meet-up with ri

One whole week but I finally have time to write about my meet up with Ri last week! Write-up itself is small because we spent a lot of really lovely time talking so we'll go the scenic route.

And yes. I did retro-filter the hell out of these photos.

Anyway so Ri and I met up in Harajuku in the morning and walked over to Yoyogi Park intending on some last minute hanami but to our surprise we ran into the Doggy Carnival instead! I like cats too but I'm much more a dog person so my face was basically

We didn't see any particularly gorgeous hanami around--and by that I mean really any--so after getting solicited by a particularly handsome water salesman we parked it on a bench with some takoyaki.

Ri is ridiculously easy to talk to and super down to earth. We were both inspired by the same type of thing to come here and it seems like we're both slowly starting to be able to follow our dreams. So...yay!

 

When we crossed over into actual Yoyogi Park we found the Horde of Evil Crows. No really, they were insane. 

Despite the actual lack of hanami in the park, there were a ton of people there! Really nice to see Tokyo so full and teeming with life again. We did however find the above few trees and a lot of very young hanami groups and this very nice middle-age couple that took this two-shot for us.

Ri was so stylish and pretty in her coord, too!

After that we headed back to Harajuku so Ri could get a shirt from the Hangry&Angry store. So nostalgic! Also popped into Deal Design and Candy Stripper before running into this crowd of people waiting for a famous model who neither of us knew to come driving out of a back alley? Yeah.

Lastly we headed to Shibuya where Ri was giving an interview and I had a friend's show to go to so we popped into a cute cafe for some cake and ice cafe lattes. I think that was my third that day if I remember correctly.

After (sadly) parting ways with Ri I headed over to Shibuya Cyclone to see FEAR FROM THE HATE play. I used go to visual-kei shows, but I've been sporadically hitting up a few metal/screamo/hardcore shows and I have to say they're pretty fun. I don't throw down for them but it's still nice to watch metal and the atmosphere is so much more relaxed than visual shows. No stress. Just lots of death-voice. It's kind of nice to be honest.

Basically the biggest pain-in-the-ass to find livehouse next to Holiday, however

Got home stupidly late and got up bright and early the next morning to meet up with my bb, Caroline! We haven't seen each other since the quake and it was so good to be reunited. Had lunch at our beloved T.G.I.Friday's and sadly our little baby waiter wasn't there. He was lulzy. I liked him.

Afterward we proceeded to the PARCO in Ikebukuro where we were on a mission to have our matching EGOIST hat purikura.

Favorite favorite favorite!

Caroline's so cute here X3

The EGOIST in the Ikebukuro PARCO always has at least one rude staff girl working every time I go in but they were legit so nice to us that day! I think it's because Caroline was already dressed up and I was head to toe in EGOIST save for my black tank top and shoes. In the words of Janice Ian, "Suck on that! Aieieie!"

After Caroline and I parted ways, I met up with a friend so I could assist with something for his band. I don't really want to say anything else until things are more concrete but it was really fun and I'm glad I could help them out even a little bit. Hopefully I'll be able to say more later but let's just say I'm ridiculously excited that it looks like little by little my dreams are starting to come true, too. I still have a long way to go and I need to figure out how I'm going to get there but, I'm getting somewhere and right now that's all that matters to me.

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sakura at kanda river

Hello hello!

The last time I blogged I was still safe and sound at my parents' house in Atlanta. Seeing some friends, not getting a chance to see some, eating a lot of good food I missed, and watching Tangled a little more than once.

Can I just say how much I love Flynn Rider? Oh, excuse me. EUGENE.

I got back to Tokyo on April 2nd to...a lot of mixed feelings. I love my life here but it was really hard to leave my family this time. My mom and I cried. Almost every day I was home. I'd be lying if I said it didn't break my heart to leave this time. The last time I left I had a burning desire to follow through on the dream I'd been chasing since I was 12. A year later, I'd already done a ton of things and part of my dream had been realized,

I'd gone to shows, most of my friends that had been studying abroad had gone home and it felt really, really lonely coming back this time.  

Thankfully though, most things get better with time (or at least I like to think so!) and I've gradually gotten back into the swing of things here again. Also have a new girl at my company who's two years younger than me but we get along so well and never run out of stuff to talk about.

I gained a bit of weight in the states--and yes 2-3 pounds makes me freak out because Japan can give you a weight complex like whoa--so I decided to go for a jog. I live on Meiji Dori So I could basically run all the way to LIQUIDROOM if I wanted to!

However. I prefer going down every side-street I can find. I love Japan's wabisabi architecture; from the country places to neighborhoods here in Tokyo and I found some of the coolest places on jogs when I lived in Yokohama, too.

I turned on a side street off of Meiji Dori and pass by this shrine on my way. I always want to go take a closer look but literally every time I stumble on ones like this I'm in running clothes and I don't know. It just makes me feel kind of weird, you know? Like disrespectful somehow.

But even with my shitty!keitai is shitty phone I managed to get this shot!

Photoshopped to high hell on colors but the sun is reaaaaaaal. Up ahead I saw this huge crowd of people and a ton of sakura!

I'd accidentally ran all the way to Kanda River! It's actually quite long so I guess it's not really that hard but I was surprised nonetheless.

 

 

I was disappointed that I forgot my normal camera because this spot would have been so pretty with, well something that wasn't a keitai. So I apologize for the shitty quality and excessive Photoshop.

Planning on doing some more hanami this weekend with Ri so I'm looking forward to our first meetup! Here's hoping to better weather than last weekend and less aftershocks.

Also a big, big THANK YOU to all of my new followers recently!

I'll try to make this blog a lot more interesting soon.

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fukuoka & nagasaki

I'm currently waiting for about 14 files of a design project left to upload to an FTP and if I leave my computer for any extended period of time, the connection gets disrupted soooo I thought I'd take the time to write about my belated trip to Kyushu in February.

Since November I'd been planning to meet my friend Becka down in Nagasaki where she JET's in a small coastal down. Since I had to transfer to a different line in Fukuoka, my friend Liz and I planned a small meet-up as well.

By the way, when traveling from anywhere to Fukuoka (i.e. the Shinkansen) ask for Hakata-eki, not Fukuoka-eki. That will take you somewhere out in Toyama-ken. Not the same. Definitely almost made that mistake.

Bourdain; the love of my life

lynch. lynch. lynch. Aka My 葉月 love continues

After I arrived in Hakata after a 6 hour shinkanesen ride, I met up with Liz so we could go to lunch. We ended up at a place called Ocean's Ono. The main requirement to work here? You must be male, and you gotta be イケメン (ikemen = good-looking) as hell. 

This whole spread was about 850yen!

The boys were just as good-looking as the food. Like an all senses buffet. It's about an 8-minute walked from Tenjin Station so if you live in or around Fukuoka or you're planning on making a visit I highly recommend it!

After that we made our way to one of the malls (can't remember which!) for some purikura. Obligatory cloudy!Fukuoka pictures.

Favorite puri with Liz!!

After that it was time to get on the Midori No. 9 line that would take me from Hakata to Haiki where I would transfer yet again to the Seaside Liner which would take me to the small town of Kawatana where Becka teaches. Headed to small family restaurant by her house for a very late but nostalgic dinner.

Hamburg steak...om nom

Coffee + dessert!

After we walked back to Becka's, we proceeded to stay up until 5:00am and sleep until 2:00pm. Catching up with a BFFL takes a lot out of you and the two of us are talkers.  I think we only made it out of the house the next day to go to Gusto for dinner.

Miiine

Becka's

We'd planned on going back into the same pattern from the night before but instead thought we'd pop into the snack bar Himawari that she lives above. 3-4 hours and several drinks later, we'd managed to sing some Gackt, Green Day and amass several old man fans.

Maybe I should start a cover band after all?

The next day we were successfully and magically up before 2:00pm! Which meant we could actually do something.

I think we managed noon?

Oh oh! But it started snowing! 

Not that it stayed...

The river on the way to her school

Sooo pretty!

Ironically we still didn't plan anything huge because Becka and I are the kind of friends that--since we met almost 4 years ago--need practically nothing to have a good time together. We talk. A lot. So we planned to head to Sasebo to have lunch and shop around a bit.

The bay Kawatana sits on

On the way to Huis Ten Bosch

Kawatana is literally right on the coast and it looked absolutely gorgeous in the daytime with the hills coming right up to the water. The water is also aquamarine up close! I'm weird and really like water and mountains when it comes to landscapes. Don't ask.

Sasebo! The US military base is here so lots of foreigners

Sasebo Burger! Life size ed.

Sasebo is famous for their Sasebo Burger--as can be seen by this person-size replica in the station. Soooo...naturally as Becka and I are both not-so-closet food-junkies, we had to.

Becka!  It's cute, don't kill me!

Derp face :B

The very delicious Sasebo Burger makes its debut

Delicious coffee in a cute cup & saucer

The coffee + burger set was about 1000yen but so worth it! I can't even tell you why the Sasebo Burger is special or unique but it was and it was delicious. The coffee was also perfect; almost as good as Puerto Rico's coffee which is my long-standing favorite.

We walked around for a while and both ending up dropping about 5000-7000 yen in a cosmetics store and Tutuanna. I needed new lashes and a lipstick and legwarmers. And by need I assume that can be loosely interpreted. No pictures because I forgot.

But we did ended up at Starbucks with one of the cutest barista boys ever. He was probably younger than both of us but we ignored it and happily enjoyed his flirty charm. Cheeky kid.

Caramel Machiatoooo

We headed to the bar again that night and sang more Gackt, more Green Day a bit of Motley Crue and a song or two from the Gazette. Found we were surprisingly decent at singing 紅蓮 until we reached the end.

The next day we'd planned on going to a dog cafe in her town but woke up too late so ended up at Gusto again. There were two Rooster boys* at the station in Kawatana. One of them had a purse. Sadly I did not get a picture.

Valentine's Day hamburg-steak

It was a looooooooong trip down to Nagasaki; in hindsight if I had looked earlier I should have tried to find a cheap flight to Nagasaki Airport or something. A 6-hour trip to Hakata by Shinkansen and then about another 2-hours to Kawatana is not easy. But! I'll do anything to see a good friend; especially one that I hadn't seen in a loooong time.

I love living in Tokyo but to but honest, when it comes to visiting places, I really like going to places that not everyone goes to. The hidden places, the smaller towns. You get to see a side of Japan and of Japanese people that you don't always see in bigger cities like Tokyo or Osaka. I'm so proud of her for doing so well down there and it was so good to see a best friend; even if we really didn't do all that much.

Due to the quake + tsunami + reactors, I don't know when my next trip will be but I have traveled a lot and I thought about posting about some of those trips? Osaka, Nagoya, Tokushima, Niigata, Sendai etc.

Does anyone have any places they'd like to see? Or questions about traveling in Japan?


* A Rooster is either a host boy or a boy who looks like a host boy. (i.e. モリモリ (big) hair, pointy shoes, etc). My roomie and I coined this last year and it's stuck ever since. 

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