31 October 2012

(☆ω★) ハッピーハロウィン

 ハ
Today is Halloween~ another reason why I love October so much. (ノ)´ω`(ヾ) Yesterday while talking to my Boyfriend I decided to go carve my pumpkin~ he asked me if I were to eat it, and in all honesty, I have never ate pumpkin in my life, and don't plan to either. (Although I was tempted to purchase pumpkin candy, totally the same, really).
Complementary before and after photos! I had sent multiple photos to my Boyfriend via mail, as a result my phone has the pungent smell of pumpkin and I hate it. (つ3;`) I hope next time to celebrate with my Boyfriend, or at least to go visit D-chan so I can carve pumpkins with him! Actually Halloween in Japan seems so fun and I would love to experience it. For a nation that is very superstitious about ghosts and ghouls, this is one Holiday they don't forget. Nearly every building in Yokohama had some form of Halloween item in it's window, celebrating the beginning of Fall and welcoming the seasonal changes. (´ω`。)
 
While I was at Tokyo Disney Sea, I picked up some chocolates as a gift for my family. I was torn between cookies or just regular chocolates, both the same style tin. Actually at the Gift Shop there were even Christmas goods out, and well, as always in most Disney themed stores I spend an eternity browsing.
My family tend to not eat anything I bring back from Japan -- Why? Because of packaging and sentimental value (for myself) but these were around 1,200JPY so it is mandatory they eat these, AND the ones I got them in March. The packaging overall is super cute, and we have yet to eat any! So hopefully tonight we will get to share a piece!
I'm putting a couple bracelets out for some younger Trick or Treaters, they glow in the dark so they will be really nice~ we usually get really young Monsters early evening, but honestly, we get very few Monsters now.. more chocolate for me!

I hope everyone has a safe and very happy Halloween!!

28 October 2012

(*・ω・*) 東京ディズニーシー

Oct 17 2012: After a long discussion, we finally agreed on a trip to Tokyo Disney Sea. Kanako voted it was better than Tokyo Disney Land (she was right!) We met up at the station before heading to get the Bus direct from Yokohama. It wasn't a long journey, though one of our companions fell asleep and my Boyfriend decided to stick tissue up his nose! (´∀`) Boys will be boys!
Once we arrived we headed straight towards 'Journey to the centre of the Earth' however one member of the group was too small! So we made a pitstop at the bathroom -- and well, we made him taller. ψ(`∇´)ψ We changed direction and headed to 'Raging Spirits' as always there is a queue, and a huge groups of fast pass ticket holders kept walking by!! Our smallest and youngest member of the group was so brave, we had to shield the fact it had a 360-degree loop however.
Because it is October, and close to Halloween, the entire park was themed. Sadly I couldn't find Stitch, or the skeleton Stitch either. While we were waiting around also, Kanako disappeared only to return with Birthday stickers, every time Staff saw you at the park, they would wish you 'Happy Birthday' and applaud.

The weather was a little dreary but it didn't kill our moods. We stopped off to eat, in an old New York Deli, super cute theme, and as always my Boyfriend picked up a beer token. (◎∀◎)We also went to eat the famous Disney chicken, that is so BIG you felt prehistoric eating it!! Oh, and more beer consumed!!

When the night was coming to an end, we saved the best ride until last, and Kanako and I went to fetch fast pass tickets. Our final ride was, 'Tower of Terror' and, OH MY GOD, is it amazing. Our youngest member was basically trembling, and I kept offering him my (boyfriends) jacket so he could hide. Poor thing!
Afterwards, Kanako went and purchased the photo, and actually, my face didn't look too -- bad. Not as bad as the one taken during Indiana Jones Adventure, I was literally trying to hide my face in my Boyfriends chest.. OTL
Afterwards we went to get gifts, and I got my Boyfriend and I couple phonestraps of Stitch and Angel. At first he was hesitant to accept Stitch, because I favour him more than Angel. All the gift bags in Disney Sea were Halloween themed too, SUPER CUTE. I love Halloween.
We soon had to run for the Bus because the last Train was soon, and the Bus took an hour or two to get back. Sods law that we got stuck in traffic too. Everyone slept on the bus, and I am convinced that is where I caught my cold, the driver kept altering the air-con, at points it was stupidly hot and horrible on the bus.
Once we arrived at the station, I had to say my good bye to Kanako. It didn't help the fact she was so sleepy, but it ended up being emotional as I passed her a letter. But thankfully now, we have exchanged all information to keep in touch, and I promised her I would be back soon!

 (ノ)´ω`(ヾ) かなこちゃん!ありがとうございますー! ☆




(I am a little behind on blogs. I appologise in advance for lack of updates AND spam posts)

9 October 2012

★ Happy Happy Birthday ★

Oct 7 2012: It was my Birthday! I received a sweet mail from my Boyfriend exactly at 00:00am Japan time. Even though we were sitting in the same room, however the mail was completely in English so I was really happy he is trying hard for me.
Once morning came we slept in until 11am and I used some time to reply to messages, mail and comments from all over. Thank you. ( ´ ▽ ` )ノ Finally I had to talk on the phone to my Friends, and they too wished me  happy birthday, in Japanese and English. The second Friend turned it into a comedy call.

Me: moshi moshi?
Him: HELLO
Me: hello!
Him: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Me: Ah~ thank you!
Him: MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Me: .. ah.. Merry.. Christmas!? (;´Д`A ```

Afterwards we made plans to meet in the evening for purikura. Kanako had asked a couple times in the past, and when we once were to head that way, it was full of Students. So I asked my Boyfriend if we could all take it that evening. Yay!

We planned to go to 横浜赤レンガ倉庫 (Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse), which is an AMAZING building here. It's actually where the Miku Hatsune live was held near the waterfront. Before we went to 横浜ランドマークタワー  (Yokohama Landmark Tower). It is home to the fastest elevator in Japan, and you travel 69 floors in 40 seconds. The location of the building is pretty much right outside the train exit. It's very easy to locate too!
On the 69th floor, you get a huge view of Yokohama, once again it was overcast so we weren't able to see Mt. Fuji.

   
It had a fantastic view! It was similar to the one in Sunshine City, however I felt the one in Yokohama was far better (not being biased, at all) but the view had a lot more to offer, maybe because the water breaks up the concrete jungle appearance? I also managed to get a photo of Yokohama Baseball stadium, I believe.
We could see the Red Brick Warehouse from the Sky Garden, and noticed there was a festival.
Yokohama Oktoberfest 2012 
 
We went to look around shopping first inside, though I only returned with candy since the shops were packed out, it was incredibly hot and -- well, Lush has an over powering frgrance, and it seemed they were competing with the Coffee Shop next door. So once the candy was obtained we went to buy tickets for the Oktoberfest, much to my little Beer Monsters delight.  ヾ(*゜、ω゜*)ノ゚+.
This was the only time I had seen so many foreigners in Yokohama, and they were all American too. One guy to say the least was trying to liven everyone up. "Why is everyone so quiet!? Come on, make some noise!" and then 'whoo-ing' at everyone. Uh..
We had beer in a boot! So cute. I had a fit when I saw the total price, it came to 6,600yen. Seriously. But then I realised if you took the glass back you got money back! I would have hit my Boyfriend for spending that much on a beer. If he wants to drink out of a boot he can use mine. (」゚Д゚)」オオオオォォォォォ!!!

Afterwards we headed back, but decided to stop for purikura. Of course planned journeys never turn out as planned. Heading back to the train resulted in, stopping for purikura, but first stopping at Kiddyland to buy a Stitch figure, and then stopping at every UFO catcher before FINALLY getting purikura. Oh I won a giant Stitch too.. I was pleased with the amount we spent on getting him, because in the stores I'm sure he'd be well over 3,000yen and we spent less than 1,500yen. Plus my competitive side kicked in when I saw another young couple eyeing the game waiting for me to give up in defeat Σ(-`Д´-ノ;)ノ?!
Eventually we left and went back home to meet everyone at another Game Center. Everyone was late, but Hiro arrived first and we wandered around the Game Center for a little and he won me another figure, and a cute plush toy. Eventually Kanako came running in to see us and finally everyone else arrived so we headed in for purikura. It was so fun, though I was nervous too. 。:゚(。ノω\。)゚・。 Kanako had wrote all of our names on the purikura, including 'Ari Birthday' it's so cute.
We were all super hungry, so we headed for food and beer~ and they sang me Happy Birthday in English. Kanako handed me a gift from her (and perhaps her Boyfriend). It's part of the Super Lovers Halloween set - and I absolutely adore it!! I want to write her a letter to thank her, but my Japanese handwriting is bad. I also need to exchange Twitter names with her and mail address. The night was so fun, I got to talk to Daiki slightly with help from Kanako. He doesn't seem so shy any more, and I even managed to get a high five from him during his burst of hyper activity from my Boyfriend playing chase with him. Yeah, a bunch of 20 plus year olds playing in a park at 11:30pm, yet Daiki insisted he wasn't sleepy.

Once we got back home I had a Skype video call with my Mum, she put everyone on, Dad, Brother, Uncle and even my Great Grandma. I miss them a lot. But it was good to see them via video call, even though now my spoken English is TERRIBLE, I said 'nani' and 'daijoubu' so many times FAIL. ヽ( ゚∀゚)ノ My Boyfriend resisted going on camera a couple times, so I had to speak to him from the side, in Japanese, so my Mum was asking me what I was saying. So complicating switching from one language to another.