watching and listening this very moment…
Browsing Junkgirl™ blog archives for June, 2010.
Been prone to mouth ulcers since I was little. Have always been using a Chinese product called Watermelon Frost which works for me. But I ran out of Watermelon Frost and isn’t sure if it’s available in the Chinese medicinal shops here. Can’t wait till the weekend to find out. So got this from the pharmacy instead. For $10.95! It better work. And work fast. Maybe I should just sprinkle some salt on it.
30 Jun 2010
Sat Dec 23 2006
On Day 2′s itinerary – Akihabara – the well-known electronics town. I think it is a blend of electronics, electrical, technology, a bit of toys/anime/manga/otaku town. I can spend all day here.
View Day 2 in a larger map
Below, one of the first store we stepped into. I bought a ‘susuwatari‘ magnet.
There’s even a physical Dell store..in Melbourne there is only the Dell Online Store
We also saw Cameron Diaz……’s ad for Softbank. Brad Pitt was also featured in Softbank’s ad on TV, walking around India talking on the keitai.
A cool store for anime/manga/otaku fans – Craftmanship Kotobukiya
Also happen to be there during the Microsoft Vista promotional event, held at Akiba Square. Too bad it’s all in Japanese.
Then had lunch at a Katsudon place in Akiba Square. Second attempt at ordering food. This one was harder because it is not machine operated. I indicated to the waiter 2 with my fingers (for 2 person) and thought that’ll do it but…he said something and I was totally lost…I looked at him and ask “err…no seats?” and he asked (in English) ‘smoking?’. Oh so that was what he said…
We had katsudon and it was oishii. The meat was very tender
Kawaii ne….
This is how a typical store – usually a hobby/toy/anime/manga store or bookstore or music store, is like in Japanese cities. Levels and levels of goods. You’ll get to level 5 and discover that there is still stairs leading up. It gets pretty tiring…
and this was beside one of the anime/manga/hobby/otaku store. Not too sure what its for…maybe for ordering to-be-release products
Night-shopping on the streets of Akihabara.
Yodobashi in Akihabara, just before we return to Shinjuku. Where else in the world can you find so much electrical, electronic and technology goods and gadgets in one store. They even have toys. This is what you call a technologically advanced and savvy nation.
At the JR Akihabara station…
We have the SUICA cards so there is no need for purchasing fares each time.
Back in Shinjuku. Below: the yatai (stall) outside the Shinjuku Station west exit
and wandering around…came across another yatai selling ramen near the Shinjuku Post Office
More late night shopping…so Asia – so ‘alive not dead’, vibrant and ‘happening’. this is another Yodobashi
I think this is near the Kabuki-cho area
Shinjuku desu…
The distributed tissue packets we managed to receive today, mostly in Akihabara.
Fri Dec 22 2006
It’s been a long, long flight from Melbourne to Sydney to Narita. Said goodbye to everything for 5 wks and left before dawn. JAL has such tight spaces…maybe it’s economy?! Anyway, the in-flight Jap movie UDON was quite good.
My first impression of Narita was that it resembled airports from 10+ years ago. Not futuristic or at least modern as I envisioned Japanese airports to be. And customs, as is anywhere in the world, wasn’t great and was pretty unorganised. Anyway, we managed our first Japanese transaction and got reserved seats on NEX (Narita Express) to Shinjuku. The trip took about an hour. I was fiddling with the backpacks during the trainride, to make it right to carry as soon as we alight and felt sick on the train – motion sickness, all the way to Shinjuku Station. Luckily i didn’t throw up..that would be a real drama.
The platform for NEX
View Arrival in a larger map
At Shinjuku Station, we were two lost backpackers amongst the weekend crowd. The crowd is unbelieveable. No wonder this is the world’s busiest station. My backpack was extremely heavy because it was done up wrongly. And we still had to find our hotel. Luckily the map guide is quite detail – we just have to locate a McDonald’s and turn left. Should’ve taken photos but when you are in that situation, you tend to not bother and focus on getting to the destination as soon as possible to unload.
The hotel we stayed in – Nishi Shinjuku Hotel…*a sigh of relief*
We still haven’t had dinner so we ventured out searching for food…first option was Makudo (McDs) but saw a Japanese eatery across the street. We should have Japanese. It was the coin-operated type…okay, that’ll be easy. problem is there are no pics on the machine (except for the specials), just Japanese characters which we can’t read. So we tried to match the characters to the plastic display on the window outside. After some fiddling and learning that we had to insert coins first before making selection, we got our order tickets and gave them to the ‘ojisan‘ at the counter. He waved to me shortly after we sat down, indicating for me to go over to the counter. He placed 2 bowls on the counter – 1 containing udon and 1 containing soba. I knew he was trying to ask which type of noodles we want for our order. Soba definitely. Not a big fan of udon.
From then on we learned to say ‘soba de’ everytime we gave our order tickets.
Kee had this – tempura squid on soba
I had plain soba with some seaweed and spring onion.
This is how the eating area looks like
Sugoi Oishi.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped to get drinks from a vending machine. The blue label indicates cold drinks and the red label indicates hot drinks. Hot can drinks from a vending machine…that’s something unusual..for me at least. And these vending machines always seem to be working, that’s what you term efficiency, unlike in some countries where your coins get ‘eaten’ by the machine. The coffee are a bit light though and they seem to all taste the same…
Corrs Lane off Lt Bourke St in Melbourne
the interior
Ma Yi Shang Shu literally translates as Ants Climbing Tree
deep-fried quail
Cummin pork
South-east Asian girls, particularly Singaporeans and Malaysians, are increasingly becoming try-hards. So hard that nothing seems natural anymore.
What is so ‘a little surprising’ about Australians pronouncing Maggi as ‘Majee’. Wait till you see Shazam or SoundHound at work.
And using the word ‘like’ in every, like, third word, just, like, annoys me, like, extremely. There are only 2 categories of people who talk like that. It’s either they are dumb or they are trying to be dumb.
Does anyone, like, talk natural anymore? Try trying a little less hard, girls. And do us a favour…if you have speech problems, please attend a speech therapy session. Yes, I may be a bitch but I’m definitely not, like, a shallow one.
Blow a vuvuzuela using the football icon, only visible if watching from the YouTube site. And only available with World Cup related vids.
on Brunswick St, Fitzroy
latte, was just…normal.
service was not too bad. the waitress acknowledged us as soon as we enter and led us to our table. it is poor service when you walk into an eatery and feel lost or unwelcome or not knowing what to do next, whether to order at the counter or from the table.
Eggs Benedict
Eggs Florentine
26 June 2010 ~ How do the graffiti artists get to those extremely difficult areas sometimes?
Location: La Trobe St, Melbourne
Rarely shop in Australia. Clothes are relatively pricey and doesn’t fit as well compared to Asian sizes.
Brown Jacket – Lowry’s Farm, Osaka
Black long sleeve t-shirt -Ceci l McBee, Osaka
Jeans – MBK, Bangkok
Brown Boots – Anne Klein, Melbourne
Brown Scarf – Sportsgirl, Melbourne
Knitted Bag – a stall in Ikebukuro, Tokyo
Walked past a store called Swindle on Brunswick St, Fitzroy. Swindle sells mainly Obey clothing and all T-shirts were reduced to $29.
Selected this one.
