. With that, navigating the area is not that easy without proper preparation and I decided to walk to Kotokuin from Kamakura station. Actually the temples and gardens are within walking distance although the time taken can be 45-60 minutes. Lol. I would actually enjoy a relaxing stroll as it still feels like a traditional Japanese environment but it was rather hot today and my sunburn skin was not in the best condition to really enjoy the stroll.

I find the Giant Buddha quite underwhelming as it is not as gigantic as I imagine. The temple area is quite small too. Perhaps one highlight is that people can actually go inside the Buddha statue although there is nothing to see inside. Honestly, I think Borobudur Temple is still more amazing than this. No offence intended.

Those promo images never show the people giving the false impression that the Buddha statue is really gigantic

We continued the trip to Hase station to take Enoden to the Kamakura-koko-mae station which is famous as the rail station next to the beach. I don't know if my expectations and imagination run too wild but I find the real thing is not as romantic as what those anime/manga/drama/TV depict and it is a rare chance to take pictures with all the elements: the train (which is not so frequent), the track, the road, and the sea together.

View from platform of Kamakura-koko-mae station

However I find the Enoden stations are unique. Some stations are pretty small with only 1 platform and 1 track which is not a problem for alternating trains to both directions since the train frequency is quite low. Some stations do not have gantry but they have standing machines to tap our train cards. I find it quite refreshing to see these differences from the modern Japan.

As I am typing this, I only discover that I missed the famous spot. From the station, I walked along the road towards Enoshima island but the famous spot is actually up the hill near the school which is at the opposite direction. Oh well.. No wonder I did not really see tourists along the way.

I did not enjoy the walk towards Enoshima island. The beach is not pretty, the weather was hot, and I did not expect the actual distance was THAT long. It was quite stresful too that the direction signs are all in Kanji and I had no idea how far more to walk or if I lost my way. From map, I thought the distance was reasonable. Because of all of these, I decided not to walk across the bridge to Enoshima island but to find the nearest train station to back to Tokyo. Lol.

We took train back to Kamakura station as my sister wanted to get a tumbler from a Starbucks that we passed by earlier when we walked towards Kotokuin. This seems to be an 'atas' Starbucks since there was a staff helping us to find seat when we entered. Because of the heat, I decided to get a drink and a sandwich for lunch. Perhaps that was my first Starbucks in Japan since my first time visiting Japan in 2015. Near the station, I had a level 5 matcha ice cream. The higher level means more bitter/concentrated matcha. I am not too particular about food taste but with the heat just now, any ice cream would be nice.

I spent the afternoon at Akihabara again because I had not explored the blocks towards Don Quijote. I found that there was another Surugaya store here which sells Kazuya Mizuki figure for 5000 yen. This is really tempting as I have been trying to find this online but cannot find it especially at this price. I also found Heero & Relena figurine that I bought last year in Osaka here being sold for 2000 yen cheaper because of the box condition. Aaargh!!! Well these were put in kiv again as I still want to check out Nakano Broadway tomorrow. It is difficult to kiv things as they may be sold but at the same time what if I find something better but I already have not enough luggage space. Gosh.. Anyway Hinata figurine at Lashinbang was already sold and now Oikawa is available. Looks like something from my kiv list yesterday is gone now as I do not want to get only Kageyama without Hinata.

My loot from Akihabara today is less than yesterday. I only bought from Amiami shop today: Cloud and Zidane mini plush (1750 yen each) and Yusuke Urameshi Manga Structure Set (1340 yen).

I had dinner at MOS burger and I decided to get Christopher Robin plushie from Disney Store. I googled Disney Stores in Tokyo and I decided to go to Tokyo Solamachi. Tokyo Solamachi is near Tokyo Skytree and I had not been there before. It is not too far from Akihabara and there is a direct train to Shinagawa so it is a good new place to explore.

Tokyo Skytree is not exactly convenient to reach so I did not really explore the area. I did not even see the Tokyo Skytree and the area was already quite quiet at 730pm. Tokyo Solamachi is quite a nice shopping mall so next time I will have to explore this area. At the Tokyo Banana shop here, I saw Tokyo Banana cheese cake -something that I saw for the first time so obviously I bought a few boxes. Tomorrow is already my last day so it is a matter of time to start thinking of souvenirs.

Japan Trip Day 7: Akihabara

As much as I would like to explore Nikko, I had to listen to my aging body. I was too tired to find the way to go to Nikko last night so I decided that I would just spend the whole day shopping at Akihabara today. Shopping meant I could slept longer as there was no point going too early before shops opened.

With one whole day for shopping, I basically took my time to explore shop by shop, building by building. By mid-day, I only finished 2 buildings just outside the stations lol.

It was quite relaxing to have 1 day to stop but clearly 1 day at Akihabara is not enough. Haha.. I was so stressed trying to remember which shops sell which items at which price because so many different shops are selling same items for different prices. Obviously I will try my best to get the cheapest. With more shops, there are more items to buy so eventually the stress goes to prioritising what to buy. Not to mention that I have not visited Nakano Broadway yet and there may be other things that I will want to buy.

Most of my loots today came from this small shop called Ganking. It is located at the same building as Lashinbang. I bought a mini Q posket set (Aladdin, Jasmine, Peter Pan, Wendy) for 3500 yen, an additional Aladdin alone for 800 yen, PM figure of Tooru Amuro for 2400 yen (I prefer a cooler or more action type of figure but since I don't have any Amuro's figure, this Cafe Poirot version will do for now and it is cheap), and Conan Chokonose figure for 1250 yen (I bought the reading book version. Due to space, I kiv-ed the talking through voice changer version because the face is not so cute). Perhaps the golden treasure found today is Hakuoki Artbook set that I found in the first Surugaya store nearest to the Akihabara station. I bookmarked this item in my CDJapan account since 2012 and after that it was sold out so to find it for only 2200 yen (vs original price 4000 yen) is definitely a good bargain. I also bought Free! Starting Days artbook. Okay add 8% taxes to all the above. Lol.

In the same building, there is another shop which sells a lot of gachapon toys loose. I bought Disney Prince Bust Statue Collection: Hercules (400 yen), Aladdin (500 yen), Eric (350 yen), and the Prince from Snow White (350 yen). Don't know why Aladdin is the most expensive.  

Surprisingly, I came out empty handed from Mandarake lol. It never happened before. There are some items that I keep in my kiv list such as Cloud and Zidane Mini Plush (from Amiami), Yu Yu Hakusho - Manga Structure (from Amiami), Echizen Ryoma and Taikoubou Jump 50th Anniversary figure (from Surugaya nearest to the station), and Hinata and Kageyama figures (from Lashinbang), and a Free! poster/bromide display that I am not exactly sure what (also from Lashinbang).

I could not find the curry rice store near the station so I ate at Ginza Lion for lunch and for dinner I finally bought PaoPao for dinner. Yup..as the holiday is coming to an end, there is always a shift of attention to food.

Hmm.. I thought since the whole day I was only shopping, my post would be shorter today. This turns out to be quite long too. Haha.. Okay back to laundry business again now.

Japan Trip Day 6: Disneyland

After a disastrous wet day yesterday, I managed to wake up earlier today but decided to sleep another 30 minutes because I was too tired. Guess what: my shoes were dry and I found my missing socks. Basically the shoes and the socks that I bought yesterday were unnessary. Jeez.. Since I already bought them, I decided to wear them for Disneyland today. I decided to bring umbrella but not coat after the rain yesterday since today's weather forecast was also similar.

While Disneysea felt emptier than usual yesterday, Disneyland was as crowded as ever. To celebrate Tokyo Disney Resort 35th anniversary, there is a huge 35th anniversary decoration at the garden at the entrance and it is a photo taking opportunity not to be missed. At the middle of the World Bazaar, there is a huge 35th Anniversary structure with statues of Mickey in various outfits from previous Tokyo Disney Resort's anniversary. I did not take photo with the thingy as the whole area was so congested and I dislike taking photos with strangers in them.

35th Anniversary Structure (I don't know what this is called :p)

It looks even more amazing in the evening

We went to get fast pass for Monster Inc -supposedly the most popular Disneyland's attraction and we did not try this in December. We were so tired and we decided to just explore the shops in World Bazaar first to look for things and plan for our shopping at the end of the day. After that, we just sat down to wait for the parade even though it was still another hour. The good thing was that we got the front row.

I watched the new parade, Dreaming Up!, from Youtube and I thought it was not as nice as Happiness is Here parade. I was wrong: Disneyland's parade will never disappoint. Lol. Although the floats are smaller than Happiness is Here parade, it is amazing to see Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, and Wendy flying mechanism. I am also sad that Aladdin and Jasmine are "relegated" to walking characters instead of getting their float but it turns out to be a good thing. Aladdin noticed that I was wearing an Aladdin t-shirt and he pointed at my shirt. This shirt is really a good investment lol.

The unflattering expression because Aladdin is not so popular and perhaps he does not expect there is a fan

After sitting down for almost 1.5 hours, we decided that our legs were prepared for some queueing lol. Surprisingly, the queue for Mickey's house was only 35 minutes. Even better, finally we got Fantasia Mickey!! I would be so irrirated if I got the Band Conductor Mickey again for the 3rd time. Sadly I looked damn sai in the photo T_T

It started to drizzle although it was not as bad as yesterday. Since I already carried the umbrella, I opened it for the sake of using it. Lol. We went to the newly renovated It's a Small World which turned out to be quite crappy. Instead of dolls, a lot of the characters are using boards. So unimpressive. The music between the areas was also not gelled together. Although the queue looked intimidating, it moved quite quickly and we spent only about 25 minutes waiting.

We had lunch at Queen of Hearts and lucky there was no queue. Earlier when we were walking towards Toon Town, the queue was crazy. I had hamburg beef patty and rice so I would not be hungry (and angry) today lol.

With full stomach, it was time for the rides now starting with Monster Inc. Similar to Toy Story, this is super popular because it is an interactive ride. We have a torch light and we shine it at the "M" logo, monsters will pop out and stuff. Unlike Toy Story, there are no points whatsoever here so it is all in the name of fun. I don't follow Monster Inc so I did not really have fun. Lol.

We went for Star Tour next which only had 5 minutes waiting time. Lol. This is actually the same concept as Nemo SeaRider at Disneysea. I find it ironic that Nemo is super popular at Disneysea while noone seems to care about Star Tour at Disneyland. Star Tour is based on Star Wars and I think the animation and adventure are more exciting than Nemo.

The queue for Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters looked damn long so I took fast pass for that since Singapore teaches me that long queue means good stuff. Lol. By then it was only about half an hour until the next parade and surprisingly we still could get front row. Perhaps the park was really not as busy as December. Haha.. This time I decided to change side to the left side of the parade direction (in the morning, we sat at the right side of the parade direction). It was a terrible decision because staff members were walking on the left side with the parade so they were blocking the views when I wanted to take photos. Zzz... I think the Aladdin was still the same as the morning so he noticed my shirt again and this time he walked over to high 5 me! Wahahaha.. Yes that high 5 cost me his photo from nearby but it is okay. Again, I think this Aladdin t-shirt is really a good investment. Haha.. Maybe next time I will wear this and loiter around at Arabian Coast at Disneysea to wait for Aladdin and Jasmine to take photos with them if they are loitering.

The rides in Disneyland are quite kiddy so it was quite an easy decision to spend the rest of the time queueing for photos with Donald and Daisy. Lol. I was not hungry yet but I wanted to avoid waiting until hungry and jostled with dinner crowd so I decided to have early dinner at Camp Woodchuck Kitchen. Anyway the waffle sandwich looks interesting also lah.

I went to try the Westernland Shooting Gallery. It looks interesting since it uses real rifle (sadly not real bullet). Lol.. 200 yen for 10 shots and obviously I sucked and got 0. I honestly did not know how to use the rifle like look through where for the aiming part etc.

It is time for our Astro Blasters fast pass next. I am surprised that Monsters Inc is more popular than this as I find Astro Blasters more similar to Toy Story Mania and hence more fun. We even have the control over the direction of our seats for Astro Blasters so that is even more interactive than Toy Story Mania. Unfortunately, the light from the blaster is too faint and most of the time, I could not see which my laser was. That took away some of the fun factor so yeah Toy Story Mania at Disneysea is still undoubtedly the best ride.

After that it was close to time for the Electrical Parade. I have watched this 4x so I am okay to miss it. Lol. Hence when we walked pass the One Man's Dream II show and it still allowed admission, we went in. My sister wanted to sit and we were left with bad locations. We sat at the first row on the left side and perhaps half of the show was blocked. Haiz.. Should have just stood at the back at the standing area.

When the show ended, it was just nice the time for Electrical Parade which surprise surprise was cancelled! Yesterday Fantasmic was still playing although it was raining. Now it was only light drizzle, so light that it was okay not to open umbrella, yet Electrical Parade was cancelled. Hmm.. Anyway it was actually a blessing in disguise since we got to see Nightglow Parade. That is the parade reserved for rainy days so it is a rare opportunity.

For Nightglow Parade, there are only 3 floats lol. Sad. The direction is also reversed to start from Toon Town. We did not get nice photos so we ran over to wait near Dumbo ride which is near the end of the parade route for more photos.

We decided that we were to tired to play so we decided to spend the rest of the day at the shops at World Bazaar. Honestly I am quite sad because there is really nothing that I want to buy. I tried to force myself to like some of the Arribas figurines but nothing caught my liking. I actually hope to get the medium size Cinderella Castle there only the small one was available and the small one was not really impressive. So much for my business class luggage allowance T_T

At the end of the day, the weather made a fool of myself again today. I brought umbrella and left my coat and today was not really raining until umbrella was needed but it was windy and cold. Great -_-" Nonetheless, I enjoyed myself better than yesterday as I got Fantasia Mickey, tried the new It's a Small World, played a few rides, watched parades in front rows, and most importantly I got high 5 from Aladdin. Lol.

Japan Trip Day 5: Tokyo Disneysea

I did not set any alarm because I was expecting that natural morning sunlight would wake me up and usually my sister would set up alarm. Unfortunately for this day, the alarm did not ring and the morning sunlight did not wake me up despite I already opened the curtain. We woke up at 730am and we were like "Oh shit!". Luckily today Disneysea opened at 9am and we reached at about 930am for the 35th Anniversary show. Somehow we still could get a space near the railing so the view was not obstructed. Sadly the show was short and not that nice.

After the show, we went to get fast pass for Toy Story Mania and the timing for the fast pass was already for 1935-2035. It would be quite tight for Fantasmic! show in the evening. I had breakfast to kill time while waiting for the Easter show. The crowd was crazy and we could not get a nice spot anymore. There is 1 "main stage" at the center and 1 "side stage" at each side of the Disneysea lake. I thought the show would rotate among the stages so I chose one of the "side stage" since we could stand at a kerb. Sadly my expectation was wrong: there was no rotation so basically what we watched at the side stage was not really the main thing. One interesting thing was that some characters were running from the side stage to the main stage and vice versa on the ground area so it was not a completely show on the water.

My greatest fear for the day seemed to be a reality. With 60% chance of precipitation, it started to drizzle at the end of the Easter show. Sianz.. There are not many Easter decorations in the park but there are some 35th Anniversary Mickey's statues. I was so pissed with my sister. It was so difficult to get a photo opportunity, she always ruined the end products. Sigh.. I decided to stop taking pictures altogether as it made angry instead of than happy.

One of the 35th Anniversary Mickey's statues. Apparently the statues can interact with the 35th Anniversary Memory Maker but I am not interested in accessories ba..

In order to avoid the drizzle for awhile, we went to try the 20000 Leagues Under the Sea since the wait time was only 5 minutes. We had not tried this before. Lucky we decided to try this quickly because after us, a lot of people had the same thought to go here to avoid the drizzle. Lol. The attraction is super dark. Yes it suits the theme but as far as an attraction goes, it is too dark to be enjoyable. The journey under the sea is not bumpy or exciting and the things to see outside our submarine are also not exciting. I think it is an attraction worth skipping next time. Lol.

We then took a fast pass for Indiana Jones and went to try Aquatopia. Aquatopia looks nice and has caught my interest since December. Perhaps because of the weather forecast, today was not a busy day and the wait for this was very short (about 10 minutes) compared to what I saw in December. The ride itself was not as exciting and as nice as what I imagined when looking from afar. Well I can't complain since the queue was short anyway.

I decided to split up because I wanted to take character photos while my sister wanted to play the mini game at Abu's bazaar. My main target is Minnie at the Disneysea's entrance since I don't have the photo with her Disneysea outfit. Honestly my legs were so tired and I decided to take the boat (Transit Steamer Line). I did not have to queue as when I reached there, the whole line was enough to get on to the next boat. It was an enjoyable and relaxing ride. I think it is better than the Electric Railway too. Hehe but if there is a long queue for it, I will still choose to walk.

When I reached the entrance, the character greeting was with Mickey again. Aaah :( Since it was drizzling, the photo location was moved to the covered area outside the shop. So I did not mind to queue again to get a photo with Mickey with a different background. There was a shift change at 130pm and Minnie was out. Sadly she took a break at 155pm T_T When the session resumed at 215pm, it was Mickey again. Damn it.. if only I was 5-6 earlier in the line T_T I also asked 3 different staff about Photokey card but it seemed that it is only for Japanese :( At least my thick skin to ask got me an answer to my curiosity.

Although my legs were still so tired, I had to chiong back to Indiana Jones. I passed by the photo place at Arabian Coast and it was Stitch and Angel together. I would not be interested if it was either or. But to have both, I would not mind to queue here later. Indiana Jones is actually quite a fun ride. I got the first row again so during the photo, I could see my face quite obviously. I do not really collect photos during ride but I must say that so far my luck at Disneysea has been pretty good. In December, I also got the first row at Tower of Terror.

After that, I queued for 35 minutes for the photo with Stitch and Angel. Because of the drizzle, there was no official photographer leh :( Stitch took notice of Genie in my Aladdin t-shirt and was playing with it. Lol so embarrassing because I am so fat leh.

We took fast pass for Raging Spirits before walking over to the front again for the Easter show at 430pm. We found a spot to watch the main stage but the weather was getting worse and the show had to be cancelled halfway due to rain T_T It was a good call from Disneysea as the rain was so heavy that I decided to eat dinner first while hoping the rain would stop. The rain did not stop and I had no choice but to buy an umbrella. It was a difficult decision between a 1000 yen big umbrella which likely I had to throw away because it will not fit into my luggage vs a more expensive folded umbrella which I can bring home but likely will not protect me from the rain just now. I am glad that I chose the big umbrella because even with it, I was still drenched. Haiz..

With that, I had to say goodbye to Raging Spirits. Raging Spirits is an outdoor roller coaster so it would definitely be wet in this weather. With nothing to do, I decided to take photo with Donald. With drenched shoes and socks, I decided to buy socks since I lost my spare socks after doing laundry yesterday. I bought a set of 3 pairs for 1900 yen. I waited for about 30 minutes for photo with Donald.  I asked about the Photokey card again but I got the same answer. If only I can understand Japanese.

After that, I took photo with Goofy since the wait was only 15 minutes. By this time, the rain lightened a little bit. My sister wanted to try Abu's Bazaar again and because the rain, there was no queue, I did not mind to try. Well I obviously suck in this kind of game. However I am not surprised that a lot of people are winning. If they never change the game, once someone gets the hang of it, he can keep trying and keep winning subsequently. Anyway each person is only allowed to purchase 1 game per queue so it is quite difficult to keep trying until I can get the hang of it in just 1 visit. The consolation prize is a pin which is quite big and quite nice in quality so it is not too bad.

The rain seemed to lighten even more and I was hoping that it would stop. My feet were disgustingly wet at this time so I wanted to rest at Sinbad's Voyage. Seriously this is the most underrated attraction at Disneysea but I don't mind since it means there is always not queue. Hehe.. Unfortunately by the time it was over, the rain got heavy again and I was quite sure Fantasmic! would be cancelled just like the Easter show earlier. We had time just for 1 more attraction before our fast pass for Toy Story. I took photo with Minnie while my sister chose Mickey. Surprisingly despite the heavy rain and the queueing area at the Greeting Trails is not covered, there were still a lot of people who wanted to take photos here leh :( I queued 35 minutes for Minnie and no more chance to take photo with Mickey. At least I got Mickey with the Disneysea attire outside earlier.

While walking towards Toy Story, I realised that Fantasmic was still performing despite the rain. Why liddat T_T If I knew, I would rather watch that than taking the last photo with Minnie. Sigh.. Anyway Toy Story Mania is really fun and I can understand why this is the most popular ride. It is not only a ride but also an interactive shooting mini game. I had fun with this. There are score and accuracy and I did not care about the accuracy. I was simply spamming my shoots. Lol.

At the end of Toy Story, the fireworks were up so we missed again. Bleah.. At the start of the day, I wanted to be in the park until the closing and the rain ruined everything. Although it was only 9pm, we decided to call it the day. My feet were painful because of the tiredness as well as the wetness. I decided to buy a 3900 yen shoes because tomorrow is Disneyland and there is no way I will survive with wet shoes if they don't dry overnight.

Although I had fun experiencing the rides and getting a photo with Stitch and Angel, it is a disappointing Disneysea day today: I did not get to take photo with Minnie in Disneysea outfit, the Easter show was cancelled in the afternoon, and I missed the evening shows. I suppose the lesson from today is to also take note of weather forecast when choosing a day to visit.

Can't believe I spent >5000 yen for these out of necessity T_T

Japan Trip Day 4: Yokohama, Odaiba

Yokohama is less than 30 minutes away from Shinagawa by train. I was quite surprised that everything seemed quite modern and new: the train stations, the buildings, and the city environment in general. It feels like a newly developed city while my expectation was something similar to Tokyo or Osaka.

Honestly I was not too eager to visit Yokohama because initially this was in the itinerary to bring my dad to see the Chinatown. Even though my dad is not coming, I decided to still go since I already spent effort researching what to see and how to go. I was also very distracted about finding Daiso to buy laundry bags since I wanted to wash my clothes at the hotel.

We alighted at Minato Mirai and had difficulty in our way finding initially. As expected the area is full of shopping malls and again the malls are more modern: the floor area is huge and the ceiling is huge to give a spacious feel. Cosmo World is quite interesting: the attractions do not look that scary and are disproportionate to the amount of screaming from the riders.

We entered a toy claw machine shop. My sister was interested in Doraemon plush while I decided my luck to get Aladdin Q Posket. I just did it for fun and stopped after 500 yen. Ok now I cannot complain anymore if people are selling each of this claw machine toys at 1000 yen. I feel quite cheated and I think this 500 yen is tuition fee for the future. Lesson #1: I can only press each button once i.e I cannot press a bit a bit to aim to the position I want. No wonder for my first try, the thingy did not move at all. Lesson #2: These machines may be rigged. Just at that "sweet spot", the machine may just go over slightly.

We continued to walk until the Red Brick Warehouse and that was when I decided that enough for Yokohama today. The park that we passed by looked very newly cultivated and there was no further interest to see other parks. The sea front also looks uninspiring. Perhaps what gets my interest the most in Yokohama is the Cup Noodle Museum and what a luck that it is closed on Tuesdays. Sianz.

My sister asked if we were going to see the Chinatown and this made me angry. I asked 2 days ago and she said she did not want. Thus my plan for today was based on that consideration and I was not going to change my plan. We went to find Daiso and managed to get laundry bags. I was thirsty so I checked out Gong Cha and I was shocked that the price was ridiculous in Japan. Lol.. how can Gong Cha be even more expensive than Starbucks.

I did not take any photos with the Gundam in Odaiba this time because I did not want to take photos with other tourists behind. I was not too disappointed since I had enough photos during December trip. Near the Gundam, there was a K-pop group mini concert called Snuper. Seeing how Japanese fans and public behave is amazing. The fans were not as crazy and the public was not as kaypoh compared to at where I come from. Even the 'security' around the stage was also not over-the-top.

Snuper

I decided to buy a 3-way-bag from Uniqlo since my current travelling bag is already quite chui, I bought 1 Mickey sky blue t-shirt just to match with a light blue shorts that I have. Lol. To make everything exceed 5000 yen to be eligible for the tax free, I got an orange Saint Seiya t-shirt. I actually prefer to get a Prince of Tennis t-shirt but there was no M size here. These anime t-shirts are collaboration with Shonen Jump 50th anniversary. There is Kuroko no Basket as well but the design is too obiang with big Kuroko in front and big Akashi at the back. I am too old to wear such obiang t-shirts :(

At Gundam Base, I decided to get the 1/60 Gundam Wing to make use of my Business Class luggage allowance. If I am flying economy, there is no way I will buy something this big. I also bought HG 1/100 Wing Gundam 0 Custom "Special Operation Type". I even did something unthinkable by offering my friend to get 1 Gundam of his choice. But just ONE. Lol.

Still just these 3 decorating Gundam Base

I was looking forward to dinner here because I wanted the Takoyaki. Sadly, I chose yuzu sauce and it sucked. Lol. So basically I had a disappointing dinner. I started some souvenir shopping already since there was a souvenir shop here selling Kit Kat with Tokyo Banana flavour. Thank goodness I thought I could only get this at Tokyo station.

I thought I could have an early night today to prepare for Disneysea tomorrow. Unexpectedly, the laundry dryer was not working up to my expectations. I thought the dryer would be as good as what I had in PGP. Haiz.. It took me 80 minutes (4 cycles) to dry everything up and that was after I decided to separate the jeans from the t-shirts. My fault for not paying attention to the estimation pasted on the machines.

Japan Trip Day 3: Gotemba, Hakone

My sister wanted to see the sunrise so we left the curtain open. I woke up at 430am and the sun was already up and the sky was already bright. Lol. Forget about sunset. This is not a full summer yet but the amount of daylight is already so long. Sadly it was a cloudy day and Mt Fuji was totally covered so I decided to sleep again.

The clouds...

The cloud went away a bit after I woke up. I went to take a bath at the onsen again and I was lucky to have it empty again hehehe.. I enjoyed the outdoor onsen again to hope for the cloud to disappear further before returning to the room, take some pictures, and have breakfast.

The best view I could have today

Pretty looking Japanese breakfast. It was filling despite looking small in portion.

We checked out from the hotel at 10am and took the half hourly shuttle from the hotel to Kawaguchiko station. We took a bus to Gotemba and the journey was 1 hour 40 minutes. I was not too interested with Gotemba as I had been there before and looking at the clouds today, there was no hope that Mt Fuji would be visible.

My sister had a great time shopping and I had a great time earning credit card points lol. She bought a bag after 70% discount but with original price of 80k+ yen, it was still quite a crazy price. Hehe.. There is actually a food court at Gotemba with pretty good choices of meals. I supposed when I went there with my friend in 2015, we were too hungry and ate at the first cafe we saw. I wanted to get takoyaki but just when my turn came, I had to wait while they cooked the new batch. I decided to get something else.

Mt Fuji appeared but it was something that could only be seen with naked eyes. The sky was still very cloudy and it was difficult to make out the snow cap tip against the cloud. Everything just appeared white in camera.

At the Disney Store here, I finally found the Peter Pan Tsum Tsum Land plushie that I wanted to buy in December 2017 but could not find it at the Disney Stores in Tokyo on Saturday. Yay!! In addition, it was put on sale so I paid 540 yen only. There were only 2 plushies there and when I was queueing for the cashier, the little boy behind me bought the other one. So if I was late a little bit, I would have missed it as well. I also saw 75% sale for small figurine set similar to Aladdin set that I wanted to get in Tokyo but for Mickey and friends. This gave me the hope that perhaps in the future the Aladdin set would be put on sale first. Currently close to 4000 yen per set still seems quite pricey and I decide to put the purchase on hold.

At the Nike shop, I was interested in one of an interesting piece of cloth that I never own before: it is a hoodie with sleeves a bit longer from the shoulder. So it is not exactly sleeveless but also not exactly sleeves. Too bad it was in the leftover size section and there was no size for me.

Similar to at Kawaguchiko, the buses at Gotemba is also not that frequent. By now I am quite used to it as the distance among the places are actually quite far even when on the bus stops list is only a few stops away. We decided to take a 3pm bus to Sengoku before changing to another bus to Togendai at Lake Ashi. Surprise surprise.. Sengoku turns out not to be a station but just a place. Luckily somehow I managed to navigate to find the bus stop to find the bus to Togendai.

At Togendai, we had 2 choices since eventually we needed to return to Tokyo. One was by taking the ropeway to Gora and the take train to Odawara. The other was to take the cruise to Moto-Hakone or Hakone-machi and then to take either bus or train to Odawara. I experienced the cruise before so I ws more interested with the ropeway. My sister preferred the cruise so I followed since this itinerary was hers after all.

We took the cruise at 420pm. There were a lot of dark cloud and the wind was powerful. Great! I wore jeans yesterday and it was too hot so today I wore shorts. The weather throughout the day had been fine but it was too cold at the cruise. Lol. By the way I actually wore the same outfit as 2 years ago here. Haha..

The last bus from Moto-Hakone to Odawara leaves at 515pm according to the time table so I had to say goodbye to visiting the Hakone shrine again. There was no other choice but to continue to Hakone-machi. I came here in 2015 at day time and the atmosphere was different now visiting in the late afternoon. We were on the last cruise already so the area was already quiet. A good thing about it is I could take pictures with the cruise without a bunch of tourists in the background. If the weather was clear, it would even be much better.

We took at 70 minutes bus ride to Odawara since our Fuji Hakone pass included a Odakyu Railway ticket to Shinjuku. The train ride is about 70+ mins to Shinjuku. There is Tokaido line from Odawara which connect directly to Shinagawa in about 70+ mins also. I decided that time was more precious than money so I forgo the Odakyu Railway ticket and paid for another ticket to take the Tokaido line.

After this trip, I have enough of Mt Fuji. It is best to be enjoyed from the photos in the internet. Going there directly is always a gamble because Mt Fuji will only appear very beautifully when when sky is clear blue with no single cloud around it. I have visited twice and 0 times seeing what I am expecting so I am very disappointed.

A bit more about Fuji Hakone Pass, it is actually quite worth it. It is actually a 3-day pass and it covers both way transport via Shinjuku. The return transport must be done by bus for one of the trip and by the Odakyu railway for the other but we have the option to choose which one for which trip. These 2 trips would already cost somewhere near 4000 yen alone. The Pass also covers Hakone ropeway and sightseeing cruise. If you have the time to enjoy both, I think both should be about to 3000-4000 yen also. Add all the trips via buses or train around the Hakone and Kawaguchiko area and everything will already exceed the price of the Pass.