Vivian Takes Tokyo

This might not be that interesting, but a couple weeks ago my friends and I went to go watch Harry Potter. It was my first time at a movie theatre here in Tokyo, and the experience was wayyyyy different from American ones. Okay, I exaggerated, but still.

First, we bought our tickets at a combini (convenience store) vending machine. It told us that we could go to any movie theatre in Tokyo, at any time, for any movie. Um… okay? We showed up to the one in Shinjuku and were assigned seats.

Concession stand! They have legit food here… and some random choices.

Really exciteeeddddddd

NERD ALERT! A whole entire store within the theatre dedicated to Harry Potter. LOVE

OMG.

So every major university in Tokyo has their own festivals around the beginning of November and it is a HUGE deal. We’re talking months of preparation, appearances by celebrities, and tens of thousands of people. Waseda’s is undoubtedly the biggest. We got basically the whole week off which allowed students and staff to prepare, and then on Saturday and Sunday the festival took place.

Okuma Auditorium. I guess this was the main stage where concerts/performances were held.

There were soooooo many food stalls! Each “circle” or club had their own stall, so there were literally like a hundred of them. This one says yakisoba which literally translates to fried noodles. It’s basically Japanese chow-mein.

Fried icecream? We had to try it just because it sounded insane. It was basically an icecream puff. False advertising!

Weirdos handing out flyers.

So while we were eating, I got approached by a lady from a magazine asking if they could take my picture to enter a 読者モデル (reader model) contest. Hello self-esteem boost! Got a call from her a couple weeks later letting me know I made it through the first few rounds, but meh. We’ll see.

So you see this huuuuuuuge crowd? Guess who they were here to see.

Yes. The Shockers- Waseda’s own male cheerleading team. I am not exaggerating when I say that these guys are the most popular thing on campus. Apparently they’re famous all over Japan because they’ve been covered by different news stations. Girls are like obsessed with them…. I don’t get it because they’re all pretty busted. It’s the cheerleader effect; good in a group, but not individually.

Anyways, somehow we found our way to the Mr. Waseda Bodybuilding contest. OMG it was hilarious. You’d think that girls would be catcalling at these boys in Speedos, but it was mainly other guys cheering them on. I guess it’s because you never really see buff Japanese guys, so they respect them more when they’re ripped? meh I dunno.

The winner. bahahahahaha

This post is very overdue, but every time I try to upload pictures, Tumblr freezes. FAIL. Here’s hoping it works this time….

So my friends and I had a day off of school for the Waseda Festival week. We decided to take advantage of it and go to Tokyo Disneyland which is about a 40 minute train ride from our school. I am a Disney FREAK so I wanted to fully utilize the 10 hours at the park, so we left at like 7 to make it by opening time at 8.

It was really fun because Disneyland was decorated for Halloween (yeah, I told you this was a while ago). There are definitely some differences I noticed from the American Disneys and the one in Tokyo, but the layout of the park was basically identical!

I got my first set of Disney ears! Is it just me, or are the ones in Tokyo wayyyyy cuter than the ones in America? Everyone in our group got them…. yeah we’re all 20 but shwateva.

We waited in line for like 40 minutes to ride the Buzz Lightyear AstroBlaster ride. Once we finally got on, Maria’s gun didn’t work so they let us go on again haha

Teacups!

They had this AMAAAAAAZING little area for Up! and I swear I took like 20 pictures of it. I really hope they have this in the American Disneys. Ahhhh this movie makes me cry every time.

It was rainy the day we went, and since it was a school day we thought it’d be empty. NOPE. Asians love their Disney and nothing- bad weather nor education- will keep them away.

This would have been a GREAT picture, but crazy lady just HAD to ruin it.

Some people got tired and went home, but 5 of us girls stayed until the park closed. TROOPERS! We decided to get little cellphone charm things (that are surprisingly REALLY popular in Japan) to remember our little Disney adventure, but it looks stupid on my phone so it’s currently acting as a keychain. But anyways, we watched the electrical parade!

:)

theahhmoment asked: My sis and I went to the same onsen too! So much fun~ Which city of Tokyo are you staying at?

hey! I’m in Takadanobaba which is part of Shinjuku :)

I’m just going to be on an updating RAMPAGE. I’ve been so busy with school and, you know, having a social life that I haven’t been able to update about everything immediately.

But anyways, let me tell you about the time my friend Maria and I saw a load of boobs and lady parts.

My friend Maria (who’s also half Japanese, but British) invited me to go to an onsen with a couple of her Japanese childhood friends. Onsens are hot baths and are actually really popular amongst the Japanese. It’s like going to a spa and spending a long time in a natural hot tub- but you’re naked. NAKED. We knew this going in, but we heard that some onsens allow you to go in with a towel wrapped around your body. NOPE. Not this one! Needless to say, Maria and I got to know each other (and about 50 other women) better that day.

We got SO lucky that her friends drove us- we got to drive through basically ALL of Tokyo at nighttime and saw everything lit up. I forget how beautiful Tokyo is at night…. especially crossing the Rainbow Bridge to Odaiba! The onsen “resort” was in Odaiba, a man-made island in Tokyo that’s home to a LOT of cool stuff. I’m calling it a “resort” because this place was a HUGE facility that was meant to look like Edo-period Japan, fully equipped with a spa, restaurants, matsuri-style games, and shops.

The Japanese take their drinking seriously.

You can buy Heinekens at KFC. There are vending machines that will serve beer and chu-hai’s. People are passed out drunk on the sidewalks at 8. And then there are the 飲み会.

A 飲み会 is literally a “drinking meeting”. A lot of clubs around school hold them to get to know each other better and to kind of welcome new members. You basically go to a 居酒屋 (bar/drinking place?) and pay a flat fee for 2 or 3 hours of unlimited drinking. Let’s just say that the weak Japanese get SHWASTED and it’s an all-around fun time for everybody.

The international students’ circle held a 飲み会 a while ago, and though I didn’t really get my full money’s worth of alcohol into muh system, it was fun :)

(the really good pictures are stolen from Gloria and her amazing camera)

So a couple Fridays ago I went to explore Tokyo by myself since I had no classes! I found myself making my way over to Shinjuku. Even though I’m technically in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, I have to take the train to get to the touristy parts. If you’ve watched Lost in Translation, you have a fairly good idea of what Shinjuku looks like at night; it’s crazy and chaotic with neon lights lining street after street of shops, restaurants, bars, and department stores. Since I went kind of early in the day, I didn’t really encounter the hectic side of Shinjuku that I did when I came to Tokyo a couple years ago with my mom and sister, but it was interesting to see the calm before the storm.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. There’s a free observation “tower”(?) at the top that offers a view of Tokyo.

for mom and Shion :)

Excessive much?

So basically I got bored of Shinjuku after a couple hours, so I made my way over to Meiji-jingu. Meiji-jingu is a temple in a fairly large park right in front of the anime-weirdo-infested streets of Harajuku. The park was sooooo relaxing- it was a nice break from the chaotic side of Tokyo. Except part of me will always hate nature in Japan because mosquitoes are inevitable. I left the park with 4 NASTY bites on my legs and I looked like I had a disease :(

You can buy these little wood signs to write wishes on. I think I saw them written in like 8 different languages.

I (and apparently the lady in the background) totally had a secret photo session with this couple getting married. Creeper status.

<3

There’s a ramen place close to my dorm that’s apparently really famous. In Tokyo it’s not uncommon to see long lines of people standing outside of ramen shops. You’d think that waiting 30 minutes would deter some people from eating there, but that’s always the best indication that the place is legit.

Anyways, this place is having its 25th anniversary and they’re handing out coupons for free gyoza (or “potstickers” for you white folk hahabutreally). We’re talking 10 pieces of amazing gyoza for FREE. A group of us from the dorm went a while back and not being much of a ramen fan, I just got my free gyoza and a side of amaaaaazing rice.

Food porn. $3. Jealous?

I went to the Forever21 in Shibuya on one of my days off last week to try to do some shopping.

There’s a store in Harajuku devoted to keeping it safe….

… and in Shibuya, Shingo from SMAP is a crazy banana man.

My friend and I wanted Japanese cheesecake the other day. Trust me it’s different- in all the right ways. It’s fluffy and light and sooooo much better than cheesecake back in the states. I love Japanese bakeries, but my wallet and thighs do not.

But who needs chocolate and cake when you can have dried squid? In like 36 varieties?! 

School started on Monday marking the official end of my summer vacation.

That means that my summer vacation was roughly 5 months long. 5 MONTHS.

So naturally, I was a little nervous about getting back into the swing of things academically. hahaha I don’t know why because all of my classes seem so ridiculously easy. My Japanese class is literally a repeat of my Japanese class last semester at ASU. Same textbook, same material, same quizzes, you catch my drift. Okay, maybe that’s going to be my only slackoff class, but the other ones seem interesting enough that I’d have motivation to learn.

A lot of Japanese students here don’t like foreigners and assume they can’t speak Japanese, so they talk about you right behind your back. BITCHES. The other day after a finance class (which is held in English- all elective classes are that way) a guy was standing behind my friend and I and said (in Japanese) “I don’t understand why people come here and take classes in English- they’re here in Japan to study the language”. You know what, that’s kind of a valid point- I wish I could take some more courses held in Japanese, but it’s just not allowed for students in my program. BUT this douche didn’t stop there. “These people don’t know any Japanese and they’ll go home not knowing any Japanese so they’re stupid for coming here”. I gave my friend a look like “ohnoyouDIDNT” and said really loudly in Japanese “I hate when people assume I’m stupid and can’t understand what they’re saying”. I turned around and this guy clearly heard me- but girls here don’t really do the whole bitch act, so he was taken by surprise.

My schedule worked out so that I have classes from 9-6 (with a 2 hour break) Monday and Wednesday, one class on Thursday, and one class Saturday morning. This Saturday morning class situation is a problem… but everyone has it. But I’m free a lot during the week and need to find stuff to do. I’m thinking of looking for a job soon…. everything’s so expensive here, so my wallet would be really happy.

So today was the opening ceremony for the School of International Liberal Studies (SILS) students. It was pretty boring, but it made me realize exactly how diverse the student (and teacher) population is at Waseda.Anywho, afterward a friend wanted to go to Akihabara to get something, so a few of us tagged along.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Tokyo, Akihabara is the “Electric Town”- it’s where you can buy any electronic item you could possibly want, and it’s a haven for creepy Japanese men. I mean CREEPY. Like, they have stores full of manga porn and collectible action figures. It’s soooooo not my scene, but it’s a place I think everyone should go at least once while they’re here.

Erotic mouse-pads. Only in Japan.

Those are for men.

Those are definitely for men.

My boyfran