Japan Trip Part 1

[rkold]

I've been posting sporadically, but not really saying too much about Japan. Now with the trip over, it seems the perfect time to do a re-cap.


Since I had planned my trip to have no check ins coming to Japan, I had booked a flight which gave me only 1 1/2 hours of layover in San Francisco. Unfortunately, my flight was delayed and I sat on the runway for a good 45 minutes for no apparent reason. The flight to SFO had some built in time for delays so I got in about 11:45 for my 12:35 flight. Figuring I had 15 minutes until they started boarding, I ran to the sandwich shop and the dessert place to pick up some snacks for the flight. However, when I arrived at my gate at noon, everyone had already boarded and United planned to try to leave at 12:23. o_O; I rushed on and was able to snag enough room for my suitcases, but just barely. Our flight of course did not leave at 12:23 nor did it leave at the scheduled 12:35. The flight itself was not horribly memorable, except that when I got off, it was just lovely to be able to go through immigration and be able to walk out. I met yanchamonkey and together we collected everything I would need for this trip and headed back to Wakayama-ken. For some reason the trains were running a bit off that day, but it wasn't so bad and I think I fell asleep early exhausted from all my traveling.

The next day, I decided to go shopping in Osaka. With my rail pass I caught a train to Tennoji before heading to Namba. My train had been delayed coming up because of a small earthquake, though I'd not felt it at all. I got some adorable Geass keychains and the Suzaku, CC, and Lelouch Chibi I voice figures, but managed to resist all the Seed figures despite wanting the I voice Chibi Kira and Shinn to go with my Lux. I peeked in Volks to see which of the recent Spring and Dolpa outfits were still available but nothing of interest was there. I also gave in and got a Pash magazine to get a clearfile. >>; I had tried t contact Dezarii on DoA to meet for lunch, but it hadn't quite worked out so we made plans to meet for lunch the next day.

The next day, I took a fast trip to Tennoji again to meet Dezarii for lunch in Shinsaibashi. We went to the Mexican place I like in Osaka. It was lovely to get to meet again though we were having so much fun I only had 10 minutes to make my Kuroshio to visit muscatlove. It's not that it would have been horrible to miss my train, I just was not overly keen on waiting an hour for the next one. Because Jenn lives rather far from Osaka, by the time I got there it was relatively late in the day. We did a bit of shopping before working on dinner in her apartment. One interesting thing about this trip was I ate home cooked meals for a good portion of the first half of my trip.

Saturday, I rented a bicycle and Jenn and I went back to the beach near where she lived. Had I thought of it, we could have gone for karaoke, which is really sort of too bad, as I never got a chance to make it this last trip, one of my few regrets. Ah well. The beach was lovely, even after the clouds came in and it started to drizzle. Though we ended up getting a little wet while we bicycled out to do some shopping. I felt a little wistful as I doubt I will be going to the city where Jenn lives again once she leaves JET. It's sort of pretty down there, and I'm the sort of person who becomes very attached to places. By 5:00, I had to return my bicycle and get ready for the next part of my trip, an overnight in Tokyo so I can attend Doll Show. It was a very very long trip. Over 2 hours to Shin Osaka and then another 3 to Tokyo, getting me in close to midnight. I usually stay at hotel near the event, but the price had been higher because of Golden Week, and the hotel was not really worth the price. Instead I had decided to try a little place in Ginza that was surprisingly affordable. The room was tiny, but as it was just me, and I had barely any luggage I can't really complain.

Sunday, was Doll Show, and I was planning to meet kellyhime there at 6:30 am. I was a tad late, but I'd also been able to make contact with some of my dealer friends, so I knew I was getting a dealer's pass again. *_______* Doll Show has started giving out numbers at 8:00 am, which is really shame, since it's so popular and people are still getting there at 7:00 am which is when they use to give out numbers. I paid for a book and got a number and promised to give Kelly mine if it was better than hers or if she wanted to try to get her a pass as well. (I was #85 I think and she was over 200. This was the start of my luck with lotteries this trip. ) We went to the nearby coffee shop before heading back to the show to line up and such. My friends were running late so instead of going around taking pictures pre-show like last time, I actually helped to do a lot of the set up. I was a bit disappointed that they were not showing SD-13 boy or SD boy clothes, as that was what I was most interested in. I went to Hitomiya first, and was so amused, the person who makes the eyes knows me now! I'm like the wacky foreigner who always buys eyes lol I guess it helps that i've bought at 3 Doll Shows and I Doll now. I met back up with Kelly, bought a few things and took lots of pictures. Eventually, I had to leave as I had tickets for the shinkansen so I could make the transfer smoothly in Shin Osaka for the line to Kate's. Everything went off without a hitch and I got to see Fuji-san as the sun set. I'm glad, because after that Japan either really smogged up or got more humid as Fuji-san did not make another appearance for me.

Monday was my day to completely relax and not do much of anything. It's actually sort of nice to have a vacation day like that once in while. lol Kate played with her new Wii and I enjoyed watching. For those who don't know, I don't much like playing video games but I positively adore watching them. We also had another earthquake, this one I actually felt. It was all of a 1, but the epicenter was only a few miles from where I was.

Tuesday was my day to visit Tenshi no Sato. I was a bit nervous after all my credit card problems last trip. I was ordering a head for me and a full doll for a friend. It was of course the first day during my trip when it rained. I had been hoping to go to the monkey park, but slogging up a small mountain in the rain==not fun, so that idea got scrapped. On the bright side, it kept the crowds in Arashiyama down and I was able to do a little walking around and picture taking before going to Sato. I looked at the One-Offs (There was a Madoka posed with a F-33, a School B and a Cecil who got my attention) but thankfully none I needed. I had to wait nearly an hour to place my FCS order, as some Japanese people managed to sneak in before me and one woman took 30 minutes to decide on a wig color. o_O; (She was buying a MSD F-18 and wanted her doll to look like Kurumi's little sister) My orders went surprisingly fast and after much internal debating, I decided to go for the F-34 head over the F-33 as the F-34 is slightly larger and more youthful looking. The F-33 is also a bit square and I wanted more something a little heart shaped. Much to my embarrassment and annoyance, my Visa failed. ~.~ Fortunately, this time I had the foresight to call my OTHER Visa before the trip and warn them I was going to Japan and that one worked!!! Of course this now means I have probably $100 to spend at Starbucks, but so it goes. Getting back to Kate's proved to be something of an adventure. The first direct train wasn't for another 1 1/2 hours, which seemed awful long to wait. The JR clerk offered me a direct to Himeno where I could then change to a local but that seemed sort of stupid. Finally, I suggested a shinkansen to Shin Osaka and there changing to the limited express line that goes direct. I had just crossed into the shinkansen section of the JR Kyoto station when I saw a train going to Shin Osaka was coming in literally 2 minutes. I raced up the stairs, caught that one and then raced in 5 minutes to catch an earlier limited express. I wish the JR clerk had just TOLD me about those trains even if he couldn't book me passage. In fact, had I know a shinkansen was arriving imminently I could have booked a seat on the limited. I think that is the most frustrating thing about JR. They don't always list the trains arriving within 10 minutes, making it harder to figure out optimal connections unless you research it ahead of time on line.

Wednesday was another day of long train trips. Kate, Jenn, Tina and I were all headed to Tokyo for Golden Week. We took up the Limited Express to Shin Osaka (which is seriously becoming one of my most used train stations lol) I scrounged around the station for some food, having run a little late doing some grocery shopping earlier in the morning and managed to find vegetarian pizza, go me! I spent the trip from Osaka to Tokyo watching densha otoko on my ipod (can I just say again how much my video ipod is the win?) We all ate dinner together and then Tina traveled to Odaiba with me as we were staying near big sight that night. Both of us tried to go to bed early as tomorrow was the start of events.

Thursday we both got up at some horrible time in the morning and went over to Super Comic City Day 1. Kashi had plans to release a Code Geass bag and I *HAD* to have it. I was hoping to pick up as many Geass extras as I could, since nothing beats doujinshi extras. Other than Geass, day 1 featured FMA (why Tina was there), Seed, Clampy things, random goods, and TV shows/movies. We made it to SCC by about 6:30 and I'm proud to say we were in the second column. My new goal is to someday be in the first column, but 2nd is pretty darn good. I went back through my catalog marking off not just Geass things I wanted but also looking through my favorite section for amusement value: TV/Movies. Lost was got some text only, several circles were doing Supernatural and I almost bought some, and of course the most amusing thing ever and had the art been even half way decent I would have bought it Mac x P.C. Yes, some circle out there was doing Mac x P.C. slash based on the Japanese commercials. I picked up some great Geass books as well as 2 bags, 2 clear files, some little lamis, and glasses. I just wish there were circles making little dolls lol Geass is definitely growing. Poor Seed has been hemorrhaging though and FMA is definitely getting smaller. I got two new sketches and missed getting a sketch from Jet Monster by a little bit as well as some big Geass circle that does Schniezel x Suzaku. Ah well, next time. The other big highlight for Thursday was the arrival of my husband. Yes, the man who puts up with all my crazy collecting obsessions was actually coming back to Japan, and his flight was due to arrive Thursday afternoon. We rented a cell phone so that he could contact me and we met at Tokyo station. Then it was off to dinner at a tofu restaurant in Shibuya with Jenn, Kate, Tina, Tim and a friend of theirs from Gaidai I'd not met (or at least I don't think I had) named Woo. Woo was extremely nice and friendly and from New York, so understood that Japanese bagels were NOT bagels, and the same goes for Lenders *sniffs nose* If a bagel is not from NY it's just not a bagel. The tofu was fabulous. It was rich and creamy and just so delicious and I would definitely go back there. Sadly, I could not stay and do karaoke with everyone as Kennis and I had two events the next day.

Friday was both Doll Party and Super Comic City Day 2. We had decided to go to Doll's Party first and I was going to wait on the Sumika line while my husband tried the LE line. We'd made deals with Kelly and Archangel Raphael that whichever of us had the best # would try to get vouchers for the others. I had my heart set on getting Shinn and Lin the new Yos. Shinn is just so perfect as Lulu and Lin was too cute too resist. At around 7:45 in the morning, I received a text from my husband he was #428! 428!!!!! Now that might not seem good to some people, but it's important to understand that the numbers go up to close to 5000. Also, if one thinks about it unless there are only 427 of a doll, one's chances of getting said doll are very high. Archangel was over 1200 and poor Kelly's husband was over 4900! O_O (Kelly was doing to the dealer's room first, and her husband was waiting on the LE line.) So my darling patient wonderful husband was able to get nearly every single doll we wanted. He waited on line from nearly 6:30 am until close to 11:30 am when he was finally able to pay. Meanwhile, at the Sumika, I was # 92. One would think this number would let me get the things I most wanted, the CyberCat MSD outfits and the cute brown MSD outfits. You would be wrong. Both sold out before I got into the Sumika, though I was able to get nearly all the H. Naoto Jeans for Kelly and 1 pair for Kim. After the Sumika, I decided to check out SCC. One would think by 11:00 one could just walk in, on that count, one would be wrong again. I had to go all the way around the darn building and then wait another 30 minutes before I could go in. o_O Though I did get a few doujinshi I wanted and found out some ToriShishi circle is moving to do really pretty LuluSuzu! *___* Plus I got another sketch. I then went bak to Dolpa, did a little shopping and much hanging out with Archangel, who was super awesome. I got 13 raffle tickets for the raffle for Sei and Rei Tenshi (and posters) and didn't even win one of the 50 posters! ;;_;; Exhausted, I went back to the hotel, tried to track down the jeans I bought for Kelly, before heading to Shibuya to meet Jenn for dinner with Tara and two of her friends whose names slip my mind. I got Indian and then went back to the hotel.

Saturday, we walked around Odaiba and I found the lovely field of poppies. I also got to see one of the most amazing sights ever, a man carrying around his pet rabbit in a basket. It was so cute, and the rabbit just sat in the basket and didn't try to jump out. He let me pet the bunny and I was most amused. I wanted to ask for a photo, but thought better. We then started on the long trek back to Osaka. My husband has been sightseeing around Tokyo before, and so we decided this trip to explore the Kansai region. Plus we couldn't turn in miles for his ticket if he flew out of Tokyo. So we got unreserved seats on the shinkansen and headed to Osaka. That evening I did a bit of walking around Namba and a little research for our next few days.




The beach near where muscatlove lives




Doll Show display, I believe based off Slam Dunk. I love how they made the wigs of the short hairstyles.


Pretty dresses




Crap picture of Fuji-san, but this was the best of the bunch this trip ~.~


Azaleas


Arashiyama in the rain




The Dolpa booth I wish I had bought things from ;;_;;


Tokyo Big Sight


For Kim XD;;


Poppies and the ferris wheel




For those who haven't seen on DoA, Utako (Yo!Lin)


Rainbow Bridge


Captain Santa's favorite expressions lol

Comments

[ladybrick.livejournal.com]

I always like reading your Japan posts :)

I would love it if Hitomiya or Silver or any other high-quality glass eye makers were at the L.A. Dolpa. Are you going to go to that? It would be great to finally meet you in person :)

[rkold.livejournal.com]

Probably not ^^;; It's nearly as expensive to go to LA for me as to go to Japan, and unlike Japan, I can't really see myself wanting to spend a whole week in LA >>;

Hitomiya is not likely to go. They skip a lot of the Dolpas actually and were only at Doll Show this last round. Silver seems to go to most Dolpas, though I'm not sure they would come to LA. A lot depends on how Volks sells it to the Japanese just because it is a huge time and money investment. Going to Huis Ten Bosch might take a few hours by plane for someone in Tokyo, but doesn't involve time zones.

I'm glad you enjoy my posts, you should try to make it to Japan! :D

[ladybrick.livejournal.com]

Oh, there's so much to do in L.A. and the surrounding areas. I've been here 18 months and I've barely scratched the surface. Love it here (except when there are brush fires :/ )

I know at the Halloween party, there was talk of Volks flying a plane full of dealers out, but I don't know how likely that actually is. I want eeeeeeyyyyyyyeeeeeeees ^^; Seriously, I'm so addicted to the quality glass eyes and they are so hard to find -_- A pair of Silver eyes I was watching on YJ a few weeks ago went for 30000+ yen! That makes Zouks look like a bargain.

I really want to go to Japan at some point (I'd have done JET if I hadn't gotten into grad school) I wouldn't want to go by myself, though. And I'd really need to relearn a lot of Japanese. And I'd need to get a passport ^^;

[twotone]

Thanks for sharing your adventures... and all these great pictures! :D (loving all the creative boy wigs in the Slam Dunk photo!)

I hope Kennis had a great time.

[rkold.livejournal.com]

Not that JET isn't great, but if your goal is going to events it is not ideal. JET generally puts you in locales that are not so close to the huge cities where events are held. For one of my friends to go to Osaka it is $40+ round trip by bus, and if she wants Tokyo it's more like $200 one way by train. I don't think you need to know a lot of Japanese to go to Japan. (Though you do need a valid passport) My first trip I spoke no Japanese at all. ^^;

I went to LA twice and really didn't enjoy it. I really really hate driving, and LA is not a walking/public transportation sort of place. It's one reason I love Japan, I love taking trains everywhere.

Silver is not so easy to get in Japan which is why they sell so high. I had to wait a good 20 minutes additional to get some pairs at Dolpa and I had to wait 20 minutes for Hitomiya at Doll Show despite being able to line up literally as soon as the event started because of my pass. I've seen at least one other handmade glass eye circle at events but they're not as popular. Silver and Hitomiya have the biggest followings, with Hitomiya having the longest lines overall. At I Doll, I waited 45 minutes for Hitomiya despite the show being only about 50 dealers.

And yeah, I know what Volks said about getting a plane, they told me they want 500 dealers/fans. But I think it's a bit trickier than something like say NY Dolpa because logistically there are a lot of things to work out that I'm not completely sure Volks has thought of. ^^;;; It's also just the issue that most Japanese people have jobs and they just can't take off a lot of time. Very few doll people don't have non-doll jobs. Ignoring price, attendance means arriving the day before an event and leaving the day after at the barest minimum, or 4 days total because of the time change. It also depends on whether Volks times the event for the same time as Doll Show and I Doll. ^^;

[rkold.livejournal.com]

I'd like to think he did. lol I need to edit a few more pictures so I can share part 2. ^_^

[ladybrick.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, at the time, I wasn't even interested in going to events in Japan, so being in a rural area was fine with me :) I took three semesters of Japanese in college but forgot almost all of it ^^;

Ahh, it's a shame there aren't any fairly easily available super high-quality glass eyes anymore. I think I've said this 5 or 6 time in your LJ now ^^;

Whatever happens with the L.A. Dolpa, I'm sure it will be fun. And little-known fact: L.A. DOES have a subway. I don't know where it goes, though ^^;;

[rkold.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I know LA has a subway, I saw the movie "Volcano" XD;; But realistically, you do need to drive if you want to get around LA and I really just hate driving. Usually I force my husband to do it, and I certainly couldn't drag him to Dolpa. ^^;;

If you took any Japanese at all, you could definitely manage a trip to Japan and then could look for the eyes you want yourself XD; Though the one problem is of course hoping to get the right size and color. I've been trying to get 14 mm purple for quite some time.

[reynardine.livejournal.com]

Favorite pic so far is the ferris wheel with the poppies. There's something whimsical, yet wistful about that image. :-)

[kellyhime.livejournal.com]

It was so great to read about your travel adventures! We've decided that our next trip will just be Kansai, so I'll definitely be asking you for suggestions.

It was great being able to spend time together and I still can't thank you enough for all the help you gave me!

[blacktempest.livejournal.com]

Love the photos, especially the one of the bridge over water!

Can't wait to see you in NY, it's what, less than a month away now? *excited!* Last time I was shy and we didn't get to talk much but I hope we'll get to talk more this time!

[rkold.livejournal.com]

It was very random for us lol The ferris wheel is one of the big sights in Odaiba, but I'd never realized there were poppies on the other side. I actually went on the ferris wheel in 2004, and got semi-hysterical because I'm extremely acrophobic, despite my love of roller coasters.

[rkold.livejournal.com]

Glad I could be of help. ^_^

I knew the answer to your question on your LJ, but thought it would be cheating to answer it :P I'm so impressed with all your event pictures and the fact you edited them all already. I'm so slow about editing things, and during events I sometimes get overwhelmed and forget to take pictures. ^^;

I really like kansai, there is so much to see and do!

[rkold.livejournal.com]

This time I am volunteering, so I'm not sure how much I will be able to talk. >>;; But as I am now unemployed, if you come out a bit before/after the event I could probably slip into NYC to meet up. (Where I live is quite boring unless your goal is to see my marauding fuzzle cats and the Whole Foods I spend too much money at lol) I do want a chance to talk though! I confess, I have a tendency to be a little shy with people too.

The bridge is rather famous, and I can't remember if you said you know YnM, but it appears during the Kyoto Arc when Tatsumi and Watari come and join Tsuzuki and Hisoka.

[mec]

Welcome back! *hugs*

It's not often I can look at photos of Japan and say, "Hey, I've been to that place!", but I'm feeling nostalgic now. Sounds like you had a good trip, transport troubles notwithstanding, and I'm firmly convinced Kennis must be the best husband in the world. So incredibly patient!

On a completely random note, I'm going to have to ask you to lend me your expertise on Japanese post offices - specifically, options for mailing a parcel out from Japan. My brother is headed back to Hokkaido in a couple of months and has decided this time he's going to buy a bunch of books while he's there and mail them back to himself, but as he's never had occasion to post anything back he doesn't know what sort of options are available for international mail. I realise that the cost of sending to the UK will be different to sending to the US, but if you have any general advice to offer it would be much appreciated!

[rkold.livejournal.com]

Well, depends on how valuable the books are and how soon he wants them XD;

There are 4 ways to send things from Japan as far as I know, Jenn might know others. ^^;

In order of price/speed:
EMS (super expensive and super fast to the US, I get things via EMS on average of 2-3 days after it was sent)
Airmail
Airmail small packet
SeaMail

I know for say, a 5 pound doll EMS will run you 3700 yen or around $34 US. You get insurance and a tracking number and is super reliable (Though I've heard once it gets to England it gets turned over to some other service that is not so good. British people on the doll boards are constantly complaining about crappy British postal services holding things up in transit) 5 pounds worth of items will be MORE expensive via airmail. In fact Airmail from Japan always costs more than EMS except for the very low amounts in which case you are better off using Small Packet. Small Packet Airmail takes about a week and a bit to get here and is not so expensive and quite good. The problem is it has weight and size limits, though depending on the books, if he sent them each separately, it might be cheaper to do small packet for each. (What sort of books are we talking here? The Tsubasa artbook? manga? Something as big as a Jump?) Seamail is the slowest and cheapest and people have had reported damage. I just sent myself something via seamail because it is an aerosol can and not be sent air.

Well, the unposted part of the trip is about all the things we did special for him, including spending 3000 yen on cabs to find some shinto shrines >>;

[mec]

He's going to be there for three months, so I don't think he'll be in any rush for them to get back. ^_^ Sean says thank you very much for the info. (I can't believe he lived there for two years and never had a reason to find any of this out for himself!)

As for the books, we're talking paperback novels. He likes to practise his Japanese by reading JP versions of classics e.g. Les Miserables, The Three Musketeers etc., and it's a lot easier for him to pick them up while he's actually in Japan. He doesn't want to have to try to get them home in a suitcase, though, hence the parcel.

Though I've heard once it gets to England it gets turned over to some other service that is not so good. British people on the doll boards are constantly complaining about crappy British postal services holding things up in transit

Depends. Sometimes parcels from Japan get here amazingly quickly - a couple of days - and sometimes they get held up by Parcel Force or we get hit with charges for anything over £18 in value. (Which is why I never write the real value on *anything*.)

Thanks again for the help!

[mec]

Ooh, I've never heard of that one. Thanks for that, I shall pass the info on to my brother. I'm pretty sure it's only books he wants to send back, so the M-bag might very well be an option for him.