Hello everybunny!♥ I hope you're well & peachy! c: Today's blog post will be fairly long and wordy, but I'll try to make it as interesting as possible, and I'll include links so you can check out some of the places I'll be visiting. c: As you may know (because I've been failing to shut up about it) I'm off to Tokyo on the 30th July! So pretty much a month from now. It's pretty weird to be honest because I haven't been out of the country for a few years, and that was when I went to Disneyland Paris on a school trip so I didn't even need to speak any French. A year before that I went on an exchange to Germany for a week but that was also a school trip and my host family spoke really good English. (And my German skills are fairly okay) The flight was also one hour long and we went to Disneyland Paris by bus and ferry.
But I've decided to got for it and head to Tokyo! Last year I decided I wanted to go on a solo study trip, since a lot of language schools offer summer courses!♥ But my family was very worried about the idea of me travelling so far on my own when I can barely cope with going to London, OTL (MCM was a little problematic last October) and I still have trouble going out at the moment, though I'm hoping that I'll be so amazed by being on holiday, I can forget about being scared and anxious! Well... I kind of doubt it but I'll be bringing my Mimipyon Poteusa Loppy cuddly backpack, some rescue remedy and other calming things!♪ But now instead of a solo trip, Josh is coming along too to spend the whole three weeks with me, Jen my lovely Dolly kei geologist friend will be with us for two weeks, and my friend Brian who is a language teacher in Korea with be joining us for a weekend! So I've dropped the whole month-long language school & cultural trip for a fun holiday with friends!♪♪ It'll be really nice to be surrounded by friends, and my family are now reassured by things so hopefully they won't be worrying too much while I'm there.;;;
I'm really looking forward to going out a lot, and I'm hoping after this trip I'll want to go out more often. ; v ;♥ This year I've already given up on going to some events I was planning on going to, and skipped a lot of meets. ;-;'' Sorry. OTL I've been working as hard as possible with exposure therapy though, and I hope after this trip I'll have more confidence! There's only so much fun I can have here inside OTL, and I want to be able to go out and have fun!♥ There are too many amazing places in the world I want to go and too many things to experience! *^*
So enough babbling haha...;;
The flight to Tokyo is 12 hours long from Heathrow (which is about a 4 hour journey there by train and underground, taking the total to 16 hours x-x;; ), though we're flying there direct with All Nippon Airways and gosh does it look fancy! IWe're flying economy but thankfully this isn't Ryanair haha.. Check out the fanciness → (Even economy looks fancy♥) On the way back we're stopping at Dusseldorf but sadly not for very long so not enough time to enjoy Germany. :c Maybe another time! (Because I loved Germany when I went, and there are some awesome theme parks there by the looks of things♪)
I've never been on a long flight, or even a medium length flight, so I'm really excited! (I love aeroplanes, okay?) I've also never had to get myself through check in & security at an airport because the only time I've been, it was all done by teachers and I wasn't paying much attention because woah I'm going to fly. So that part is kind of daunting, but I'm going to be at the airport around 6 hours before the flight so I can get through everything and also have some fun exploring & watching planes fly.♪ I have no idea what people usually do on long flights so I'm taking pyjammies to change into (I've even bought fluffy slippers and flight socks because of my dodgy circulation) and Josh is bringing all his Ace Attorney games that we haven't played together. If any readers have listened to Cabin Pressure before, then you'll understand what I mean by the travelling lemon and also what I mean by sadly we can't play that during the flight. However, games like "Brians of Britain", "Things that sound better with the last letter knocked off" and such are on the list.
♥Places to visit!♥
This isn't in the order that we'll be visiting them all, but with our current plans we're managing to fit all of these in!♥ We're in Tokyo for 22 full days! This list includes attractions & interesting places, and you can click the links to check out the places.♪
(Each photo is from the official website of the respective attraction c: )
♪Ikebukuro♪
This is where we'll be staying!♥ It's a huge area that seems to be missed off all of my guide maps even though it's super awesome! Though I didn't find any of this out until way after I booked the hotel haha..;; On the other side of Ikebukuro station to our hotel, there's a huge amount of places to shop and eat! It's kind of like Akiba but aimed at girls? There's even a road called "Otome road" and a Butler Café. I'm not sure if I'll bother with the Butler café, but I might see if I can get a reservation.
♪Ueno Zoo♪
Ueno zoo is located in Ueno park and is home to two pandas, which are some of my favourite animals!♥
This museum is near to the zoo in Ueno park, and is like London's Natural History Museum which has dinosaurs!♥ There are actually a few museums in this area, but I'm mainly interested in the zoo and museum of nature and science because of all the animals!
The Skytree is the tallest tower in Japan, and there are loads of awesome shops and restaurants nearby as well as a huge shopping mall called "Solamachi"!♪ I won't give away what amazing shops there are there but I'll definitely be taking a ton of photos! It's possible to go up to the Skytree deck at 450m but for now we're just planning to go to 350m. ^^ Sadly ticket reservations are for Japanese cards only, so we'll have to buy tickets there. OTL
This is the attraction nearest to our hotel which is in Ikebukuro!♪ I think it's about a 15-20 minute walk away.^^ It's a "city within a city", but I suggest you look at the link! It's a pretty incredible complex of skyscrapers! There are mini theme parks, an aquarium, a planetarium, and shopping malls!
♪J-World♪
J-World is a mini theme park within Sunshine City that's themed around Shonen Jump characters. There are resturants inside with Dragonball, One Piece, Naruto, Kuroko no Basket etc. themed food! I'm not hugely into SJ stuff anymore, but I'm still really excited to visit!♪
This place looks really cute, and it's another mini theme park! Though the rides seem to be more aimed at children and other attractions are mainly in Japanese, there is also a food theme park area with lots of gyoza and a place offering 400 flavours of ice cream.♪ I'm super excited to visit here because while I'm in Tokyo, there will be an Aikatsu! x Namja Town event running with lots of Aikatsu! goods and themed food.♥♥ The desserts all look adorable, and Josh is looking forward to trying lots of gyoza! (And... all the food in Japan haha he's so cute ; v ; )
♪Shibuya♪
I'm not sure I really need to say much about this place apart from the phrases "Shibuya 109" and "109 Men's".♥ One of the main stops here will be the Grimoire store, because my friend Jen who is coming with us loves Dolly kei (and she looks awesome in it, her tumblr is "thesakuradoll") so we can't miss it!♪ I'm looking forward to seeing the brands in real life in Shibuya 109.♥ (Though I must add that fashion is far from the focus of this trip since I can buy it whenever I want online, so I don't want to spend too much time on fashion things haha.^^;; But please don't be disappointed if I don't do many fashion blog posts when I'm back.;; )
♪Shinjuku♪
Another phrase: "Robot Restaurant". This is also where there's a British pub! We'll be going there for a comedy night one evening during the holiday. :3 On the subject of comedy, there'll also be a comedy club that Josh is planning on going to each week, so I'll either hide in the hotel room and watch some Japanese tv, or do some solo exploring. c: If people are really really interested in me doing some fashion posts, this will probably be the easiest time for me to do some fashion exploring.^^; Though I should probably add that from what I've read, stores don't allow people to take photos of stores.
The "Q" stands for "Queue"! And I wish I could say I was joking... The queues are long, the ride operation is inefficient, and with one drop of rain pretty much everything comes to a halt.
I've read so many horror stories of people going all the way there and the day being a failure.
But the risk is worth it.
We're getting there early on a Monday morning.
August is predicted fabulous weather.
We're legging it to the fastpass ticket stand.
And we're prepared to spend an extra 4,000 yen on top of the entry fee to get fastpasses for the four insanely awesome rollercoasters Takabisha (Eurofighter coaster with a 121degree drop //drool), Eejanaika (4D coaster, kinda like The Swarm at Thorpe Park but with an extra D ohoho), Dodonpa (Sounds like Dangan Ronpa and funnily enough the cars are black and white) and Fujiyama (Used to hold a bunch of world records). There's also an area called "Evangelion:World" and a huge amount of other stuff.♪ I could bang on about this place for ages so just go to the link ww.
My dad thinks I'm a complete nutjob for wanting to go here.
We're basically travelling outside of Tokyo to go to the Gundam restaurant and eat "BIG PASTA BIG ZAM". Game Grumps fans will understand the joke. Sadly the three Gundam restaurants in central Tokyo don't do any Big Zam themed food and I really wanted to do this for Josh.♥ But when we were researching AEON Mall, we realised there's a huge amount of awesome things there, including a restaurant area where you can watch chefs prepare food, the "Toei Hero World" (an interactive museum dedicated to super heroes like Kamen Rider, Ultraman and Power Rangers!), a rooftop garden, what seems to be a huge arcade and some awesome shops.♥
♪Lalaport♪
Another huge mall just outside Tokyo! This one is home to the Tokyo Bay PokeCen, and Lala Popteen World!♥ There's even a Popteen café, which is a Popteen version of "Sweets Paradise", which is an all you can eat sweets buffet.♥
This place is like a huge movie set style theme park themed around the Edo period! There are actors wandering around the park dressed as ninja, samurai, ronin etc. and visitors are also able to dress up too! (There are female samurai costumes ;O; ) There are traditional style restaurants, carnival games, shows, and even a ninja house!♪
(This image is just for "Sanriotown" which is the newest area of the park!)
I don't think this needs much explanation ww..♥♥ I've linked the English site for convenience, however it's a little out of date show-wise compared to the .jp site. In fact I'm super glad I checked the .jp site because going by the English site, I thought we'd only need a morning there!
And maybe you think it's too girly or too cute for Josh? Nope! He's really excited too! ;; v ;;♥♥ I'm really lucky to have such an awesome boyfriend. ; v ;♥
I'm going to end up spending so much money here ww.. it's home to the largest Sanrio store in the world!♥
♪Imperial Palace Grounds♪
I can't wait to visit the beautiful gardens here!♥ It looks really peaceful, so it'll be a nice break from the theme parks and shopping malls.^^;; Nearby is Tokyo station, and just a little way from there is the Tokyo PokeCen!♥
♪Asakusa♪
This is an area near to the Skytree which is home to Senso-ji, a huge and beautiful temple! The main road to the temple (Nakamise-dori) is lined with stalls and booths selling traditional souvenirs. It looks like it gets very very busy..^^;;
This is an adorable theme park near to Senso-ji that was opened in 1853! It wasn't a theme park back then, but theme park rides were added starting in the 40s. Although a lot of attractions are aimed at children, it still looks like an adorable & pretty theme park to visit for a few hours! Across the road is a place that offers a kimono & tea ceremony experience, which I might just have to try! ;v;♥
♪Harajuku♪
Like Shibuya, pretty self explanatory ww. A few things on my to do list here: Meiji shrine, Takeshita Dori, Crepes, Cute Cube, La Foret.♪
♪Yokohama♪
Not too far out of Tokyo is Yokohama, another big city! We're planning on visiting a few places here:
Mitsubishi Minatomirai Industrial Museum (There's an area dedicated to aerospace stuff!)
Cup Noodle Museum (You can make your own cup noodle!)
Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum (We're not just going because one of the restaurants has a funny name!)
Landmark Tower mall (There's a PokeCen and Moomin bubble tea stand!)
and...
Cosmo World!♥ (website is in Japanese only)
(Yes, another theme park ww... this one has a coaster that dives into a hole in a huge pool, and what used to be the world's biggest ferris wheel!)
♪Hakone♪
This is an area near Mt. Fuji! It's incredibly beautiful and as well as Owakudani which is an area formed by volcanic activity reached by cable car, there's a lake called Lake Ashi which has Hakone-Jinja shrine facing onto it!♥ We're going to use the "Hakone Freepass" to explore the area!
I don't think I could go to Tokyo and not go here. ; v ; Photos are forbidden here, so I won't be able to do a photo-report, but hopefully I'll buy some cute souvenirs.^^♪
♪Yokohama Sea Paradise♪
I know I mentioned Yokohama earlier, but Yokohama Sea Paradise will be done in a seperate trip.♪ It's an island with aquarium areas, and theme park rides! There's a rollercoaster that goes over the sea and other awesome rides!♥
♪Akihabara♪
Another self-explanatory place haha. Hopefully we'll get to go to the maid cafés like CURE, Maidreamin (though I believe there's one in Ikebukuro we can go to), @Home, and also Don Quijote, Gamers etc. I don't think we'll spend a huge amount of time here since a lot of things can be found in Ikebukuro.♪
Do I need to go to more theme parks? Of course!♪ But this theme park has a special waterpark area that only opens in summer!♥ I'm still not confident about wearing a swimsuit, but I really want to have fun in Tokyo. ; n ; So I'm going to do my best!♪ The website is Japanese only, but all of the categories are in English. c: Toshimaen is also pretty near to Ikebukuro!
♪Odaiba♪
We're planning on visiting Odaiba island while Comiket is on! I don't have a huge interest in doujinshi or even anime/manga in general (I'd probably be more into it if I could actually watch it, but slow internet is a pain in the booty and I'm not really a fan of reading manga online), but it'll be interesting to take a look around at the cosplayers, and our friend Brian who is visiting from Korea really wants to go and Comiket is the weekend he's staying! c: I'm also being tactical and hoping that because the Tokyo Big Sight will be packed for Comiket, people won't be out shopping in the VenusFort, Diver City and Pallet Town shopping malls, giving me an opportunity to have a good look around. *^* There's also the Gundam Front, with a life size Gundam and apparently inside Diver City is a store selling rainbow pocky.♪
There used to be an area in VenusFort called "Hello Kitty's Kawaii Paradise" and there was a café, photos with Hello Kitty and such, but sadly it closed in March. ; ^ ;
Maybe you notice a little bear who sits on my bed in pretty much all of my outfit photos? That's Duffy the Disney Bear, and he's super special to me.(He's like my anti-anxiety travelling bear sidekick) ; ^;♥♥ Quite a while ago I discovered "Duffy Bear" when I used Ameblo's Candy a lot, and I noticed that loads of girls had him. He was adorable, I just had to get him. ; - ; Then last year, they started selling him in Disney stores here and I finally bought him! But sadly... Disney stores only sell Duffy and a few outfits for him. Duffy also has a girlfriend called Shellie May but you can only buy her, along with all the other Duffy merchandise at Tokyo DisneySea. ;o;♥ So finally my dream is coming true!♥
Though of course, there's also Disneyland too, so two parks at Tokyo Disney Resort!♥ Josh and I are getting a 4 day magical pass each, which means on the first day we go to one park, the second day we go to the other park, and on the last two days we can go between both parks! Both parks have adorable food to try (Mickey Mouse shaped churros and pork buns, bubble tea with Mickey Mouse shaped tapoica!), amazing shows to see and some awesome rides ;; v ;;♥♥ Sadly both parks are insanely popular so we need to make our plan of attack before we go (as in, which fastpasses to run for since most are gone by 11am/12pm, I wish I could say I was joking. OTL)
We're hoping to see a dinner show and have a character breakfast too! But I'll have more news on whether we'll be able to get reservations nearer the time. ;v;
So that's everything we've decided we're definitely going to, but there are some extra places we'll be going to if we have time! Yomiuriland (another theme park/waterpark, though it has less coasters than it used to :c ), Sega Joypolis (on Odaiba, but we're not sure if we'll go yet), Summerland (yet another waterpark/theme park), Yokohama Zoorasia (another zoo), Tokyo Dome City (guess what... it's a theme park). There are also some theme parks like Universal Studios and Space World that we can't go to because they're not in Tokyo and we decided to just stick to there for this holiday.♪ I might be going to Space World when I'm in Korea, since I could fly there ww.
I won't list all the restaurants we're going to, because some theme parks have special ones and that bumps up the list and this post is already really big ww. You can look forward to plenty of restaurant reviews though!♥ Luckily Josh eats loads, so I can try things but won't have to eat so much apart from desserts.. xox;;♪ There will be lots of cute and unique food, hooray theme restaurants!♥ Sadly there's a very limited vegetarian choice in Japan which is a shame, so I might have to eat meat at times and just deal with feeling unwell. OTL Or... just live on desserts for three weeks haha.♥
I won't list all the restaurants we're going to, because some theme parks have special ones and that bumps up the list and this post is already really big ww. You can look forward to plenty of restaurant reviews though!♥ Luckily Josh eats loads, so I can try things but won't have to eat so much apart from desserts.. xox;;♪ There will be lots of cute and unique food, hooray theme restaurants!♥ Sadly there's a very limited vegetarian choice in Japan which is a shame, so I might have to eat meat at times and just deal with feeling unwell. OTL Or... just live on desserts for three weeks haha.♥
Thank you for reading!♥ I hope you'll look forward to all of the reviews and travel posts I'll be making! c: I won't be posting any while I'm in Tokyo, but I will be posting a lot on my twitter @Elizabunnii, my instagram @Elizabunnii, and my facebook page /Elizabunnii.^^♪ My tumblr will be queued, and I'll try to have some reviews and outfit posts queued on here too. c: ♥
Upcoming posts include my sweetie pinup style post (with things from my last Bobon21 haul), a plushie review post, and a himekaji outfit post!♥♥
Have a supersweet day and a dreamy night everybunny.♥
♪hug & chu♪
チュー！♥
Love, Elizabunnii♥♥
