Playing Dress-Up!

Am so excited. *grins*

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*

Ai Sui Mai Mia... Eh Si Lang ah!

The difference between a girl trying to be pretty and that of a woman is the person paying for it. -__-;; And it has always been beyond me why we willingly pay to suffer. *does the Simon Cowell hands up move* Then again, what shocked me was I did the same thing to myself.

Ai Sui Mai Mia, Eh Si Lang ah!

(very literal translation: Want pretty don't want life, can die ah!)

Me = Murderer

And who did I kill this time to satisfy my "pretty" urge?

*sobs* the victim

My feet!

And behold my partner in crime!

Aiyah. Oredi know new shoes always kill the feet but still so stubborn want to wear to work. I totally don't feel sorry for myself, I so deserved it for being such a doink doink. *paiseh scale-o-meter goes up to 7* It didn't went up to 10 just because I think I was just getting in touch with my feminine side. No wrong in that right? Riiiight?? *hopeful*

So right, I abandon shoe lah after that. One whole week it stayed there next to my old comfy shoe. Looking all so tempting. *__* But come on lah, I not really that doink lah okay? So today I go google how to solve this problem. HAHAHA. My life totally rely on the internet way too much these days.

But I didn't get anything woh. Why ah?

Because I've been using the wrong words to search. "New shoe woes", "the pain of new shoes". HAHAHA... now you experts probably are laughing at me. There goes another 3 steps up to my paiseh scale-o-meter.

The right term here is...

How to Break In New Shoes

Really wei! Break In. Macam forcing an entry only. -.-;; But I guess its true in a way. So of course lah since I find, I share.

How to Break in New Shoes? <- Clickie

And since I'm at it, might as well...

How to break in high heel shoes?
What is a good way to treat blisters from new shoes?
How to make it through the day wearing shoes that hurt your feet?


See! A silver lining after all. Together we learn so many things today. HAHAHA... And just so I have you know... I'm not wearing the shoe tomorrow either. >__<

*****

On a side note: the Next> button on innit is working well now ^^;;

Hiyashi is talking about shoes?!?

You rarely get this out of me. In fact, I'm probably surprising some of my closest friends with this post. Hiyashi is talking about shoes? Impossible! That's just too lady of her.

HA-HA.

And yes that laugh was meant to be sarcastic. I can be feminine when I choose to be.

*flutter eyelids*

Okay, umm... that's just over-doing it.

*shivers*

But BUT! Aren't they just lovely?

Note: Anyone notice anything weird about the picture above? I think it's pretty obvious since it was badly done. *shameful me*

My colleagues say Hiyashi's a sucker for shoes with big flower or ribbon-ish thing on top of them. Boy were they wrong because...

There are flowers under the shoes as well. HAHAHA.
Pretty from top to bottom.

Excuse me for the dirty sole cause I wore them before I took the photos.
*paiseh paiseh* Paiseh stuff must say in small small font size. What is lagi paiseh is the fact that I took this photos more than a month ago. Yup, these were my CNY shoes. You do the simple math. -.-;; And yup, they're old and worn now. BUT...!!! They're still lovely. *hearts*

The Good Old Fashion Way

And I do literally mean the good old fashion way.


TA-DA!

It's been years since I last got myself in such a pyjamas. The last time I attempt I told the sales girl that I'm looking for such a pyjamas, she told me people rarely look for this kind anymore, unless I'm getting married. DOT! I could swear she was laughing at me on the inside. -.-;; I continue my search but I never open my mouth and voice my request ever again after that. Till mom presented me with this right on Chinese New Year's Eve. Haha.

I say people don't know how to appreciate the little things in life and the little things we were brought up with.

***********

And in funny English I said
"Look me. Look me."

and mom said
"Well well. You don't actually look like a Vietnamese girl going off to do her marketing."

Fine. I admit I'm weird that way. *sigh*