For this entry I will be merging the 14th and 15th together! So it may become lengthy, pre-warning! （ ´Д｀）
On the 14th March we decided to go to Sunshine City "サンシャインシティ" located in Ikebukuro. I totally forgot to include this place in my previous blogs of good places to visit while in Tokyo. Sunshine City is an amazing building, with aquarium, viewing point and the most famous 'Namco Namja Town' It has a stunning view over the surrounding City and on clear days you can see far out towards Mt Fuji. However on this day it wasn't very clear, the distant looked very overcast.
As always in Sunshine City, I end up at Subway because it's the only place I know of with Melon Soda in which you can take away. We did a lot of shopping, although I felt disastrously ill and my throat now felt like sandpaper and grit. For 650 yen or so, you can go to the very top of Sunshine City - so we took a trip there. The elevator was so cool - but travelled at 600MPH so our ears popped, uggh. Upstairs it was simply amazing as you can see from the photos! I loved it, I have a love-hate relationship with heights, however I felt safe enough to stand in the window and over look. (Which only just reminded me, I wanted to go to Tokyo Tower, and experience the glass floor. Next time!)
There was a cute heart padlock too, you wrote a note, either a love note or anything, and then locked it with the rest. My note was more of an apology than a declaration of love, but I wrote a little more afterwards since I felt so guilty for missing out on our opportunity. Anyway! We took a couple more photos before heading back down to ground level.
I remembered last time I was in Sunshine City, that if you take an exit from inside the building you come to a crossing with Brand X close by, but we sort of, detoured and ended up not really finding it. I mainly wanted to go to see the release of A and see the disc art, and a couple other releases. But it didn't really matter since we were heading to Like an Edison to see A in store!
(Oh the sign outside Edison is new, it's all clean! Dear Jrockers, make your mark!) When we arrived in Shibuya at the Edison store, there was already a queue, but we wandered by and then queue heart attack since we spotted Rookie. I was told to believe only Nimo would be there, however it was the WHOLE band. So we went to queue this time, and I was told I would meet my Friend, Nami-chan. But I didn't know what she looked like, aside from being Japanese and cute. Not much help! But I guess talking in English helps them locate? Since the girl stood next to me (just like Aya-chan!) turned and went, 'Ari-chan?' Ah! It was so amazing, I found both Friends by coincidence. Luckily, Nami had a Friend who spoke rather good English. She asked us when we arrived, and when we were leaving, then if we were going to Shinjuku, since A were doing a store run. (Edison = Nimo, Zeal Link = Toshi) We spoke briefly, and she seemed excited to see A, as were Juu and I. Juu especially, she gave me her iPhone to show Rookie her cosplay.
We were asked what copy we wanted, of course Limited Edition! Nimo was the store clerk, but his stare is so penetrating and it made me nervous, especially with his blue contacts in. UGH. He asked me how I was, and then if I wanted 'Point Card' - he probably thought I was stupid for agreeing, but I did want/need one. We spoke a little and I handed him a gift, but then he forgot to sign my copy of the CD, and Toshi was looking worriedly, so I told Toshi that Nimo had to sign it. Dumbass. Moving on to Toshi, he asked again how I was, and if I liked Japan, then he noticed my 10st bracelet, and he shown me his, and then Rookie interrupted to also show me his too! Toshi was really shy, it was adorable. Finally I landed on Rookie, and he again asked how I was, and he went on to sign the CD so I had time to show him Juu's cosplay. Rookie was so SHOCKED he even tapped Toshi to show him. At first Toshi thought it was me, so after a thousand 'iie iie iie!' and pointing to Juu, Rookie explained and they both were amazed. Haha! Rookie asked Juu for a photo in her cosplay. After, Rookie gave us a cookie, 'For you!' and thanked me. I waited to the side for Juu and Imke and said bye to the guys. Outside I studied the signatures, and then I opened the inside sheet to find cheki! Nimo cheki! Juu and Imke both had a photocard, and I heard there was purikura also in others? Amazing!
We waited for A to leave, but there was another instore right after, I was lead to believe it was DOG in the PWO, but I wasn't 100% sure so I wanted to wait just a couple moments since band men kept wandering back and forth (to leave fliers etc) but none of them looked DOG worthy. My Friends left me for a bit while I waited for god knows who - after studying the TV playing and the band, I was still clueless, so I asked the girl next to me. 'Daizy Stripper' ... NO. So I left which must have looked funny since I was queuing for awhile. I met Juu and Imke, and then we waited for Daizy Stripper to leave before I could go in and finally buy Aurora her DOG singles and another copy of CURE magazine. Afterwards we headed to Jonathan's for food!
It was so delicious! カレーうどん!! The noodles were so big, and I was so hungry, I'm surprised I didn't drown myself in the bowl. It was amazing size for the price, as I find in Japan, meal portions are smaller than here in England. For 900yen / £9 you get a small portion, but in England there are popular 2 meals for £10 restaurants, and there is twice as much food! Ah, Japanese eat small portions, I could never adjust. We headed home afterwards I believe, full and fat -- or, did we go around Harajuku one last time?
March 15th: I decided to stay in the Hostel for the duration of the day, I literally felt like crap. I managed to pack my case and finally after awhile I went to Asakusa alone to buy some gifts for my Family before heading back, the wind in Japan that day was INSANE, which didn't help.
Juu and Imke came back, and Juu had this bloody HUGE Alpaca toy, like it was the size of her case! After talking some we bossed around the hostel just cleaning our room and packing some things away. Well, I continued to pack since I knew the 16th was a full day out of the Hostel. I am really excited to blog about the 16th, but I'm going to need to leave a lot of stuff out!
We eventually all set out to meet Maria (Juu's Friend) one last time and do Karaoke, though I refused so hard to even sing. Juu invited her Friend, Kohta along too which was nice meeting new faces. We ate and I lived on Melon soda that night. I actually did sing, but not very loudly. Kohta noticed I was singing the lyrics to the Clash. Damn you British Punk, D A M N Y O U. It got late, and Maria had to get the last train, plus we needed to be up and in Shinjuku before 1pm (trust me, it was necessary to be up early-ish) so we all said our goodbyes and headed back. I guess I needed that alone time that day, I felt much better after.
