This is the first time we as a family travelled overseas on our own, without a tour guide… what we call “free & easy”. And it’s my family’s first time to Japan.

I planned the full itinerary, and squeezed 3 Kakumei shows into it. It was tough as I can’t just eat onigiris and have 2 meals per day (I could do that if I were alone, or with friends). With 3 guys in the family, we had to have ‘proper’ and filling 3 meals per day, yet I had to try to keep the budget down. Also had to plan where my family can go while I’m doing my Takki stuff lol…

Anyway, it was quite an experience, and I think it was quite a successful adventure for me, and an enjoyable trip for them :)

2010.01.09 ~ 2010.01.10

We took an overnight JAL flight, leaving Singapore at about 11.30pm. During the flight, I watched the movie “Hachiko“. It’s a touching story of a loyal dog. I thought Hachi was a Shiba-ken at first, but after googling, I realised it’s an Akita-ken (which looks similar). Shiba-kens or Akita-kens, I think they’re so adorable when young, and handsome when they grow older.

This was the breakfast on the plane. The porridge was nice, but the soba noodles wasn’t that good. I also had a can of Asahi beer and tried to sleep, which I think I did, for about an hour or two…

Hmm, the air stewardesses weren’t really friendly. Only one out of the four who served us was friendly and always smiling. Dad said that perhaps they were affected by the company’s financial situation~*shrugs*

After arriving at Narita Airport at about 7.00am, we killed some time at Macdonalds (Youngest Bro had the yummy Mega Sausage that Kat & I loved so much during our last trip!) and some of the shops there, then took the NEX to Ikebukuro. After leaving our luggages at the hotel lobby, we left for Shibuya to meet Nyanco at guess where – the Hachiko statue.

This statue was so much more meaningful after watching the movie.

After less than 5 mins, Nyanco came. It’s been a year since I last saw her, but she still looked the same – still as elegant as before hehe~ Even if it was only for a few hours, I’m really glad we met up!! XD

We had lunch at a nearby cafe called Miyama Cafe. And although it might not look so, this lunch set here tasted really good! The sausage and egg thing were all oishii~

A couple of notable incidents inside the cafe.

A girl dropped and broke her glass of drink and it splashed onto my bro’s bag and shoes. She kept apologising although he didn’t mind it at all, yet he didn’t know how to say “it’s okay~” in Japanese lol. Then, “Kimagure Jet” (my handphone’s alarm song) went off SO LOUD… and I had a hard time finding my phone which was in the pocket of my jacket which was over the chair… ah, it was so embarrassing…

After lunch, we decided to bring my family to the Johnnys Family Club. But once we’re there, we realised it was a wrong move! The FC was packed to the brim! It was filled with girls!!!!! We stood on the stairs for a while before wriggling our way in… My family went off to shop at Shibuya 109 and we arranged to meet them at 2pm at the same statue. We thought we had about 1hr 45mins, we should be able to catch the Takki VTR…

There was this thing placed at the entrance. I’m not sure what it is — a flame with bamboo shoots? But the group names were on it.

Inside the FC, on the wall, the same Takki message was there (as it was during Christmas~), but the cute photos were no longer there!!! >.< They were changed to 3 photos of him with Tsubasa, apparently taken during the Mori Mitsuko Special Dinner Show DVD’s special talk recording.

We couldn’t take good shots of it, as the FC staff were chasing people away from that panel. They were having some furitsuke practice session for Shounen Club recording, loads of young fans… which was rather annoying…

Anyway, this is a blown-up version of Takki’s message :)

We waited until it was already about 10mins past 2pm, and still no sign of Takki on the screen!! We seemed to have watched almost all the groups already, apart from ABC-Z, Kis-my-ft2, and Takki… so we knew Takki’s should be coming up soon. But after receiving my bro’s msg that they were already waiting at the statue for some time, we decided to give up and leave. It was their first time in Tokyo, so I couldn’t leave them alone in the cold…

I checked on the net, and yeah, we started watching from Kattun (which was JUST after T&T), all the way until Johnnys Jrs, which was just before ABC-Z, Kis-my-ft2, Toma. T&T comes after Toma. But I heard that it’s a T&T video – recorded on the same day as the recording of the special talk for Mori-san’s DVD – so I guess I didn’t miss much then! LOL!

We thought they were still showing footage from the regular senshuraku of Takirev 2009, the show that we watched together at Teigeki last year. I wanted to see Takki, Koichi, and the real Shounentai – 5 of them – doing Kamen Budoukai!

After we met up with my family, Nyanco so kindly brought us to Harajuku & Meiji Shrine, and boy was it crowded!! We had to squeeze our way out of the station and along the streets. It was really “mountain people mountain sea” yo~!!!

It was a long walk in, on sand and stones… Each step stirred up dust in the air, and there were so many people heading in and out of the shrine, that dust filled the air… The journey inside seemed endless. And it was really difficult to walk… Nyanco was wearing heels, and it was hard to walk on those stones with heels. We were really sorry that she had to come with us that far in… in the end, she waited for us 3/4 of the way in, and we proceeded a bit further, to the main temple.

Just some random pictures I took along the way — there were wine barrels from France, and sake sacks on the opposite side.

And rows and rows of ice structures that were melting.

The very first one I saw was of a tiger, as it’ll soon be the Year of the Tiger.

And this one which reminded me of something that the female dancers did in Takirev, right after the bungee segment.

There were also lanterns.

And as always, I took a pic of the tree branches against the sky lol~

Plus another torii gate.

We washed our hands with the freezing water, bought some charms for our relatives, and when we got into the main temple, it was filled with people…

More people…

More people…

We were lucky to witness a wedding couple walking past though…

By the time we were done with Meiji Shrine, our legs were hurting, and we had to say goodbye to Nyanco~~ thank you, Nyanco, for EVERYTHING!!!! *HUGS* Let’s meet up again soon ne!! ^^

Then we were supposed to go to Yoyogi Park, but after walking for a while, we were too tired and decided to head back to the hotel, to check in! haha~ I took some pictures along the way… from the overhead bridge.

We had Gindaco Takoyaki, the tamago version, which was at the entrance path to Johnnys shop. I should have ordered the normal one coz this one was quite soggy… or maybe I’ll bring my family to ION Orchard one day to eat the Gindaco here.

On the way back to the station, we passed by the entrance of Takeshita Dori and I thought of having a look at some of the shops there, but… it was sooo crowded that it was quite a frightening sight for my family.

It was their first time in Japan after all… so I decided to spare them the agony, and not to mingle any longer with the crowd haha. We took the train back, rested our legs for a while, and then headed for dinner.

I brought them to the nearby Tsukemen store that I’ve been to numerous times already. The guy there spoke mandarin so it was good (coz I didn’t understand what he was asking me about in Japanese ~ my nihongo is really getting from bad to worse ne…). I had the goma sauce one, but ordered the spicy miso for my mom. Oops~ she didn’t want the spicy one. I think I pressed the wrong button lol…

I wandered off on my own after that~ and that’s pretty much the end of Days 1 & 2. I got a LAN cable from the front desk and hooked up my macbook to the internet, did some posting on facebook, watered my plants, served my dishes, and went to bed. It was a beautiful night, and I had a good sleep :)

Note to self: 10.01.10 10.01