Day 72

Didn't do a lot this day. Was meant to go shopping or something but I was tired so I didn't bother. Stayed in and watched So You Think You Can Dance because I'm lame and wrote down lyrics to songs as we planned to go to karaoke later.

So in the usual style, things didn't go quite to plan.

Met everyone at school at 17:00. Made the mistake of telling Emil (from Warabi house) 18:00. Oops! So we had to wait for an hour but people needed the internet and the bank etc so it wasn't that long a wait. Eventually he arrived and Che took us to this Korean place which he said did Korean pizza. They didn't do Korean pizza :( We just told him to order for everyone and we all enjoyed a tasty and rather large meal.

After eating we headed to Shinjuku for karaoke. Some people came with us knowing they had no money (which was a bit annoying) so we couldn't spend the time in the karaoke that we needed. They would only agree to go in for 30 minutes and when there's 8 of you, this isn't anywhere near long enough. Tried to make the best of it but some people were just acting like idiots and it really started to annoy me. And then when things go wrong as usual everyone turns to me and that really pisses me off. So we have 30 minutes. Enough for 5 or 6 songs. We go in and everyone starts shouting and screaming and messing about. I pick up the consoles to select the music and it's all in kanji. I ask for help but because they're all being loud no one hears so I have to shout to get their attention. So 2 people offer help, and we find some English. I pick a song for Ken and Katharina that they wanted to sing and leave them to it while I queue up 2 more songs. One for me (Jailhouse Rock) and one for Rosanna (Weeeek). So we sing, it's fun. Nino picks his song and all is well. But of course, during this time, rather than pick the song to follow Nino, people just mess around and play with the console so the music just stops. And this is bloody expensive time and they just did nothing. I heard someone say "oh I thought they were picking songs" and I just got so angry. Of course by now the time was up and we had to leave. I would have stayed another hour but I was so pissed off with the way people were acting that I just couldn't do anything. My answer to everything from this point on was to only suggest really really expensive things. As I said on Facebook, I'm not the mother. It's not my job to make decisions for people, or to clean up after them, or to round them up for whatever reason. They're adults, they can make decisions. I don't mind planning events but having to supervise is not what I signed up for.

Rant over, once I refused to make decisions for people we ended up standing outside the karaoke bar for over an hour with lots of shrugs. No one seemed willing to put their hand up and make a suggestion and I was happy to sit back and watch them. Rosanna bailed out first (and good for her for having the guts to actually do something) and eventually everyone just said "well I'll go home then". And that was that.

It was a fun night but I'm very frustrated with people. I have 2 weeks left here and the chances of me seeing some of these guys again is pretty slim so I'd like to make the most of this time but for others, they don't seem interested. Maybe they just don't have the money, maybe they just don't want to spend the time with me. I don't know, but it's frustrating.

Day 73

Ok so I haven't updated this blog in a week so I'm going to spend the next hour and a half getting up to day. I have lots planned this week so it's best I not get any further behind....

So today I went to Yokosuka, famous for it's naval port. Takes around 2 hours to get there from Warabi so I left around 09:45 to allow myself enough time to do what I wanted to do. Arrived around midday and began to search for, well, anything really :)

I'd heard that the town is swarming with sailors and that's pretty true though they were all Japanese sailors. Didn't see any non-Asian people in uniforms. The whole town is focused on this base though. There's nautical themed decorations and restaurants everywhere. Ship wheels on the fences, ships on top of clocks, all sorts of stuff. It's kinda nice really plus the place is a lot smaller than Yokohama so while both towns have the same theme going on, Yokosuka has a more quaint feel about it. It's like comparing Saitama to Central Tokyo....but you know, I liked it^^

A few minutes of aimless walking later and I came across a pretty walkway with trees and more ships and a strange arrangement of a stream/pond running through it. I can imagine many kids falling in there...and drunken sailors too. Of course, this had to be there for a reason and the reason was HIJMS Misaka. This is the famous battleship of General Togo who defeated the Russians in the Russo-Japanese war. I won't talk about it too much, you can check out the wiki link for more information. I will say that the 500yen entry fee was a bargain! Very cool museum. Proper-bo English translations...none of that Engrish nonsense. And while I'm sure the truth was somewhat obscured as the Japanese like to do, it was still very interesting and I very much enjoyed learning about the Togo Turn :) If you're ever in this part of the woods and have even the slightest interest in anything military related then I highly recommend a stop here.

Just next to the Misaka was the ferry to Sarushima (Monkey Island). I actually have no idea why it's called monkey island when there's no actual monkeys on there. This island is the last remaining natural island in the Tokyo Bay area. It's a fabulous little place. I took the ferry over (a little pricy but ho hum I'm on holidays) and as we got closer to the island you started to get a feel for the strange place you were approaching. The island is made up of a small beach, some fishing spots and the remains of old military fortifications. All this glued together by spectacular foliage and wildlife. A truly beautiful place. There were dozens of people on the beach enjoying the heat and bbqing, some people snorkeling, a drumming class (who made the atmosphere there just perfect for a hot summers day), bugs everywhere, hawks flying over head. Ahhhh it was just lovely. It's a shame I couldn't stay for too long but I did sit and admire the view for a good hour or so.

After this I decided to go in search of the Perry Landing park (picking up an iced macha latte on the way). Unfortunately for me I wrote down the name of the wrong train stop so after messing about for an hour trying to find the right place, I gave up and headed back to Tokyo. Saw what I think was off duty American sailors on the train. They were plastered in aftershave (bleurg!) so I guess they were off out on the tiles in Yokohama.

Eventually I got home and I ate curry for dinner. Tomorrow I'm off to the beach in Chiba. Fingers crossed the weather is as nice as it was today.

Day 71

Disneyland....will come back to this

Day 70

Wednesday...........Tokyo Dome. Will come back to this...

Day 69

Tuesday....nothing day :) Will come back to this

Day 68

Back to Warabi...baseball

Day 67

Korea Day 2 - Will come back to this

Day 66

Korea Day 1 - will come back to this

Day 65

So the day began fairly slowly. Got up, finished packing my suitcase. Did some laundry. Broke the machine and had a panic about being ready on time. But it all sorted itself out in the end and at around 15:30 I finally left to meet Rosanna and Katharina. Got to school pretty much when I wanted to and we jumped straigh on the train and headed to the airport. No sign of the boys though.

Arrived at the airport more or less when we planned. Picked up our tickets. Still no boys as their tickets were still there. Checked in, went to the scanning bit and that's when the first real problem occured. So I didn't have a plastic bag but they usually give you one at the airport. Apparently not at this airport (grr) so I got sent back outside and told to buy one which cost me 300yen. Not amused. I could have just stuck this stuff in my suitcase and they probably wouldn't have said anything but they were turds so I had to waste my money :(

Once through we didn't have a lot of time. Bought some food (including soy sauce flavoured Kit Kats) and then headed to the gate. Still no boys. I'm getting worried by this point but suddenly they appear so all is well. Not long after this we are boarding the plane and heading for Korea!

About 2 hours later we arrived at the airport. No problems for any of us to get in. It's pretty cool to have a new stamp in my passport. You don't get them very often if you're from the EU so now I have 4 (3 Japan and 1 korea). Tried calling the guesthouse to say we'd arrived late due to a delay on the runway but couldn't work out how to use the phone. Ended up missing the airport limousine by 5 seconds (gah!). We could have waited until 22:30 to get the next (and final) one but we were already late for the guesthouse so we just took a taxi. Took about an hour during which we amused ourselves by discussing English language particles. Are we in the street or at the street or on the street? Or maybe on Hawaii? My language is complicated :p

The taxi driver took us more or less where we wanted to go but he didn't know exactly where the hostel was and so we ended up driving around in circles for a bit while he called the hostel again and again to find the right way. We arrived eventually and thankfully Nino was there (and on Facebook I believe). Cool beans!

Of course, we were all tired but none of us particularly wanted to sleep so we went out in search of some food and drink. The people in the guesthouse wanted us to sit and drink with them so we picked up some beer as well and ended up sitting up until 02:00 drinking and laughing and eating. It was a whole heap of fun but it had to end as we had 2 more days of fun to come....which I'll update for you soon :p

Day 64

Right then, I'm updating this nearly a week late because I've been stupidly busy so once again forgive me for vagueness and lateness and mistakes and all that jazz.

Thursday, aka day 64, I went to see a concert and did some shopping. Headed in to Shibuya in the afternoon and had a wander about the shops looking for costume things for my birthday and for anything else that might catch my eye. Went in the 109 building and went all the way to the top. Turns out that once you've seen 1 floor, you've seen them all as they only really have 5 different types of shop. Gothy clothes with the lights turned down, frilly clothes, odd shaped clothes, shoes & handbags, hair accessories. That's it. So it was the same thing over and over again for 9 floors. I did see some very gaga shoes that I nearly bought and a fabulous bag that I'm going back for this week but other than that, it was pretty shit in there.

Did my usual spin of Donki and picked up some false eyelashes. Need to practice putting them on before the birthday^^ Not a lot else of interest in there today.

After I'd given up on the idea of finding what I wanted I decided to track down the club that the concert was in. Didn't find it but did spot a taiyaki place for future Shibuya outings and then Freshness Burger. But I still had more time so I decided to go to Tokyu Hands to waste 30 minutes. I was contemplating making a certain costume for my birthday and this would require materials including wire and I don't know where else to look for it so Tokyu Hands was a good place to look. Found what I wanted but wasn't buying that day but at least I know it's there. When I was wandering around though I spotted a section of the shop that does costume stuff so went to have a look. MUCH better things that Donki. Bit more expensive but worth it I think. Found my wig (but again not buying due to having a concert) and saw some awesome birthday related goodies. 30 minutes well spent^^

I left Tokyu Hands and headed back to Freshness Burger. Ate Vegetable burger which as it turns out is more tofu burger with vegetables but it was very very nice. Bit too expensive to repeat but very nice all the same.

After eating I went to find the club again. I was just about to give up and walk down to the station where there's a map when I randomly spotted it. Hurrah! Went in andput my things in a locker. Figured they wouldn't let me take in my camera but once I'd spent my 200yen on said locker and gone in, it turns out I could have brought it after all. Nevermind, at least I didn't have to hold bags the entire time in there. Got a free drink token with my ticket which I used to buy a Turkey Cola (cola and turkey whiskey). It was not so good but it was free so I drank it anyway.

Saw 3 bands in total. The first was a British band called Koopa. They were alright I guess. Kinda like Green Day but not so good. Second was a band called Hey Monday who seemed pretty popular there but I thought they were shit. Female fronted rock bands need to have a very special lead singer to pull it off....she was not special.

The third band was the one I came to see, Metro Station. They were pretty good though you could totally tell they were new to touring and live performance. They played their songs exactly like you hear them on the album. They're tidy songs but these guys need more live experience to work out how to turn their 3 minute pop tune in to a 6 minute live jam. In the end, it was all over by 9.30 (seriously right?) and so I headed outta there and toodled off back to Warabi to pack my suitcase for my trip to Korea.

Day 63

Crap! Day 63? Wow time is getting on!

Began the day by going to Shinjuku to get some photos printed. Came to 90 yen. Put in a 100 yen coin and got 600 yen change. Muwahahahah! Free dinner :)

Went to see Star Trek today with Katharina :) Met her at school at 17:00ish which was nice as I got to say hello to everyone. Had a brief chat about going to the Thunder Dolphin and Korea but mostly just gibberish. The offer went out to everyone to come see Star Trek but no one wanted to. Pah! They missed a fab movie.

So just Katharina and I headed to Shinjuku. I'd already scoped out the cinema so I knew exactly where it was and that there was a Mos Burger right next door >:) Chatted a bit more about Korea while we ate. I really have no plan for this trip at all. What I've told Katharina is that I'll get everyone to the hostel but from that point on I'm taking the back seat. When someone doesn't understand something they must not turn to me for the answer. When no one can decide where to go, I'm not deciding for them. I just want to chill out there, have my first ever taste of Korean food, eat K-pop ice cream, buy a Korean doll and soak up the sun.

In between eating our scrummy burgers and seeing the movie we went in search of a Lawsons. There's a Metro Station concert on 4th June which I quite fancied seeing. I had tried once already to book a ticket but the machine foiled me. Turns out I just put my first name but it would only accept it with a full name. Once I'd figured that out with the help of Miss Dettling I printed my tickets off, paid and was a happy girl. If I'm honest, I only really know 1 Metro Station song (Shake it) but that's enough of an excuse for me to go see it. You only live once right? And I don't want to regret not going. Though I hope I don't regret seeing the spawn of Billy Ray Cyrus in concert either. I guess Trace is better than Miley.

Then it was Star Trek time. The cinema we were at was huge with all sorts of funky ass seats. Sofa's for couples, deluxe chairs, super deluxe chairs. And mostly free from Africa and Asia potential (aka getting a big head in front of you). The movie began with the cutest and funiest cartoon telling you how to behave in the cinema. Then as with any cinema about a gazillion movie trailers. No adverts though that I can remember. Saw trailers for some Japanese movies, Terminator, GI Joe and something else that maybe looked interesting but I forgot...lol!

The movie itself was fricking awesome. I'm not going to give you a review of it as a) I'm sure you've all seen it already and b) this isn't a review site. I'll just say I thought it was fab. Simon Pegg was great but then he is an awesome individual who can do no wrong. The dude playing Kirk was pretty good, Syler was annoying and I couldn't help thinking heroes whenever I saw him. There was too much Uhura. Bones was fab...great job at being Bones. Felt a little silly for not realising it was the dude from Lord of the Ring until this morning. Doh! And Chekov was adorable aww! Eric Bana was lame but he's always lame so I expected nothing else from him. Great movie though. Very funny, great action. Top stuff! Only thing that spoiled it was the Scotty in the Chocolate Factory scene. Lame.

Anyways, as always I'm updating this on the wrong day as always and it's getting pretty late so I need to get going. Laterz dudes!

ps....Kit Kat of the day

Day 62

Day 62 wasn't much better than day 61 if I'm honest. Watched Criminal Minds again. The last episode was pretty crappy until that final scene which was very OMFG!

Did some cleaning today. Laundry, garbage etc. Needed it big time. Just need to find a way to dry the cloths now that doesn't cost me too much money. I'm too cheap to pay for the dryer. Most things will dry hanging up but my jeans are awkward.

Played on Facebook a lot.

Um...

Not much else.

OH I remember! I realised that I only have 4 weeks left in Japan. 27 days in fact (can't count the last day as my flight leaves at 11:00). I have about 25 things I still have to do. Plus some special dinners and things. So I started to make a plan as to what I'll be doing over these next 4 weeks. It's a pretty tight schedule but I hope I can fit everything in. I'm still debating at the moment whether I want to go see Metro Station. It's 5800yen which is pretty expensive but I'll probably regret it if I don't go. Hmm....I'll continue to think about it. I can still get a ticket later if I really want to go. Need to plan out my trip to Nikko soon as well but I need to speak to Katharina first to see if she is indeed staying in japan. If she's staying then I get one day back (no leaving party) plus I can go to Nikko the week she was meant to be going. It's complicated. Once I've spoken to her later (we're seeing Star Trek on Wednesday) I can finalise my plans.

Spoke to Daniel on Facebook today too. He's cool. I miss him :( We talked Lady Gaga and dogs. He has the most awesome new puppy who he should absolutley name Gaga!!!!! He also gave me the best idea for a birthday party costume. Can't wait to start making it :) I'll see what materials I can find when I go out on Wednesday.

Day 61

This day began pretty early. I arrived back in Shinjuku at 06:30ish and took the train straight back to Warabi. I had planned to stay up so I didn't mess up my sleeping pattern but I ended up falling asleep by around 10:00. I only got a couple of hours sleep though so it wasn't too bad. I was aching so bad that I really didn't feel like doing anything at all that day. The most strenuous thing I did all day was go to the supermarket to buy food. Watched lots of Criminal Minds which was pretty good. And that was it really. Fell asleep again around 15:30 and woke around 18:00. Talked to Mr Davies on Skype for ages. Laughed at the photo he sent me.

Sorry folks, it was a slow day.
xoxo

Day 60

After a very long day in Osaka I woke at 08:00 to the sound of my alarm clock. The Spanish boys had safely made it back to the hostel which was a relief. I worry you know? And, as I had said to Jonna, they didn't make their beds, they just fell on them and fell asleep. I had considered making the beds for them but Jonna said not to because I'm not their mother and shouldn't have to do things like that for people. but I felt bad for the people in the hostel but then laziness or maybe tiredness crept in and I didn't do the beds. Though in hindsight I guess I should have.

One of the things we'd talked about the night before was going on the roof of the hostel. People just don't do that in the UK but it's pretty common here to have a roof terrace so when I knew there was one in the hostel I had to go up there. Especially as my guesthouse doesn't have one and we can't get on the roof at school. the only problem about going up the night before was the rain. Yes rain again but then we are smack bang in the middle of rainy season in Japan so I guess it figures. Oh crap, I just had a thought about taking an umbrella to Korea. They wont let me take it on the plane as hand luggage will they? Crap. Anyway, I digress, so we wanted to go on the roof but it was raining. Breakfast on the roof instead? With doughnuts and coffee? Hell yeah! So once we were up and showered and whatnot we popped to Mister Doughnut again, made some tea and coffee and headed up to the roof. It was soaking wet up there but Jonna spotted a cloth so I wiped down a table and some chairs so we could sit and enjoy our unhealthy breakfast and admire the not so great view. I wish I had a roof terrace ;_;

And then we were off! No getting lost today! First stop of the day was Nara. With walking from the hostel and trains and things it took about an hour and a half to get there. Nara is a small place just outside Osaka famous for wild deer wandering around and a giant Buddha with a funky haircut. Seriously. When we arrived a woman gave us a map and told us where to go so we decided to follow her advise and headed off. Within 5 minutes of leaving the station we started to see the deer. They were fabulous. Dozens of the little buggers. There were people selling deer food for 150 yen but I thought I'd leave that until later. During our tour around Nara park we saw lots of shrines and temples and buildings. Really pretty place. Saw a 5 story pagoda which is apparently the second largest in Japan. Lots of souvenirs but I decided against buying anything. The only thing that really caught my eye was a deer hat that I would probably never wear or a toy deer which Elphaba would have ended up eating so I just bought a couple of postcards.

While I didn't buy souvenirs I did buy some of those deer biscuits on the way back. Even before I'd bought them the evil deer knew what was going on. They wait for you and then ATTACK! I had all these deer standing around me trying to steal the biscuits, ramming me with their heads, biting my bag and jacket and trying to eat the map in my back pocket. It was super scary and brilliant fun. Poor Jonna bought some too and decided running away from the deer was a good idea but they just ran after her. It was hilarious. Nara is the best place. If you're in Japan you have to go, just to feed the evil deer.

There was supposedly a place in Nara that sold sake ice cream but we were getting tired and needed food and a rest so gave up looking for it and went to catch the train back to Osaka. It was on this train ride that I fully realised how f***ed up the people in Osaka are. It's like they had this group of people and they took all the pretty, smart, thin and useful ones and put them in Tokyo and took all the crap that was left and threw it at Osaka. Compared to Tokyo the people in Osaka are fat, ugly, freakish, have no fashion sense whatsoever, talk strange, do everything backwards and have absolutely no shame in any of this. The maps are all upside down or backwards, they stand on the wrong side of the escalator, the men walk around with women's handbags. I saw more ganguro girls in those 2 days than I've seen in 2 months in Tokyo. Major crazy town. On this occasion on the train I saw a person in very high heeled boots and some open sided hot pants. Totally looked like a girl until you look above the shoulders and it's an old guy with old guy hair and no make up or anything. Kinda reminded me of those sketch shows where the newsreader sits behind his desk and when he stands up he has no pants. If you were to just look at one half of this guy you'd never know what the other half was doing. I love you Osaka, you're so messed up :)

When we arrived back in Osaka we decided to go straight down to the sea side area. This is the area where the aquarium is. The aquarium was a little too pricey for us (especially as I've been in there before) so we decided to just look around and have a look through the shopping mall. Saw the Crocs shop (why do people buy these things? WHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!????!!), cute music boxes, lots of handbags, Totoro goodies and many other nice things. Bought a pair of cool greenish sunglasses and some frog hair bobbles. Took some pictures of the bay which made me miss home again. Also bought some Hawaiian Blue ice cream, and man was it blue!

Time was getting on now and there was still one more place we wanted to visit before we had to go back to the hostel. Tenjinbashi-suji is said to be the longest straight and covered shopping arcade in Japan. It's around 2.6km long. Shop after shop after shop. Pretty cool place. Bought some cookie cutters and a pot. They have the best supermarket I've ever seen there. It's all lit up with dozens of brightly coloured lights and the staff shout and holler to get people to come in and buy stuff. And everything is sooo cheap there! I picked up a huge selection of sushi for only 250yen. You know, it wasn't the greatest sushi but it's no worse than what you'd pick up in the 7/11 and for this much food I'd expect to pay 500-600 yen for it there. More craziness in crazy Osaka town O.o

We nearly made it to the end of this street before our feet started to cry big time. It was getting late and we were hungry and very very tired so we decided to go pick up our stuff from the hostel and take a break. Once we had our bags we went to sit in a nearby park. As always, there were people doing stuff there, even at 21:00. In the 3 or 4 times we'd passed we saw people doing circus skills twice and bmx bikers. Sat and ate food for a bit and then thought it best to go look for the bus station. Didn't take too long to get there. Jonna tried to get us killed by running across roads instead of waiting for the green man :p No worries though, we're still alive.

Finding the bus station turned out to be pretty easy. Finding a McDonalds to get a coffee (we had free tokens) was impossible. Saw some pretty lights and things but no McD's. In protest we went in every combini that we passed to look for kit kats. Found mochi ice cream instead which was om nom nom. Funnily enough, going in 4 or 5 combini's was a good thing as I found Kit Kat letter. A kit kat that you post. O.o

At 22:20 we checked in to the bus station and at around 23:00 the bus pulled away. Another uncomfortable night but it was worth it for a great weekend in freak town. :)

Day 59

Day 59 began very early. In fact, it kinda began on day 58. Jonna and I were heading to Osaka for the weekend on the overnight bus from Tokyo. We were due to check on to the bus at 23:20 and leave at 23:50 and I think that's just about what happened. The bus was pretty smelly and incredibly hot but it was the cheapest way to get to Osaka so it would be fine. Besides, we were exhausted from our day in Disney Sea so we'd have slept anywhere. I found it a lot more difficult to get to sleep on the bus than Jonna but I think I managed about 5 hours in total, if you include the times I was awake through the night.

By the time we arrived in Osaka we were both shattered and Jonna was sleeping so I guess it's my fault that we totally missed our spot and ended up in Kobe. That's right....Kobe. Land of the massaged cows and the Yakuza. I've never laughed so much in my life. The guy on the bus announced "Osaka Station", then "Namba Station" and I figured that "Umeda" would be next. Turns out Osaka Station and Umeda station are right next to each other. So I'm sitting on the bus looking out the window and I see the aquarium and the port and we start going over the bridge and I'm thinking..."this isn't right". Then I start to see the signs for Kobe. Fortunately Jonna saw the funny side so all was well and we got to go to Kobe, somewhere I didn't think I'd ever get the chance to visit. And that was the first time we got lost that day.

The first half of the day was spent walking around trying to find places and giggling a lot when we found out that once again we'd gone in the wrong direction. I'm going to blame tiredness for my lack of direction, not uselessness. Eventually we found the hostel and left our bags there. Stopped in Mister Doughnut for breakfast. Totally unhealthy but very nice. Then we spent an hour walking around in circles before a guy pointed us in the direction of the nearest metro station.

We headed then to Amemura as I'd never been before and it was meant to be like a cooler version of Harajuku. It was more like a messed up nightmare. Everything was scattered around and we didn't really know what to do there so we left and went to Osaka-jo instead. Neither of us wanted to go in the castle itself so we just walked around the park, ate ginger ice cream, and did people watching. There were some people in the park dancing and some guys riding on strange skates which just looked like plates with wheels. It was really quite pleasant there, particularly as the weather at that point was very warm. While we were there the Spanish boys called to say they were going to the hostel to check in. We told them we'd be there at 16:00 but they seemed angry so we left the park before we'd finished looking around and came back to check in. Jonna took a shower and I went to the station to meet them as they said they were on their way. As it turns out they had gone to Osaka Castle AFTER we told them we were there so I basically stood outside the station for an hour waiting for them when they were in the castle enjoying themselves and we left so they wouldn't have to wait for us. Grr!

But anyway, we got them checked in and I washed up. They were going to Kyoto to go drinking that night (god knows why) and Jonna and I were going out for dinner. A guy had told us to go for Takoyaki but we didn't want to for we already had plans. Yes, we were going for bits on sticks. Kushiage I think it's called. Or Kushiyaki. Little bits of meat or fish or veg on a stick, fried at the table. I came here on the Essential Honshu trip in 2007 so I knew it was a great place to eat. We had to wait an hour for a table but we got to look around the Hep Five shopping centre while we waited. We looked at horrid wedding dresses, funky bags, expensive jewellery, giant omurice and a whole heap of other random things. Then back to the restaurant for food. I ate sooo much, it was fabulous. Felt sick as a dog afterwards but I loved it all the same.

By this point we were both totally exhausted so we came back to the hostel. I played on the computer for half an hour, Jonna studied. Then we sat and drew in the hostel guestbook and I studied Jonna's work for her. Then it was time for bed. We were going to Nara the next day so sleep was very much needed and I think it took me all of 10 seconds to fall asleep.

Day 58

Today was my second trip to Disney Sea. Yes, I've already been here once during my time in Japan but the school had organised a trip there so I decided to go again so I could enjoy it with all my classmates. When I got up however it was raining so bad, could I really enjoy a day at Disney in this much rain?

I left around 08:15 and as I got closer to my destination the rain got worse and worse. Gah! This was not looking good. I had to change trains at Tokyo Station and I think the rain was as bad as it could possibly get at this point. As I'm running through the station to my next connection I run in to Jonna and some other people from ISI School (though I didn't know them). How odd that I should see someone I know when there are thousands of people passing through that station every minutes. Granted we were heading for the same train but to find her in the middle of the station no where near any of the trains we had used or would be using, it was quite a feat.

The rain didn't let up the entire way there, nor when we were waiting for the monorail nor riding the monorail. Spotted the Spanish boys at Maihama station but couldn't stop because I didn't want to lose Jonna and told them I'd see them outside Disney Sea. Eventually we all found each other and, shock, it stopped raining! I had assumed that everyone from class would stay together today but the boys didn't seem interested in staying with us girls so every time we moved on a few metres they would just not follow us. We queued for tickets, they queued much further back. We got the tickets, waited for them to get theirs and went to the ticket gate. They got the tickets and didn't follow us to the ticket gate. We got inside and took some pictures of the big water fountain while we waited for them. They arrived, took pictures of each other. We say come on let's go after hanging around for 10-15 minutes. They didn't follow. We went clockwise around the park, they went anti-clockwise. I don't know if this is because Jonna and the Spanish don't like each other or because the evil German has been spreading venom but there's a clear divide coming in the group and it's not nice. I think it's very likely that it'll affect my birthday plans so rather than Nino and I having a joint birthday together I think he will be with all the evil people and I'll either stay at home or do something lame like see a movie on my own or have an expensive dinner on my own. Seriously? Why does my birthday always suck?

So anyway, once they boys decided that they didn't want to spend the day with us and had blatantly ignored us we started around the park. Jonna doesn't like rollercoasters so we made her go on all of them. She particularly hated the Tower of Terror so we made her do that twice. She refused the third time :p Found chocolate popcorn this time around which was very nice, though not as good as the curry flavour (which I had to buy more of). Bought a Minnie Mouse bow for my hair and a pair of cute earrings. Rode every ride in the park this time around and tried to see the shows (though the Spanish boys arrived just as the Spring Carnival started so I didn't get to see much even though I think I was the only one who actually wanted to see it...I was sad about this). Tried to make stupid faces on the rides when they take pictures. Rosanna bought one so I'll have to get her to take a picture. Nearly missed the show at the end because it started 30 minutes early but managed to catch the last 5 minutes of us. Sucks but at least I saw a little. Lost Sophia at one point but found her again! Hurrah!

I should also mention that it was at Disney that I realised that the flapping thing that I always do is from Nobuta Wo Produce. Take a look at this clip (the beginning part and the end part) and you'll see what I mean. Thanks Jonna for pointing this out. I honestly never realised that I was doing this but it's something you'll catch me doing quite often in life. I'm so lame...

It was a good day :) I'm planning on going to Disneyland next week so I can do both parks before I go home. The Stitch ride in Disneyland closes for maintenance at the end of next week so I'll probably go next Tuesday after I get back from Korea.

Once we had seen the show at the end of the day we all headed home, well not me, I headed to Jonna's place to pick up my things as we were going to Osaka for the weekend...