Tina in Japan

Went to visit Peace Park to see the A-Dome and the other memorials around the park like the Childrens Memorial. The A-Dome was preserved in its original condition from the blast with some fix uppers to stay intact as a memorial.

The Children’s Memorial was about the girl who died from Lukemia from the radiation aftermath of the blast. The death inspired many children  to make paper cranes reaching 1000 in hope of peace. Chains of the complete cranes were displayed.

Of course I gotta try some Hiroshima Okonomiyaki being in Hiroshima! The Hiroshima version is the one with Yaki Soba inside the Okonomiyaki.

A whole bunch of us got it. It was super yummy. I personally like having the Yaki Soba inside. It feels more filling and complete.

Here’s mine, it got kinda squished. haha

The Hiroshima Memorial Museum was a lot to take. It was one of the most emotionally heavy and graphic memorials that I have been to so far in my life. The memorial consisted of three floors, the first floor was the general history of the city of Hiroshima and throughout WWII, it eventually leads to the bombing of Hiroshima and the aftermath of the city and reconstruction. Second floor was more on the aftermath and reconstruction, with information on how the atomic bomb worked and what not.

The third floor and last portion of the memorial was the main emotional kicker. Once you enter the room, there is a large wall 3D lifelike model mural of the city in burning rubbish, with three people walking around with their skin dangling off of them and other damages from the blast. It was rather disturbing, I really jumped inside when I first entered in.

The entire third floor were about the effects on the victims, and a lot of personal stories from surviving victims or family members of victims who have passed. There were many displays of personal memoirs of the victims that were left behind as a keepsake to remember them by. There were some displays of the actual spine bone or skin of the victims from the blast showing the effects of the radiation.

It was very heavy stuff. I personally couldn’t bring myself to take pictures of some of the displays.  It was a lot to take in and many visitors I saw were crying. I myself afterwards still felt affected from what I saw at the memorial. It was an excellent memorial, if you’re able to go to the Peace park in Hiroshima I recommend going to see it extremely.

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Just got back yesterday morning on a Night Bus from Hiroshima. I am never taking a Night bus to Hiroshima ever again, Shinkansen all the way from now on if I ever go back. Night buses aren’t good for me for that far of a distance. Unless I get a more comfortable bus? I took a train ride from Fukuoka to Hiroshima which took over 5-6 hours, then I took the Night bus back to Yokohama that was about 10ish hours. I’m pooped.

It was a fun few days trip. Went to Hiroshima, Mijiyama, Iwakuni, and Fukuoka. There were a lot of first timer experiences for me on this trip. One thing was being on my own at the end in Fukuoka since the entire group split three way. A group to Korea, group to Osaka, and I was on my own to explore on my own and get back on my own.

When I was on my own I stayed at a Ryokan Hotel that was a slash Udon House in Fukuoka=D. Since it was a hostel you stay in a room with other people that most of time you don’t know. I met another exchange student from Chicago studying in Kansai named Kira. We hung around Fukuoka and ate. It was also fun when we were speaking to each other in Japanese we would have moments where we catch each other saying something that we’re not used to since Kansai and Kanto dialects have a lot of differences XD. It was a trip.

That night we ate at one of those street stands ( omg my first time ever so far in Japan =D) Since Fukuoka is famous for their Ramen, gotta eat Ramen, and even cooler at a Ramen stand <3. It was really yummy, affordable, and the vendors were super nice. The broth of the Ramen was extremely flavorful :3

We also had a late night dinner at the restaurant portion of the ryokan, We’re staying at the place, we gotta try the food right? I ordered an Ebi Tenpura Udon and Kira ordered a Curry Udon. The Udon was homemade, and you could really taste it :O. It was really soft and tasted really fresh.

Afterwards we met the other roommate who was in the same room with us. Her name is Keiko from Kyoto =D We chatted up pretty nicely and then took a picture. It was about a total of 10 attempts with 3 different cameras. Afterwards in the morning we all parted to our own little trips. It was fun to meet strangers on the trip.

Outside of Gumyoji Station. Sakura Blossoms have been bloomin’ around Tokyo and Yokohama. A Hanami is to be planned =)

Found in Yokohama near the Sotetsu station at Queen Seitan.

They’re quite creative with their desserts.

On Sunday March 8th was a doujinshi Athrun x Cagalli ( from Gundam Seed) doujinshi event held in Tokyo called
恋のオープンボルト/Koi No Open Bolt! It was my first doujinshi event that I have ever attended so far in Japan that was specifically for a particular pairing, and what best way to start off but be of my most favorite pairing.

The event was CROWDED. Sooo many people were there, I heard that there was well over 200 people under one hour. I was an hour late after the event started and there was still a huge crowd of people outside waiting to get inside. It made feel a bit happy inside to know that even after 3-4 years since the series finished and being toned down there’s still a huge horde of fans for the pair.

The coolest thing for me was seeing a convention friend c2lan/phi again and meeting an online friend of a few years Midoriyuki for the first time. The two with two other artists did a collab doujinshi and sold it at the event, they sold out in under an hour! (congrats!)

It was so cool to meet and see many artists in person of whom I have admired their works for a long time. It was a really ecstatic feeling.

Lesson learned for next time: bring a tote bag or a backpack. My arms were dying carrying everything.

During the last hour of the event, there was a questionaire of the two for prizes. They were all 50/50 chances questions but omg, some of the questions were extremely ridiculous to the point where one would have felt a bit shamed to call myself a fan. Some of them were like ” In episode 24 when they first met, Was the amount of times that Cagalli shot at Athrun more or less than 7 times?” or ” In episode 41, when Cagalli is showing Kira the photo of them as babies, how many times does Cagalli say “cho cho cho” to Athrun, asking him to stay? Is it 3 times, or 4 times?” and more. Many of the crowds reactions were like ” eehhhh?! o.O” and some of the questions totally killed off like half of contestants, it was fun.

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Just saw this yesterday Feb 28th at the 15:00 showing. It was amazing.

When I went to get the tickets mid-January when it started selling, it sold out in under four hours, then I found out from sources online that it actually sold out in under ten minutes or less. Takarazuka Revue is a highly acclaimed performance group, then you add the hype with the Gyakuten Saiban series into the pack and it becomes a double whammy to get those tickets.

I was able to get tickets from Yahoo JP Auctions, had to pay almost double the amount it was being sold as, but it was worth every yen. I was able to get spot A2 from the balcony, which is the very front of the top balcony, and honestly still very good seats.

The play was great, the props were very well done and like the game. For the overview of the story here is a link with the outline of the story so I don’t have to rewrite it =P but it was basically to me: First game, the last case except with a twist of a love story.

Random quirks I loved XD

- When Phoenix picked up an item it makes the same sound effects as the game, including showing a huge image of the item picked up on the stage with voice overs of Phoenix’s thoughts played in the background. Even for items that don’t become official evidence, he would comment like ” A green lamp, omp this is heavy” or ” a pen, ouch it’s sharp”.

- The opening sequence and dance! It was like an opening you would watch with a show, they did a prior made video that introduces all the characters flashing their names and you see them playing at the beach. While that is playing there is also a dance done, the ending poses of their group montages ends with their famous poses of the game or of an official image.

- Naruhodou and Mitsurugi both have a solo and duet XD and original music of the game is used tooooo.

- Costumes were also, ooh and the scene where Mayoi was giving Coffee to Mitsurugi I was it was the brown Godot mug from TGS2008 :3. That scene was funny.

- At the end of the show Takarazuka came out and had everyone in the audience do the objection “Igiari!!” pose XD Everyone did it.

Totally made me happy watching this, I’m glad to have been able to see this live. <3

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