A Japanese Summer: Chapter Nine

Oh boy! Two more posts to go. *sobs* I'm getting all emotional already. It's almost like I'm refusing to accept the fact that it's over. *sigh* Alright here we go!



Oh look! It's the Rainbow Bridge. Taken from the train while we were on our way to Comiket. Click here and then scroll down for a panoramic view of the entire bridge.



For the clueless folks, Comiket, short for Comic Market, is the world's largest comic book fair, held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan. *cough cough* The below excerpt was 'stolen' from Wiki. Here goes.


"The first Comiket was first held on December 21, 1975, with only about 32 participating circles and an estimated 600 attendees. Attendance has since swelled to over a half million people. It is a grassroots, DIY effort for selling dōjinshi, self-published Japanese works."



Oh and they were not kidding about
the 'over a half million people' statement.


See! There were people are everywhere. Sitting, standing, waiting, etc. It's like an Otaku heaven. You wouldn't want to know how long we queued at the train station to leave this place after that.
LONG I tell you. Long!



See see! And this is just one of the many halls filled with doujinshi artists and their works.

Featuring all kinds of works. *cough cough*



And guess who we met there. Emma.

Alright. I admit I don't personally know Emma but Cubbie does. Emma is actually a cosplayer and quite a famous one at that. She's one of Cubbie's cosplay idols. So it was certainly an honour to meet her in person. I became the photographer here and took pictures of Cubbie and her together. Now I regret not taking one with her. At that time I was a bit shy and felt I was in no place to request to take a photo simply because I was not exactly a fan. *sad face* It would have been a photo to remember. =(

And then we headed out to where the cosplayers were. Hear me being all tour-guidey explaining stuff to Cubbie, macam I tau sangat. Truth to be told, I just happened to know the kanji words written on the board which were totally similar to Chinese words. It pays to know Chinese and a little Japanese. ;)



I don't even know whether they're Japanese or not. Cosplayers take cosplaying seriously, from the costumes to the hair, to the look and and to the character, how they speak and act are totally reflective of the character they're cosplaying.

Naruto!


Even motherhood does not stop one from cosplaying.



One Piece.
Is the cosplayer a boy or a girl? Hmm...


Prince of Tennis.


Talk about enthusiasm and dediciation. This guy is definitely a foreigner who came all the way from... America? I don't remember anymore.

This one's for the boys. *grins* Pretty Japanese girls. ;)

This is the only shot I took out of the bunch. Obviously I was the less of the two when it comes to cosplaying. These four were totally adorable and pretty in everyway that I actually lined up to take the shot. Yes, line up. Taking pictures of cosplayers calls for certain ethics you know. I mean everyone wants a picture, so wait for your turn and be respectful to the cosplayers since they are more than willing to pose for you.

On our way out of Odaiba, we passed the location of Johnny's Theatre where Hey!Say!JUMP was performing a stage play there. But alas, once again we didn't stopped over since I had no intention to catch the show and I think the show was not on that day since the site seemed awfully quiet.

We headed out instead to Shibuya, a well-known shopping and entertainment district. Shibuya is also best associated with the story of Hachiko, the loyal dog who waited at the train station for its master for many years even after the master had passed away. There's a statue of Hachiko near the station but I think we got off at the different side of the station and didn't see it. :(

Instead we were greeted by this! *grins* So not only do my guys endorse lipbalm, they endorse yummy candies too! And I did managed to buy myself a box of them at the airport the next day before we left Japan. I think I have to make a post on all the stuff I bought from Japan at the end of all these. Yay!

Behold! The famous Shibuya crossing!

The crossing is REALLY HUGE. Forgive me for all the capslock but the emphasis is called for. When the pedestrian light turns green, it's like a sea of people crossing the streets. Who cares about the cars? They mean nothing. Nothing. It's really an awesome experience. One must really cross the Shibuya crossing when one is in Japan. Remember that. And if you want the ultimate experience, do it during peak hours. Ours wasn't.

Shibuya turned out to be a little bit too shady for us. Lots of alleys with all kinds of people. We didn't feel safe there. This shot was taken from the first floor of McDonalds. Yup. We had our dinner at McDonalds again! *grins* I proudly declare my love for ebi burgers and bacon burgers. Yum!

I did bought myself a hat here though. And if you know me well enough you'll know that me and hat do not 'compute'. You see I have kinda what you would consider a 'big head'. =( I could rarely fit into a cap so it's pretty amazing that I managed to bought one here. Well, a girl's gotta buy herself some Shibuya fashion home right?

So after dinner, we figured it was too dangerous to hang around Shibuya anymore. We took the train back to Harajuku again. Harajuku at night is just as bustling as day if not less, you may even consider it a little more vibrant with the lights on. We stepped into one of the many Johnnys fanshop along the way.

Lookie at all the idol photos. Who buys these stuff? I wouldn't even know what to do with them, or maybe I'm just too old to be a fangirl anymore. :P It's was a doki-doki moment to take this shot as I was worried I would get caught by the store manager. I don't think they actually permit cameras since these are like unofficial merchandise, which legally are not exactly right to be sold. ^^;;

And that marks the end of our second last day in Japan which I guess was a day dedicated to fulfilling our fangirling needs, from comics, anime, cosplay, fashion to idols. *sigh in content*