first up from a request from marcus, he would like to see some karaoke pics. i go karaokeing often, maybe once every 2 weeks or so. in the beginning of september, it was like every week singing til my voice would go scratchy. and i did that once, singing 3 nites in a row til my voice was ready to crack and i sounded like i was sick.
this REALLY good looking singer in japan, fukuyama masaharu, i have a thing for this guy for over 3 years now. he just released his new single and best collection cd last month and the karaoke song books featured him. well, i wanted the pic so badly that friend suggested me ripping the page out. and i did! here's me with him!
my friends from australia lis and wallace goofing around
she's from france, sophie , and doing a really good job carrying kevin from australia around while he's singing to ayumi!
me and wallace singing a duet "first love" from utada hikaru and doing a REALLY bad job of it -_-
finallly here's a pic of us, about 15 people going to an all u can drink bar and my friend already pissed drink! i was fairly out of it too in that pic, getting sleepy....
another weird request from marcus, and jeff and every guy who i know, u probably wanna hear and see some more perverted stuff in japan and i found it! while my friend was driving in the mountain side cuz we wanted to see the red leaves and all, he pulled over to check the map. i glanced out the window and by coincidence, we were rite next to a vending machine selling porn books and videos for u to watch!!! i couldn't believe it. who the HELL in their RITE mind would put something like that out in the middle of nowhere! this is not like next to a village or town, but way out , in the middle of nowhere. all my international students laughed that only japan would have something like this, i guess if u're too shy to rent stuff in a normal porn shop, i guess they drive out in the middle of nowhere to get their satisfaction.
for those who would like a more clearer picture of what the books are, u r more than welcome to ask me and i'll show it to u when i come back to canada in december)
that's the video machine but the glass blocks the view during the day. nite time is when u can see what they're playing. maybe they don't want kiddies to watch it during the day and at nite, the adults can then see it?
then the host mother brought me to eiga mura, it's a studio amusement place where u can see the sets and area used to film the samurai movies and tv programs. it is really used cuz rite now they r showing a samurai tv drama that was filmed there.
they also have people dressed up for the guests' amusement, can u imagine trying to walk around in those high shoes?!
my host mom paid for my costume cuz it's my b-day soon (nov 23 ^_^) and i picked the costume of being a warrior princess. i love holding this spear , i wish i could have swung it around a few times.
after the pro photo shoot, they took off the red robes cuz it drags on the ground and i got to wear the kimono underneath. so i have a few shots of me walking around "old japan."
there were other people dressed up and i got shots of them too, all of us being royal princesses and warrior princesses.
i don't know why put in the middle of the lake, they had this thing popping up every two minutes or so , don't understand the point of it -_-
then i have a couple of sick stories, by request of marcus again :)
at kyoto station on the way home from eiga mura, i saw this jap person wearing a short short short miniskirt, so short u can see half the butt cheeks and the color of undies were white. the person was also wearing a blue glittery shirt and red flat shoes and lipstick while shopping. there's department stores in the station. so i'm assuming all u males are happy, u wish u can see this kind of stuff in canada. but sorry to disappoint u but it's not a female, it's a guy! yep, it was very obvious it's a guy. cuz the guy was wearing no bra and the face it's very obvious it's a guy. EVERYONE was staring at him and even 1 guy took a pic on his cell phone. u had no idea how badly i wanted to take a pic as a souvenir but i was afraid he would smash my digi cam...
another story, i heard this from a friend. so she's on her way back home and it's nite time. the train wasn't very crowded. across from her is this jap guy, maybe late 30's i guess but he was staring at this jap school girl a couple of seats behind the friend. and he's JACKING himself off while staring at her. my friend looked out the window and cuz it's nite, it relects what the guy was doing. she couldn't believe what she saw and the school girl knows whats happening cuz she was hiding her face in her hands. and when the train arrived at the next station, u would assume the guy would leave cuz everyone saw what happened. but he zipped up his pants and went back to doing his work like nothing happened. holy shit, this is sad that japanese guys are doing this in public.
November 17,2003
on a totally different note, my friend also went to tokyo a week b4 me and showed me some pics of shinjuku. though i wrote in my first entry in november about going to the sex area of shinjuku and working as a hostess and then going to a host bar, not all of shinjuku is like this. shinjuku is also an electronics area much like akihabara or den den town in osaka (mentioned in the oct news i believe). everything is all neon there and shopping.
takashimaya is one of the biggest department stores, besides daimaru, hankyu, matsu... and kyou.... i forgot how to pronounce their names. anyhoo, this whole building is all for shopping, shopping for the higher end brands.
and other shots of shinjuku are
the above pic of shinjuku , where i did go but at that time, it was very dark and would have been diff to take with all the pretty lites, is the area to buy digi cams.
November 14,2003
back to doing the touristy thing :) went to uji, a small town south of kyoto. probably only about a 30 min or so train ride from where i live. from there on, the IFC, international friendship club, took us around uji. the IFC where actually the first people i met when i got off the airplane and trying to figure out how to buy a phone card and how to use a phone in japan (that took about 10 min or so to figure out how to dial back home plus buying the card). uji is so much cleaner than where i live, lots of old shops and they specialize in green tea. so no matter where u walk, u can smell green tea coming from the shops.
they took us to byodin-temple, even a pic of it is on the back of the 10 yen coin. it used to be a villa of the fujiwara family in the early 1050's but it got converted into a buddhist temple. the temple even have a small museum where they showcase the buddhist deities , about 25 or them statues.
so behind us, that's what the main temple looks like (with us blocking it).so i had some internet mailing buddies b4 coming to japan and i met her and some of her friends. so that's who i'm standing with. damn, their english is so good.
some unblocked views of the temple below
japan has been unusally warm this year in november. it's about only 18 C or so rite now. and even though i don't wanna tell u guys, it's freezing cold!!!! yes i know calgary has snow and that's it's about -15C or so, BUT coming to japan when it was around 34C, to now 18C, it's cold! but if it gets colder, the leaves are supposed to turning red and gold. but japanese are more into fall than we are, they go to temples, mountains to see all the pretty colors. so assuming it'll get colder, a whole mountain of trees should be looking like this soon enuf.
and old bell behind the temple, very tempted to ring it :) even though the sign clearly states (in japanese) to not touch the wood to ring the bell.
after that, we went to a tea house to participate in a brief tea ceremony. it's only about 15 min or so. but we had to sit jap style, so not cross legged but u kneel and sit on your feet. i hate sitting "seiza" style but i loose all sensations in my legs and i get cramps. i'm getting better, i used to last 5 min but this time i lasted 10 minutes. with occasional pinching of my legs and feet to keep some circulation going. so we had to watch them prepare them the tea by boiling and then whisking it. while she's doing it, another lady served us a piece of small sweet b4 the tea. here's the tea house that we went to
the whole town has lots of red bridges, so it feels very "japan", like i'm back in the old days.
afterwards, we went to a temple and another bell for me to ring and pray :) and the circle behind me, u step through it b4 ringing the bell for luck.
November 10
well, i had a hell of a good weekend in tokyo! i did so much weird fun stuff i would never do in calgary! but then calgary is pretty damn boring, nothing like the stuff in tokyo. so i went to tokyo from october 31-november 3, staying at a seedy youth hostel. i am NEVER gonna stay at that youth hostel again. the youth hostel was located at a seedy neighborhood with perverted old guys. whenever we go out, they would STARE at us. but then it could be the fact that i had gaijin friends with me or it could do with the fact that we were dressed half naked. anyhoo, could be any of those reasons.
so the adventure on the bullet train, i was half sleeping when the announcement we were gonna arrive soon. my bad! i forced my friends to get off and i realized, it's one stop too early! so we hopped onto the next train , it was only a 15 min wait. so here's me with the wrong train!
friday nite, halloween , went to roppongi. roppongi is the place for foreigners to be, a lot of them are from the US marines. the US marines are usually in okinawa , in the souther part of japan where their base is. on weekends, they come up to tokyo to try and get laid by jap girls. i'm not too sure how successful they are, but they were pretty full of themselves. arrogant and loud. so we went to a club , it was so so. R&B/hip hop. after trhe club, well my friend was very successful getting drinks from jap guys. she's a black american and guys kept buying her drinks to the point that she was pretty tipsy and sleepy and drunk. after the club and eating, i wanted to use the bathroom. so we went to a building to use the elevator, checked the floors out. on the 6th floor looked pretty nice to me. it was a like a lounge, with sofas, a grand piano and nice chandelers and nice lite up. and there were 3 guys in brown suits lounging around on the couches. in my mind, i knew they couldn't be hosts. hosts are guys who try to get young women to go to their bars so they can chat and drink. hosts usually wear black suits. and i figured they couldn't be business men, it's way past their bed times. i'm talking like 4 am. so most likely, yakuza = equivalent of a russian mafia. so i asked them politely in jap, to his waiter like guy if i can use the bathroom. he looks at me and tells me he needs to ask for permission. so he asks the guys lying on the sofas and they said no prob. my friend thought i was crazy to just do that, but then she also stole some stuff in the bathroom. like some mouthwash. and after that, i politely thanked them on the way out. but then i would have like to ask them what their job is! like they'll tell me lol.
so next day saturday, went to ginza. the most expensive place in tokyo to shop for designer clothes and even eating at a restaurant is expensive. but the shops, designers designers designers! prada, burberry, louis vuitton, hermes, etc etc and at least 3 major department stores. drove my friend crazy with me taking pics like a tourist. sorry if the pics don't turn out very well, nite time and lites twinkling so it does blur the pics.
i didn't realy buy much except for the pink burberry bag. it was only about 150$ canadian for a designer bag. u know, the burberry is the plaid line , usually it ranges up to the $2000 for clothes. but then i saw this cute cute pink plaid scarf, it was....$350. i really really really wanted it but i figured u guys would shoot me so i restrained myself and bought it off ebay for only....$88! damn ginza, jacking the price to 4 times the worth.
i have no idea what this thing is, but it was rite outside the burbery store and it was too cute to miss!
various nite shots of ginza
the top pic, the one with the giant cylinder building, supposed to be the landmark of ginza with the giant tv. man oh man, if i could only rip that giant tv screen and bring it back home.
ginza has lots of restaurants and when i saw this food display, it was too cute to miss! my friends were pretty embarassed with me acting like a tourist :P
also in ginza, me and my friend decided to go to some outrageously expensive brand name stores to pretend like we were gonna buy them. went to the dressing rooms together and took pics secretly. so the first stop, at prada! i picked out a 2 piece outfit, shirt and skirt is separate. but it's a bit big but whatever, i'm not buying. include the shoes and that little purse, all together, the outfit's like $6500 canadian. i'm happy i got my pic :)
next stop, louis vuitton. the dress and the shoes, not nearly as expensive as the prada one. it was only $4000 ish or so.
that nite, we went to a club in shibuya. the club in shibuya, i just wanted free drinks from guys! so i tracked down 4 stupid guys for that nite. they were so dense. dancing for like 10 min, i wanted to drink! so i told them "i'm hot. i'm thirsty. should we get something to drink?" and they did get me drinks. the 1st guy, bought me the drink, took me to the coin locker corner and asked me strait out, if we should go to a love hotel! that took me by surprise! but i said i wanna stay and drink with my friends. but he said we could drink somewhere else. also , he was trying to kiss me but i wouldn't let me. so he tried convicingin me, he's gentle and strong. so he let me check his abs, ok, a 6 pack. his biceps, ok, not too bad. THEN, he took me hand to his body more SOUTH of the stomachs. there. um... ok..... well i made an excuse and ditched him. also 1 guy, asked for my number even though i was gonna go back to osaka. he wanted to call me b4 i left. i gave it to him, just 1 wrong digit :P my bad.
after ginza, went to shinjuku a bit. it's like a big electronics area besides the famous akihabara. i didn't really walk around shinjuku much, just helped a friend pick out a digi cam.
went back to the seedy hostel to change to go back to shinjuku, a friend's b-day. speaking of that seedy hostel, that hostel has the most retarded shower times. they limit what time u can take showers! so for that sunday, i couldn't take a shower at 1:00pm, the shower times just cloesed at 1:00. then at 10:30 pm, i want a shower. the showers closed at 10:00pm. damn! it was pissing me off! i HATED walked around tokyo with greasy hair.
anyhoo, going back to shinjuku half naked, i wanted to see the sex area of shinjuku. ie, the host bars and hostess and the sex shops. i wanted to take pics of those vending machines. for jeff, i seriously doubt i can find the high school used undies from those machines. but anyhoo, we had to wait outside in the freezing cold cuz 1 person mistakenly went to the wrong station. waited almost 2 hrs b4 it got sorted. but by that time, the sex shops were closed. and the host and hostess, usually out on the streets to entice people to go in, were already back in their bars entertaining guests.
so walking around the sex area, we ran into the boucer from shibuya and he asked us to do a favor. to work as a hostess a bit to help out a friend. i was like reluctant at first. i grilled the bouncer questions, how much pay, what are the guys like, will they touch me, i DO NOT want to strip etc etc. so when we went to that place, our customers were 2 french guys. my guy, either speaked french or jap. so i used jap cuz i already forgot my french!!
so whever they buy us drinks, we get 500 yen back, about 5$ or more. but those cheapies, only bought one drink each. and by that time, the workers, were already stripping to their undies and bras. ewwww~~~ they were fat, and they were not jap. i think they were indians. so they come over to our table and i wanna get out of their, same with my friend. so my friend wanted to get hosts and we did! it's her b-day. so we made it clear to this one club that we were foreigners and because of that, it was only 5000yen for the whole nite, all u can drink. i think each club is like that, if it's obvious u r a foreigner. for me, they think i'm jap so i start speaking english. that club, i picked that club cuz i saw a pic of this really really hot blondie guy, and i screamed out, i want that one! anyhoo , so it was only chatting and drinking. the hosts pour u drinks, and escort u to the bathroom and back. any extra "favors" u can pay more :)
here's a pic of my host, he's like the 2nd most popular host but i think he should be the first. he was only with me for like 20 min b4 going to other tables flirting. i had to resist the urge to throw something at home to get his ass back at my table. but he finally did get his ass back down, the cute bastard.
my friend's host is this one, behind my blondie host
so the host thing lasted til monday morning 7:30 am ish or so. i had to meet my friend at 10 am that day too. so went back to the seedy hotel, where i could FINALLY take a freaking shower! it was like 48 hrs later til i could get one! packed , checked out and met up with my friend to go to ikebukuro. ikebukuro , shinjuku, harajuku, shibuya is the place to shop.
my friend took me around the area and for fun, went to an indoors amusement park. i forgot the name but i took a pic of the mascot! the cat !
and by the time it started raining, i wanted 1 last pic of me in tokyo
yes, this is what i'm becoming. one of those jap girls who wear hooker boots with short skirts. though i'm starting to like that kind of style :P
